57. Evie
Evie
*Do Not Disturb Activated*
With every step closer to the station, the faster my heart beats, the more sweat gathers along the nape of my neck, the sicker my stomach feels…because I know what I have to do.
Happy birthday to me…
Taking a deep breath, I stop. Matteo, not hearing my steps beside him anymore, turns and eyes me, waiting.
Always patiently waiting.
Swallowing thickly, I look to my boyfriend, who supported and respected my every wish despite wanting to go in guns blazing for me.
I know it was hard for him to hold this secret close to his chest and I know that Caleb wasn’t the only one to break tonight.
Matteo just has a better poker face than my brother.
Clearing the emotion in my throat, I declare, “I’m going to tell them everything.”
Matteo’s eyes widen. Basically running to get back to me, he’s breathless. “No, we can get him out. Kieran’s already called a lawyer, so there’s no need to—”
“He’s going to spin this in the press. I heard Kieran whispering in the kitchen. It’s out already, isn’t it?”
Matteo’s silence is my answer.
“I don’t want him to spin this, Matteo, I can’t. I don’t think I’d be able to handle it if he went to the press and said I was a liar.” My voice cracks on the last word.
She just wants attention because your life is doing so well and hers has fallen to shit.
His words—his disgusting words have been playing on repeat in my mind, mingling with the flashbacks of him forcing himself on me.
What a contradiction.
“Everything has been out of my control, how Caleb found out, him even showing up to my birthday dinner. I want to be able to share it with the officers on my terms, not his. He doesn’t get to dictate this.”
Matteo stares at me, his chest rising and falling, his face the epitome of devastation as his eyes flick back and forth between mine, searching. I’m not sure what he finds but he reaches out, hesitating, before I dip my chin.
That one little movement was all he was waiting for.
He moves for me, sliding his hands along my skin to cup my cheeks. He gently tips my head up, brushing his lips on my forehead before murmuring against my skin, “I will support any decision you make. Whether you tell them or not, I will be here for you through every moment.”
My eyes close at his words, my heart soaring at his blind support. “Thank you,” I whisper, not knowing how much I apparently needed to hear that until my shoulders slump in relief, the events of tonight weighing heavily on me.
Dropping my head to his chest, I fist his shirt, taking deep steadying breaths as he wraps his arms around me, his touch and deep oakwood scent grounding me.
“Take your time, Dove,” he whispers. “Just breathe through it, baby. One step at a time.”
Nodding against his chest, I have the sudden overwhelming urge to break down and cry but I force the emotions away and tell myself that it can come later. The tears, the screaming, the anger…it can all come later.
For now, I need to put myself and my story first. It’s time someone protected the little girl he violated.
“How long do you think I have before the internet catches wind?” I hear myself ask. Matteo tenses. Lifting my head, I rest my chin on his chest, not willing to let him go yet. “Matteo?” I probe.
He blinks down at me and that’s when I realize he’s blinking away tears.
His voice, thick as gravel and full of emotion, croaks out, “I’m so sorry I couldn’t protect you from any of this.” He clears his throat before whispering, “It’s already begun.”
I attempt to reassure Matteo with a smile. “You’re not the one who needs to apologize.”
“It breaks me to watch this all unfold but we’ll get through it together, okay?”
“Okay.”
Grounding myself with his touch, I take in one deep pull of air through my nose before stepping away and sighing. “Let’s get this over with.”
Six hours.
Six hours of talking in detail about what my father did to me.
Hours of me choking on sobs that wouldn’t ease.
Moments where I thought I wouldn’t be able to continue, where my throat closed up and I couldn’t get the words to come out.
Couldn’t say how he made me bleed.
Couldn’t talk about the words he whispered in my ear. Or the moments his hand clenched my thigh under the table. Or the shopping trips he took me on to appease his guilt.
It was all lodged in my throat…until it wasn’t anymore, and the little girl within me that has been pleading for a way out told her story in detail for the first time.
I’ve never been so fucking exhausted in my life.
I’ve never purged such heavy emotions before, have never had to bare my soul to strangers, have never felt like my experience was under a microscope.
As they open the door to the interview room, the female detective walking me out, I’m surprised I can move my feet at all. Surprised that my body is cooperating with my mind.
Yet as heavy as the conversation was, as raw and vulnerable as I had to get, there’s a part of me that feels relieved to finally have the truth out there. That people are finding out what he did and believing it.
Matteo believed me.
Caleb believed me.
The officer believed me.
What a shame my mother couldn’t be on that list.
I’m unsure whether to tell Caleb everything—like the horrendous things our mother said to me, how she tried to force him back into my life and force me to remain silent—but the days of secrets are over. It’s not my fault that they’re heavy; the blame resides solely with our parents.
Officer Lilith opens the hallway door leading to the foyer.
Matteo’s in a chair, head hanging between his shoulders, elbows resting on his knees, but he jumps to his feet the moment I step through.
He moves for me, but once he sees my glazed eyes and how my shoulders are slumped, he pauses, hesitating.
Bless his heart.
He doesn’t need to ask, I just dip my chin. In the next breath, he steps into my space and wraps me in a tight embrace, kissing the top of my head. “You’re so brave, my beautiful Dove,” he whispers. “So goddamn brave to have the courage to spread your wings and fly.”
Breathing in his scent, I lay my cheek on his chest, listening to the steady rhythm of his beating heart.
