Page 41 of Don’t Break My Heart (Secrets of Ravens Hollow #3)

Romeo hooks his arm with mine as I walk by. “Time to come and see next door.”

“Not now, Romeo. I have a lot to get done this afternoon.”

His head drops, and I see his confidence faltering for the first time. “You can’t keep blocking me out.”

“Maybe tomorrow,” I tell him, not wanting to get into another fight with him.

I don’t have any fight left. After my freak out yesterday where I let it all pour out on the floor of Ricky’s office, I have been a shadow of myself, just trying to keep it together so I can make it through the days at the club.

A verbal sparring match with Romeo would tip me over the edge again.

“Okay, tomorrow.” He looks me over, his hand still on my arm. “Have you eaten today?” he asks, and I hear the concern in his voice.

“I have a sandwich in my office.”

“Good. I have lunch in the fridge as well. Let’s eat.”

“I don’t have time right now.” I try to brush him off. Us trapped in my office together is the last thing I need.

His hand slides down my arm, his fingers lacing with mine. “You do, and you need it. Onyx would kill me if he knew you weren’t taking care of yourself in his absence. ”

Because I literally have no fight left, I let him guide me back to my office. I take out my sandwich and sit in one of the armchairs, staring at it blankly. “Are you all still living down at the docks together?”

He looks up from his lunch. “Waiting for you to come home when you’re ready.”

“That’s not my home.”

“It could be. Home is wherever you make it. For us, that’s wherever you are, and it’s empty without you, doll face.” His dark eyes flash with a sadness that kills me.

Fuck, I can’t do this. Because I can’t respond, I take a bite of my sandwich.

It’s normally a favorite of mine; greens with extra cheese, beetroot relish and aioli, but today, it might as well be cardboard.

I eat the entire thing, the silence between us deafening.

I want to ask him a truckload of questions, like is Reef okay?

What the fuck is Onyx doing now? Has Orlando been successful in ridding this world of his awful brother, and does he miss me as much as I miss him?

That question could go for all of them. Pain radiates through my chest even at the thought.

But I can’t ask him any of them. I shouldn’t care.

And I can’t, if I want to move on with my life.

“They miss you.” He breaks the silence as if he has just read my mind. “We all do.”

A lump gets caught in my throat, and I stand in a rush, not able to look at him. I grab my bag and practically run for the door.

He beats me to it. “Sloane, stop.” His hand comes to my waist, and he pins me to the door.

I shake my head, warning him to stay away.

His head drops to my neck, and he inhales deeply. “Let me take you next door, I think it might help.”

My eyes meet his, and I want to burst into tears, fall apart on his strong shoulder, cry until there is nothing left inside and the pain is gone.

But I can’t. “I have somewhere I need to be,” I say instead, pulling out of his grip on me and opening the door.

He doesn’t chase after me, he lets me go, and I pray to whoever will listen that every day he will try a little less.

That eventually he will give up and let me go completely.

Because he’s wearing me down, and I’m not sure how much longer I can take us working together so closely before I crack and let him back in.

I wasn’t lying when I told Romeo I had someplace to be. I did. I pull up at Ravens Hollow police station and find a spot to park. This is one of the last places I want to be, but Ricky says I need to face my fears, so here goes nothing.

I march into the place like I own it. Shoulders back, head held high, faking every bit of confidence I don’t have. The receptionist pushes her glasses back up her nose then visibly flinches when she sees who it is.

“Can I help you, miss?” she asks, a slight quiver to her voice. How on earth is such a timid little mouse holding reception for our local station?

“Tell Commissioner Sedgwick that Sloane Stryker is here to see her.”

“Umm.” She looks over her desktop. “She’s booked out all day, I’m sorry.”

I suck in a breath and fake a smile, losing my calm. “Pick up your phone and call her. She will want to see me,” I snip back, my voice holding a warning.

She swallows hard, and it looks like she’s about to cry .

