The Valkyrie Returns and Slays (Raven)

Chapter 23

Chapter 23

The crew behind Jax stared at the phone on the ground, swapping confused glances.

They couldn't figure out what kind of call could shake Jax enough to make him drop it like that. The guy always kept it together.

Next to him, Dane sat in his wheelchair, watching Jax's stiff posture. A sick feeling churned in his stomach.

"Jax, what's up?" he asked, his brow wrinkling.

Jax didn't say a word, just stood there quiet.

Then he slowly turned his head toward Raven, his glare cold and piercing.

"You behind this?" he asked, voice low.

Raven looked back with a small smile.

"Told you," she said easy, "I'd show you what regret feels like."

Jax's fists tightened, knuckles cracking from the pressure.

Dane caught their back-and-forth, and panic hit him hard.

"Jax, what's going on?" he pushed, his voice jumping with worry. Jax took a deep breath, his words coming out rough and gravelly. "The Group-it's finished," he said, heavy and slow.

Dane's eyes widened. He was dumbfounded.

He scrambled for his phone, pulling it out of his pocket in a clumsy rush.

It'd been on silent before they got here he hadn't even noticed till now.

When he got it out, the screen lit up with a call coming in.

He sucked in a shaky breath, his trembling finger tapping accept

the

heart stopped. He jumped in

"What happened?" he snapped.

was solid before he left-how could the Group

You know a ton of that stuff can't hit

went wide, shock

locked tight. The Group had killer programmers-They were supposed to keep

it was some world-class hacker," the voice added, sounding helpless. "Our firewall was like paper

a breath and cut him

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16:17 Mon, 14 Apr

Chapter 23

we fix

seconds of quiet dragged on before

cooked-bankruptcy's a done deal. Maybe... you could hit up Mr. Jax Grayson to bankroll a new one?"

"Smash!"

phone down

smashed into the ground, breaking apart. It didn't touch the anger

out in

Then he swung his head toward Raven, eyes flaming with hate,

gave a tiny nod, barely noticeable, then set his eyes on Raven

he said cold, "but you've pushed me

that big-shot CEO line and

thrown around the same tough-guy talk back then-and she'd still snapped his legs like

was tired of wasting words on Jax and

said, her voice cool. "Give me

or I'll take a little more from

burned darker, his whole

on Raven, each word sharp as

got,"

the Grayson Group was done, and the Grayson