Chapter 2 #2
The front door slams, and I flinch. Ethan strides into the living room, his face tight with barely controlled anger. He's been like this since yesterday, simmering with frustration that I won't just agree to let Hades take the children and walk away.
"Evangeline," he says, his voice clipped. "We need to talk."
It's not a request. His hand closes around my wrist as he speaks, fingers pressing into my pulse point hard enough that I have to bite my lip to keep from wincing.
The touch is possessive, controlling. Nothing like the gentle way Hades holds the children, or the careful distance he maintains with me out of respect for my engagement.
"Can it wait?" I ask, glancing at the children. "We're in the middle of—"
"Now," he says, his grip tightening.
Hades goes very still beside me. I don't look at him, but I can feel the sudden tension radiating from his body. The way a predator goes quiet before it strikes.
“Let go of her wrist,” Hades says, low and calm. Too calm.
Ethan's eyes narrow. "This is a private conversation between my fiancée and me."
Hades steps forward, and for one terrifying second, I think he’s going to break Ethan’s jaw.
“Now,” he growls.
The kids go dead silent.
I jump in before it escalates, forcing a smile. “Ethan, please. Not in front of the kids.”
He releases my wrist with obvious reluctance, and I have to resist the urge to rub the tender spots where his fingers dug in.
"Five minutes," he says. "In the kitchen."
I glance at Hades, who's watching Ethan with the kind of focus that probably makes smart men run. But Ethan has never been as smart as he thinks he is.
"Stay with the kids?" I ask Hades.
He nods, and I follow Ethan into the kitchen, dreading whatever lecture is coming.
"What the hell was that?" Ethan demands the moment we're alone.
"What was what?"
"Don't play dumb, Evangeline. The way you were looking at him. The way you're undermining every decision I make." His voice is low but sharp, designed to cut. "We had an agreement. You were going to let him take the children and we were going to move on with our lives."
"I never agreed to that," I say, lifting my chin. "You decided that. You made that choice for me."
"Because it's the smart choice!" His composure cracks, and for a moment I see the real Ethan underneath the polished exterior; the man who needs to control everything and everyone around him. "Five children, Evangeline. Do you have any idea what that would do to our life? To our plans?"
"Our plans can change."
"Can they? Or are you just using these children as an excuse to stay close to him?"
The accusation hits like a slap. "How dare you—"
"I see the way you look at him," Ethan continues, his voice dropping to something cruel. "The way you light up when he walks into a room. You think I'm blind?"
My face burns with embarrassment and anger. Am I that obvious? Has everyone seen what I've been trying so hard to hide?
"Those children just lost their parents. I'm trying to—"
"You're trying to play house with a criminal because you have some adolescent fantasy about bad boys and danger." He steps closer, crowding me against the counter. "But that's all it is, Evangeline. A fantasy. In the real world, men like him destroy everything they touch."
"You don't know him."
"I know enough. And I know you're making a mistake that's going to ruin both our lives.
" His hand comes up to cup my face, but there's nothing gentle about the touch.
"We'll discuss your defiance later, when we're alone.
But right now, you're going to go in there and tell him you've changed your mind.
That you think it's best if he takes full custody. "
The words hit me like ice water. He’s treating me like I'm a child who's misbehaved instead of a grown woman making her own choices.
"No," I say quietly.
His eyes flash with something ugly. "Excuse me?"
"I said no. Marcus and Calla named both of us as guardians because they wanted both of us in their children's lives. I won't abandon them."
"You'll do as I say, Evangeline. We're getting married in six months. You belong to me now."
Belong to him. Like I'm property he's acquired rather than a person he's supposed to love.
The words echo in my head, and suddenly I'm remembering every time he's corrected my outfit choices, my food orders, my opinions at dinner parties. Every time he's spoken for me instead of letting me speak for myself.
How did I not see it before?
“We’ll discuss this later,” I say, echoing his earlier words.
I push past him, but I don’t go straight back to the living room.
I pause in the hallway, my hand braced against the wall like it’s the only thing holding me upright.
As I take deep breaths, needing to calm myself, I hear the front door close and sigh in relief.
Good, he’s gone. I can’t deal with him right now.
I’m not sure how long I stand there, taking the time to ground myself, but my phone buzzes from my pocket.
I pull my cell out and see who’s calling. Ethan. Of course.
For a moment, my thumb hovers over the screen. Maybe I should answer. Apologize. Smooth things over. That’s what I usually do. Keep the peace. Keep the plan intact.
This is just grief, I tell myself. This is me latching on to the first person who feels safe.
But then I hear Lily laugh through the doorway; listen to Hades’ voice reading to them.
And I remember the way Ethan’s hand bruised my wrist.
I slide the phone back into my pocket without answering. My hand is still shaking.
I think about last month, at that benefit gala downtown. Ethan had spent the entire night charming a table of potential donors. The older woman sitting beside him had gushed about how wonderful he was. How kind.
And then, when she spilled wine on his suit, I saw it. A flash in his eyes. Just for a second.
He smiled at her, wiped the stain, and told her it was fine, but his hand clenched the cloth napkin so tight his knuckles turned white.
Everyone else saw the gentleman, whereas I finally caught a glimpse of the fracture in his facade.
In the living room, Hades is reading to the younger kids while Mason and Emma work on a puzzle nearby. The scene is so normal, so domestic, that for a moment I can almost forget why we're here.
"Everything okay?" Hades asks when he sees my face.
"Fine," I lie, settling back down beside him. My wrist still throbs where Ethan grabbed me, and I can feel Hades' eyes tracking the movement as I unconsciously rub the spot.
His presence beside me is like a balm; solid and warm and safe in a way that makes me want to lean into him and never move away. The urge is so strong it actually frightens me.
"Aunt Evie," Lily says, climbing into my lap. "Uncle Hades says we can't all fit in your apartment."
"That's right, sweetheart. My place is pretty small."
"But I have an idea," Hades says, his voice careful. "I've got a house about twenty minutes outside the city. It's got six bedrooms, a big backyard. There’s plenty of space for everyone."
My heart does something complicated in my chest. "You want us all to live together?"
"I want these kids to have a home," he says simply. "And I want you to have help raising them. It's what Marcus and Calla wanted when they asked us to be their kids’ guardians. I don’t spend much time there as I spend the majority of nights at the clubhouse. You’ll have space and the kids will have a home. "
I stare at him, trying to process what he's offering. A home. A partnership. A chance to keep the children together and give them the stability they need.
And the opportunity to be near him every day, to feel that dangerous pull between us growing stronger with every shared glance and accidental touch.
It's exactly what I want and everything I shouldn't have.
“Think about it,” he says when I don’t answer immediately. “We don’t have to decide anything right now.”
I should say no. I should tell him it’s too soon. Too close. That I’m still engaged. That grief is warping everything I think I feel.
Instead, I look at the kids. Lily is curled up in my lap, Mason watching us from the edge of everything, waiting for someone to make the right call.
I open my mouth to tell him we should work something different out, that we need boundaries, but what comes out is something else entirely.
“Okay,” I say quietly, the word barely a whisper.
Hades' eyes search mine. "Okay?"
"Yes. Let's do it. Let's give them a home."
The smile that spreads across his face is like sunrise after the longest night, and for the first time since Detective Isaacs' phone call yesterday, I feel like maybe we can actually make this work.
Maybe we can save these children.
Maybe we can save each other.