I don’t have the heart to look athim. So, I keep my eyes on the gravel, which looks too white for how black everything feels around me right now. A pair of black shoes appears in front of me, and my heart lurches. My eyes rise to find him, the man who takes up all my light. And just like that, everything else blurs. I swallow hard, but the lump in my throat doesn’t move. He takes my space, my air, to the point my lungs struggle to breathe.
Don’t cry. Not yet. I don’t want him to remember me like this.
Dan tightens his grip around me as he reaches forward. His arms brush mine, igniting every nerve at the touch. Then his searching fingers slide over the sleeve of my coat, grazing the abrasions on my forearm. A strangled sound escapes my lips, but he smothers it with his shoulder in an awkward hug.
“Don’t worry, little dove,” he whispers in my hair. “I’m setting you free.”
Did everyone hear that loud crack in my chest, or was that deafening sound just for me?
I stay frozen as he presses his lips to my head, no kiss, just touch, for too short a moment, and then he pulls away.
“Feed her, will you?” he hisses at Dan, who frowns.
Then he turns around and walks away with his hands in his pockets. Hugo, Kane, and James stare at him in shock, like they can’t believe their eyes.
Well, join the queue.What the fuck just happened? He’s actually letting me go?
A sob tears from my throat, wanting to stop him, hell, beg him to stay. But I can’t move, can’t find my voice. I stay where he left me with my arm extended into nothing, tears streaming down my cheeks, as I watch the love of my life walk away from me.
“It’s for the best, Bean,” Dan murmurs in my ear. Another nail in the coffin that feels awfully like mine.
Later, back at Etheridge Mansion, Jonathan, Valerie, and Grace join us for dinner, though no one eats. Jonathan was in shock for a while, but he’s been okay lately. As okay a father can be, knowing we had the person who kidnapped his daughter among us all this time. I can’t bear to look at him or Valerie, though they have sworn they never resented me for it.
Done with the niceties for today, I carry my heels to my bedroom and drop them outside my washroom. Then, I grab a rectangular box from the utility cabinet, shove open the window, and sit on the floor.
I take out another cigarette and light it, taking a long drag, when the door flies open.
“Hey,” Grace murmurs, her eyes scanning me for cuts or blood or whatever else she might have thought I was up to. “Can I join you?”
I shrug and motion to the space beside me. She sits down, frowning at the stick in my hands, and scrunching her nose, so I put it out and hide the rest under my dress.
For a few moments, we sit in silence.
“Does this remind you of anything?” she asks.
I chuckle. A few years ago, after a family dinner, I found Grace on the washroom floor like this. Though Grace is stronger than me, always has been.
“Yep.” I clear my throat. “Deja vu.”
“Is it ironic, I told younotto get your heart broken back then? And here we are.” She giggles, the sound anything but happy. I have started to spot the difference now.
I nod, chewing on my lip to bite the sound that wants to follow.
“What’s the plan, Evie?” she asks. “Aren’t you about done tormenting him? Or are we still pretending this has anything to do with Daniel?” She raises an eyebrow.
My eyes flash to her.She gives me a knowing look.Bloody Caden,that jerk is definitely getting an official traitor tattoo for Christmas.
“You’re wrong, you know.” She whispers. “As much as Mason Grant is barking mad, he isnotJack.”
“He could so easily be,” I murmur, staring at the floor.
“He won’t.” She shakes her head.
“How can you be sure?” I ask the question I have been keeping to myself.
“Because he is letting you go,” she says every word slowly, lighting a new fire inside me.
“And you think Dan will ever approve?” My eyes finally meet hers.
