Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Evelyn
My hands shook as I reached up to touch Victor's face.
Blood covered everything. Within three seconds, my fingers were slick with it—warm, sticky liquid coating every inch of skin between them.
I could feel the faintest breath still in him, but the gaps between each one stretched unbearably long.
"Victor?"
Nothing.
"Victor, can you hear me? Say something. Anything. Victor."
Silence.
His chest still rose and fell, but he couldn't answer. He lay unconscious in my arms, and I was powerless.
Something inside me shattered. I opened my mouth and sobbed.
"Why? Victor, why didn't you leave? Why did you protect me? After I ran from you?"
I cradled his blood-soaked face in both hands. The darkness hid everything, but I could trace every contour. His brow bone. The bridge of his nose. The split at the corner of his mouth.
Regret swallowed me whole. I lost all control, words pouring from my throat unfiltered.
"If I hadn't run from the manor. If I'd stayed where you could protect me.
If I hadn't been stupid enough to follow that traitor.
You never would've come to this abandoned bunker.
You never would've taken that beating. You never would've had to shield me from the blast and the rubble.
I did this to you, Victor. All of it. Every single thing, from start to finish. "
I couldn't forgive myself.
I'd dragged the man who loved me straight into hell.
I cried in the dark until I couldn't breathe, each sob tearing through my chest. Tears mixed with his blood, streaming down my face.
Then Victor moved.
Barely. If his body hadn't been pressed directly against mine, I never would've noticed.
He lowered his head and nuzzled his forehead against mine.
Blood-slick skin sliding against my skin, rough and wet, but heartbreakingly gentle.
Victor had never been gentle. But in that moment, the way his forehead brushed mine was so tender I wanted to weep.
His voice rasped in my ear, thick with fluid blocking his airways. The sound told me his lungs were probably filling with blood.
"Stop crying, Evelyn. Don't take all this on yourself."
He paused, drew a short breath. Pain, I guessed.
"I made mistakes too. I believed Caroline's lies. I let that woman run wild. I let you suffer in the manor. I hurt you, and I hurt our... child. I'm so happy you're carrying what we made together."
He sucked in a deep breath. It seemed to drain everything he had left.
"I was too late, Evelyn. I should've found you sooner."
Even now. Even as his life leaked out drop by drop, he was still playing strong. Still taking all the blame, still comforting me—the person who'd set this whole disaster in motion.
His forgiveness hurt worse than any accusation. A thousand times worse. Because blame would've given my guilt somewhere to go. But his forgiveness trapped it all inside my chest, where it churned and burned with nowhere to escape.
I gripped the blood-soaked fabric at his shoulder. I could feel his body temperature dropping.
I was watching a life end in real time.
I was coming apart. "Victor, hold on. Our baby hasn't even met you yet. For him, please. Stay alive."
I knew how much pain he was in, but I said it anyway. Because right now, words were all I had left to give him.
Victor's head sank fully into the crook of my neck. His lips touched my ear, his breath spilling across my skin.
"Evelyn, I can't believe it." He spoke with long pauses between words, gathering strength for each syllable.
"I never told you I loved you."
His tone tried for lightness, like he was mentioning something trivial. But the act was clumsy. I heard the pain beneath every word.
I couldn't do more, couldn't bear to interrupt. I just lifted my head, found the top of his in the darkness.
Kissed it once. Then again.
"My life's been insane. I got all the power. All the money. Lived however the hell I wanted. No regrets about anything. I definitely got my money's worth."
"My only regret is I never got to put a ring on your finger. Never got to marry you."
Tears fell silently, soaking into his hair.
"Victor, goddammit, pull yourself together. You owe me a wedding. I want the biggest church in New York. I want the most beautiful dress. I want you to stand in front of everyone, making vows to me. You can't just leave me, you hear me?"
He didn't answer that. Didn't promise me a wedding. Just laughed softly.
"See, I was smart about one thing." His voice sounded distant now. "The day we got together, I had my lawyer change my will. You're the sole heir. All the assets, all the resources—yours. Luca will help you handle everything. You don't have to worry about the future. You and the baby will be safe."
He was arranging my life after he was gone. He'd accepted death.
"No, no, no!" I screamed.
"I don't want your damn money, Victor! I want you! I'm ordering you not to fall asleep! You have to hold on for me and the baby! If you dare die here, I will never forgive you! I'll marry someone else immediately! I'll make your kid call another man daddy! Stay awake! Victor!"
If vicious threats would keep him conscious one more second, I'd say them ten thousand times.
Victor seemed like he wanted to respond, but in the end, he slipped under again.
I called his name over and over.
"Victor. Please. Victor. Wake up. Don't go. You can't leave."
I shook his shoulders frantically, got nothing back. His body was like a machine with the power cut—all functions shut down. Only the artery in his neck pulsed occasionally at a desperate frequency, reminding me he was still in this world, but might not be much longer.
I closed my eyes.
Maybe this was the end. We'd be buried under this rubble forever. Years from now, someone might find us. Two skeletons wrapped around each other.
But for us, it wouldn't matter anymore.
Just as I gave up completely, just as my consciousness started to blur—
A voice came from above.
"Evelyn! Victor! Are you down there!"