Chapter 4 (Raven POV)

They returned after maybe an hour—maybe more. I’d lost track of time, still trying to untangle the chaos in my head.

Mira walked in with a gentle smile and a warm bowl in her hands. Elias followed behind, carrying a tray with a piece of bread and a glass of water.

“Here, eat slowly,” Mira said kindly. “It’s chicken and root soup. Good for healing.”

I nodded, murmured a quiet thanks, and accepted the food. It wasn’t just good—it was comforting. Warm. Real.

They sat with me a few minutes in silence, asking nothing.

Once I finished, they both rose and excused themselves with a soft, “Rest well, Aria.”

Then they left, closing the door behind them.

Silence settled again.

I leaned back against the headboard, my body finally warm, my mind anything but.

I turned my head toward the window. The moon was out—full and silver, glowing behind sheer curtains that swayed slightly with the sea breeze.

I stared at it, letting the quiet press against my skin.

And then it came.

The truth.

The part of me I had locked behind layers of panic and fear.

Yeah... I know who I am.

My lips barely moved as I whispered into the night:

“My name is Raven.”

Raven the ghost of shadow...

A assian...

That name didn’t feel like a guess. It felt like armor.

No last name. No bloodline. Because I didn’t know who my parents were. Or if they ever wanted me.

I grew up in an orphanage—a place that should’ve been shelter, but turned out to be a cage.

I still remember the nanny. Cold. Cruel. A monster behind a smile.

She beat every child, but with me... it was different. Personal.

She beat me until my skin broke and bled.

Until my bones ached. She starved me for days.

And the other kids? They were no better. Bullies feeding off the power she gave them.

So I stopped caring about them.

Stopped trusting.

Stopped needing anyone.

When I was five, I ran away. I remember wandering the city barefoot, scared, and hungry.Until one day Sebastian Grey found me.

He was sharp-suited, sharp-eyed, and silent.

He didn’t ask who I was. He give me everything Food. Shelter. Clothes. A bed.

And in return?

He wants Training.

He taught me everything. How to fight. How to disappear. How to read people like maps and silence like music. He didn’t raise a child.

He built a weapon.

At eleven, I completed my first mission.

No mistakes. No emotions. No noise.

Just clean success.

I was Raven. The ghost in the shadows.

Not a child. Not a girl. Just... Raven.

I kept my gaze locked on the moon, letting its cold light hold me together while the rest of me quietly broke apart inside.

“I did everything he asked me to do,” I whispered to the shadows.

“Every name he gave me, I crossed out. Every life he pointed at, I ended.”

Sebastian Grey. The man who rescued me from a nightmare… only to build another one.

A man who shaped me into a weapon sharpened me, polished me, used me.

I owed him everything. And yet... nothing.

When I turned eighteen, he walked into my life. Lucas Grey. Sebastian’s only son.

Arrogant. Spoiled. Dangerous. But brilliant—sharp in ways his father never saw coming.

When I first saw him, I felt something strange. Something... forbidden. Like my heart forgot it was never supposed to feel.

We spent time together—missions, quiet nights, shared glances across rooms full of killers. He made me laugh, made me curious.

For the first time in my life, I felt like I was seen.

Then he proposed.And like a fool, I said yes.

Not knowing what love was. Not knowing what his version of love meant.

We were together for four years. Or so I thought. Then came that mission. The one that ruined everything.

We were sent to eliminate a high-level target.

But something was wrong the moment we arrived.

The house was empty.Too quiet. Too clean.

We were being watched.

Seconds later, the room exploded. I remember flying through the air—heat, flames, debris. Pain.

Lucas shoved me out of the blast zone—

I didn't run. But when I woke up, he was injured. And I... I was accused.

“You left him to die,” Sebastian said, his voice colder than steel.“You betrayed us.” No one believed me. No one listened.

He locked me in the basement like I was some failed creation.And every day, he came down. With fists. With hatred. With lies.

One week of darkness.One week of blood.

When I came out, I told him the only truth I had left:

“I’m done.No more missions.No more killing.

No more Raven, the obedient ghost."

Sebastian smiled. Said, “Fine. Leave.”

But he didn’t let me go. He sent his people after me. Every corner I turned, they were there.Trying to erase me.Then came Lucas.

Different. Changed.

He caught me once.Tied me down. Looked at me like I was a stranger.

“You tried to kill me,” he said.

“And I loved you.”

I escaped that night. Jumped from a helicopter, into the sea below.No plan. No hope.

Just instinct.And the sea swallowed me whole.Until Elias and Mira found me.

Now I was here.A girl with no past. A weapon with no master.A shadow hiding behind someone else's name.

Raven.Still alive.But only barely.

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