Chapter 3 #2
"I'm not making threats. I'm stating facts. Those children need to be in a stable environment with proper supervision. Not some motorcycle club where God knows what kind of illegal activities take place."
"Uncle Hades?"
The small voice cuts through the adult posturing like a knife. We all turn to see Jake standing in the doorway, his young face confused and frightened.
"Jake, sweetheart, go back to your brothers and sisters," Evangeline says gently.
"But why is the mean man here?" Jake asks, and I watch Ethan's face flush with anger at the casual description.
"Mean man?" Ethan repeats, his voice tight with barely controlled rage. "Is that what you've been telling them about me?"
"I didn't have to tell them anything," Evangeline replies coldly. "Children are excellent judges of character."
Emma moves in front of Sophie and Jake without a word, her small shoulders squared.
The verbal slap hits its mark, and Ethan's composure finally cracks completely.
"That's enough," he snaps, his grip on her wrist becoming visibly painful. "We're leaving. All of us. Right now."
Evangeline tries to pull away, but Ethan holds fast. I can see the white pressure marks where his fingers dig into her skin, and the sight sends a red haze over my vision.
"Let go of her." The words come out more growl than speech.
"Or what?" Ethan's false bravado is back, powered by desperation and wounded pride. "You'll assault me? In front of witnesses? In front of children?"
He's not wrong. One wrong move from me and he could have the cops here. He could use it as ammunition to prove that Evangeline and the kids aren't safe with us. The smart play would be to de-escalate, to let him leave with his dignity intact.
But watching him hurt her, watching him treat her like property, makes every civilized instinct I possess disappear.
"Hades," Evangeline says quietly, and something in her voice stops me cold. Not fear of Ethan, but fear for me. Fear of what I might do and how it might destroy everything we're trying to build.
The knowledge that she's protecting me, even from herself, hits like a punch to the solar plexus.
"Please," she continues, her green eyes locked on mine. "The children."
She's right. Whatever this thing between us is, whatever I want to do to the bastard who's hurting her, it has to take a backseat to keeping the kids safe.
"You heard the lady," I say to Ethan, forcing my voice back to something resembling calm. "Let her go."
For a moment, I think he's going to push it, going to force a confrontation that will end with him on the floor and me in handcuffs.
Then Ghost steps forward, and something in his presence makes Ethan's survival instincts finally kick in.
"This isn't over," Ethan says, releasing Evangeline's wrist. But his eyes are on me, not her. "You can't keep them here forever. Sooner or later, you'll make a mistake, and when you do, I'll be there."
"Looking forward to it," I reply.
Ethan's gaze sweeps the room one more time, taking in the watching bikers, the frightened children, and the woman he's supposed to love standing as far away from him as possible.
"Call me when you come to your senses," he tells Evangeline. Then he turns and walks out, the door slamming behind him.
Silence stretches for a long moment before Jake ventures out from his hiding spot.
"Is he coming back?" he asks.
"Not if I can help it," I say, and I mean every word.
Tempest moves up beside me, his voice low enough that only I can hear. "You're different around her. Always have been."
I don't answer, because what's the point? He's not wrong.
"Brother," Ghost says, joining us. "You sure you know what you're getting into here?"
"I know these kids need protection. I know their aunt needs support. Everything else..." I shrug, trying to play it off like my heart isn't hammering against my ribs.
"Everything else is you lying to yourself," Tempest says bluntly. "And probably to her."
Across the room, Evangeline is kneeling beside Jake, checking to make sure he's okay.
The other children have clustered around her, seeking the comfort and security she represents.
Her hair falls in golden waves around her face, and when she smiles at something Sophie says, it's like watching the sun come out after a storm.
She's everything I can't have and everything I've ever wanted, and watching her with those kids makes something in my chest twist until I can barely breathe.
"Hades," Ghost's voice carries a warning I've heard before, "getting involved with civilians never ends well. You know that."
"She's not just some civilian. She's family now."
"Is she? Or is she a woman who's engaged to another man and trying to do right by her brother's kids?"
The question hits harder than I want to admit. Because the truth is, I don't know. I don't know if the heat I see in her eyes sometimes is real or just wishful thinking. I don't know if she's staying for the children or for something else.
I don't know if I'm about to destroy everything by wanting something I can never have.
"Look at her," Tempest says quietly. "Really look at her."
So I do, and what I see stops my heart.
Evangeline's got Lily on her lap now, the little girl's head tucked under her chin as she reads from a picture book. The older kids are arranged around her in a loose circle, drawn to her warmth like moths to flame. She looks tired, grief-stricken, overwhelmed.
But she also looks... right. Like this is where she belongs. Like those children belong with her.
Like she belongs with me.
The realization hits like a freight train, destroying the careful walls I've built around my feelings for her over the years.
"Fuck," I breathe.
"Yeah," Tempest says, his voice heavy with sympathy. "You're fucked, brother, and so is she."
Because the truth is, it doesn't matter what I want. It doesn't matter that she lights up when I walk into a room or that her breath catches when I get too close. It doesn't matter that she defended me against Ethan or that she chose to bring those kids here instead of somewhere safe and proper.
She's still wearing another man's ring.
And until that changes, all the wanting in the world won't be enough.
But as I watch her with the children, as I see the way she fits into this chaotic, violent world I've built for myself, I know I'm not giving up.
Ethan wants a fight? He's got one.
It’s not fair; to her, to the kids. But wanting her isn’t something I’ve ever been able to stop.
The moment I let them into my world, the moment I chose not to walk away, I crossed a line I can’t uncross.
Those kids are mine now. Evangeline is mine, even if she doesn’t know it yet.
And I'll be damned if I let some entitled rich boy take them away from me.
"Ghost," I say, my voice carrying the kind of certainty that comes from making a decision you can't take back, "I need everything we can dig up on Ethan Morrison. Financial records, business dealings, personal history. Everything."
"You sure about this?"
I look at Evangeline one more time, at the way she's created safety and comfort for five broken children in the middle of a motorcycle clubhouse. The way she makes everything chaotic and dangerous and beautiful all at once.
"Yeah," I say. "I'm sure."
Because some things are worth fighting for.
And some women are worth going to war over.