Page 72 of Manacled Hearts

“Who is he?” I blurt out and want to slap my hand over my mouth instantly.

The attention returns to me, but no one says a word.

“An old enemy,” Finnigan finally replies.

“And a new one?” I ask.

His gaze fixes on mine, the intensity of it pins me in place and stuns my breath. For some reason I start counting the unspoken moments. I reach to five when the charge in the air seems to ease, and the clarity in his eyes takes me aback.

“Yes.”

One word was enough to turn my world on its axis.

One word that seems to carry a weight I’m not prepared for. Because his answer had nothing to do with the fact that Carter announced this man’s return into their lives. He is a new enemy for a whole new reason… a whole new crime. And this one is against me.

“Come, let’s go somewhere quiet.” Finnigan’s hand wrapped around my upper arm attempts to guide me away.

“Finn, man, I think it would be better for me—”

“No.” He cuts Maddox off without sparing him a glance.

“I just think we’re closer, and you…” Maddox trails off while everyone else stays deathly silent.

“I will be the one to talk to Evelyn.” Finnigan’s hand tightens around my arm, and I don’t get a chance to argue as he guides me out of the room.

Why is he insisting for him to be the one to speak to me? Or better yet, why isn’t he allowing anyone else to? I have so many freaking questions.

There’s a peculiar possessiveness in his words, his eyes, even his touch, and I can’t fully make sense of it. I’m not even sure if it’s about me, or their past.

What happened to Finnigan Hennessey?

FINNIGAN

The pressure ripping through my chest bleeds doom into my soul. If that makes any fucking sense at all. It hurts like it, it terrifies me. Something snapped the moment her gasp split the horrifying scream that filled my head when that photo appeared on the screen. It tore through this old wound, and when she spoke that alias with such horror in her voice, a new wound marked my soul.

But purpose followed it.

Certainty.

“You were rude to Maddox,” I hear her say as I all but drag her behind me, and the visceral possessiveness I have over this woman right now, makes those words land heavier than they should.

“He’ll survive,” I spit out.

“He just wants to protect me,” Evelyn insists.

I want to answer, I’ll be the one to protect you. No one else gets the privilege, but the words don’t form. They could, but I don’t allow them. It’s the least good sense I can have when I’ve been acting like a goddamn caveman since I saw motherfucking Roberto Bartiste on that screen.

Alive and well. Sipping on a goddamn espresso on the terrace of a coffee shop.

He took her…

I guide Evelyn into a guest bedroom, shutting the door behind me. I hoped I could breathe easier in here, but the air is just as heavy. And I’m staring at the reason why.

Christ, she’s beautiful.

She’s standing three paces away, watching me with pain stricken doe eyes, and I’m trapped within that thick dark ring surrounding the bright gray that seeps into gold. I could stare at her eyes for the rest of my life, they’re that unique and mesmerizing.

We don’t speak a word. Both breathing harshly, trying to find a centering point that could bring us down from the shock we just experienced. For different reasons, one more tragic than the other. Yet, as I sink further in her broken gaze, I know my pain doesn’t compare. All I have is old loss, but Evelyn… she has fresh wounds, unhealed and seeping their tragedy like a dark shadow looming over her.

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