Dirty Secrets (The Heights #1)

Prologue

PROLOGUE

RAVEN

Twelve years old

F ear rolled through me as my thirteen-year-old brother, Josh, pulled me to the floor as gunfire sounded outside, glass shattering as the front windows were shot to pieces. A scream was stuck in my throat, but it refused to come out.

Josh’s best friend, Reid Barron, dropped down beside us as more bullets flew, and my best friend, Logan Donahue, scampered across the room on his hands and knees.

The front door was kicked open, the wood splintering as the gunfire turned silent.

Josh thrust me towards Reid as we crawled into the kitchen, shaking my hands off him as he got to his feet and stood in front of us, acting like a shield.

“Josh!” I choked out as a bunch of teenagers and men filled the room with their guns raised, but Reid held me firmly, not letting me get in harm's way. Reid was the same age as my brother, but he’d always acted older.

Logan was the same age as me, but right now, I felt so much younger in my panic while they kept their shit together.

“The fuck do they want, dude?” Logan murmured under his breath, but if Josh heard him, he didn’t acknowledge it.

We all knew Josh was running drugs for one of the local dealers, but we'd never had trouble before. We did live in Hawthorne Heights though, so we should've seen it coming.

This town was built on crime, deceit, and gunfire.

Fear burned through me, turning my limbs numb as Reid kept a firm grip on me, but I could tell he would've preferred to be pulling my brother back instead. We were all friends, but Reid would always be loyal to my brother first.

I'd never compare to him.

“I’ll get the money, just give me a few days,” Josh said firmly, not shying away from the danger.

“You said that last week,” one guy bit out, stepping closer to him. “Time's up.”

Josh hung his head, glancing back at me with apology and regret.

Time stood still as his mouth curved into a sad smile, his voice gentle as he said the Heights’ motto that told me this was about to turn really bad. “Hear no, see no, speak no, Rae.”

He’d only say that if he was going to get badly hurt. People in the Heights never spoke to cops, we handled our own shit, so whatever they did to him I’d have to keep to myself no matter what.

Reid went rigid from Josh’s words as I fought him. I had to protect my brother, they couldn’t take him away from me.

They didn’t care that he was only a kid, they only saw a failed money maker.

“Don’t say that! You’re going to be fine!” I shouted, turning my attention to the men as I continued fighting Reid. “Please! We can come up with the money!”

“Shut her up or she dies too!” one of the men yelled, my eyes going wide.

“Don’t hurt him!”

“I said, shut her up!” he snarled, Reid’s hand going over my mouth to silence me. I struggled, his arm tightening around me as he whispered in my ear.

“I’m sorry, Rae. Josh will kill me if you get hurt.”

I screamed from behind his hand as someone stepped closer to Josh and pressed the barrel of their gun to his forehead, and Josh straightened, his voice weak. “Don’t do this in front of my sister. Please.”

“You don’t get to negotiate,” the man replied, and Reid tried to cover my eyes as the gun went off, but it was too late. Blood sprayed and my brother’s body dropped to the ground, hysterical screaming leaving me as Reid held me close. The men started filtering out of the room as I begged no one in particular to save my brother, despite knowing it was useless, until only one guy remained.

The man who’d just killed my brother stared down at me, his voice firm. “If you speak of this, I’ll be back. Tell the cops it was a break-in gone wrong. They don’t give a fuck about Heights trash anyway.” Then he turned and left the house, closing the door behind him as best as he could with the busted frame.

I sobbed into Reid’s shirt as I stared at my brother’s dead eyes, my heart cracking in a way I never thought it could. I was aware that Logan was curled around me now too, but I didn’t feel it.

I didn’t feel anything other than the pain of losing the only person in my family who’d ever cared for me.