Corey's POV

When I got the call from Victor, I was shocked. None of us had spoken much since they left the Academy, and not at all since Sang left. They didn't even know about Kaylie. That was going to be one really awkward conversation. When I opened the file and saw who they were researching and who they were working with I swore, "Son of a bitch!"

"Solnechnyy svet, what's wrong?" Raven asked, charging into the room, buck naked, gun drawn.

My eyes bulged, then I burst out laughing. He looked at me in confusion. "Honey, can you put the gun away - both of them," I snorted.

He looked down and smirked. "But Solnechnyy svet, you like this gun," he said in a sultry tone as he began to stroke himself. I felt myself getting hard as I watched him, my mouth watering. He bent over, his lips closing around mine. "Come back to bed, muzh."

I groaned, "I wish, but you need to see this." I patted the chair next to me and turned one of the screens. "Victor just sent this. I guess they're involved with JD - although I don't know if it's work or personal, maybe both. But look at the person they're wanting a background check on."

He slammed his fist on the desk, making it shake, "Mne nuzhno bol'she oruzhiya! Kak oni smeyut prichinyat' vred malen'koy rasputnitse! YA ub'yu ikh, potom ub'yu yeshche," he roared. (I need more guns! How dare they harm little minx! I'll kill them, then kill them some more).

"Raven, calm down," I said, pulling at his arm. He growled but seemed to relax a bit. "Let's head over to the Blackbourne's and fill them in as best we can." He grumbled and nodded his head as he picked up his gun. With a rough kiss, he stormed into the bedroom, to get dressed I assumed. Just then my phone pinged.

JD: Hear you are coming for a visit today?

DM: Yes little lady, Raven and I will be there. How much do they know?

JD: only G&R - please don't mention Crescent. I haven't told them yet.

DM: you can't keep secrets... they come back to haunt you

JD: I know ... it's complicated

DM: uncomplicate it...they will understand, far better than you realize

JD: fine *huff*

DM: So which one of them is the hardcore - Owen

JD: *snort* try Owen and Kota

DM: What???? No fucking way...

JD: He's more hardcore than Owen...it's hot as fuck

DM: Damn baby, I can feel the moisture in your panties from here *fanning myself* I think this is going to be one helluva visit

JD: You should bring Kaylie - I could use some girl support

DM: ... um, sweetie, she's gone

JD: gone? What do you mean gone?

DM: she overdosed about a year ago. She had a miscarriage and the grief was more than she could take.

JD: OMG! Corey, I'm so sorry, why didn't you guys call? I would have come, I would have tried to help, oh, I'm so sorry...

DM: I know you would have, and that's exactly why we didn't reach out. You were dealing with your own drama, and honestly, we needed to deal with it as a family.

JD: How are the others handling it? Do the Blackbournes know?

DM: They don't know. Raven and I will tell them today. As for how we are, well, you of all people should know. There are good days and there are bad days. Axel started drinking fairly heavily, but has gotten into a program and is sober now. The others have their up and down moments, but we rely on each other mostly. We left the Academy.

JD: holy shit, you did??

DM: Yeah, it was just too much and after Kaylie, we needed to focus on ourselves, not trying to save everyone else when we were falling apart. Um, speaking of, have they talked to you about that yet?

JD: about what?

DM: shit, nothing - forget I said a word

JD: are you telling me they're Academy? I think I deserve to know that.

DM: you have your secrets, they have theirs, but I will say that they're retired

JD: I think we will all need to talk soon...Sean and I just got to the manor. See you soon. 😀

DM: See you soon JD! 😀

****

"They did a good job," Raven said as we pulled up in front of the new mansion. I nodded, the only similarity to the house in Charleston was Owen's prized roses. It was clear that this was their new start. "Come Solnechnyy svet, time to open the past," he grimaced. We locked hands and headed up the front steps, both of us dreading the conversation that waited for us for so many reasons.

Before I could even knock on the door, it flew open and JD wrapped me in her arms. "I'm so sorry, Corey," she kept whispering and I lost it. I fell to my knees with her in my arms, sobbing. I could feel Raven's hand on my shoulder, then heard him ask the others to come inside so that he could explain. I don't know how long we sat like that, but when I finally stopped crying she held my chin. "You take too much onto yourself, Corey. I know you. You've made it your job to hold your family together, and you haven't let yourself grieve properly."

I sighed knowing she was right. Usually, Axel is the glue in our family, but when he started drinking, it fell to me. I pressed a kiss to her forehead, "You're right. I just didn't know how to break down without feeling like I was letting them down."

She took my hand, "This is one step. I'd like to give you the number of a support group that really helped me when Winston died. It's not related to the Academy either."

