Page 6 of Raven's Hacker
It had been weeks since I wrapped up the legwork I had to do to get the woman, Raven, away from her douche canoe of a husband. But here I was. Sitting at my computer set up, unable to figure out why I hadn’t been able to fully focus on any of my other work all week. Like, all of it started out great, and two seconds later, I’d be thinking about her.
Nothing for the club.
Nothing for the PI.
I kept thinking about Raven. Wondering how the divorce was going because, in a moment of weakness, I had checked that she had filed for divorce. Like a fucking creeper. I started digging into her background, too. Like a fucking creeper. Orphaned, mom of one. Boy, eight years old. Loving wife and mother, soon-to-be divorced. Volunteers; works as a Senior Web Designer for DesignYourAssOff Design Agency. Also known as DYAOD Agency. She worked as a Senior Web Designer, but also dabbled a little in marketing with her designs. Her IG was full of a garden, cozy-looking backyard with her kid playing in a tree fort. The posts were all about him and the things they liked to do. Things with her husband fell off steadily about four years ago on all of her social media. Probably when he really started pulling back in the marriage, as his affair was becoming physical.
Asshole.
Her son looked like her, thank fuck. He would probably start to look more like him in his build and height, but he was a good-looking kid with his mom’s hair and eyes. Everyone loves the look of someone with dark hair and light eyes. He’d be a heartbreaker one day. She had him in sports, year-round, too. She took him on vacation at least once a year, sometimes more if the vacations were closer or just for a long weekend. She looked like an awesome mom.
Lucky kid.
It had been about two months since he was served, and her lawyer told my PI boss, it should be an easy divorce. Child custody was about the only thing that needed to be decided. I would help with that if I could. I traveled through the bug I embedded into the email forMattie-boy and Karen.I had sent the bug so I could see what they were doing with the money, and to get proof of the affair. I knew I’d seen mentions of ‘the kid’, ‘the brat’, ‘the petri dish’, and so on. I knew they were talking about Ryder. I’d get all the information I could gather. Dates, time stamps, anything that showed he did not want his child. He wouldn’t be near that boy if he felt that way. Not so that he could neglect him on the weekends or pawn him off on babysitters.
Fuck.
That.
Woah. Wait. Why am I so invested? I asked myself as I sent the email directly to the lawyer. Her stepfather, essentially. She and her son didn’t need to see or hear the things he had said about them through text. Which I included in the email, hoping he’d be a smart enough lawyer or care enough about them enough to know that it could be harmful to their mental states.
Maybe I should talk to Hades about this. There was definitely something going on. Something I didn’t understand at all.
Or Bullet. He might know…but…
If there was something wrong with me…I might need Doc’s opinion.
Shit.
S I X: Check-ins.
Raven’s POV
He checked in.
Once a week.
I wasn’t expecting it. He wasn’t expecting to, just wanted to see how we were doing. Over the next six months, since the divorce was finalized, I sold the house, which we owned jointly. I gave him half the proceeds, via Jefferson, of course. I wanted nothing more to do with Matthew. The sooner we could cut the cord, the better. All other finances were split a little better than half in my favor. I had been listening to what Stormi’s boyfriend called ‘angry white girl music’ lately. Lots of Alanis Morissette, Meredith Brooks, P!NK.
But I was also listening to the music to bring me up, too. Like Lizzo’s song ‘Truth Hurts’ is hitting hard for me this week after the sale of the house. Ryder had been putting up with all my ‘girly music’ as he called it. Poor boy. At least we moved closer to two of his best friends, and their moms were awesome. We all lived in the same development.
We got a housewarming gift when we walked into the house today. A voice came through the Ring doorbell camera to say, “Hey, Raven! It’s Beck-uh…” he cleared his throat, “Hacker. I just wanted you to know I had a state-of-the-art security system added to your townhouse. You and Ryder are totally secure.”
A lock sounded, and his voice came over the speaker again, “The front door is unlocked now. I’ll call you later to set it up for thumbprint recognition.”
“Wow. We have a smart house mom!” Ryder shouted as he ran inside. I just stood giggling at my guys.Guy. Mylittleguy.
“Thank you, Beck. I’m looking forward to later,” I smiled at the camera before walking in and shutting the door. All our stuff had been delivered today from the old house. I’d spent this past week setting up new closet shelving for us, painting our rooms, and putting together the new furniture, including the bunk bed with a slide. I knew he was eight already, but I would have loved it until I became a teenager. It was a close one, with almost not having his room and mine move-in ready by the end of business today. We spent the next few hours unpacking, organizing, and setting up the necessities for the home.
I had a smile on my face, grabbing the door-dashed Chinese we got for dinner after we realized it was already six-thirty in the evening. Having this new security system was nice! I could see who came up to my door as soon as they pulled in the driveway. It was nice. My phone pinged with another text. Gosh, I hoped his anxiety wasn’t spiking. We’d never done a FaceTime call before. I think he was nervous about that, but he’d seen me plenty before. He could always log into the cameras and see us.
Beck:Are you sure you can do the call tonight?
Beck:It’s okay if you can’t. I know you’re busy. But I know you mentioned earlier that it was supposed to be your weekend off.
I didn’t know how to answer that because he wasn’t answering my texts, and it was already seven on Friday night.
Beck:Please don’t tell me he’s bailing again. I’m sorry if that’s coming across as angry, but I’m so mad for both of you. Youbothdeserve better.
