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I grab the phone and bring it to my ear. “Hello.”
“Miss Ravenwood,” Earnest Brooks says. “I’m sorry to disturb your morning, however we have issues that need tending to.”
“Issues?”
Earnest lets out a deep sigh. “Ida Carver has shown up in our cells this morning with a horrifying confession that needs to be discussed. I suggest that we get this over and done with quickly before news of this begins to spread through Dynasty.”
“Of course,” I tell him. “I’ll get King and Carver and we’ll meet in the council chambers in twenty minutes.”
Earnest ends the call and I look up at Carver, concern flooding my gaze. “Are you ready for this?” I question, not needing to explain what was said.
His gaze flashes to his sisters who remain completely clueless to the tension now spreading through the room. “I just want it done,” Carver tells me before finishing his glass of orange juice and stalking straight out of the room.
Twenty minutes later, I sit in the council chambers, my gaze skirting around the table that’s actually full for the first time in months. I’m not going to lie, both new guys look way too fresh and excited to be here. If only they knew what was about to happen.
“Thank you all for being here so early in the morning,” I say, noticing that more than just one of the men around me look as though they’ve just rolled out of bed. “However there have been some startling revelations overnight and this meeting simply could not wait.”
Earnest stands, prepared to explain what he saw this morning when I hold up a hand to silence him. “If you don’t mind,” I say, indicating for him to take his seat. “I am already completely up to date with the situation and I believe it only to be fair that Dante Carver be the one to run this morning’s briefing.”
Earnest clenches his jaw, hating not being the one running the show as he reluctantly turns his attention to Carver who stands and glances around the table like the true leader that he is.
I press my lips into a tight line as Brooks sulks beside me and I’m forced to look away to avoid laughing at his pitiful display, only I catch King’s stare who perfectly reads exactly what’s going through my mind and only makes my struggle harder.
Carver’s gaze falls back to mine and just like that, it’s all business. “Roughly six hours ago, Ember Harding was found beaten and bruised by the main gate of our estate. She was taken back to the Ravenwood mansion and her wounds were taken care of. She explained that she had been beaten under the instruction of Paris Moustaff, her biological mother, after a failed attempt on Elodie’s life.”
“How is this relevant?” Harlen Beckett questions. “Ember Harding is no longer our problem.”
Carver’s irritated glare snaps to the man who is no doubt going to cause us problems one day. “If you had a little patience, you would find out. Your interruption is only wasting everyone’s time, including your own.”
Harlen glares straight back at him and if we were anywhere but here, I don’t doubt that he would have pulled a gun on Carver for the way he spoke to him, but it wouldn’t have done him any good anyway. Carver would have just turned the situation around and had Harlen on his knees, begging for his life.
Carver continues. “In exchange for her life, Ember offered up what little information she had. In doing so, she brought my mother, Ida Carver, into the mix.”
“How so?” Mr. Danforth questions, his chin raised and eyes narrowed in curiosity.
“Ember explained that my mother has been working with Paris since the beginning, just as my father had been.” Gasps sound around the room but Carver doesn’t stop. “My mother was accused of knowing that the kidnapping was going to take place and voluntarily helping in the process.”
Earnest shakes his head beside me. “That doesn’t make sense. Her own children were taken.”
Carver nods. “I’m very well aware of that and refused to believe it myself. However, I have a whole childhood of abuse which suggests that Ida Carver is more than capable, and when confronted about it last night, she didn’t just confirm Ember’s accusations, she insisted that it was for her children’s own personal growth.”
“That’s absurd,” Mr. Danforth demands, flying to his feet in anger. “My sons are struggling to sleep at night. They have been scarred from the whole experience. How on earth was that supposed to encourage personal growth? Her girls are still babies and barely able to understand what happened. It would have terrified them.”
“It did. They haven’t been adjusting well at all. Public outings have them scared, they can’t be alone in the dark, and they have had to learn the hard way that sometimes the people we love are capable of the worst actions against us,” he says, making my heart break for everything he’s had to go through during his childhood. I had it bad, jumping from home to home, but sometimes it’s the ones who we think have it all who are suffering the most. “Late last night, I stormed the Carver residence and confronted my mother. After her confirmation of her involvement in the kidnappings, I had every intention of executing her, however my sisters were there and refused to allow me to do so. They begged to allow their mother the chance to stand trial and I refuse to give them a reason not to trust me.”
