Chapter 14
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
evangeline
I should have heard him coming. I should have locked the door after Hades left with the kids for their Saturday afternoon bike ride lesson. But I was distracted, lost in thoughts about kisses and the way my body comes alive every time Hades is near.
The front door slams so hard it rattles the windows, and I know immediately that Ethan is past the point of civilized conversation.
"Evangeline!" His voice cuts through the house like a blade. "We need to talk. Right now."
I glance out the window and see his car parked beyond the fence. How did he manage to get past the locked gate?
I find him standing in the living room, his expensive suit wrinkled, his hair disheveled, his eyes wild with barely controlled rage. This isn't the polished, controlled man I was engaged to. This is someone I barely recognize.
"The kids aren't here," I say carefully. "Maybe you should—"
"Are you fucking him?" The words explode out of him, crude and vicious. "Are you spreading your legs for that criminal piece of shit?"
The vulgarity of it makes me flinch. In all our time together, Ethan never spoke to me like that. He never used language designed to degrade and humiliate.
"That's none of your business."
"None of my business?" His laugh is sharp, bitter. "I was going to marry you. I spent years of my life building a future with you, and you throw it all away to play house with some biker trash. So yeah, it's my fucking business."
"We're not together anymore, Ethan. What I do with my life isn't your concern."
"Did you cheat on me?" He takes a step closer, and I instinctively step back. "While you were wearing my ring, planning our wedding, were you thinking about him? Fantasizing about what it would be like to fuck someone dangerous?"
"No. I never—"
"Bullshit. I saw the way you looked at him at family gatherings. Like some lovesick teenager with a crush on the bad boy." His voice turns ugly, mocking. "Did you think I was blind? Did you think I didn't notice the way you'd light up whenever he was around?"
The accusation hits too close to home because there's truth in it. I was attracted to Hades long before I had any right to be. But I never acted on it, never crossed any lines while I was with Ethan.
"I was faithful to you," I say quietly. "Whatever you think you saw—"
"You were faithful with your body, maybe, but not with your heart. Not with your mind." He's getting closer, and there's something predatory in his movements. "You were already gone, weren't you? Already imagining what it would be like to be with him instead of me."
"Stop."
"Is he better than me? Is that what this is about? Does he make you feel things I couldn't?"
"Ethan, you need to leave."
"I need to what?" His voice rises to something dangerous. "I need to leave my fiancée? Walk away from the woman I love because she's lost her mind over some criminal?"
"This isn't your house. And you don't love me."
"The fuck I don't!"
The explosion of rage makes me take another step back. I've never seen him like this, never seen the controlled facade drop so completely.
"You love the idea of me," I say, trying to keep my voice steady. "The perfect wife who'd make you look good at dinner parties. But you don't love who I actually am."
"And he does? That piece of shit who barely knows you? He sees an easy mark. A desperate woman he can manipulate into taking care of his family obligations."
The words are designed to hurt, to plant seeds of doubt about Hades' motives. But they bounce off me because I know better now. I know the difference between manipulation and genuine care.
"You're wrong."
"Am I? Or are you so desperate to feel wanted that you'll believe anything he tells you?"
"Get out."
"No." He takes another step closer, close enough that I can smell the alcohol on his breath. "I'm not leaving until you admit what this really is. A midlife crisis. A grief-induced breakdown. A fucking fantasy that's going to destroy your life."
"Get out of my house."
"Everything I gave you," he snarls, his face twisting with rage. "The security, the lifestyle, the future. And this is how you repay me? By throwing it all away for some biker who'll get bored with you the second something younger and easier comes along?"
"I don't owe you anything."
"You owe me everything! I took care of you, provided for you, gave you a life most women would kill for. And you're pissing it all away because you think you're in love."
"I don't think anything. I know."
The admission slips out before I can stop it, raw and honest and absolutely final. I'm in love with Hades. Not just attracted, not just grateful for his help, but completely, hopelessly, irrevocably in love.
Ethan's face goes white with shock, then red with fury. "You stupid, naive bitch."
Before I can react, his hand closes around my wrist, fingers digging in hard enough to make me gasp. The grip is brutal, possessive, designed to hurt.
