Page 51 of Raven

And we all silently agreed.

27

Raven

Katherine was organizingreports at her desk like any other day.

Like she hadn't left Beatrice to die. Like she thought Beatrice was already dead.

I walked in first, flanked by Dan and Troy. No smiles. No greetings. Just quiet, purposeful steps across the station floor.

Katherine looked up. “Raven. Did you find Beatrice?”

“Yes, and she’s alive,” he said flatly.

Katherine’s hands froze mid-shuffle.

“We rescued her from where you pushed her over the cliff,” Troy added, his voice edged with fire. “She told us everything.”

Silence fell over the room like a dropped curtain.

Katherine blinked slowly.

“She told us about the trip to Croft Ridge,” I said, stepping closer. “How you lured her out there. She told us how you knocked her out, how youthrew her into a ravine. She told us it was you who started those fire bombs, it was you who killed those men. ”

Katherine’s face didn’t move at first, but her fingers twitched—barely.

“You’re lying,” she said, voice cool but thinner than before.

“She survived, Katherine,” Dan said. “She landed in a tree. She screamed for more than two days. And we found her.You didn’t win. You’re going to pay for trying to kill my sister.”

Katherine’s jaw clenched. “You have no proof.”

Raven reached into his pocket and pulled out a small voice recorder. “She gave a statement. The police are on their way here. You will be locked away for the rest of your life for murder and attempted murder.”

Dan stepped forward. “And guess what else? There are security cameras on the way to the ridge. Caught you driving in with her—andleaving alone.”

Troy’s voice dropped, rough with fury. “You dumped her like trash. You left her to die, on the bottom of that cliff. Thank God for that branch. If the police weren’t here, I would kill you myself.”

* * *

She’d survived.

I wanted to scream and stamp my feet.

And worse—hehad found her.

Raven.

Of course it was Raven. The damn golden boy with the haunted eyes and perfect timing. He always showed up for her, like some kind of storm-worn hero ripped straight from a propaganda poster.

And now the entire Golden Team was on the board.

* * *

Her eyes darted between us,like a cornered animal. “You don’t know what she did to me. She took everything. The attention. The praise. You all made me invisible.”

“You made yourself invisible the moment you stopped seeing everyone as people and started seeing competition,” I said.

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