Be My Brayshaw (Brayshaw High #4)(104)

He doesn’t deny it. “Yes. I led her there myself, but I didn’t tell her. She figured it out on her own.”

I drag my hands down my face, turning to Perkins. “What made you come here today? Why’d you assume she was gone?”

I’d swear he was waiting for my question.

“Mero Malcari’s offshore accounts have been sitting idle for almost three years.” His eyes move between mine. “It was cleaned out yesterday. Every penny.”

My gut twists.

No.

“How much was in the account?” I force my voice steady.

“Just over twelve-five.”

My soul begins to ache, and slowly, I turn away from my family.

I lick my lips, trying to ease the sting threatening to knock me on my ass.

This is on me.

I asked her to leave, and so she did.

Twelve million, five hundred thousand dollars.

I’ll never find her, never get to thank her for what she did, let alone grovel over what I have.

I swallow and take a deep breath, turning back to Perkins.

Raven lets go of Maddoc’s hand and walks over, looking up at me with tense eyes. “She wouldn’t take a dime of Donley’s money when it should have been hers. She wanted me to give it all to Bass Bishop,” she whispers, looking to my brothers as they step in closer, closing off our circle.

“Maybe that’s ‘cause she was sittin’ on millions, RaeRae,” Royce says quietly.

Raven shakes her head. “She didn’t take from that account, there’s no fucking way.”

Royce looks back to Perkins. “How did you know the account was emptied?”

My head snaps left, and it hits.

“She left you a clue,” I say before he can answer. “Didn’t she?”

“I got an email,” he shares. “There was a contingency on the account. The moment funds were withdrawn, it auto-sent.”

“Why you?” Raven asks.

“Because I was the first person she forced herself to trust when she had nowhere else to run,” he tells us.

I step toward him. “Show me.”

He pulls the phone from his pocket, handing it over.

My eyes fall to the screen where no words lie, only a clip art image.

A single, outlined anchor.

My chest caves.

She trusted Perkins to understand what it meant, to tell me something was wrong if she were gone, because she swore she’d never leave.

“She didn’t take the money,” I croak.

“Keep scrolling, Captain. There’s one more. One I couldn’t figure out.”

With shaky fingers, I drag my thumb up the screen and every muscle in my body locks when the second image stares back.

“A bird?” Royce whispers, shaking his head in confusion.

Holy shit.

Her friend. The boy from the Graven estate.

He found her for his father, and then spent his life watching her, following her… and now he’s come back for her.

Beady eyes and a red neck, white painted wings, rimmed in black feathers.

A fucking vulture.

“It’s Mike.” I shock them all, my pulse pounding double-time.

“Whoa, are you for real?!” Royce runs a hand over his hair.

“I knew something was off with that motherfucker. I had that damn feeling and I did nothing about it.” I drop the phone and drag my hands down my face, folding them around the back of my neck as I clamp my teeth together.

Fuck!

“She told me her damn self to basically watch his punk ass, that he didn’t belong here. She knew he wasn’t like us. Fuck man, she told me to make him go!” A deep ache sets in as a scalding fire lights in the pit of my stomach. “He’s Mero’s son. And he never fucking left.”

Maddoc yanks the phone from the ground, glaring at the screen, but slowly his eyes lift to our dad. “You turned your back on a fucking baby, and now he’s here, fucking with our family.”

“I had no clue, son,” our dad whispers. “If I had, I would have told you.”

“You should have fuckin’ known. She was burnt by a Brayshaw, for fuck’s sake! The burnt always turn to Graven!” Maddoc jerks away, turning to us. “We fuckin’ had him.”

Raven reaches out to grip Maddoc’s wrist and pulls him toward her, but her eyes slide to mine. “We have to find him.”

My temples throb and I clench my jaw to refocus the tension, I look from Perkins to my dad, to Raven and then my brothers. “I’ve got a feeling he’ll find us first.”

“Why would he do that? If he has her, why not leave, take her with him?”

“She’s not his prisoner.” I shake my head. “The tower was a message, a fucking... grand gesture or some shit he thought she’d appreciate, making his intentions clear. He’s twisted in the head, but he’s bettin’ on her agreeing to leave. She won’t.”

“You sure about that, brother?” Royce asks. “You told her to go.”

“It doesn’t matter.” My eyes meet his.

“Cap,” Raven whispers, pulling our eyes to her. She gives a sad smile. “If it comes down to a threat against you or her leaving, she will go.”

I gently place my hands on Raven’s forearms. “I know you did what you had to to help us, to save us, and we love you for it, but she is not you, Raven. She said she won’t go, and I believe her.” I nod, meeting my brothers’ eyes before looking back to hers. “I trust her.”