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“Evie!” Ethan shouted as he ran toward me.

Preston’s eyes darted toward Ethan. “Ward, fucking help me!” he screamed, scrambling backward, blood dripping from his wounds. “Get this bitch away from me!”

“Ethan, stay back!” I shouted, throwing my hand out toward him.

A wall of water exploded up through the floor of the dock, sending pieces of wood flying.

Ethan jumped back, mouth gaping open. Salt spray crashed down around us as the wall of water receded back into the Bay.

“Evie, what—what the hell is going on?” His face was etched with a mix of terror and concern.

Preston’s voice cracked. “Evie?” He shook his head as the slow realization washed over him. The look of seeing a ghost of his past, coming back to haunt him. “No…no fucking way.” Preston stumbled backward as he turned and sprinted toward the mansion.

My heart sank. I never wanted Ethan to see this, but I’d come too far and waited too fucking long for Preston to just walk away again.

Do it, Evelyn. You must! Layne urged, his voice like gravel in my mind.

I’m not letting him get away. Not again, I said, raising my hand toward Preston and focusing my magic on him.

The Bay erupted as tendrils of dark water shot up from the surface, rushing toward Preston with a serpentine motion.

Preston screamed as they wrapped around his wrists and ankles, yanking him back to the dock.

My eyes pulsed an icy blue, the torrent of water responding to my every command. They pulled Preston out past the dock’s end, lifting him into the air and dangling his body above the water.

He thrashed and screamed as the bindings pulled tighter. They yanked on his limbs, spreading his arms and legs wide, like a specimen pinned and ready for dissection.

“Fucking let me go!” Preston spat, his muscles pulling against the restraints. His wild eyes moved to Ethan. “Ward, fucking do something, you idiot!”

Ethan didn’t say anything, just stared back in terror at the scene unfolding around him.

Slowly, I curled my grip, and the aquatic bindings tightened. “Time’s up, Preston,” I said, voice seething with rage. “Now beg for your pathetic life.”

Preston’s face shifted as he realized any control he was used to having was gone. “Please…Evie. Fuck—I’m sorry, Evie, okay? I’m fucking sorry!”

Ethan took a weary step closer, reaching for me. “Evie, what the fuck is going on? Talk to me!” He yelled, his breathing labored.

My eyes begged Ethan to leave. To turn away and never come back, but I knew he wouldn’t. “You wanna know, Ethan?” I said, eyes watering as the swell of emotions built inside me. “About all of this?” I shot Preston a spiteful glare. “About everything this bastard did to me?”

Preston wailed again as the bindings tightened. “I didn’t mean to, it was an accident!” he pleaded.

My head snapped back to Preston’s body dangling above us. “Liar!” I screamed, flicking my hand down to the ground. The water responded, pulling Preston’s body and plunging him into the Bay.

“Evie, stop!” Ethan begged.

I held Preston’s body under, counting the seconds until I finally pulled him back to the surface. The restraints returned as the water dripped off him.

Preston gasped, choking on the seawater as it streamed from his mouth and nose.

All Preston did was lie, cheat, hurt, and kill. I was sick of watching men like him bend the rules. Thinking he could get away with whatever the fuck he wanted, his privilege on display every day of his goddamn life.

Not anymore. He’d manipulated and lied his way through every room he’d walked into, never once being on the other side of it.

Tonight, he was going to learn what a Siren could do.

My voice pulsed with power, the golden song echoing throughout my words. “No more lies!”

The smoky haze of compulsion swam in his eyes as they glazed golden, and he slowly nodded. “Yes. No more lies,” he echoed, his voice distant.