Officer Lilith speaks behind me. “We’ll be in touch very soon, Evie. Thank you for sharing your story.”
“What happens from here?” Matteo asks. I don’t have the energy to engage in the conversation; I just want to stay nestled in the safety of his arms.
“There’s a twenty-four-hour screening process. I and one of my fellow detectives will review the report and begin our investigation. From there, it depends on multiple factors that can’t be predicted.”
“I hope it ends with him in a cell,” he says, and despite the situation, I can’t help but snort.
Officer Lilith doesn’t find the comment humorous. “Like I said, it depends on several factors.”
“When is Caleb being released?”
At the mention of my brother, I turn, but I cling to Matteo’s arms, keeping them wrapped around my body.
The officer looks between us. “He should be out any moment. I believe he’s collecting his belongings.”
Matteo lets go of me only for a moment to shake her hand. “Thank you for your help, Officer.”
She dips her head, keeping the handshake brief. “Just doing my job.” With that she leaves and goes back through the door we just walked through.
Matteo rests his chin on top of my head. “She’s…intense.”
“Very matter-of-fact.”
“Was she kind to you?”
Nodding, I kiss his forearm. “Very. She seems good at her job.”
“On a scale from one to ten, how far away have you flown, Dove?”
My heart melts into a puddle at his question.
I don’t have to say anything, don’t have to try and explain how I’m feeling.
To be loved is to be known.
And Matteo Valenti knows me like no other.
“Seven,” I whisper.
Nodding, he leans down and kisses the top of my head. “It’s okay if you need to keep flying. Just let your mind process and protect itself the way it knows best.” He drops his voice to a whisper. “I’ll help guide you back to yourself.”
My throat tightens, clogging with the words I don’t know how to say. But I’m saved from trying when a door opens behind us.
We turn in time to see Caleb walk through, appearing as disheveled as I am.
Stepping out of Matteo’s embrace, I throw myself into another comforting hug.
Caleb wraps his arms around me, his body sagging with relief.
It isn’t long before his shoulders start shaking and he holds me in earnest, gripping me like his life depends on it, like if we hold each other for long enough, it can fix everything.
I shouldn’t feel guilt, and yet I feel it all the same.
The weight of it is crushing my ribs despite my mind urging my heart to let the emotion go, but it can’t. It’s spinning around and around, trying to drag me down. They demand their way out, so I brokenly whisper, “I’m sorry he’s doing this.”
Caleb sniffles before pulling back, keeping his hands on my arms as he implores me with his gaze.
“Don’t ever apologize for the actions of that vile monster.
I never, ever want to hear you say you’re sorry for this, Evie.
” His bottom lip quivers, his voice breaking. “Please don’t apologize. Not for this.”
Before I can say anything, he lifts his eyes and looks at Matteo over my shoulder. A thousand words pass between them.
Matteo’s gruff voice sends a chill down my spine. “Let’s get her out of here.”
Caleb dips his chin, letting me go as Matteo’s warmth replaces him. Just that one act speaks volumes.
Matteo wraps an arm around me as we make our way to the front of the building. “I’ve gone ahead and booked a cabin for us in Grand Lake. We can check in—” Matteo’s words cut off mid-sentence as he pushes open the front door of the station and we’re thrown into a frenzy of people.
At first, I’m worried we walked into a protest. It’s the only thing that makes sense as to why so many people are congregated at the front of the station, why police officers rush out from behind us and begin to push them away from the steps.
But that’s when the flashes start.
The blinding white flashes.
And then come the questions hurled not at my brother or my boyfriend, both of whom have been in the spotlight and media for years, but at me.
“Evie! Evie!”
“Did you give the police a statement?”
“Why did your father press charges against your brother?”
“Are you going to take him to court?”
“Are you his only victim?
“Would you like to make a comment in regards to your father saying you’re ill and need help?”
“Evie, is it true that you were a troubled teen growing up?”
“Is this just a cry for attention?”
“Evie, over here!”
The words assault me, drag me down into a pit of despair I thought I had already faced and conquered.
It takes us all a moment to realize what, exactly, is happening, but Matteo is faster than Caleb.
He wraps one arm around my waist, hefting me up as he uses the other to shield my face, turning my head in toward his chest. He carries me down the stairs and through the throes of the press.
Caleb’s hand lands on my back, making me flinch before I realize it’s him as he growls, “Get that fucking camera out of her face!”
Suddenly, a flash comes from the side of my face, blinding me even in the darkness of Matteo’s warmth.
His entire body grows still, and he stops just long enough to say with deadly calm, “Step back before I break your fucking hand.” His tone drops another octave as he growls, “And keep my girlfriend’s name out of your goddamn mouth, you spineless fucking vulture. ”
The press around us grow eerily silent, not able to recover from their shock quickly enough before a door opens and Matteo is dragging me inside an SUV.
He doesn’t let me sit beside him. Instead, he places me firmly in his lap, his hands shaking as he holds onto my hips, his breathing so measured and controlled I know it’s taking everything in him right now to regulate his emotions.
Caleb jumps in beside us, urging the driver to take off quickly.
“Who the fuck leaked our whereabouts to the press?” Matteo barks.
“Probably the same sick fuck that pressed charges and had me arrested,” Caleb sneers, running a hand through his disheveled blond hair.
The boys keep talking, wondering what happened, but all I can hear is the one thought that repeats on a loop in my mind.
They know. Everyone knows. The world knows.