Chapter 58
Chapter Fifty-Eight
I don’t even realize that Scout and Justice aren’t with us until Evan drags Peter onto the front porch of the house and shoves him into a chair. Although I’m hurt and angry with Peter, this upsets me.
“You’re going to hurt him!”
Peter grabs my hand. His fingers are cold and soaking wet.
“Don’t, Marianna, it’s okay. I’m not made of glass. He has every right to be angry, and so do you.”
I pull away from his grip when Evan tugs me by the elbow. He takes me to the loveseat and pushes me gently down. I’m too tired and too broken to fight.
With his big hands, he cups my face and looks down at me. “You shouldn’t have come.”
The tempest of tenderness and anger in his expression crushes the breath out of me.
He’s broken too.
“This is my fault, Evan. You shouldn’t be tangled up in this mess. You just need to walk away.”
It’s going to devastate me. I may never recover, but that’s what he should do.
My words must hit him hard, because his fingers tighten on my jaw when he flinches. “I’m not leaving you to fight this battle alone.”
“What about when it’s done?”
And there’s the ugly truth. Slipping out because I’m raw and vulnerable.
His gaze flicks between my eyes. “You should want me out of your life, sweetheart. You saw me, Marianna. I had no qualms about killing him. None. All I want is revenge for you, but I won’t do it with you watching me.”
“Evan…” I grip his thick wrists with both my hands. “I love you.”
And there’s the other truth. The big, gigantic thing that’s been lighting up my soul and torturing my heart at the same time.
It’s impossible to miss the change in his expression, or the way he turns rigid. Cold replaces the warm where his hands were when he drops his palms from my face.
When he turns back toward Peter without saying a word to me, an anguished sob tears out of me. Clawing through the constriction in my throat.
“Tell her why,” Evan says in a dead voice.
Dead. Devoid of all emotion.
Because of me.
Pain erupts in my body. Slicing, twisting, ripping me apart. I barely hold my spine upright as my world collapses around me.
Peter’s gaze falls to the porch floor.
Breathe, Marianna. Just breathe. You can’t die from a broken heart.
When I try to stand so I can run, hide, disappear, Peter’s gaze jumps to mine. A river of tears is pouring from his eyes. “I did it to free you.”
Another knife to my chest. My mind locks up with disbelief as my mouth drops open. A horrible sound comes from my shaking chest.
“Free me? That farm was my life ! My tie to my grandfather. My world…”
My words dissolve into choking sobs.
Peter tries to come to me but Evan shoves him back in the chair. With a bitter look toward Evan, Peter softens his voice. “Child, that farm was your curse. Just like your mother’s.”
No. Not a curse. I stare at him, my body going numb. My vision hazed over.
Peter’s face crumples. His voice is an ancient rattle when he speaks this time. “Your father’s always been after that farm. He wanted your grandfather to sell it when you were just a baby. That’s what your mother was upset about when she died in the car wreck.”
I’m out of my body now, above. The Marianna sitting there on the porch breaks down. Tears drown her, choke her, pour down her face.
She folds into a ball, wrapping her arms around her knees, and I want to pull her away. Far, far away.
Then I’m snapped back when Evan’s strong arms wrap around me and pull into his lap on the floor. He cradles my head in a fierce embrace. When I scream bloody murder, he holds me.
He holds me through the fury. He doesn’t stop holding me when I beat his arm with my fist.
“I got you, baby.”
“My life is gone!” It’s a screamed nightmarish sound that shocks even my own nervous system.
Peter covers his face and cries. Soft, aching wails.
Evan’s deep, soothing voice rumbles against my ear. “I’ve got you. I won’t let anyone hurt you ever again.”
It’s a long time before he speaks again, but when he does it’s to demand an answer from Peter. “How did you sell something that belongs to her?”
“It never belonged to her. It was deeded to me after her grandfather’s death. He didn’t want Marianna to bear the brunt of the burden because he knew what her father was capable of.”
I twist around in Evan’s arms, but he doesn’t let me go. “How is that possible? The business is in my name?”
“DonAzule Agave and Tequila is in your name.”
“The farm wasn’t…” I wheeze.
“Gone. I sold it. I just needed a few documents out of your grandfather’s files to make it complete. It’s done. Now you’re free to go. Free to live the life a young woman should. Free. When Evan came into your life, I knew it was time. I knew he would take you away from here.”
I don’t know what happens next.
A black void swallows me.
When I come to, there’s a rumble like tires beneath me.
“Sweetheart?”
A hand brushes across my cheek.
I close my eyes and fall back into the darkness.