“Could?”
Luke looked at her.
“Could mean somebody cut it.”
Silence.
“On purpose?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You thought it.”
“Yes.”
Raven looked toward the driveway.
Empty.
Her security team still did not know where she was.
That suddenly felt less liberating.
Luke watched her.
“You want me to call somebody?”
“No.”
Too quickly.
His eyes narrowed.
“Raven.”
“I said no.”
“Okay.”
He went back to the engine.
No argument.
No demand.
But something changed in his posture.
More alert.
Raven checked her watch.
Five thirty.
She had been missing from Steele security for nearly four hours.
They would already be panicking.
Good.
Part of her had wanted that.
Not because she wanted people afraid.
Because she wanted one day in which nobody knew where Raven Steele was.
She had failed before sunset.
Luke searched a cabinet.
“I have hose that’ll fit temporarily.”
“Temporary?”
“I’d replace the entire line before you take another long ride.”
“Can you?”
“Tonight?”
“Yes.”
He looked toward the parts shelf.
“Probably.”
“How much?”
“There you go again.”
“There I go what?”
“Trying to turn every answer into an invoice.”
Raven folded her arms.
“That’s generally how businesses work.”
“This isn’t a business right now.”
“What is it?”
“A guy fixing a bike.”
She stared.
Luke looked over.
“You seem offended.”
“I’m not.”
“You look offended.”
“I’m confused.”
“By free labor?”
“Yes.”
“That says more about your friends than it does about me.”
That sentence landed closer than Luke could know.
Raven looked away.
The previous month, her fiancé had appeared on the front page of three newspapers kissing a woman who worked for his family’s private equity firm.
Technically, Graham Vale had become her former fiancé twelve hours before the pictures reached the press.
He claimed the relationship had been over emotionally for months.
Raven pointed out that he had still been living in her penthouse.
Graham answered that “the situation had become complicated.”
Raven’s lawyer made the situation simple.
Within forty-eight hours, Graham’s possessions were removed.
Within seventy-two, his family began calling Steele board members to assure them the broken engagement would not affect pending merger negotiations.
That was the part Raven never forgot.
Not one of them asked whether she was all right.
They asked whether the merger was still alive.
Her engagement had become a transaction before the ring had left her finger.
Luke looked toward her.
“You okay?”
“Yes.”
“You disappeared for a second.”
“Just thinking.”
“Dangerous.”
She almost smiled.
A screen door opened.
Emma appeared carrying three glasses.
Luke frowned.
“Homework?”
“Finished.”
“Already?”
“You only said homework. You didn’t specify correct homework.”
Luke put down the wrench.
Emma immediately laughed.
“I’m kidding.”
She handed Raven lemonade.
“Thank you.”
“It’s powder.”
“Emma.”
“What?”
Raven took a sip.
“Best powdered lemonade I’ve ever had.”
Emma beamed.
Luke shook his head.
“She’s going into sales.”
The work took nearly an hour.
Raven sat on a wooden stool while Luke replaced the damaged hose and checked the rest of the motorcycle.
Emma sat on the floor drawing.
At some point the sky outside turned orange.