13. Phoenix
Chapter 13
Phoenix
I jump up the few steps separating us and catch Evangeline before she falls.
Fucking reflexes.
Again.
Her hands circle my neck, digging into my nape.
I grasp her tightly around her waist, pushing her back up to fully standing.
With me still one step below her, and her added inches from the heels, we’re at the same height for once.
Which means I’m staring straight at her face. Only a breath away.
Thankfully, her eyes are closed, but as so often when it comes to this woman, luck isn’t on my side for long, and she opens them just when I’m about to let go.
Her gaze is unwavering, her brown irises dark and tenacious like she just survived a visit from the devil and somehow succeeded in keeping her soul intact.
I drift toward her, wanting a better glimpse, ready to beg her to spill all her secrets .
For a moment, I’m caught in some alternate reality where Evangeline and I are the same people we were at her birthday party all those years ago, where lines were beginning to blur despite how hard I tried to stay away.
What are you doing, man? She is not your friend. Not anymore.
The invisible bubble around us bursts, returning me to the here and now. In this reality, I was engaged to her sister, who died in a tragic accident a day before Evangeline picked up a knife and shoved it into the already bleeding wound her sister’s death had left and ratted me out to the police.
The reminder finally gives me the proverbial cold shower I need, and I step back. Since I require her help tonight, I ensure she’s steady on her feet, then turn around and storm out the front door to put as much distance between us as possible.
I slide into the back seat of the blacked-out SUV, staring out the front window as if that’ll magically take care of my problems.
You did this to yourself.
You brought her into your life and forced her into this.
And now the past mixes with the present, smudging what was once a strictly black-and-white situation into different shades of gray.
When I was locked up, gone from my everyday life, it was easy to let my anger take over and devise this plan. I thought it would be the easiest thing on earth to come back here, get engaged, then marry Evangeline and make her life hell.
What was I thinking?
When were things ever easy when it came to her?
Shit .
I didn’t expect the past to take over my thoughts so much. Yet, whenever I see her, or spend time with her, I’m reminded of what she did to me. But at the same time, I’m also reminded we used to be friends. And we would have been more if I hadn’t gone away to college and things hadn’t gone down the way they had with Connie.
Now, I have to live daily with the constant reminder that once upon a time, I wanted her with a desperation that nearly brought me to my knees.
Now she’s my enemy.
But it doesn’t compute in my brain.
I let my head fall against the headrest.
Memories are so fucked up.
Beyond that, the more time I’m around her, the less things add up with her actions. And since Holden agrees with that assessment, I’m not imagining it either. He spends a lot more time with her than I do, and he said while she’s often quiet and withdrawn, she’s always lovely and friendly to everyone. There isn’t a single mean streak in sight. And every single night this week she spent on her homework and doing little else.
Nothing suspicious has popped up from going through her phone either, and I searched in every single corner. It all aligns with the version of Evangeline that Holden has seen. It is undoubtedly a more watered-down and subdued version of the Eve I used to know, but it’s still her.
I can still see my Eve. My Angel .
Fuuuuuuuuck.
I close my eyes and rub a hand over my face. My skin is too tight, my head spinning in circles.
The door opens on the other side, and I stiffen .
Her sweet floral scent reaches me first, scrambling my already confused thoughts even more.
I study her.
Who are you?
Of course, my silent question goes unanswered, but I continue to stare at her while she buckles her seat belt.
I cannot look away from how breathtaking she is, how heart-stoppingly beautiful. Her dark eyes are framed by long lashes and accentuated with eye makeup, while her hair cascades down her back in soft waves that are held back in the front with golden clips that match her dress. She’s an absolute vision, and I want to drag her back into the house so she can change into something that’ll draw less attention.
When she glances my way, that nagging feeling that something isn’t right intensifies inside my chest.
I will find out what it is, and I think then I’ll have to cut her loose, after all.
This arranged marriage isn’t worth driving myself crazy over; she isn’t.
And what secret could she possibly have that would justify what she did to me?
Nothing could.
Holden clears his throat and watches me in the rearview mirror. “Good to go?”
I nod and stare out the window.
He steers the car around the circular driveway, and I absentmindedly realize I was so enthralled by Evangeline I didn’t even notice Jo leaving. But her car is gone, leaving the driveway empty.
We stay silent on our drive to the city, and I try to shove this whole mess inside a box in the farthest corner of my head where it belongs. I can’t let Evangeline distract me.
Good luck trying to pretend to be a newly engaged couple in love tonight while also trying to convince people you’re a reformed man.
I’m so screwed.
But speaking of engagement . . . I pull the velvety box out of my pocket and all but shove it in Evangeline’s face. “Here.”
“What is it?” She regards the box like it’s personally offending her and doesn’t make a move to take it.