"I'd like that too," I said, then pulled us both up. "We should get inside before your men start getting territorial."

She gasped, "Why do you assume they're my men?"

"Janie, for Victor to reach out to me or any Academy contacts means it's important. It means you're important to them. Besides, am I wrong?" I gave her a sly wink.

Her face flushed crimson, "We're just getting started, but no, you're not wrong. And what did he reach out for help with?"

I blinked in shock, they didn't even tell her. Fuck, do these guys never learn? "Let's go talk about that with your men." I pulled her into the house and was greeted with a room full of sympathetic looks. I cleared my throat, "While I appreciate your sympathy, we don't really have time for it. Sorry to play the bad guy, but you all need to start talking - no more fucking secret background checks, hidden pasts, etc. Talk - before you all fuck up." I could feel her clenching my hand in panic. "It's okay, Marissa. I promise you can trust them, and they can trust you." I leveled my gaze at Victor. "Tell her why you called me."

He paled a bit, then spoke, "Well, this morning Sean caught Chloe snooping around in your room and he was suspicious. Then you had told him about their personality changes, and well, we have all felt a bit concerned about them, not just the incident in the copier room either, so I reached out to Corey for help." She had a confused look on her face, then slowly slid down in the chair.

"You reached out to him to run an Academy search when you couldn't find anything," she mumbled, her head in her hands. "Am I ever going to get that fucking Academy out of my life?" Her head snapped to me, "But you're not Academy anymore, so how?"

"Hold up a mother fucking minute," Gabe yelled, "How the fuck does she know about the Academy, and how do you know that she knows?" He was pulling at his hair as Luke tried to calm him down.

"Malen'kaya shalun'ya was a bird. She did missions with us overseas," Raven said, coming to stand near her. "Was before she got married."

Owen's eyes narrowed, "Marissa, would you care to enlighten us?"

She gave him a fierce look, "Sure Owen, just as soon as you enlighten me about your Academy past."

He nodded his head, "Touche. All of us were recruited as children and slowly merged together. Our wife, Sang, was involved in a mission we were working on at her high school. She never joined, and even though we had already pulled back as a team, only working favor jobs, after our marriage fell apart, we completely gave it up." He lowered his head, steel grey eyes on her unwavering. "Your turn, mia bella regina."

Marissa relaxed at his term of endearment. "When I ran away, I was still underage. I accidentally ran into some Academy dogs at the shelter. They were looking for a sex trafficking ring that was preying on young girls at the shelter. They approached me about helping - it was supposed to be a one-time thing, but..." I saw the tears streaming down her face. I hated the Academy for how they'd used her. "They used my runaway status against me, basically forcing me to train and help on missions. Then they threatened to sabotage my admission to NYU."

"They did what?" Kota yelled, slamming his fist into the bookcase. "Who? I'll fucking kill them." I shook my head at her.

She walked to him, wrapping her arms around him, "It doesn't matter anymore, Kota. Winston got me out, well, his bosses got me out." She pressed her head against his chest and sighed. "Do you remember the year I said we spent in Italy?" They all nodded. "Winston was working for the Giovanni mafia. They convinced the Academy to sever all ties with me."

Kota pulled her back, searching her eyes, "Are you telling me you work for the mafia, pet?"

"No, master," she said softly - fuck hearing her say that made my dick hard, "Winston helped them out in Italy with a legal matter - which they were in the right about ironically, and as payment, they got me away from the Academy and helped us start the firm. I've never heard from them again except for a wreath at Winston's funeral."

"How could you let them trap her?" Victor asked me, tears in his eyes.

"We didn't know. She never told us until the last mission when she met Kaylie. They got really drunk and she spilled all the details," I said and nodded to Raven. "Raven's the one who reached out to his family connections. The Giovanni's owed the Ravenstahl's a favor, so..."

She turned to both of us, "Wait, it was you guys? But why the workaround?"

"We were still Academy. It wouldn't look good for my family to get involved, malen'kaya shalun'ya. This way, everyone was safe." He grunted as she flung herself into his chest.

"Спасибо, мой большой медведь (Thank you, my big bear)," she said softly as he kissed the top of her head.

"Anything for you, malen'kaya shalun'ya." He whispered, blinking back tears.

Sean cleared his throat, "Okay, now that we've all established we all hate the Academy, can we talk about the reason we called?"

I ran my hands through my hair, "Yeah, well, that's part of the problem. They're Academy. That's why you can't find anything on them."

Her head snapped, "What? Why, how, what the fuck is the Academy doing messing with my law firm after all this time?"

