Chapter 30
Chapter Thirty
Victor
The stench of disinfectant stabbed through my nostrils.
I cracked my eyes open. The harsh white ceiling seared my retinas.
Two facts hit me at once.
One: I was in a hospital. Two: I wasn't fucking dead.
I tried to move. Couldn't. My left hand was pinned to the bed rail, an IV line taped down hard. My chest was wrapped tight in bandages—every breath drove broken ribs into my lungs like rebar. I was nailed to this bed like a piece of scrap metal.
Quick assessment: I'd be out of commission for at least six months.
Didn't matter. Only one thing mattered—where was Evelyn?
I turned my head and found her.
Evelyn was collapsed against the bed rail, her hands locked around my right hand, her fingers threaded through mine. She'd fallen asleep holding on.
Julian was slumped beside her, neck twisted at some godawful angle, mouth hanging open. His hands were wrapped in gauze, dark red bleeding through.
The little bastard finally got tired of playing hide and seek and dragged himself back. But I barely registered him.
Because Evelyn looked like hell. Dark bruises shadowed her eyes. Her hair was a mess—tangled, dusty, crusted with dried blood. This wasn't my girl, always sharp and vibrant.
Christ. I promised I'd protect her, and I'd fucked it all up.
I gave up trying to move my left hand. Gritting my teeth against the tearing pain in my shoulder, I slowly lifted my right arm. I pressed my palm to the top of her head.
I didn't know what I was doing. Brain still foggy, every inch of me screaming, but my hand wouldn't listen. It just went there on its own. Like I couldn't believe any of this was real until I touched her hair—until I confirmed she was still here, that we were both still alive.
I was as gentle as I could manage, but Evelyn jerked awake like she'd been shocked. Her bloodshot eyes locked onto mine.
Next second, she threw herself at me, arms around my neck, face buried against my throat. She sobbed.
"God... Victor. You're awake..." Her tears burned through my hospital gown. "I thought I'd lost you... I thought you were gone..."
I stared at that exhausted, wrecked face. While I'd been out, she'd faced the rubble and the ER alone. She must have been terrified.
I lifted my arm and wrapped it around her waist, pulling her hard against my chest. Broken ribs screamed in protest, pain exploding through me.
Fuck the ribs. I needed to feel her warmth. I needed to know she was really here, safe and whole in my arms.
"It's okay, Evelyn. It's over. You're safe."
My voice came out rough, like rusted metal scraping concrete. I hoped to God she didn't mind—a man hooked up to tubes and wrapped in bandages trying to sound romantic. Not exactly a pretty picture.
I paused, swallowed down a cough.
"I'll make everyone who hurt you pay. Including Caroline."
"I don't agree."
Julian was awake. He stood up from that shitty chair, cracked his neck loudly, and circled to the other side of the bed. Looked down at me.
"Hey." He pointed at his bandaged hands. "Considering I'm the one who dug both of you out from under a collapsed building, you could cut my mother some slack. Besides, I already sent her away."
Little shit. Before I could even decide what to do, he'd already stashed Caroline somewhere. Julian never had his own crew, though. If I wanted to hunt her down, I'd find her—even if he hid her at the end of the earth.
But I glanced at Julian's freshly wrapped hands and hesitated.
Then I looked down at Evelyn in my arms.
Caroline had backed Evelyn into a corner, fed her lies, and shoved her straight into Benjamin's bomb trap. This debt was Evelyn's to collect.
Evelyn felt my gaze. She lifted her face from my chest and turned to Julian. Her eyes were swollen almost shut, but sharp as ever.
"Let her go. From her perspective, hating me makes sense." Her voice was calm. "And Julian's our hero now. He pulled us out of the rubble. So we're even. It ends here."
I studied her.
This girl Richard had kept behind glass—after everything she'd been through, all the lies and betrayal—she still chose forgiveness. If it were me, Caroline would already be cold.
"Wow, Evelyn. I knew you were a good one. But I promise you, I won't let Caroline off easy. I'll control her freedom, her money. She'll pay for what she did."
Julian whistled long and low, shrugged dramatically. He turned and headed for the door, moving fast like he thought we might change our minds. "I'm no hero. I just wasn't gonna leave my old man to die. All right, I'll get out of your way."
Considering Caroline was a selfish woman who loved freedom and spending money, the punishment fit.
I fought through the knife-twist in my chest and forced myself up a few inches. "Where are you going, Julian? Rebellious phase not over yet?"
Julian stopped at the door. Didn't turn around. Just waved his bandaged right hand casually over his shoulder.
"I'm gonna prove I'm a hundred times the man you are. Then I'm gonna find a girl a thousand times hotter than Evelyn."
He slammed the door behind him.
The room went quiet. Just some bird chirping outside and the steady beep of the monitors.
It was over. Benjamin was dead. Caroline was gone with Julian. All the guns and lies that had chased us—silenced.
Which meant I had to face reality.
Truth was, I knew all along—Evelyn had jumped into this hell for her father. She needed answers. I was just the most convenient tool.
Now it was done. She didn't need me anymore.
Evelyn didn't belong here. She belonged in a bright Manhattan office, sparring in courtrooms, sipping coffee in Central Park on weekends. A normal life.
She shouldn't rot with me in blood-soaked mud for the rest of her life.
I wiped my face clean of expression.
"Evelyn. Let's be clear."
Evelyn looked up, her swollen eyes confused.
"You came to me for your father's case from the start. You put up with me to get answers. Now it's over. You got what you wanted." I met her eyes. "You're free."
Evelyn's face froze. She stayed there, leaning against the bed, staring at me. Then rage flooded her face, turning it red.
She shot upright and glared down at me.
"What the hell is wrong with you, Victor?"
Evelyn wiped her tears away roughly with the back of her hand, stepped forward, and grabbed my hospital gown by the collar. She yanked me up a few inches off the pillow.
"After everything we've been through, you think I'd walk away?"
Before I could answer, she let go of my collar. She shoved her hand into her oversized pocket, fumbled around, and pulled something out.
A ring.
Old-fashioned cut, the band scratched with age. But in the hospital sunlight, the diamond still blazed.
She held it out on her palm, right in front of my face.
"I'm going to marry you." Her voice dropped, anger fading into something unshakable. "With my mother's ring. My father was a selfish, cold politician his whole life. A complete bastard. But his marriage to my mother was the most beautiful love I've ever seen."
Sunlight fractured through the diamond's facets, casting tiny rainbows across her pale fingers.
She looked straight at me. No hesitation.
"Victor, I'm formally asking you to marry me. I want to be your legal wife. I want to claim every part of you. I want you stuck with me for the rest of your life."
I stared at that worn ring, at her bloodshot eyes—brighter and fiercer than I'd ever seen them.
I'd lost completely.
"Guess I'm done for, Evelyn."
I drained the last scrap of strength from this broken body. Lifted my aching right arm, gripped the back of her head, and sank my fingers deep into her tangled hair.
It wasn't a gentle kiss. It was a collision. Evelyn grabbed my hospital gown and kissed me back just as hard. My broken ribs screamed from the pressure, pain ripping through every nerve, but I wanted her to press harder—wanted her to carve herself straight into this wrecked body.
A thug who'd spent half his life crawling through mud and gunfire—sentenced to life by a Manhattan lawyer.
Willingly.