I blink back at her, wondering what the fuck she’s waiting for. Something in my look must spook her enough that she decides to do as I have asked and picks up the reception phone with shaky hands.

“Miss Sedgwick, I have a Miss Stryker in reception. She won’t leave unless you see her,” she says, her voice hushed as she stares back at me, all wide-eyed. She nods then she disconnects the call. “She won’t be long, Miss Stryker.”

“Thank you,” I snip, turning away from her and leaning into the adjoining wall while I wait.

My stomach is churning like crazy. I might look intimidating as hell and all put together on the outside, but inside I’m dying.

From the research I have done, she’s the only blood relative I still have, and I don’t know where that leaves us.

But I need to see for myself that it’s true, that she is who she says she is.

I have no fucking clue what I’m going to say when I see her.

All I know is I can’t keep pretending my life before I came to Ravens Hollow didn’t exist. It’s a part of me.

I hear her before I bother looking down the hall to actually see her. Her heels click along the linoleum, a sense of power to her stride. I push off the wall and straighten my posture, my eyes locking with hers.

She raises a perfectly manicured brow in my direction.

“Right this way.” She shows me down a corridor and into a room that has to be her office.

It’s neat and tidy, not a thing out of place.

Much like her. She’s perfectly put together, a powder-blue blouse under a dark gray blazer and pencil skirt.

Her hair is neatly pinned into a low bun at the back of her head, and her make-up is minimal but professional.

She’s a stunning woman, but there is a harshness to her.

A chill in the depths of her stare that would intimidate most. “Have a seat, Ava.”

I roll my lips. “Don’t call me that.” I run my eyes over the chair opposite her desk. “I’ll stand, this won’t take long. ”

“Suit yourself.” She closes her door and moves into the room, sipping from a coffee mug. “To what do I owe the pleasure this afternoon?”

I glare at her, scrutinizing every detail of her features. She’s beautiful, but the two of us look nothing alike at all. She does, however, look like the hundreds of images of my birth father that I have studied. I couldn’t deny she is his sister if I wanted to.

“I was wondering how long it would take you,” she says.

“Take me to what?”

“To come looking for what you’re owed.”

My body stiffens. “Are you fucking kidding me? I don’t want anything from you.”

“Why are you here then?” Her piercing gaze runs over me.

My heart kicks up a beat, all of a sudden not sure. Fucking Ricky putting ideas in my head. “No fucking clue.” I go to open the door and get the hell out of here, but she anticipates me and stops me, a hand on my shoulder.

“It’s perfectly natural for you to be curious about where you came from. You were abducted as a small child. Your entire life has been a lie. I would be curious if I was you.”

Her words come over me like poison, seeping through my skin in a way that leaves me feeling sick.

“I’m not curious,” I snip back, crossing one arm over the other protectively.

I don’t like the way she is looking at me like she fucking knows me.

She doesn’t know anything. “And I wasn’t abducted, my birth mother gave me to Katrina to protect me. ”

“Do you really believe that, knowing all you do about the Stryker family?”

What the fuck is that supposed to mean? “Yes, because I grew up with her and I know she didn’t have a hurtful, deceitful bone in her body. She took care of me like her own, and she did it because she knew I had no family to go back to.”

“You had me,” she snarls as if I’m personally attacking her right now.

Her anger makes me take a step back from her. “You’re a few years older than me, what would you have done to take care of a child?” I shake my head wondering what the hell she has to be angry about here.

Her eyes lock with mine. “You could have lived with me and my parents. You’re family, we would have taken care of you.”

“You don’t even know what you’re talking about. Your brother made a deal with the devil. There was nothing anyone could have done to protect me from that.”

I see it in the depths of her gaze, she knows it’s true. She knows exactly what he did to me. A life sentence owned by the Morettis.

“What do you want?” she asks.

I stare back at her. Why the fuck does she think I want anything from her?

I don’t even really know why I came here today.

I guess I just needed to see her, to see the truth.

