Chapter 104
ONE HUNDRED FOUR
EVAN
She was running. Flying toward me.
I waited for her to reach me because I couldn’t run. Not yet.
She crashed into me, sobbing my name as I wrapped my arms around her.
She continued to weep, clinging to me.
“Hey,” I answered softly, removing my sunglasses. “How’s my girl?”
She stared up at me.
I winced and ducked my head. I didn’t like her seeing my scars.
My left eye was milky white, as if a ghost were drowning in it.
Glacial in color, it spoke of all my traumas.
I always wore sunglasses to hide it, but she needed to see me.
I wasn’t exactly pretty to look at, but she looked at me like I was the most beautiful thing in the world.
I fumbled with my sunglasses, desperate to put them on so she wouldn’t see the ugliness of my eyes.
With a shaky hand, she reached out and cradled my face, pushing the sunglasses away. Her palm slid against the rough scars along my jaw and cheek.
“Can you see me?” she whispered.
“Yes,” I answered softly. “You’re blurry in my left eye, but I can see you with my right.”
“Evan…”
“Rosalie,” I murmured. “Ro.”
“How are you here?”
“Matteo. I-I pushed the button on the coin Matteo gave me. I forgot I even had it. Alessio came. He injected me with something and said he never misses a shot. It would have been funny at the time had I not been dying.” My voice trailed off as she continued to stare in wonder at me.
I was real. I was here. My heart beat steadily beneath her fingertips.
“I didn’t know if I was going to make it. Alessio said there was a chance I wouldn’t, but I had to take the chance. I-I wanted your freedom. I’d have died for it. So I did. I’m Evan now. Matteo made sure I got everything new. Fox died in the underground.”
She sobbed, her face buried in my chest as I held her. My heart had never been so damn full before.
She climbed me like a tree, and I held her tiny body as she pressed her lips against mine.
Fuck, I’d missed this.
I kissed her back, knowing I wasn’t quite myself yet.
Trauma did that to a guy. Once I’d woken in a hospital bed in one of Matteo’s facilities, I begged to go to her and the guys, but Matteo said I was already gone, that I’d died.
That this was the plan now. All I had to do was take the name Evan Beyers. That he’d ensure Rosalie made it to me.
It was hell. Pure hell as I tried to recover. I still had trouble walking. My arm was beyond fucked. My soul… well, it was shattered.
I’d shaved my head, pierced my ears, and had my body tatted over the last few months to mask the pain so I wouldn’t have to see so many of the scars on my skin.
There wasn’t fuck all I could do about the scar down my face or the eye that was fucked, but I was here.
It was the best I could get, and for that, I was grateful.
I was me, but I wasn’t.
Fox really had died that night.
The shot Alessio gave me was something he’d been working on with Matteo. A life after death jolt. It slowed the heart to nearly nothing. They used one of E’s strains to make it happen. So I’d lain there on the floor, unconscious, hoping I’d wake up.
Then Dante had the fire set.
Alessio took me through the tunnels with Sylar and freed me after Enzo had left.
My body was replaced with another. Matteo said the body was burned beyond recognition.
That my father identified me and confirmed it was me.
When I asked my dad why he confirmed it was me, he gave me a sad smile and said he was grieving too much to even think.
It had come to him much later, though, and it was why he reconnected with Matteo after Emilio found him and asked about the coin.
Matteo had many men in his pocket—even the damn coroner.
I’d vomited for a week upon hearing of my own death. I begged to go home. To my guys. To my girl. But Matteo reminded me that I’d made a deal, and I’d pressed the button. He reasoned that it freed Rosalie to grow, and it gave me what I wanted most.
The love of my life.
Guilt had been eating at me for months. I’d betrayed the guys. Rosie. But fuck, I wanted to save her. Knowing she’d survived another attack, it helped.
A lot.
I never realized how powerful Matteo was until he explained in great detail the lengths he went through to ensure I was dead. It was unlikely that I was even recognizable now. I knew I didn’t like looking into the mirror these days, but my Rosie knew me.