"Let go of me."
"Not until you listen to me. Really listen." His grip tightens, and I can feel bones grinding together. "You think this is love? This is infatuation. Lust. A fantasy you're too immature to recognize as temporary."
"You're hurting me."
"Good. Maybe pain will get through to you when reason won't."
The casual admission that he's deliberately causing me pain makes something cold settle in my stomach. This is who he really is underneath the charm and polish—someone who hurts people when he doesn't get his way.
"Let me go."
"Promise me you'll end this ridiculous charade. Promise me you'll send him away and come home where you belong."
"No."
"Promise me!"
"No!"
The word explodes out of me with all the frustration and anger I've been suppressing for days. All the times he's tried to control me, manipulate me, make me smaller to fit his vision of what I should be.
I wrench my wrist free and slap him as hard as I can.
The sound echoes through the living room like a gunshot. Ethan staggers back, his hand going to his cheek, his eyes wide with shock.
For a moment, we just stare at each other. I've never hit anyone in my life, never fought back against anything. But standing here with my hand stinging and my wrist throbbing, I feel something I haven't felt in years.
Powerful.
"You hit me," Ethan says, his voice flat with disbelief.
"You were hurting me."
"You fucking hit me."
"And I'll do it again if you touch me."
That's when his control snaps completely.
The backhand comes so fast I don't see it coming. Pain explodes across my cheek, and I stumble backward, my vision blurring. The metallic taste of blood fills my mouth, and I realize he's split my lip.
"You want to act like a child?" Ethan's voice is cold, calculating. "Then I'll treat you like one. You need discipline, structure, someone to make decisions for you because you clearly can't handle adult responsibilities."
I touch my lip, fingers coming away bloody. The shock of being hit, of having violence turned against me for the first time in my life, makes everything feel surreal.
"Look what you made me do," he continues, straightening his tie like nothing happened. "I didn't want to hurt you, but you forced my hand. This is what happens when you don't listen to reason."
"Get out."
"This isn't over, Evangeline. You think you can just walk away from me, from everything we built together? You think you can embarrass me, make me look like a fool, and there won't be consequences?"
"Get out of my house."
"This tantrum of yours ends now. You're going to call him, tell him you made a mistake, and then you're going to come home with me where you belong."
"I'm not going anywhere with you."
"Yes, you are. Because if you don't, I'll make sure those children you're so attached to find out exactly what kind of man you're in love with. What kind of crimes he's committed, what kind of violence he's capable of."
The threat against the kids makes my blood boil. "You leave them out of this."
"Then end it. Choose me, choose the life you're supposed to have, and I'll leave your little criminal boyfriend alone."
"And if I don't?"
His smile is cold, predatory. "Then everyone you care about pays the price for your selfishness."
He straightens his jacket and runs a hand through his hair, transforming back into the polished businessman. But I can see the monster underneath now, the rage and control and casual cruelty.
"You have twenty-four hours to make the right choice," he says, heading for the door. "After that, things get ugly."
The front door slams behind him, leaving me alone in the sudden silence.
Blood blooms on my lip. My wrist pulses, hot and purple. I sit down before I collapse.
Then the rest hits. Not just pain. Realization. I let this man into my life for years and never saw the monster beneath the smile.
How did I not see it before? How did I spend years with someone capable of this and never realize the danger I was in?
I make it to the bathroom before I start shaking. The face in the mirror looks like a stranger's. Swollen lip, red handprint across my cheek, eyes wide with shock and something that might be relief.
Relief because it's finally over. Because I've seen behind the mask and can never pretend again that what we had was love.
My hands are still shaking when I hear the front door open again. For a moment, panic floods through me. Ethan's back. He's going to finish what he started.
"Angel?" Hades' voice cuts through the fear like sunlight through clouds. "Everything okay? Your car's here but the house feels..."
He doesn't finish the sentence, but I know what he means. The house feels wrong. Violated. Dangerous.
"In here," I call, my voice barely above a whisper.
His footsteps are quick, purposeful, and then he's standing in the bathroom doorway. I watch his face in the mirror as he takes in my appearance, and I see the exact moment he realizes what happened.
"Where are the kids?" I ask quickly.