Page 73 of Sins of Seduction
There was a knock on the door, and a uniform came in. “Greyson, a Ria Matthews is on the phone for you.” Greyson and Cruz left the room and walked over to Greyson’s desk. Cruz waited patiently, listening to the one-sided conversation.
Cruz looked over Greyson’s shoulder, trying to read whatever was scrawled on the paper. Greyson hung up and handed the paper to Cruz. “Does that name look familiar?” Greyson asked.
“Leigh Cunningham? Other than the last name, should I know it?” Cruz waited for Greyson to get to the point.
“The very short conversation was informative. According to Ms. Matthews, Lea’s half-sister had reached out once they both turned twenty-two. Whether they remained friends or not, she wasn’t sure since their first time meeting didn’t go well. The sister’s name is similar to Lea’s because the father didn’t want to accidentally call the wrong child’s name. Ms. Matthews was also kind enough to inform me that Leigh did have a middle name, looked more like her mother where Lea looked like the—”
Greyson stopped talking. He abruptly jumped out of his seat. “Why are you here?” Greyson barked as he made his way over to the watercooler, Cruz hot on his heels. “Why aren’t you at Ms. Wright’s house?” Greyson snapped, and Cruz didn’t wait for a response, already knowing exactly what happened.
He was out of the station in a heartbeat, his feet carrying him to his car as if he had wings and flew. Jax was not picking up, and this new piece of information seemed to slam all the pieces into place for Cruz as he put his foot on the gas and rushed over to Raven’s house.
Cruz’s cell rang, and he put it on speaker as he sped past cars. “Ms. Wright isn’t in her room.” Greyson barked through the phone. Cruz had already figured that out. “The cop guarding her door had been drugged and left in her bed. I have a team heading to Lush, just in case Ms. Wright is brought there, and a team following you to her house.”
Cruz hung up, his foot pushing the gas, willing his car to move faster, praying that Jax and Raven weren’t hurt. He let a humorless chuckle fall from his lips. “Never thought I’d see the day I’d be praying for Raven’s safety.”
The smell was the first thing that woke Raven from her slumber. It smelled like something was burning, but she wasn’t sure. All she knew was that it made her feel nauseous. The second thing her mind registered was the pain in her head and jaw, and the third thing her mind registered was that her hands had been tied behind her back as well as her legs.
Her eyes flew open, and she was in her living room sitting across from an unconscious Jax. From where she sat, she couldn’t tell if he was breathing. She desperately tried to pull herself closer. She squinted her eyes looking for the rise and fall of his chest but saw nothing.
“Jax?” she whisper–yelled his name, but nothing. He didn’t stir and she closed her eyes. Tears fell freely as the realization hit that she had caused another death, and not one of a near stranger but of someone she loved.
Jax was in her system, and she felt her heart shatter inside her chest, felt it bleed. Jax’s existence in her world was no more and it was all her fault. She told him she was going to get him hurt and still he stayed. “You stupid man,” she whispered in between sobs, feeling broken.
“Do you think he deserves your tears?” Raven jumped at the sound of Danielle’s voice. “Well, do you?” Raven felt the cold press of something against her neck. She tried to turn away from it, but Danielletskedunder her breath. “Answer the question, Raven. Do you think he deserves your tears?”
“Yes. Is he alive?” Raven asked over the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears. She had no idea what was going on and why Danielle was in her home.
“Right,” Danielle murmured before Raven saw the gun aimed at Jax’s knee. She pulled the trigger and Raven waited for the sound to accompany the shot. Surely her neighbors would call it in if they heard it, but it never came. Instead Jax’s screams tore through her home, and while she hated that he was in pain, he was alive.
Danielle walked over to Jax, grabbing his head so he could face Raven. “I’ve been wanting to do that to you for so long.” She kissed his cheek. “You don’t know how therapeutic that was for me.” She pushed Jax’s head, and Danielle sat on the couch.
