And again.
And fuckingagain, until finally it hits home in the side of his neck.
Blood erupts from the wound as he claws at the hilt of the knife, stumbling, tripping, falling to the ground.
Then he goes still.
Evelina cries out as I rush to her and wrap her trembling body in my arms.
“I’m right here,” I murmur against her neck. “I’m here, princess,” I choke. “Just me. Just me.Just?—”
“Vaughn—”
Her grip on me tightens, then releases, and she taps on my back frantically.
“Vaughn,” she chokes as she pulls away, staring past me in utter disbelief.
I wince as I turn…
What the fuck.
Because I suddenly see that it was a fire poker that hit Quentin in the head. And I see that, because the person who hit him with it is standing right there shaking, eyeing both of us nervously as her chest rises and falls with heavy breath.
STANDING right there.
“So…” Sabine says quietly as she drops the fire poker with a heavy clang. “Surprise.”
42
EVELINA
“My dad was an amazing guy.”
Sabine is looking down at her hands as her fingers twist together.
“And agreatdad.” She smiles fondly as she looks up at me. “But he struggled raising a daughter by himself after Mom died. He tried his best, but there were things that fell through the cracks. Like…I ended up having to watch a YouTube video to learn how to put in a tampon after I got my first period.”
Her lips twist wryly, and she exhales slowly as she looks over to Vaughn, fast asleep on the couch.
“I think understanding different kinds of love was something else that fell through the cracks.”
The last hour has been exhausting. After everything that happened down in the hidden basement, my first thought wasn’t “wow, Sabine canwalk”. It was “we need to get Vaughn upstairs and help him because I think he’s bleeding out”.
Thank God, he wasn't.
Quentin’s knife did do some serious damage. But one of the things Sabine’s father Stellandidteach her was how to field dress minor knife and gun wounds.
Sabine closes her eyes, taking a slow, deep breath. “I… I don’t even know how to start to apologize to everyone for the last two years,” she says quietly. She turns to look at Vaughn. “Two fucking yearsjust…lying,” she chokes. “And about having a fucking disability!” There are tears in her eyes, her emotions twisting across her face. “Fuck, you must think I’m a monster.”
I slide my hand across the table and take hers in mine, stopping her from picking viciously at her own cuticles.
“No,” I say quietly. “I don’t. I think you lost your family, and you were desperate to be looked after, orloved, so you did whatever you could to hold on to that.”
I take a shaky breath as I squeeze her hand. “When my dad left for Moscow, and it was just Roman and me, it felt like my world was unraveling. And I was so desperate to hold it together in some semblance of normalcy, even if that normalcy was shitty, that I was willing to do anything to fix it.” I raise my brows. “Even pledge myself to a secret society and a man who terrified me. So, when I sayI get it, Ireallydo mean that I get it.” I smile quietly at her.
Tears flood Sabine’s face as she wipes her eyes against her shoulder.
“I don’t know if he’ll ever forgive me. I have no idea whyyouaren’t telling me to go fuck myself right now.”
