Wylder leaves me with an order to get dressed, and heads into the bathroom I just vacated. When I’m done with that, he calls me in with him. He has a stool pulled up to the mirror and the counter full of hair products and tools, his face scrunched as he looks over them.
“Wyld, I can do my hair.”
He dismisses me with a shake of his head as he picks up a comb and a bottle of hair oil. “Sit your ass down, Evangeline.”
Once again, I do as he says. What else can you do when a man is taking care of you like this?
He gets to work on my hair, combing through the tangles before adding some hair oil and running his fingers through it. I fight the urge to roll my eyes in the back of my head at the feeling, but I’m glad I did. When I look into the mirror, it’s to watch him separating my hair into different sections, a determined look on his face that is so at odds with the love shining in his bright green eyes. He braids my hair quickly, expertly, just like he has a thousand times before when I was too depressed to do it myself.
With the braid done and a band wrapped around the end, he pulls a few hairs down by my ears and curlsthem around his finger, just like I would. He gives me a small smile in the mirror at the pleased look on my face, his hand coming up to wrap around the front of my neck. He doesn’t squeeze, but his presence there is enough to ground me.
“Look at yourself in the mirror.” He waits until I drop my eyes from him to myself, staring blankly at my reflection. I feel him tighten his hand just a fraction. “That hate you feel for yourself? I want it gone, Evie. The only thing you’re allowed to feel for yourself is pride and love, because that’s what you deserve. No matter what happens downstairs, you deserve that.”
Wyld uses his hold on my neck to wrench my head back and bring my eyes back up to him. His lips come down on mine, forceful and infused with the strength of an army, but too quick to fall into like I wish I could.
“Downstairs, Evie. No fear, no worth.”
I give him a nod and square my shoulders. “No fear, no worth.”
Chapter 37
Eve
Atlas, Kortez, and Roman are silent when I come downstairs, their eyes immediately turning to me when I walk into the room.
Wylder walks around me, taking a seat on the couch beside Roman and making Ro’s eyes light up at the movement.
Atlas leaves his place on the other end of the couch and walks over to me, his eyes filled with worry, and he reaches down to grab my hand. “Eve, what’s wrong? You weren’t in bed when I woke up and Wylder said you wanted to be alone.”
He shouldn’t be worried about me. He should be worried about himself. I brought the devil to his door.
I squeeze his hand and quickly release it, knowing he may never want to touch me again but unable to put myself through the pain of touching him when I know I don’t deserve to.
“I need to talk to you.” I look around him to briefly meet the eyes of Kor and Roman. “All of you.”
Roman shoots a look over at Wylder, but Wyldaverts his gaze. All Kortez does is nod.
“Okay.” Atlas gives me a smile and leads me over to the empty chair on the other side of the couch, the one beside Kortez. Once I sit down, he steps back and takes his spot on the couch. “What is it, Eve?”
I nibble on my bottom lip, not knowing how to start. Wylder comes to stand behind me, his presence a comfort he knew I needed.
I guess…I should start at the beginning.
“I didn’t want to be a lawyer.” I turn to look at Kor. “You know that.” He nods. “I wanted to be an artist. Before Kor disappeared…I was going to art school.” I let out a hollow laugh and shake my head. “But then he was gone and so were all the plans we made for the future. I…I couldn’t let it go.” My eyes drift over to Atlas. “I told you how I found that guy at your warehouse – how I killed him and promised revenge. Well…I didn’t stop at killing him or burning the warehouse down.”
The guys are silent, and Wylder gives my shoulder a squeeze, giving me the confidence boost I need to keep going.
“I left Florida and made my way north. I realized on the drive that the only way to get close to someone like you, Atlas, was to get in on the inside. Except…I didn’t have any connections. I had to make them. So, I decided to go to law school so that I could get clients who may have those connections. I got people on the payroll, made extra money at races to pay for information; but no one could ever get close to you. No one ever knew what the Valente’s were up to. It was…infuriating. I ended up moving with Viv back to Denver when she wanted to come back to her home city and she said she could get us jobs at Sawyer’s firm. I had almost given up at this point…but then I met him.”
I look up and make sure to meet each one of their eyes, none of them showing me any emotion and instead keeping their inner thoughts locked down tight.
“Viv and I went out drinking after winning a huge case and I had a few too many, talking to her about how I never thought I would be able to get revenge on the infamous Atlas Valente. She left and I stayed drinking, needing to drown out the pain.” I chuckle and shake my head, memories of that night flying through my mind, the feeling that I had finally caught a lucky break. “The guy next to me had apparently heard everything and instead of calling the police for overhearing me talking about murder, he said he knew you.”
“He said he lost someone because of your family, too. We cooked up a plan. He had all the connections I needed. At first…I hired him to kill you. At that point, I just wanted to be done with it all. Years passed, though, and he could never catch you. We came to the conclusion that I would have to be a little more active in your downfall. I needed to lure youhere.It was a risk, but I planned everything so it could be done while Abel was gone over the summer. That was my one dealbreaker, my son couldn’t get hurt. Wyld taught me how to shoot and some self-defense while Viv weaseled her way into the police department. Everything was perfect.” I clench my hand into a fist, my nails digging into my palm to ground me before I continue.
“He didn’t follow the plan, though. Instead of just taking some drugs, he took women, too. Then, he killedsix people.”My voice breaks but I shake off the emotion, knowing if I don’t continue then I’ll never get through this. “Roman, our meeting was never acoincidence. I knew exactly who you were. The trial was only supposed to keep you in town until Atlas came to help, and then we could take him out. I didn’t expect to fall in love with you.”
It’s not until after the words come out of my mouth that I realize I had never said them to him before, but I immediately recognize them as the truth. I do love him.
