Chapter Six
1332 Words
DEAD HEIRESS ALIVE? SHOCKING CONNECTION TO LAURENT DYNAMICS CEO.
The words blazed across every screen inside Raven's office.
For a moment, the room became completely silent.
Elena stared at the television.
At her face.
Not Eva Laurent.
Raven Vale.
The dead heiress.
The girl who was supposed to have died five years ago.
The news anchor's voice continued in the background.
"Sources claim there may be a connection between Laurent Dynamics CEO Eva Laurent and the late heiress Raven Vale, who was presumed dead following the infamous yacht explosion..."
Raven barely heard the rest.
Her pulse pounded loudly in her ears.
Not because she was afraid.
Because she was angry.
Someone was forcing her hand.
Someone was tearing apart five years of careful planning.
Slowly, she turned toward Damien.
Their eyes met.
And Damien immediately recognized that look.
The same look she'd worn years ago whenever she was furious but refusing to show it.
Calm on the outside.
Dangerous underneath.
"Raven—"
"Don't."
Her voice was cold enough to stop him instantly.
For several seconds neither spoke.
Outside the office, employees were already gathering around screens.
Whispers spread through the executive floor.
Questions.
Rumors.
Speculation.
Everything Raven had worked to avoid.
Her eyes returned to the television.
The report showed photographs.
Old charity events.
Family gatherings.
Pictures from before the explosion.
Memories she had spent years trying to bury.
Her jaw tightened.
Someone had access to personal records.
Someone wanted this public.
"Who leaked it?" she asked quietly.
Damien watched her carefully.
"I don't know."
"You always know."
His expression hardened.
"Not this time."
Raven laughed softly.
A humorless sound.
The kind that made even Damien uneasy.
Because he could see exactly what she was doing.
She was building walls.
Fast.
Every answer she didn't receive became another brick.
Every lie became another barrier.
And eventually she would shut everyone out completely.
Before Damien could say anything else, his phone rang.
The sharp sound cut through the tension instantly.
He glanced at the screen.
His assistant.
Damien frowned.
Then answered.
"What?"
The panic in his assistant's voice was immediate.
"Sir, the board members are demanding your presence."
Damien's expression darkened.
"I'll deal with them later."
"Sir... you can't."
Silence.
Something in her tone immediately caught his attention.
"What happened?"
A brief pause followed
"The board members are requesting your presence".
"I will be they shortly"
Damien closed his eyes briefly.
Someone was moving faster than expected.
First the media.
Now the board.
Too coordinated.
Too deliberate.
This wasn't a leak.
It was an attack.
He ended the call and slipped the phone back into his pocket.
Neither of them spoke immediately.
The board wouldn't stop until they had answers.
The media wouldn't stop until they had a scandal.
And whoever was behind this wouldn't stop until Raven was exposed completely.
Damien grabbed his coat from the chair.
"I'm going back to Draven Technology."
Elena crossed her arms.
"To protect me?"
His eyes narrowed slightly.
"To find out who's doing this."
A lie.
At least partly.
Because Damien knew he was doing both.Raven noticed it too.
But she said nothing.
For the first time since the news broke, uncertainty flickered across her face.
Just for a second.
Then it vanished.
Replaced by the composed CEO the world knew as Eva Laurent.
The woman who had survived five years hidden in plain sight.
The woman who built an empire from nothing.
The woman who refused to break.
Damien paused at the door.
"Don't leave the building."
Raven almost smiled.
"Still giving orders."
"Still ignoring them."
A brief silence passed between them.
Then Damien left.
The office door closed behind him.
And for the first time since returning to the city, Raven found herself completely alone.
Her eyes drifted back toward the television.
Toward the headline.
Toward the life she thought she had buried.The headline flashed across every screen in the city.
Inside boardrooms.
Inside cafés.
Across social media.
And most importantly—
Inside Draven Technology.
Damien stared at the television mounted on the wall of the boardroom while silence settled over the room like a storm waiting to break.
On the screen, side-by-side photographs appeared.
One was Raven Vale five years ago.
The other was Eva Laurent.
