"A good opportunity?" Megan's voice rises slightly, her brown eyes searching my face for something I can't give her. "Eva, you have two black SUVs following you everywhere. Men with guns watching your apartment. That's not normal. That's not a 'good opportunity', that's?—"
"Security," I interrupt, my professional armor snapping into place. "Roman handles high-value accounts. Very private clients. The security is just precautionary."
"Bullshit." The profanity from Megan's mouth surprises us both. She never curses. "You're lying to me. I can see it on your face. You've been lying to me for weeks."
I turn away, unable to meet her eyes, and reach for the curtain dividing our bedrooms. My hands close around the rod, and I pull it down with one sharp tug. The curtain pools at my feet like a fallen flag, and with it goes the last physical remnant of the life I'm leaving behind.
"I'm not lying," I say quietly, staring at the fabric. "I'm just… I can't explain everything right now. But I need you to trust me. This is what I have to do."
"Have to?" Megan moves closer, her hand touching my shoulder. "Eva, if you're in some kind of trouble, if he's forcing you?—"
"He's not forcing me." The lie comes easier this time, probably because it's only partially untrue. Roman gave me a choice, even if all the options led to the same destination. "I'm choosing this, Megan. I know it seems fast, but sometimes… sometimes, you just know."
Do I know? I think about Roman's piercing blue eyes, the way they soften when he looks at me despite the cold calculation that defines him. I think about his hands—capable of such violence, yet surprisingly gentle when they touch my skin. I think about the way my body responds to him despite every logical reason it shouldn't, the heat that floods through me when he stands too close, when his accent thickens with desire, and when he looks at me like I'm something precious and dangerous all at once.
I'm wildly attracted to him. That much is true. But is it love? Or just my body's betrayal, responding to a monster because he makes me feel things I've never felt before?
"Do you love him?" Megan asks, her voice barely above a whisper.
The question hangs between us, heavy and impossible. I think about Roman's mouth claiming mine with devastating precision. The way he held me after the shooting. How he looks at my still-flat stomach like it contains his entire world.
"I don't know," I admit, the honesty surprising me. "But I'm going to marry him anyway."
Megan's face crumples, tears spilling down her cheeks. She pulls me into a fierce hug, and I let myself lean into her warmth, memorizing the vanilla scent of her body spray, the way shealways smells like home. "I'm going to miss you so much," she whispers against my hair. "You're my best friend, Eva. My family."
"I'm going to miss you, too." My voice cracks, and I pull back before I start crying too. "But I'm not disappearing. We'll still see each other. I promise."
Even as I say it, I know it's another lie. The distance between Roman's world and Megan's is measured in more than miles. It's measured in blood and secrets and the kind of darkness that doesn't wash off.
We finish packing in heavy silence, Megan helping me fold clothes and wrap the few dishes I own in newspaper. The apartment feels bigger without the curtain dividing it, emptier, like a shell of what it used to be. I'm taping up the last box when footsteps echo in the hallway outside, followed by a tentative knock.
Megan opens the door, and Tyler Chen stands there with a bouquet of daisies and roses, bright and cheerful and completely at odds with the devastation about to unfold. His wire-rimmed glasses are slightly askew, his brown eyes hopeful behind the lenses, and my heart sinks to my feet.
"Eva! I heard you were moving and I wanted to…" His voice dies as he takes in the packed boxes, the dismantled curtain, the finality of it all. The flowers droop in his hands. "You're really leaving."
"Tyler." I move toward him, my hands reaching out instinctively before I catch myself. "I didn't know you were coming."
"Where are you going?" His gaze darts between me and Megan, confusion and hurt warring on his open, earnest face. "Megan said something about your boss, but I thought?—"
"I'm moving in with Roman," I say, the words coming out more blunt than I intend. "We're getting married."
The flowers fall from Tyler's hands, petals scattering across the worn floorboards like colorful casualties. His face goes pale, then red, his chest rising and falling with rapid breaths. "Married? Eva, you barely know him. You've been working for him for what, three months?"
"I know him well enough." I force steel into my voice, even though my heart is breaking for this sweet, earnest boy who deserves so much better than the scraps of affection I've been giving him.
"No." Tyler's voice cracks, and he takes a step toward me, his hands reaching for mine. "No, Eva, you can't. You can't marry him. I—" He stops, swallows hard, his eyes filling with tears. "I love you. I've been in love with you since the first time Megan brought me here. I know you don't feel the same way. I know I'm just Megan's kid brother to you, but please. Please don't do this. Choose me instead."
The confession hangs in the air between us, raw and desperate, and everything I've been pretending not to see for months. Megan makes a small sound of distress, her hand covering her mouth, and I realize she's known all along. Of course she has. She's been hoping, probably, that I'd eventually see Tyler as more than just her sweet younger brother.
But I can't. I never could.
"Tyler." I take his hands, feeling them tremble in mine. "You're wonderful. You're kind and smart, and you're going to do amazing things with your life. But I can't love you the way you deserve to be loved."
"Because of him?" Tyler's voice hardens, anger bleeding through the hurt. "Because of your boss? Eva, there's something wrong about him. The way he looks at you, the security detail, the way everyone at that building acts like they're afraid?—"
"Stop." I release his hands, stepping back. "You don't know what you're talking about."
"Don't I?" Tyler's tears are falling freely now, but his jaw is set with determination. "I'm not stupid, Eva. I've been watching. Those aren't normal security guards. That's not a normal financial firm. And the way he watches you—" He breaks off, his voice cracking. "He looks at you like you're something he owns."
