Chapter 36 #2
“A bit more than a month,” she calls back. “Vaughn also found all these crazy doorman buildings with billionaire views. Don’t get me wrong, they're beautiful, and I like crashing at his place every now and then for those views. But I don’t know. I really liked this place.”
“Does he come by a lot?” I ask, walking back over and handing her some wine.
“Mr. Nonstop?” She rolls her eyes. “No. I’m actually not sure he ever has.”
I think about the counters in this apartment that she loves so much, and how Vaughn hasn’t ever seen those counters through her eyes.
A little light goes on in my head.
I think I know how to prove my good intentions to Sabine.
“Can I ask you something, Evie? How involved are you with the day-to-day stuff with your family's business?”
I snort. “What?”
She gives me a puzzled look. “Like, how does Roman balance your ideas with his own leadership?”
I give her a strange look. “Oh, I’m…I’m not involved at all.”
Her brow furrows. “Really?”
I shrug. “I mean, I understand what my family does, and sometimes Roman lets me know about stuff before it happens. But he's in charge.” I roll my eyes. “I’m just the kid sister.”
Sabine’s lips twist. “That’s…wow… “
“What?”
“No, it’s just…you’re obviously smart, and you’re really good at analyzing situations and reading between the lines. I guess I just imagined that would be something your brother would consider an asset to the family.”
“Oh, I dunno about that…” I shrug.
“Well, I do.” She sips her wine. “I’m just saying, once you’re in the Syndicate?” She gives me a sharp look. “Your intuition and subtle understanding will be valued, and I’m not just blowing smoke up your ass.” She giggles. “Seriously.”
I stay for an hour, both of us chatting and laughing, until I decide I was wrong about her. Or maybe I was right when I first met her, and then wrong for a while.
Either way, I’m glad I came over.
“Hey, Evelina?” She smiles as she holds the door open for me as I'm leaving. “Thank you.”
“For what?”
“For having the guts to force this thing between us to a head. I never would have.” She grins. “And for what it’s worth, I think you might be really good for him.”
There’s a huge weight off my shoulders as I float into the restaurant on Vaughn’s arm. The food is amazing, the wine delicious. The company is hot and broody and orders me to take off my panties halfway through our appetizers and hand them to him.
After we get back to his penthouse he turns off the lights, chases me, pins me roughly to the glass overlooking the city with a knife to my throat, and fucks the living shit out of me as I come all over his thick cock again and again.
Later, I’m about to head to the guest room. But then, without a word, Vaughn grabs my hand and leads me to his bedroom.
He pulls back the covers of his bed.
…And tells me to “just shut up and get in already” when I arch a brow.
For the very first time, I fall asleep in his arms in his bed, snuggled against him.
It’s dark when I wake up. I can hear yelling.
I frown as I lift my head from the pillow. The bed beside me is empty.
“Vaughn?”
The yelling comes again, louder, from the living area.
I swing my legs out from the covers and wrap the duvet around me. Slowly, cautiously, I creep across the bedroom and crack open the door.
The yelling is even louder now, and it’s definitely Vaughn’s voice.
I tell myself he must be on a business call and turn to go back to bed.
“She’s not going anywhere!” he thunders.
I pause at the open doorway.
“She’s making us weak.”
I shiver. That was his voice. But...not. Harsher. Colder. Almost a little inhuman.
“I won't let you take her away,” Vaughn snarls.
“You won't let us!?” his altered voice barks in reply. “The fucking audacity to think there even is a you without us!”
A chill ripples up my spine.
What the fuck is going on?
I slowly push the bedroom door open and tiptoe down the hall. The yelling continues as the darkness of the corridor lightens and I approach the landing that overlooks the open living area below.
“There is no YOU!” the demonic voice roars. “There is only WE! And WE say that she needs to fucking go!”
“I will cut you out,” Vaughn snarls.
Then his other voice laughs.
“You’d have to kill yourself if you wanted to do that, motherfucker.”
“Guess we’ll find out together, won’t we?” Vaughn barks.
There’s a clatter of metal and then the sound of shattering glass. My heart lurches as I bolt down the hall, glancing over the rail of the landing to see him falling, or maybe being yanked, around the corner and out of view.
“VAUGHN!”
I rush down the stairs, sprint around the corner…
And then I’m not sure what I'm looking at, but it scares the hell out of me.
Vaughn is on his knees in the kitchen, a dazed look in his eyes as he struggles with himself, his arm muscles bulging as he points the tip of a large kitchen knife to his own jugular.
“THERE IS NO YOU WITHOUT WE!” he roars in the terrifying voice I’ve never heard before.
Then he touches the knife to his skin.
“NO!” I scream, hurling myself across the kitchen at him and dropping to my knees. “STOP IT!”
He starts as I grab the knife, yank it from his grip, and fling it across the room.
“VAUGHN!” I blurt, cupping his face, trying to pierce through the demonic, vicious glint in his eyes. “Vaughn, it’s me! Evie! You’re home! You’re safe!”
“THERE IS NO YOU WITHOUT—”
My palm cracks sharply against his face. Suddenly, with a choked gasp, his gaze returns to normal.
The cold sneer on his face drops, and he blinks rapidly, his brow furrowed as he focuses on me.
His eyes dart to the knife on the floor across the room before his gaze drags back to me.
“Evelina,” he chokes.
Tears spring to my eyes as I wrap my arms around him, hugging him tightly as I cry into his shoulder.
“I see you,” I sob, my breath catching as I hug him so tight it hurts. “I’m here, and I see you.”
I have no idea what the hell that was just now.
But I do know that I’m not going anywhere.