“Believe me, I’ve seen both sides,” I replied with a small smile. “The heart and the fire. Honestly, she might be a little annoyed I lost that address. So if we could just keep this between us…”
“Oh, I doubt she’d give it a second thought, especially with all your family is going through. But my lips are sealed.”
“Thank you, Jenna. Really.”
She gave me a knowing look. “I know this arrangement of yours is… unconventional. But you care for her, don’t you?”
I blinked, caught off guard. Before I could form a question, she chuckled softly.
“Oh, honey, I’ve been around more than twice as long as you. I know what it looks like when someone’s in love. Your whole face changes when you say her name. And that look in your eyes when we talked about Peter—you tried to hide it, but I saw it. That wasn’t just anger. That was something else.”
“Evelyn is… an incredible woman,” I said, the words feeling both entirely true and entirely insufficient.
“Like I said, she deserves the absolute best this world has to offer. So you promise me you’ll look after her. You do that, and you have my blessing—for whatever that’s worth from an old woman who loves her like her own.”
She was right. About all of it. I wanted Evelyn in my life, permanently. But we hadn’t defined whatwe were, and until we did, I couldn’t make a grand promise.
So I gave her the only promise I honestly could.
“I will do everything in my power to make her happy.”
Jenna’s smile was warm and approving.
But as I walked away, I knew it wasn’t enough. A simple promise felt hollow. For Evelyn, I wouldn’t just reach—I would move heaven and earth itself.
*****
I pulled up in front of the old building just two blocks from Jenna’s bookstore. Getting out, I headed straight inside, hoping Peter was home.
The building had no doorman, and a handwritten sign declared the elevator out of service. I took the stairs, climbing five flights to apartment 502.
There was, of course, no ASL booklet waiting outside. That had been a flimsy excuse, and I’d been lucky Jenna bought it.
I bypassed the doorbell and hammered my fist against the door. No answer. I knocked again, louder this time, and was finally met with a slurred, angry shout from inside.
“What the hell? Who is it this early?”
Early?It was ten o’clock on a Tuesday morning.
“Delivery for you,” I called back.
It wasn’t a complete lie. I was there to deliver a message.
He cursed again, but I heard the sound of multiple locks turning. This wasn’t a bad neighborhood; all those locks spoke of a different kind of fear. When the door finally swung open, I didn’t hesitate. I shoved him back inside, slamming him against the wall. A blonde woman, naked, shrieked and scrambled into a bedroom, locking the door behind her.
“What the fuck?” Peter yelled, dazed.
How brave he was against a woman.
“I’m here to deliver a warning,” I said, my voice low.
He blinked, recognition dawning in his bloodshot eyes. “Well, well… the millionaire doctor Evy’s fucking.”
I pressed my forearm against his throat. He gasped, his eyes widening in genuine fear.
“Listen carefully. You will not take another cent from Evelyn. Do you understand me?”
Even terrified, he tried to bluster. “I know those girls aren’t hers. I know you’re lying to everyone.”