“Give Reef his job back.” I don’t know where the request comes from, but she’s the only one who can help him now. Why not fucking try?

“What?” She stares at me blankly. “You must know I can’t do anything of the sort.

He might have been one of my best detectives, but Reef knowingly helped a criminal organization and kept vital information from the other members of his team.

I have had to suspend him and launch a full investigation into exactly what he was doing. ”

My glare turns icy. “He did everything to protect me. He shouldn’t be punished for trying to do the right thing.”

She huffs out a laugh. “He’s a big boy, he knew what he was involving himself in chasing after you. He let his feelings for you cloud his judgment. I can’t afford to have that kind of weakness on my team. ”

“You see it as a weakness, that’s interesting coming from you.”

Her brow shoots up. “What is that supposed to mean?” she snaps.

I shrug. “Only that I think you should be very careful who you associate yourself with.” She had to fucking know her sleeping with Jagger wouldn’t stay hidden forever.

And right now, I couldn’t be more grateful my big brother couldn’t keep it in his pants, it gives me the leverage to hopefully help Reef.

She takes a step closer to me. “Are you threatening me?”

I smile smugly, knowing I have something over her. “Not at all. All I’m saying is I think it would be in your best interest to see Reef’s job reinstated and whatever investigation you have going against him terminated, burned, or whatever the fuck it is you do to make shit disappear.”

A flash of worry comes over her features. “You know what you’re asking me to do is highly illegal. I could lock you up right now for even insinuating such a thing.”

My lips twist up at the sides. “But you won’t. I can see it in your eyes, you hold the guilt for what your brother did to me. That’s why you worked tirelessly for years to track me down.”

Her face drops, and for the first time, I see her hard, cold persona shift, tears welling in her eyes. “Who does that to their daughter?”

“A power-hungry piece of shit, that’s who.

He thought he was different, he thought he could make a deal with an underground operation to help his political career, and it did.

He thought he would be too powerful for them to touch him, but he was blinded by his own stupidity.

And now you’re going to make it right.” We stare each other down.

“Please, Commissioner Sedgwick, don’t punish a good man who got wrapped up in this mess.

His intentions were good; all he wanted to do was protect me, because my father, your brother, painted a target on my back. ”

“It’s Olivia, call me Olivia.” She looks me back over, and I think she might smile at me, welcome me to the family even. But she doesn’t. This woman has a massive chip on her shoulder. She might even be just as damaged as I am. You can see it in the depths of her eyes.

“Okay, Olivia, will you help me?”

She rolls her lips, and I can see she’s considering it. “I’ll see what I can do, no paperwork has been filed on his case yet.”

“Was he even suspended?”

“I think we both know there is more going on here. Shit even I don’t have control over.” Her brow rises, and I know exactly what she is insinuating.

“The Moretti control runs deep,” I mutter.

She massages her temples like she has a headache. “You have no idea.”

“Yeah, I think I do.” I give her a nod and head for the door. I think we are done here.

“Sloane.” She opens her desk drawer and takes out an envelope. “This is yours.”

I study the white envelope she handed to me. What the hell? I pop open the thing to see what’s inside. It’s a cheque for fifty million dollars. I glance back at her, my mouth popping open.

She smiles softly. “I knew eventually I would find you.”

“I… I don’t want this,” I stutter out, trying to shove it back in her direction.

“It’s yours from the sale of your parents’ estate and all the other assets they had accumulated.”

“You take it.” I shove it back toward her again.

“Do something good with it if you can’t bring yourself to spend the money yourself. But it’s yours, and God knows you deserve it after what they put you through. ”

I stare back at her, not sure what to say.

Her hand comes to my arm. “Take care of yourself.”

I blink back at her. This feels like the time where I should hug her and thank her for holding on to this kind of cash for me. For working tirelessly to track me down. But that’s not who I am, and I think she knows it. “Yeah, you too.” I step away from her, open her door, and stride away.

That didn’t go how I expected at all.