“Evan,” she murmured against my lips. “I love you. I love you. My Foxy.”
“I love you too, Rosie.” I kissed her again, knowing I’d never get enough of her.
The look on Anson’s face when he realized who I was. What it meant.
But I had a gift for him, too.
My new brother.
“Will you marry me?” I whispered against her lips. “Tomorrow? Will you marry me?”
“Yes.” Her lips were on mine again, and I groaned, desperate to have every piece of her fused with me.
There was no way I was ever leaving her again. Anson had recounted in great detail this morning what happened with Rosalie and the guys.
Enzo marrying Celeste sickened me. Cole joining him… fucking assholes. I didn’t know if any of it was real, but it didn’t matter. Rosalie was supposed to be taken care of, but instead of telling her the truth, if there was any to tell, Enzo didn’t. He ran. He forced her away.
But in a way, I was grateful for that too.
Because now she was here with me. He’d set her free.
I would always thank him for that.
Everyone was gone when we went back into the house. That was by design. My dad had rented a place in town for everyone to stay in for the night so Rosalie and I could spend some time together.
He’d gone to question Matteo and had been given me instead. He said he was giving the horsemen hell and had killed a hell of a lot of people in my name.
I apologized profusely, but he said fuck them all and hugged me.
And Matteo.
I think they are on good terms now. They seemed to be. I suppose all the violence and deceit ultimately paid off.
Instead of sex with Rosalie, I just held her all night, telling her my story. Every bit of it I could remember.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered as she rested her head on my chest in bed. “I’m so sorry you suffered.”
“I did a lot of bad things—”
“No, you didn’t. I told you to experience life. Nothing was bad.” I wiped her tears away as I tilted her chin so she was looking at me.
“I slept with someone else.”
“I know,” I whispered, wincing at her words. Klaus had told me just before I left to come here. I’d wanted to beat the fuck out of him, but then I’d seen the distress he was under. He loved my girl.
She was easy to love.
He said he’d give everyone the time they needed. I told him it was her choice, not mine. He accepted that. I wanted her to love whoever she wanted to love. As many as she could fit into her perfect heart.
Her happiness above all else. Always.
“Klaus,” I murmured. “He told me.”
“He did?” Her bottom lip trembled. “I-I…”
“It’s OK, baby. You care about him.”
“Are you mad at me?” Her voice shook.
“Never.” I kissed her gently. “I will never be mad about you loving. You were meant to.”
She relaxed against me, but she didn’t deny her love. It was OK. As long as I had her, I didn’t give a damn about anything else.
“Tell me about Dante,” I said.
“He’s strange.”
I let a small smile touch my lips. “He’s violent.”
“Did he really try to save you?”
“He did,” I said gently. “He is a monster, but he’s one of the good ones.”
“I think he is too.”
“Can I call you Ro?” I asked after a moment of silence. “I-I love Rosie, but I’m not him anymore. I want to call you Ro. RoRo. I-I’m struggling a lot with things,” I admitted. “I-I was raped in the underground. Everett…”
Tears rolled down her cheeks. “Call me whatever you want… Evan.”
I kissed her again, grateful she was mine. Fuck, how did I get so lucky?
“You don’t have to tell me if you’re not ready,” she whispered against my lips.
“Thank you.” My throat was tight as I tried to hold back tears. “I-I’m not ready, but I wanted you to know how hard it’s been on me. I’m not the same guy—”
She kissed my chest over my heart. “I know your heart. Your soul. I know you. I accept whoever you are now. Who you were then. Always.”
“Fuck, I love you.” I kissed her so deeply, she moaned softly for me, her hand cradling my face as her tongue danced with mine.
“Tomorrow you’ll be my wife,” I murmured, pecking her soft lips.
“You’ll be my husband.”
I smiled against her lips, feeling real happiness for the first time in what felt like forever.
After we married, I’d give her the best wedding present of all.
I couldn’t wait.