The resemblance was impossible to ignore.
Around the table, the board members exchanged tense looks.
No one spoke at first.
Then Celeste Vaughn smiled.
A slow, calculated smile.
"Interesting," she said.
Damien's eyes darkened instantly.
Across from her, another board member pushed a folder onto the table.
"We had the images analyzed."
The folder stopped in front of Damien.
Facial recognition reports.
Similarity percentages.
Private investigation findings.
Someone had spent considerable time gathering evidence.
Too much time.
Damien opened the folder slowly.
His expression remained unreadable.
But inside, alarms were already ringing.
Someone wanted Raven exposed.
The question was why.
"Well?" Celeste asked.
"Do you have something to say, Damien?"
Silence.
The board members waited.
Watching.
Studying every reaction.
Looking for weakness.
Looking for confirmation.
Damien closed the file.
"What exactly are you accusing me of?"
Several people exchanged glances.
Celeste leaned back in her chair.
"Perhaps nothing."
A lie.
Everyone in the room knew it.
"Perhaps we're simply concerned."
Damien almost laughed.
Concern.
That was a new one.
The board had never cared about concern.
Only profit.
Only power.
Only survival.
Another board member cleared his throat.
"If Eva Laurent truly is Raven Vale, then we're dealing with a serious situation."
"Why?" Damien asked coldly.
"Because the media is already connecting Draven Technology to her return."
The room became tense again.
That part was true.
Stock markets hated uncertainty.
Investors hated scandal.
And dead heiresses returning from the grave created both.
Celeste folded her hands neatly.
"There's also the matter of the cyberattacks."
Damien immediately understood where she was going.
Interesting.
Very interesting.
"You think Eva Laurent is responsible?"
"Do you have proof she isn't?"
Silence.
Exactly what Celeste wanted.
A seed of doubt.
Nothing more.
But sometimes doubt was enough.
Damien's phone vibrated suddenly.
A message from his assistant.
Urgent.
His eyes narrowed.
He opened it discreetly beneath the table.
The color drained from his face.
Only slightly.
But enough.
Because the message contained one sentence.
Someone hacked the company archives.
And below it:
They accessed the yacht investigation files.
Damien slowly locked the screen.
Now he understood.
This wasn't simply about Raven anymore.
Someone was digging into the explosion.
Someone was getting closer.
Far too close.
Across the table, Celeste noticed the change immediately.
"Bad news?"
Damien met her gaze.
Cold.
Dangerous.
The kind of look that made people rethink their life choices.
Unfortunately, Celeste Vaughn wasn't most people.
"We're finished here."
Several board members frowned.
"We haven't reached a decision."
"No," Damien replied.
"But I have."
He stood.
The room immediately grew tense.
Nobody moved.
Nobody stopped him.
Because despite everything—
Damien Draven was still the most powerful person in the building.
For now.
Without another word, he left the boardroom.
Outside, his assistant was waiting.
Panicked.
"Sir."
"What happened?"
"The archives were breached twenty minutes ago."
They began walking quickly down the hallway.
"How much was taken?"
"We don't know yet."
Not good enough.
Damien pressed the elevator button.
The doors opened instantly.
"What about Laurent Dynamics?"
His assistant blinked.
"Sir?"
"If someone exposed Raven, they didn't stop there."
The assistant's face immediately paled.
Understanding.
Exactly.
This attack wasn't random.
It was coordinated.
The elevator descended.
Slowly.
Painfully.
Damien's thoughts raced.
Someone leaked Raven's identity.
Someone hacked Draven Technology.
Someone accessed the yacht files.
And someone wanted both him and Raven reacting instead of thinking.
Which meant—
The real attack hadn't happened yet.
The elevator doors opened.
Damien stepped out.
Then froze.
His assistant nearly walked into him.
Because every screen inside the executive lobby had changed.
Black background.
White text.
Only one message.
A message visible to every employee inside Draven Technology.
SHE WAS NEVER THE TARGET.
For the first time that day—
Damien felt genuine fear.
- Writer
- chap_listContents
- likeADD