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“She wanted to start a bakery,” he answered. He had a far off look in his eyes as he stared at the wall, not looking at any particular thing.
“A bakery?” I asked to be sure that I’d heard him correctly.
“One night, she came back from a grocery trip and told me she was opening a bakery and that she would call it Raven’s Delights. I smiled at her excitement. She had done this many times before, come home saying she was going to start her own bakery. She never followed through. It was just something to talk about. That night, Raven went to our bedroom, and an hour later, she came out with a full plan mapped out on starting her bakery. She had written her business plan and everything. I—” He sucked the rest of his words back in as if they were too painful to say.
I waited patiently for him to continue. He tossed the covers back and got out of bed, walking over to stand and look at a picture of Raven in a kitchen, smiling up at whoever was taking the picture. Van sucked in a deep breath.
“In no uncertain terms, I told her she wasn’t opening a bakery, and that no wife of mine was going to work outside of the house. I told her I had enough money to take care of her, our children, and grandchildren for the rest of their lives. I told her to go into the kitchen and cook me dinner if she wanted to cook.”
Wow.
“And what did she do when you said that?” I asked curiously.
“She— she said she was going
to have to ask me for a divorce if I didn’t support her. That’s when I stood up from my desk in my study, and… I—I walked over to her. As I told her that I would never let her go, I shoved her down to the ground. I don’t even know why I did it. I just did it. I shoved her so hard that she hit her head on the coffee table on her way down. The fear on her face sent shivers through me. I couldn’t believe I made her feel so afraid of me, so hurt. I tried to help her up. She wouldn’t let me help her. I kept apologizing, but she jumped up to her feet and ran out of the room, never saying another word to me. I thought she was going back to our bedroom to cool off. Instead, she grabbed her keys and ran out the door. She got in her car and drove frantically down my gravelly driveway and right into a tree, dying instantly. The reports weren’t able to tell if she died from the head injury against the coffee table or the impact of the accident to her ribcage. Either way, I killed her.”
“Wow, Van. You’ve been carrying around a lot of hurt, but you didn’t mean to hurt her,” I said.
“It’s just that, I believe in having order in my life. I don’t like changes. That’s why I didn’t like Raven to communicate with her family. They would pour these colorful ideas into her about what she should do. It was on those trips to the grocery store that she would get all these bright ideas because she would talk to her family on the phone when she was away from the house. She was my precious little flower. She wasn’t supposed to be covered in flour at a bakery all day long. I just wanted her home with me. To love me. To have our babies. I didn’t mean to hurt her. I didn’t mean it!”
Van looked to the far corner of the room at another picture.
“Raven, you’re here. You came back to me.” He walked across the room, holding his arms out to an invisible entity. From the look in his eyes, whatever it was he saw was real to him. “I’m so—so sorry about what I did to you. I love you so much,” he said and wept as he wrapped his arms around the air.
Standing there in awe, I thought I should take this moment to make a dash to the door, but I also was captivated by the sight in front of me. Van was hugging the air as if it was truly someone in his arms. While he was preoccupied with whatever he thought he saw in the corner of the room, I decided to take small steps toward the door. This would probably be my only chance to get out of this room alive.
“No, don’t say nevermore, Raven! We were meant to be evermore. Evermore, darling. Say it again.” Van was pleading with the air, but then he quickly turned to me. I was two steps away from the door when he rushed over to me and wrapped his arms around my waist, slowly hauling me into his arms. He tightened his grip, and I felt my heart beat faster than ever. I thought my heart would leap out of my chest. His touch made me so jittery. He meshed us closer together as if that was even possible.
When his sweaty hand stroked strands of my hair away from my face, I gasped. Who was this man in front of me? He didn’t appear to be the beast that just kidnapped me from a party but a gentle giant who had been deeply bruised from past love. The way he treated his wife was wrong, but having to live without her had been hell on earth for him. It was literally driving him insane. I just hoped I would survive his insanity.
Chapter Twelve
Bruiser
Restoration
I had my entire team on board in the search for Alise. We had located every piece of property owned by the Devereauxs in Alabama and the neighboring states. There were twenty-six massive estates and counting. These were some rich motherfuckers, and I couldn’t put anything past a man as wealthy as Van Devereaux. He could have his own cave built underground, for all we knew. We couldn’t leave one rock unturned. Alise was too important for that.
My research revealed Van had received over a hundred million dollars as the eldest living male Devereaux heir. But for as long as his money extended, my love for Alise extended further. I was going to bring her back home tonight. That, I would bet my life on.
My men were going location to location, searching for any sign of them. Limel searched the house in Beauregard, and now Dimir had joined him to scour the entire property, inch by inch. It was over three hundred acres, but I believed they would find her if she was there. Tameka was at my security office, screening phone calls and taking tips from the community. We put out an official request through social media and cable news for anyone who knew anything about Alise’s disappearance to call those tips into my office. The goofy-ass cops at the police station were upset about it, but I didn’t give one fuck about their feelings. I wasn’t about to leave the life of my baby in their hands when most of them couldn’t even bend over to tie their shoes.
Jeb, like every man on the search, was armed to the teeth and headed to a different Devereaux property. His wedding day had been ruined with Alise’s kidnapping, so he was ready to unleash the same amount of venom onto Van as I was. Xander had gone to check out Alise’s townhouse, just in case my guess was wrong, and Van had taken her there. Jayne demanded to be a part of the active search team with the men, so she rode along with Xander. She had her pistol in her purse and said she was ready for war.
Meanwhile, Channing was with Kemara, who had to be rushed to the hospital. The stress of the day had weighed on her, but their baby, who wasn’t a secret anymore, would be okay. Kemara just needed to rest.
One particular property of Van’s stood out to me. It was a secluded cabin in the middle of Alabaster. After a tip from Van’s dead wife’s mother, we knew that this cabin was where he often went when he wanted to be secluded from the world with Raven. According to her parents, he isolated her from them, wouldn’t let her work, and basically controlled her. So, the cabin seemed like just the location he would want to take Alise to isolate and control her. That thought alone caused the veins in the side of my neck to pulse. I had to get there. If he hurt her, I would never forgive myself.
By the time we gathered this information and pinpointed the location, Van had about a four hour lead on us. I drove at full speed to the cabin in Alabaster, knowing when I arrived he would wish he never touched my woman. Hell, he would wish he never touched any woman.
I drove down a long, makeshift driveway that led to a dimly lit cabin. I hopped out of the car and ran up to the door. I took out a piece of metal and started working the lock. It took me a minute to get in, but once I was inside, I pulled my gun from my waist and walked through the dark living area toward the back of the house. The smell of lavender heightened my senses. That was Alise’s favorite scent. She was here.
Just as I was about to touch the door handle, I heard Van yelling, “No, don’t say nevermore, Raven! We were meant to be evermore. Evermore, darling. Say it again.” Loud whimpers ensued, and he let out a high-pitched shriek like the bitch he was. “I just miss her so much. So much…”
“Let it out. Just let it all out. You’re going to be fine,” Alise said. She sounded unharmed, and that made me feel relieved.
“I won’t be fine! My heart is hurting, so bad. I want to be with her again! I have to be!” Van yelled. “Don’t run away from me, Raven! Please, come back!”