“What do you think it is?” I sigh. “We’re almost there. Will you take the damn box already?”
“Only because you asked so nicely.” She gives me a bright smile that doesn’t reach her eyes and snatches the box out of my hand.
After an excruciating moment, she slowly opens it. I don’t miss the way her eyes widen, or the way her breath hitches, when she catches the first glimpse of what’s inside.
Her engagement ring.
“Phoenix.” Evangeline’s hand flies to her mouth before she lowers it to the ring, gingerly brushing the gem. “Is that a moonstone?”
I clear my throat. “It is.”
“Did you pick it?”
“Yeah.”
Her gaze flicks to mine, and I shrug.
“Connie once mentioned it’s your sisterhood gemstone or something like that. I thought you might like it.” My impatience takes over, and I grab the box from her. “We don’t have a lot of time left. Let me help.”
Carefully, I take the custom-made piece and gesture for her hand. I keep my gaze downward as I slide it on her left ring finger. It fits perfectly, and I stare at the glowing oval-shaped moonstone that’s nestled within twinkling diamonds.
Then I finally glance up and immediately regret it. There’s an undeniable shimmer in her eyes, and I put that there.
“Phoenix, I don’t know what to say. It’s . . . it’s absolutely beautiful. Thank you.”
I nod and say, “No problem.”
After another long perusal, she gazes at me. Her entire face has transformed. It’s softer around the edges, and the tightness around her eyes that’s usually there when she looks at me has disappeared too.
“We haven’t really talked much about tonight. The gala is for a nonprofit that helps children who are transitioning into foster care, right?”
Grateful for the topic change, I dip my head. “Yes. They also offer support via emergency shelters, or if someone was affected by other traumatic situations.”
She stays silent for a moment as if she’s processing the information. “Do you sometimes feel guilty that you grew up with so much when others don’t even have the necessities?”
I don’t want to indulge the many things I thought about during my time in prison. The way it’s changed me at my core. When everything you’re used to is stripped away without warning, especially if you’re used to having whatever you wanted at the snap of a finger, you eat a huge piece of humble pie very quickly. I feel like I ate my body weight of it and then some.
I swallow but hold her gaze. “I don’t feel guilty per se, since I didn’t do anything wrong by being born into a rich family, but I definitely have changed the ways I think about money and privileges over the last few years.”
“Is that why you’re starting your own nonprofit? To help less privileged people?”
I avert my gaze to the front, where it collides with Holden’s in the mirror. “Not really. I can make a huge change by just donating money to other charities and organizations. Starting my own nonprofit was a means to an end at first, more busy work than anything else, a tool. But now, I don’t know.”
I shrug and avert my gaze to the window and the passing city life.
“Now what?”
Of course, she can’t just leave it alone.
I sigh. “I don’t know. I guess I like it more than I thought. It feels satisfying to build a company by myself, and one that will actually do good too.”
“We’re almost there,” Holden calls from the front at the same time Evangeline mumbles something that sounds like, “The exact opposite of what your dad does.”
And she’s not wrong. The same thoughts have been occupying my mind. He likes to destroy things. Demolish companies and the people who built them if it’s necessary, or just because he feels like it. Devastation is all he does and he enjoys it, revels in it even. And I was going to step right into his shoes, walking down the same path. I would have ended up exactly like him . . . if I hadn’t gone to prison.
I don’t have time to think more about that little realization. The car stops in front of the carpeted entrance and a valet rushes over to open my door .
Showtime.
After a quick glance at Holden and a deep breath, I get out.
I step to the side to make enough room for Evangeline and hold out my hand toward the still-open car door. Warm fingers grasp mine, sending a spark of electricity through my entire body.
A small gasp comes from the car seconds before Evangeline steps out. With our hands still intertwined, she’s only a hair’s breadth away, allowing me to spot the golden rays around her irises, which turn her eyes into the most fascinating golden-brown kaleidoscope I’ve ever seen.
The valet clears his throat behind me. “Welcome, Mr. Montgomery. Miss Caldwell.”
I snap out of my trance for the second time in the last hour.
This is going to be a long night.
Evangeline squeezes my hand and gives the man behind me a dazzling smile. “Hi, Paul. It’s good to see you.”
“The pleasure is all mine, miss.”
My head snaps up at something in the man’s voice, and I glare at him. He’s ogling Evangeline with undisguised interest and appreciation in his eyes. Not that I blame him, she looks mesmerizing, always has been pretty with her curvy figure and dark features, but tonight, her beauty is on a different level.
I step forward, cutting off Paul’s view of my fiancée .
His eyes widen, and he scrambles a few steps to the side, tipping his head a fraction. “Good to have you back, sir. Enjoy your evening. ”
With his eyes downcast, he hurries around us and closes the car door.
