CHAPTER 5:CONFRONTATION

Sometimes the most dangerous lies are the ones we tell ourselves.”

I didn’t sleep that night.

Not because of the voice on the phone—but because I recognized it.

Not the tone. Not the distortion. But the rhythm. The pause between the words. The careful control.

It reminded me of someone.

And that someone was currently sipping overpriced espresso across from me like we weren’t in the middle of a war.

“Tasha,” I said slowly, “is there anything you want to tell me?”

She blinked. Played dumb. “About what?”

“Don’t do that.”

Her eyes flicked around the café. Too casually. Like she was checking exits.

I leaned forward. “Let me rephrase. Why was someone watching my apartment three days ago—and why did they also know I’d be meeting you here today?”

Tasha froze.

Just for a second. Barely noticeable.

But I noticed.

“You think I’m working with them?” she said, voice barely above a whisper.

“I think you know more than you’re telling me,” I shot back.

“I’ve always had your back, Rae.”

“Then prove it.”

She looked away.

And that’s when I knew.

She wasn’t just a bystander. She wasn’t clueless.

She was in it.

---

We didn’t speak for a long moment. I could hear the hiss of the espresso machine, the muted laughter of two girls across the room, the clang of plates.

And my heartbeat. In my ears.

Finally, she spoke. “I never meant for it to touch you.”

“Too late.”

“I was in debt,” she whispered. “Stupid choices. They offered a way out. I didn’t know who they really were. I thought it was just… investors. Until it was too late.”

I leaned back, breath shallow.

“You let them stalk me.”

“I warned them not to touch you.”

“Gee, thanks,” I snapped. “Did you also ask them to send the creepy phone call, or was that a solo project?”

Her eyes welled up. “I was trying to keep you safe. Xander’s name set off alarms with them. The moment they realized you were his ex-wife, you became valuable.”

“So I’m a bargaining chip now.”

“They said they wouldn’t hurt you,” she whispered.

I laughed. Bitter. “Tasha, when the devil makes a deal, he always lies.”

---

Later That Day…

I didn’t go home.

Instead, I went somewhere I hadn’t been in a long time.

The cemetery.

My mother’s grave was tucked under a weeping willow, worn but still elegant. I sat in the grass, heels kicked off, wind tangling through my hair.

“Guess I picked a hell of a mess, huh?” I murmured.

The truth was, I didn’t know what I was doing. Just that I couldn’t keep letting people choose for me. Not Xander. Not Tasha. Not the Circle.

If they wanted a fight?

Good.

They’d picked the wrong woman to watch.

My phone buzzed again.

Blocked number.

This time, I answered without hesitation.

But it wasn’t the distorted voice.

It was Xander.

> “Raven. Don’t go home.”

I stood up fast. “Why? What happened?”

Silence.

Then: “Because your apartment… it’s been breached.”

The wind outside had picked up, the cityscape bathed in golds and grays. My fingers trembled slightly as I tucked my phone back into my coat pocket. Not from fear. From adrenaline.

Xander’s voice still rang in my ears.

> “Your apartment… it’s been breached.”

I didn’t ask how he knew. I didn’t care.

I was already moving.

---

Twenty Minutes Later – Upper Manhattan

The black SUV pulled up to the curb before I even flagged it down. Xander’s driver. Of course.

I climbed in without a word, my jaw clenched. Xander was already waiting in the back seat, wearing one of those dark suits that made him look like the villain and the hero in the same breath.

“I told you not to go home,” he said, voice low.

“You think I scare easy?”

His eyes scanned me. “I think you’re angry enough to be reckless.”

He wasn’t wrong.

The drive was silent, tense. When we stopped, it wasn’t at my apartment. It was a high-rise across the street. Xander led me to the penthouse like he owned the place—which, knowing him, he probably did.

We stepped onto the balcony. From there, we could see my building clearly.

“Watch,” he said.

Two seconds later, a black-clad figure exited the front of my complex, moving too fast for someone who belonged there.

“That’s the second one tonight,” Xander murmured. “They’re watching you in shifts.”

I crossed my arms. “Why not just come after me already?”

“Because they don’t want you dead,” he said. “They want you scared.”

---

Inside the Penthouse

“So this is where you’ve been hiding,” I said, walking past a ridiculous grand piano and a wall of liquor that looked better stocked than a high-end bar.

“I wasn’t hiding. I was watching.”

“Stalker-ish,” I muttered, but my chest tightened anyway.

He sighed, rolling up his sleeves. “Raven, this thing with the Circle—it goes deeper than you know. They have files. Leverage. They know everyone’s pressure points. And yours is—”

“You?” I cut in sharply.

“No.” His voice was quieter now. “Yours is everyone you’ve ever tried to protect.”

I froze.

“Tasha’s in over her head,” he added. “So is your father. The Circle’s watching them, too.”

---

I sat on the edge of a couch too expensive to be comfortable, heart pounding.

“And you waited how long to tell me this?”

“I tried to keep you out of it.”

“Then maybe you should’ve left me out of your past.”

His jaw tensed. “If I could go back—”

“You can’t.”

There it was again—that gnawing grief behind my anger. He had built walls to protect me. But I never asked him to. And now we were both bleeding from the cracks.