“Now that I have everyone’s attention,” Danielle leaned forward, “I’m a little short on time. Drugging the cop at your hospital room took too long. The fuck was not as light as he looked, and then waiting for you two to wake up….I didn’t account properly for that, so forgive me if I seem like I’m rushing through this. Years of planning and this schmuck,” she nodded toward Jax, who stopped screaming but the rapid rise and fall of his chest told Raven he was in pain. “Had to go and fuck it up. Why can’t you leave her alone?”
Danielle stood up and Raven tried to piece together why this was happening. Danielle had been nothing but professional and kind to her in the years they worked together, except for that one misstep. “Is this because I won’t sleep with you?” Raven asked, wondering if this had started out of some misguided attraction.
Danielle’s laughter set Raven on edge. She felt Danielle’s hands on her shoulders before one of them wrapped around her throat. Where Jax’s touch had turned her on when he did this, Danielle’s scared her. “I know anyone who encounters you thinks you’re this goddess.” Something sharp bit into her cheek, causing Raven to hiss out. She felt the wetness of Danielle’s tongue against the spot that had just been in pain.
“But goddesses don’t bleed—dirty cunts do. Your fake rejection didn’t hurt me, considering I could have fucked you at Murray’s if I wanted to.”
Danielle’s fingertips trailed down the middle of Raven’s body. She was still in the hospital gown and very naked underneath. Danielle’s fingertips danced down Raven’s left leg before she inched the gown farther up her thigh. Raven could see Jax struggling to get free of his binds despite the pain he had to be in. He cursed Danielle out and he watched helplessly as Danielle’s fingers inched their way up the inside of her legs.
“Rave,” Jax’s voice sounded sore. “Look at me. It’s just you and me. You’re okay.” He tried to sooth her as they both felt paralyzed by what was happening.
Danielle’s hand stopped at the top of her thigh. “Like I’d waste my time. I’ve watched so many touch you. Fuck you. You think I would want to go anywhere near that? That day in your office was a test and you failed,” Danielle whispered in her ear, “and this is the problem with women who are too sexually open. You don’t know how to turn down sex, and in turn, you destroy those who are determined to love you.” Danielle removed her hands from Raven’s thigh and quickly stood in front of her.
“You never deserved her.” Danielle’s fists came across Raven’s lip not once but twice before her hands were wrapped around her throat. “Ahh, Rave, your blood excites me.” Danielle licked the blood off of Raven’s lips before she let her go and walked over to Jax.
“Have you figured it out yet? Do you know why I’m here?” Raven shook her head, though she was starting to see the similarities between the unhinged version of Danielle that matched Lea toward the end.
“You’re smarter than that, Raven. Are you giving me center stage to tell my sob story?”
“Get on with it,” Jax growled. Blood soaked the front of his jeans, and Raven didn’t understand how he didn’t pass out from the pain he must have been in.
“If you insist,” Danielle sing-songed, like this was some play. Raven’s living room, her stage, and she was going for the best performance of her life. “Is Lea still on your mind, Raven? Do you think about her at all in the five years since you killed her?” Danielle pulled out her gun again as she walked around. The gun was aimed at Jax while she spoke to Raven.
“Lea was so sweet. She had this light that I didn’t see at first because I blamed her for my parents splitting up. I wanted her to die because if there was no Lea, there was no reason for my father to leave. You know, I tried to kill her once.” Danielle sat down on the couch but kept the gun aimed at Jax’s chest. “I used poison. I’m not one for guns, really. I’m only using this to keep sweet cheeks over here from busting out of his binds. He’s strong. I had to up the tranq to keep him down. Anyway,” she waved a hand in front of her face, “my mom and dad sent me away to get better, and I did and reached out to Lea again. The sweet soul that she was forgave me, and we had a pretty good relationship until you. Until you made her promises of an ever after you had no desire to actually give her because of him. Do you know what it was like to watch your sweet baby sister go from walking on clouds to being so depressed she wouldn’t eat for days?”
Danielle surged to her feet and Raven winced. She knew how the end of Lea’s story went. She was there. She watched Lea fade away until something had poured into her enough that she lashed out at Raven.
