Page 76 of Manacled Hearts

“And he didn’t tell you?”

“Evelyn!” I raise my voice involuntarily, raking a hand through my hair as I force down my own anguish. “What happened?”

Small tears pool in her eyes, and a shuddering crack inside my chest sends shock-waves through my soul. Before I realize what I’m doing, I’m on one knee in front of her, my hands covering hers as she clutches the bedspread. She doesn’t pull away, not that it would matter. I wouldn’t let her.

“What did he do to you?” I whisper, unable to ignore the reality any longer. If she’s suffering, then I should be too.

“They pinned me down, on my front…” She pauses as a light tear grazes down her cheek, and the pain exploding inside my chest makes my ears ring. “I was a virgin before them.”

They hurt my Evelyn. They took her fucking innocence away!

I don’t need to hear more. The echo of unspoken words carry enough pain for me to taste it for myself.

Bartiste fucking touched her. And Maddox didn’t tell me!

“Evelyn, I’m so, so—”

“Don’t.” She stops me. “I don’t need your pity.”

“It’s not pity, I’m just sorry that—”

“You broke your word?” She interrupts me again. “That your failure got me in that situation? Is that what you’re sorry for? I sacrificed myself and you, Finnigan, you failed me.”

I all but fall on my ass. I… I didn’t… she’s right.

“You promised me. You promised you would get me out before anything happened to me. You failed.” On those last words, she pushes me back and gets off the bed, leaving me on one knee, mouth agape and a big fucking hole in my soul. She didn’t even yell. Her tone held a calm disappointment in it.

I wish she would have yelled.

She’s right. I failed her.

“Evelyn, stop!” I jump to my feet and slam shut the door she was just opening.

Her back is to my front, her scent filling me with more heat, more guilt, more longing. I failed her.

“We’ll find them. I promise you on everything I am, we will find them, and I will kill them. I will kill them all for what they did to you.” My tone lowers with each of those words because this promise is thick, heavy, and unbreakable.

I will not fail her again.

There will be blood, and I will bring her their heads.

“Forgive me if I have trouble trusting in your promise,” she spits as she turns, pressing a hand on my chest to push me away.

I let her, and just as she opens her mouth again, a ringing stops her. She’s so pissed, she doesn’t even look at the screen as she pulls the phone out and answers it.

“Yes?” she rasps.

But a moment later she lets out a hiss as she briefly glances at the screen, then at me. I skip around, placing myself between her and the door before she can seek her escape, and I Christ almighty, if eyes could shoot daggers, I would be dead on the floor.

“No, it’s fine. Did something happen?” she asks on the phone. “Really? For how long?” Her gaze turns to earth-moving sparkles.

Happiness shines in her eyes and she turns to the door, but when she sees I’m not moving, she rushes to the opposite end of the room, standing by the window. She wants to hide something, though it feels more like a secret she’s been holding for a long time. The happiness shining in her eyes plagues my soul more than the secret, and it feels a lot like wretched jealousy.

Yet another emotion I didn’t think I could feel anymore.

“Oh, yes! Yes, please!” Her enthusiasm brightens her voice, and I find myself stepping toward that light.

Then the next two words stop me dead in my tracks.

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