"I'm not sure. Hell, I don't even think they're there on Academy business. I can't find a single report or mission that pertains to you for the past six years. Jackson and Chloe came on after you left." I put the folder on the table. "After you all left, and Phil died, the Academy became more and more corrupt. It's more like a group of mercenaries now - if you can pay for services, then you can get help, and it doesn't matter if the help is good or bad. That's what has me worried, these two are not what they seem." Everyone quickly took a seat and I watched Silas pull Marissa into his lap. I couldn't help the smile that crossed my face. They are exactly what she needs.

"So let's start at the beginning," Kota said, taking charge, "When did they start working for you, Marissa?"

"I think it was about six months before Winston died," she said, "We had been looking for someone to help with day-to-day operations, we, uh..."

"It's okay, agápi, take your time," Silas said quietly as he stroked her arm.

"We were trying to get pregnant," she finally said with a sniffle. "I mean, we hadn't really started, but that was the plan. Winston hired them with the help of a recruiting firm." She looked at me, "You should be able to find the files in the system, Cor."

I put the second folder on the table, "Two steps ahead of you JD." She winced at my nickname slip, but I just kept talking. "On the surface, it all looks legit, but when I dig deeper, there are no records of their actual transcripts. Like you said, Winston died shortly after they were hired, so no one dug deeper." I pointed to the picture of Chloe, "Her real name is Chloe Archer. She's a medical specialist - drugs, toxins, poisons, you name it, she can get it and dose you before you even know she was there. Before the Academy recruited her she was suspected in numerous political assassinations across the globe"

"Sean, didn't you say she was messing around with the water in Ris's mini-fridge?" North asked, a concerned look on his face. "Babygirl, does she restock your work fridge too?"

"Well, yeah, but why the hell would she want to poison me?" she asked.

"It may not be poisonous," I added. "It may be nothing, but these two are not nice folks. I'd suggest firing them asap." She lowered her eyes and seemed to shrink into herself. "Okay, what are we missing?" I asked her.

"I've been in a poly relationship with them for about a year," she croaked, tears streaming down her cheeks. "It wasn't serious, until...well until Jackson wanted more."

"Malen'kaya shalun'ya, did he force you?" Raven growled, kneeling before her.

Sean answered before she could, "He almost did." She scowled at him. "Sweetheart, be mad all you want, but I have no doubt if I hadn't walked in that room when I did, he would have hit you and then raped you. I tried to tell you then to call the police."

She bristled, "And I told you that it wouldn't stick. From a legal perspective, I'd be seen as a vindictive employer punishing her employee who she had sexual relations with, not to mention the press field day when they realize I was in a bi-poly relationship." Her body sagged against Silas. "I'm so cosmically fucked."

"I kill them," Raven said flatly.

"Raven, you can't," she tried to say, but North cut her off.

"I'll help."

She jumped up and thumped them both in the chest. "Sit your damn macho asses down! No one is killing anyone around here - hell, that would be an even bigger scandal, not to mention, she's pregnant and they have kids. I don't give a fuck how despicable the two of them are, no child deserves that." Raven went to grab her and she flinched, then snapped. She climbed him like a damn Christmas tree and flipped him backward. He landed with a crash on the floor as she sat criss-cross on his chest. "Of all the fucking stupid things to do, Yevgeny. Have we not had this discussion before - don't fucking grab at me." I couldn't help the laugh that broke through as the others gasped and grumbled.

Gabe, however, howled with laughter, "First you top North, spitfire, now you literally throw Raven on the floor, oh fuck me, this is beyond perfect." When he stepped toward her, Raven put his arms around her.

"Nyet, moya malen'kaya shalun'ya."

"What the fuck does that even mean?" Gabe huffed.

"My little minx," he grinned, "She has to take care of me now - I could be injured." She slapped at his chest, "And what is this about you topping North? I want details."

She slipped off of him and stuck out her tongue. "We aren't talking about it," North growled. "So if we can't kill them, what do we do about them?"

"Nothing," she said flatly. "I'm slowly taking back the reins of the company and eventually their positions and contracts will be up. There is no stipulation to renew nor any requirement to disclose the reason for non-renewal. Until that time, I just need to make sure I'm not alone with them."

Nate slipped behind her, "Good, then that means you're staying here."

"I can't just move in on you? You all have your own lives," she sputtered.

Luke stepped in front of her, cupping her cheek, "Sugar, you became the focus of our lives the moment I handed you that streusel." She blushed and he kissed her nose. "Stay with us, please," he begged softly.

She raised her eyes, meeting his, "Always," she whispered.  

Author's Notes: So I have a trajectory, for now, the only question is how much will my characters decide to mess with it.