8
664 Words
Silence didn’t leave the room.
It shifted.
Tightened.
Focused.
⸻
Raven Duval was still staring at Camilla like if she looked away, she might disappear again.
Like this could still turn into another year of nothing.
⸻
Then Raven moved.
Not toward Camilla.
Toward Etienne Leblanc.
⸻
“Does my dad know she’s here?” Raven asked.
No softness.
No hesitation.
⸻
Etienne didn’t answer immediately.
He watched her.
Measured the room.
Then—
“No.”
⸻
That landed.
Sharp.
⸻
Raven’s head snapped slightly.
“What?”
⸻
Etienne leaned back just enough to make it look relaxed.
It wasn’t.
⸻
“I had suspicions,” he said calmly.
A glance toward Camilla.
“Didn’t confirm.”
⸻
Raven let out a short, disbelieving laugh.
“You didn’t confirm?”
⸻
Her gaze flicked back to Camilla.
Then to him again.
⸻
“You thought she might be here and didn’t think that was something to mention?”
⸻
Etienne’s expression didn’t change.
“I don’t deal in ‘might,’” he said.
A pause.
“Now I don’t have to.”
⸻
That was enough.
⸻
Raven turned fully toward him.
“Call him.”
⸻
Etienne didn’t move.
⸻
“Now,” Raven added.
A beat of silence stretched between them.
Not defiance.
Not refusal.
⸻
Consideration.
⸻
Then—
Etienne reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone.
⸻
“Luc won’t like being told instead of seeing for himself,” he said.
⸻
Raven crossed her arms.
“He’ll like not being lied to more.”
⸻
That decided it.
⸻
Etienne dialed.
Didn’t step away.
Didn’t lower his voice.
⸻
The room stayed quiet.
Listening.
⸻
Camilla didn’t move.
Didn’t breathe differently.
Didn’t give anything away.
⸻
But inside—
Everything was shifting.
⸻
Because this—
This was the part she hadn’t planned for.
⸻
Not the meeting.
Not the business.
⸻
Family.
⸻
“Yeah,” Etienne said into the phone.
A pause.
Then—
“You’re going to want to come down here.”
⸻
Another pause.
His gaze flicked briefly to Camilla.
⸻
“Because she’s here.”
⸻
Silence.
⸻
Even without hearing the other side, the reaction was clear.
Etienne pulled the phone slightly away from his ear for a second.
Not surprised.
Not amused.
⸻
Then put it back.
“Yeah,” he said simply. “That one.”
⸻
He ended the call.
⸻
Raven watched him.
Tension coiled tight in her shoulders.
⸻
“Well?” she asked.
⸻
“He’s coming,” Etienne replied.
⸻
Of course he was.
Raven turned back to Camilla.
Slowly this time.
More controlled.
More deliberate.
⸻
But the anger was still there.
The hurt hadn’t gone anywhere.
⸻
“You better have a reason,” Raven said.
Her voice dropped.
Not loud.
Not emotional.
⸻
Worse.
⸻
Honest.
⸻
“For ghosting us.”
⸻
A pause.
⸻
“For making us think you were dead.”
⸻
Camilla held her gaze.
Didn’t look away.
Didn’t deflect.
“I do,” she said quietly.
⸻
Raven’s jaw tightened.
⸻
“Good,” she replied.
A beat.
“Because ‘I couldn’t’ isn’t going to cut it.”
⸻
The room shifted again.
Back toward tension.
Back toward something unresolved.
⸻
Across the table, Hayes O’Rourke hadn’t moved.
But his attention hadn’t left Camilla.
Not once.
⸻
Not when Raven walked in.
Not when the truth landed.
Not when the past started pulling at her from every direction.
⸻
And now—
Now he was watching something different.
⸻
Not just her control.
⸻
What happened when it was tested.
Liam, off to the side, glanced between them all with quiet awareness.
⸻
“Business meeting,” he muttered under his breath.
A pause.
“Went well.”
No one responded.
⸻
Because this wasn’t business anymore.
⸻
This was something else entirely.
⸻
And it was about to get worse.
- Writer
