Beneath The Surface

Chapter 54: Coming Home

--- Marco's POV ---

As I stepped out of the warehouse, the door clanged shut behind me, leaving the grim scene inside where it belonged. The cool night air hit me, a stark contrast to the heat of everything that had just gone down. I scanned the area, and that’s when I saw it, the black Aston Martin DB11. Raven’s choice. Fast, sleek, powerful. Just like her.

      
Before I could process it, Raven slid into the driver’s seat. The engine roared to life, and within seconds, she was gone, speeding off into the night. I watched the taillights disappear, realizing she wasn’t heading home. No, she was going in the opposite direction.
      

But there was something about the way she drove off, the determination, the need to put distance between herself and everything that just happened. I couldn’t help but think about the car she chose. The DB11 isn’t just any car, it’s a beast, powerful, sleek, fast. It suited her in ways I hadn’t fully realized until now. There’s so much to Raven that I feel like I don’t know. So much she’s kept hidden, and tonight only revealed a fraction of it.

There’s so much to her that I don’t know, I thought, feeling a strange mix of admiration and concern. Tonight, she had shown a side of herself that I hadn’t fully understood until now. She had just killed her father, a man who had tortured her, marked her, and tried to break her. And she did it without hesitation.

Ace stepped out beside me, his eyes fixed on the road where Raven had just disappeared. “We need to follow her,” he said, his voice tense with urgency.

I could feel the worry rolling off him, and I got it. I really did. But I shook my head, placing a hand on his shoulder to stop him. “No, let her go,” I said, keeping my voice steady even though I wasn’t sure I believed what I was saying. “She needs space after what just happened. She just killed someone, Ace. Her father, at that.”

Ace’s jaw clenched, his frustration palpable. “But what if she does something reckless? What if she .. ”

“She won’t,” I cut him off, more confident than I felt. “She’s stronger than you think. She’s not running from us, she’s running from what she just did, from what she’s feeling.”

Ace exhaled sharply, running a hand through his hair as he stared down the empty road. I knew he hated feeling powerless. Hell, so did I. But this wasn’t something we could fix for her. Not tonight.

“Look,” I continued, “we’ll keep an eye on her. The car’s got a tracker. We’ll know where she is, and if she goes too far, we’ll step in. But right now, she needs time. We have to trust that she’ll come back when she’s ready.”

He hesitated, clearly torn, but eventually, he nodded. “Alright,” he said, though I could hear the reluctance in his voice. “But if she’s not back by morning, we’re going after her.”

“Agreed,” I replied, knowing Ace needed some sort of plan, some way to stay connected to her. We both did. But Raven needed this, and we had to give it to her, no matter how much it hurt to let her go.

As we climbed into the car, I pulled out my phone and opened the app linked to the car’s tracker. The red dot on the screen moved steadily away from us, away from home. I watched it for a moment, trying to push down the unease that twisted in my gut. She needed to drive, to clear her head, to reclaim whatever control she could after tonight. And I had to trust that she would.

The ride home was tense. Ace and I kept our eyes glued to the tracker, monitoring Raven's every move as she drove that Aston Martin DB11 like it was an extension of her own will. The speed she was pushing the car to was terrifying, making my gut twist every time I saw the numbers climb. She was on the open road, letting the engine roar, as if she was trying to outrun everything that had just happened.

I kept reminding myself that she needed this, that she wasn’t running away from us, but it didn’t make the wait any easier. Each minute dragged, every second filled with the fear that she might not slow down, that she might not come back.

“Maybe we should’ve followed her,” Ace said, breaking the silence, his voice tense with worry.

I shook my head, keeping my eyes on the tracker. “She needs space, Ace. After what she just went through… it’s a lot to handle. We’ll just keep an eye on her through the tracker. She’s not running away from us.”

He sighed, reluctantly agreeing. We both knew that trying to chase her down would only push her further away. Raven was strong, stronger than either of us had fully realized, but even the strongest person needed time to process something like this.

The hours that followed were some of the longest of my life. Every time the tracker showed her pushing the car faster, my heart would race, but I had to trust that she knew what she was doing. She was venting, letting out all the anger, pain, and fear that had been building up inside her for years.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, we heard the roar of the Aston Martin DB11 outside, a wave of relief hit me like a ton of bricks. Ace and I exchanged a look, a silent understanding passing between us. She was back, and that was all that mattered.

We rushed to the door, our hearts pounding in sync with the lingering tension. When we opened it, the sight of her standing there, whole and unhurt, sent a flood of emotions through me. Relief, gratitude, and something deeper that I couldn’t quite put into words.

Her eyes met ours, and I could see it, the raw vulnerability, the storm of emotions she’d been holding back. Tears welled up in her eyes, and in that moment, I knew why she had come home. She needed us. Despite everything that had happened, she needed us, and that realization hit me harder than any punch.

Without a word, she stepped inside, and we immediately closed the distance, pulling her into our embrace. The moment her head rested against my chest, I felt her body tremble, the tears she had been holding back finally spilling over.

Ace wrapped his arms around both of us, his grip firm but gentle, offering her the support she needed. None of us said a word; there was no need. The silence was filled with understanding, with the unspoken promise that no matter what happened, we were in this together.

For a long moment, we just stood there, holding her, letting her release the pain and fear that had been suffocating her. I could feel her heartbeat slowly steadying, the tension in her body gradually easing as she let herself be vulnerable in our arms.

In that embrace, I knew that this was where we all belonged. No matter what the future held, no matter the challenges we would face, we had each other. And that was enough.