1. Novel

  2. Severed Heart (Ravenhood Legacy Book 2)

  3. Severed Heart: Chapter 47
Severed Heart (Ravenhood Legacy Book 2)

Severed Heart: Chapter 47

EXITING THE ELEVATOR, I stalk toward the glass door leading to Exodus’s reception area. Even all these years later, I’m still in awe that my brother owns a high rise. More so of what he’s accomplished, as well as the man he’s become. Even if I don’t entirely agree with all the manufactured parts of him. Of the decisions he’s made for himself in certain areas of his life. Nodding toward Shelly—Tobias’s everything assistant who forever has her phone glued to her ear—she gives me a wink of permission to head in.
A heartbeat later, I’m closing his office door and turn to see him peering out of his floor-to-ceiling windows at the Charlotte skyline. Though he’s immaculately dressed, his posture fitting of the mogul he’s become, I know the true state of him.
After our blowout, the Triple crew all but snubbed him when T attempted to get back into the day-to-day of the club. Which only added more insult to his catastrophic injury. Sensing it within days, I took back some of the reins to alleviate some of his burden. In silently watching him for a few seconds, I decide to cut straight to the hurt I know he’s feeling.
“You outgrew that role when you were sixteen, T,” I offer, hoping he takes my words to heart. “And you know it.”
“Here to gloat?” he counters, his words filled with an earned edge.
“Just the opposite. I’m here to give you the apology you deserve,” I say, taking a few strides in. “I’m sorry if I seemed flippant that day at the house. You deserved better. I’m not going to ask for your forgiveness because that’s up to you, but I want it. Though I need to have your trust back in the most basic sense for us to keep going, I know I’ll have to earn the rest.”
He keeps his back to me when he finally speaks. “Is this even my fucking club anymore, Tyler?”
“T,” I exhale. “I know this feels like fucking shit, but there is no club without you. We’d all been living separate lives for years before we came back in, so the transition hasn’t been easy on any of us.” I instantly see the rejection of my statement in his slight shift of demeanor. “But far before Cecelia, and even after she came, we never made a single fucking move without you in mind. Ever. If you don’t believe anything else that’s coming from me, believe that.”
“I don’t know what you expect,” he releases in exasperation as he turns to me, his fatigue evident even as he maintains his rigid posture.
“Nothing today, and maybe for months to come. I can only apologize so many times . . . though I would do it again.”
Eyes flaring in warning, he nods toward the door so I can see myself out.
“You weren’t there, Tobias, and it all comes down to that, but I’m not here to fight you or to glove up for them. They made their bed, and you reacted, and you’re stuck in yours. I’m trying to get comfortable in mine and know I never will if things stay as they are, but I’d be lying if I said this isn’t gnawing at me every waking fucking hour. I feel the disconnect you do, not on your level, but it fucking stings, brother.”
He rolls his neck and takes a seat behind his keyboard, dismissing the conversation as he speaks. “Anything on Miami?”
“We’re stalking their every move, but it’s quiet, and you know I don’t trust quiet.”
“I’m getting back to closing in on Roman,” he states. “It seems I’ve lost sight of a lot recently, so do what you will there, but remember their ties and why we can’t simply eliminate the problem.”
“Understood, but I’m not done,” I say, stepping forward. “Tobias,” I prompt as he lifts his unforgiving gaze to meet mine. “I’m fucking sorry.”
“I heard you, Tyler. I’m—”
“What you’re doing is leaving for Paris out of Charlotte in two hours.” I stalk up to his desk and palm it. “Within an hour of landing, I will have tracked Abijah down, and you will come face to face with your birth father—today. You have my word, brother. I’ll send you his exact location when you land. He won’t be approached, but he’ll be followed until you reach him.”
This has him animating. “And how the fuck will you do that?”
“I called in a favor,” I supply. “One of a very precious few I have, and I know this won’t make up for it, but you and I have got to start communicating again. I’ve been digging tunnels that you need to be aware of for some time now. So, I’m not asking if we’re good, T, because I know that will take time, but I am asking you to stop penalizing me with clipped orders so our club doesn’t suffer. I’ll give Shelly the details.”
Turning to do that, he speaks to my retreating back.
“I don’t know how to forgive this, Tyler.”
I stop just short of the door, glancing at him over my shoulder. The brother I know personally finally making an appearance since he iced me out. “I don’t know how you will, and honestly, I don’t think I could so easily either. But I do hope you figure out a way because we’re all stinging pretty fucking badly.”
“I know my aunt,” he says as I grip the door handle and stiffen. “I know her because I took the time to discover what I could, what history she would reveal to me. I have a lot of the same education you got from her because we made peace well before I left for France . . . but she didn’t reveal all to me, did she?”
I remain mute, which is confirmation enough for him, and he audibly sighs before I look back at him once more.
“All this time, I thought she mourned her ex-husband, but she suffered horribly at his hands,” he deduces before his chest bounces without sound. “Jesus Christ, do we ever really know people?”
“Only the people we care enough about to pour our efforts into, exploring inside and out, but even then, they change.”
“I have more fond memories of her than my brother.” He slowly flips a burner phone on his sleek desk, seeming lost in thought. “Or maybe he’s playing immune to any fond memory of her, but I remember well when she acted more a doting aunt than the woman who took us in.”
“Dom remembers that too, and they’ve been working on getting somewhere in recent months,” I relay, “but maybe you should let her know that someday. I know she’d be glad to hear it.”
He gives me a slow, assessing nod.
“Safe trip,” I expel, as the sting increases while I address him. “I’ll text you the minute you land . . . and T?” I pause as he stares back at me, searching my person as if through a new lens. “I hope you get the answers you seek or whatever peace you’re looking for with him, brother,” I relay sincerely, identifying with his struggle to understand the nature and actions of the man that fathered him more than he could fathom. We stare off a few seconds in that bond before I turn and snap the door closed behind me.
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