The profile photo was bold—a picture of a man kissing Evelyn.
I accepted the request. Immediately, a voice message came through.
“I warned you. Evelyn will never let you off the hook. Breaking your butler’s arm was just a small lesson. Evelyn says you’ll have to apologize to me in person. I’ll be waiting.”
“Everyone says Evelyn loves you more than life itself. Well, I’m curious—how does she show it?”
He sent a few more pictures.
“Which bed do you think suits us best? She says the safest place is the one no one would expect. When I’m discharged tomorrow, I’ll be moving into the house you share with her.”
“That locked door—your sacred space—I’ll be the one walking through it.”
I listened to his voice, then lifted my eyes to the giant wedding portrait still displayed in the hall. Evelyn’s smile mocked me. With a flick of my wrist, the dagger in my hand pierced right through her painted eyes.
“Filthy.”
When I stepped into the hall, Evelyn was directing men as they hauled a bed from a truck into the house. She froze when she saw me leaning in the doorway.
“Evelyn, why aren’t you coming in?” the man’s eager voice called from inside.
He turned then, meeting my gaze.
“Well, well, if it isn’t Adrian Penn himself,” he drawled, curling an arm possessively around Evelyn’s. “Did you come out here to welcome me? Ready to apologize yet?”
His arrogance, the softness in Evelyn’s eyes as she looked at him—it was like thousands of needles piercing my chest. Before I could speak, Evelyn cut in for him.
“The doctor said Carter needs peace and quiet,” she said, her voice gentle when she spoke his name. “You’ve got a chef and a nutritionist anyway. One more plate at the table won’t kill you. Don’t throw away the chance I’m giving you, Adrian.”
I couldn’t understand her. On what grounds, did she assume I’d just take it? That I’d keep lowering my bottom line, swallowing my pride?
Her self-righteous tone only made me laugh.
As my chuckle echoed through the hall, the butler approached, carrying the ruined wedding portrait, eyeless.
“Sir, where should I put this?” the butler asked.
I caught the flicker of anger on Evelyn’s face. Pointing to the trash bin, I said, “Destroy it. Throw it away.”
The butler nodded, going for the scissors. But Evelyn stopped him, striding straight up to me. “What tantrum are you throwing now?”
“Adrian,” her voice turned cold, “I told you already—this is your fault to begin with. Helping Carter recover is me doing you a favor. Don’t you dare throw it back in my face.”
“That’s right, Adrian,” Carter added smugly, stepping forward.
“Evelyn told me everything. Your child with her died because of you. A priest said if you ever want another, you’ll need to earn virtue. Instead, you keep piling up sins. You’re forcing Evelyn away.”
His words stabbed through me like needles, tearing open an old wound I thought had long scabbed over. It festered raw, all over again.
I stared at Carter’s smug face, then at Evelyn’s half-raised hand, about to silence him. But it was too late.
I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head back, laughing darkly.
“Who the hell gave you the balls to talk to me like that?”
Before he could beg, I slammed his skull into the heavy oak door. The thud shook the hall, followed by his scream. Evelyn seized my arm before I could finish him off.
“That’s enough!” She looked me dead in the eye.
“Carter’s young, reckless with his words. But that doesn’t make him wrong. How long do you plan to keep piling sin upon sin?”
I stared at Evelyn in disbelief
At that time, in a reckless bid to seize her rival’s business, Evelyn’s carelessness dragged us straight into an ambush. I staked everything—my life, my resources—storming into enemy territory and taking down their leader just to pull her out alive. And that was the moment we lost our baby.