Evangeline untangles her hand from mine and curls her slender fingers around the crook of my elbow instead, her ring now on full display.
Tonight’s event isn’t as big as most of the other ones we’ll attend, so I thought this would be good practice—a trial run. We don’t need every New York paparazzi after us on our first night out together in public. Although, seeing the way Evangeline nails the role of the charming and doting fiancée, all smiles and open adoration, I shouldn’t have worried. We’ve both grown up in the same tank of sharks, but I needed to be sure she’d be able to manage our situation.
Her acting skills around me have been subpar as best, but it seems like she’s got it under control when there are cameras around.
We make the rounds, talking to so many people that names and faces blur. It doesn’t help either that I’m too busy watching Evangeline while she charms the socks off everyone we come across. Even the ones who approach us with a hint of caution leave with a smile and a promise to connect soon.
Once we’re alone, I lean closer and whisper into her ear, “I’m impressed. Honestly, I wasn’t sure you could pull it off.”
Her shoulder moves against my chest. Did she just shiver?
Just when I think she won’t answer, she mimics my position, her warm breath hitting the shell of my ear.
“I’ve had lots of practice, especially in the last few years. You know that social events were Connie’s domain and not mine, but I had to attend them all after . . .” She inhales sharply. “You know, after she was gone.”
Her voice trails off at the end like she didn’t mean to add on that last part.
I inhale her intoxicating scent and place my hand on her lower back, in what I’m sure comes off as a loving gesture between two people having an intimate conversation. “I’m sorry you lost your sister.”
The words are out, and I can’t take them back.
For some inexplicable reason, I don’t want to either.
Since I was arrested a day after Connie’s accident, I couldn’t attend her funeral and had to mourn her in my concrete cell. Over the years, my only outside contact was with the people my father periodically sent to ensure I remembered, even though I was in prison, I was still expected to keep our family name in a good light.
And yes, I lost my fiancée—my future family—but Evangeline lost her sister, one she loved dearly. It couldn’t have been easy for her.
She studies me, her gaze flitting back and forth between my eyes. “Why did you do it, Phoenix?”
“Why did I do what?” I narrow my eyes at her, suspicion and defensiveness immediately filling my veins. People have often asked me why I did what I did, but I didn’t want to rehash any of it, especially not with Evangeline.
“Why did you kidnap Chris Wellinger?”
“Kidnap? I’d hardly call it that. He and I were just having a little . . . chat.”
“Was it because you were jealous of him?”
I scoff. “Jealous?”
Evangeline nods. “Yeah. He was very obvious in his interest in Connie. At least to me. But she kept laughing it off and said I was being silly, that he was just one of Dad’s business partners.”
It’s so easy to forget Evangeline doesn’t know what happened back then, and I promised Connie I wouldn’t tell anyone. If things were different between Evangeline and me, I might have told her anyway. But since they’re not, we both continue with our secrets and lies.
I glance around to make sure no one’s within earshot before I hiss at her, “You probably shouldn’t be talking about things you know nothing about.”
Her eyes light up and she laughs as if I just said the funniest thing ever. When she glances back at me with an enormous smile aimed at me, my mouth opens of its own volition at her radiating beauty.
A flash lights up somewhere close by, and I snap my head toward it, staring at the grinning face of one of the photographers for the evening. He gives me a thumbs-up and moves on to someone else.
She grips my bicep and squeezes. “That should be a good shot for the press. You might look a little dumbfounded, but that’s okay. We can say you were utterly spellbound by me.”
Damn, this woman and her acting skills. Maybe they work a little too well in public.
I drop my hands from her frame and stare at her. “I need a drink.”
“Will you get me another glass of champagne too, please? I need to use the restroom.” With that, she spins around and walks across the room, turning heads left and right .
My gaze doesn’t leave her swaying hips until she’s out of sight and Holden is with her.
It is beyond me how she could ever think she was born for anything less than the spotlight.
Shit, she is the spotlight.
And I hate it with every fiber in my body.
As if sensing where my thoughts are going, my phone vibrates with a message, successfully interrupting the train wreck that is my mind.
Canary
Seems like she’s already got you caught in her web.
Under the message, a photo loads.
It’s one of Evangeline and me from when the photographer stopped by. But this photo is taken from the other side with the photographer behind us. My “informant” took this photo.
I scan the crowd. What for, I’m not sure, since I still have no clue who’s behind these messages. Holden and I have tried everything, but this guy is like a ghost.
Or it could be a woman, as Holden has pointed out several times.
When no one stands out in the crowd, I reread the message.
Me
Where are you?
Canary
Already left. I just wanted to see the lovely couple. You looked awfully cozy together, not like you’re with the woman who put you in prison. I hope you sleep with one eye open, ready to be stabbed again in the back. Maybe this time, for real.