Chapter 71
The Hawkins estate loomed before Ravyn like a monument to everything she'd spent five years trying to escape. The perfectly manicured lawns, the imposing architecture, the gates that were meant to keep the world out but felt more like they were designed to keep inhabitants trapped inside—all of it represented the suffocating control her family wielded over everything they touched.
Including her.
Ravyn pulled Dante's borrowed sedan into the circular driveway and sat for a moment, checking her appearance in the rearview mirror. She looked exactly as she'd intended—disheveled in ways that told a specific story. Her blouse was still slightly askew, her hair mussed from Dante's fingers running through it, the marks on her neck visible despite her attempts to arrange her collar str
