Page 181 of Chandelier Sin
He reached out and wrapped his hand around my wrist, encompassing my silver bracelet, as though to say because of this, my past, my pain, my ability to hold on.
“You’ve suffered enough.” Atticus withdrew his hand and tucked it inside his pocket, stepping back to give me some space.
With an air of finality, I dipped my head and got into the car. My hands trembled on the steering wheel as I wondered if I’d been coerced into talking about my daughter.
I refused to look his way, even though Atticus stood close by, seemingly just as conflicted about my leaving.
I drove away, glancing in the rearview at the man who seemed as equally tortured by what I’d shared.
It was only once I was back on the main road that I opened my palm and glanced down at the key.
It was more than a key—it was a symbol. A promise of hope for a future with my precious child.
Watching Eve drive down Jake’s driveway and away from me was as hard as I’d imagined it would be. Knowing what kind of a man she was going back home to, broke my heart each fucking time.
Now I understood why she stayed with him.
Thishad to have been the cruelest cut Aemon had ever made toward Eve, keeping her daughter away from her. It proved he didn’t deserve to walk this earth, didn’t deserve one more day of grace.
One day I’d find the opportunity to help Eve—and make him pay.
I couldn’t imagine what Eve had endured since her daughter had been sent away, dealing with the unbearable pain of separation. Her agony of living every single day with that man. He wasn’t even a monster, because monsters were redeemable.
I went back inside the house.
Making my way to Jake’s office, I descended the windingstaircase, contemplating how best to handle this with the others. How much to share, how much to guard against their opinions.
I’d been so hard on Jake and Greyson, and yet here I was romanticizing the wife of the most dangerous player of all. He’d been untouchable up until this point, but he’d not had the experience of a man like me circling his existence.
Once Pendulum was ours…
Glancing at my watch, I saw that it had only been minutes since I’d let Eve drive away, but it already felt like hours. The time and distance between us were like a chasm. Each parting felt like a blow to my sanity.
She felt like she was mine at times, as though my mind played tricks on me.
Three partygoers ran by me, polite enough not to spark up a conversation with the melancholy figure taking a few seconds to compose himself in the hallway.
I was too lost in my thoughts for polite conversation. Tormented by what Eve had just shared with me.
He was keeping Eve prisoner in a golden cage she’d never been able to escape. I saw her in a new light—she had gone from trophy wife to being worse than a victim.
My friends had the resources and talent to find anyone. I’d have them help me locate Eloise. It was the only way Eve would agree to be set free.
The thought of a little Eve out there made me smile. Though it vanished when I imagined the slow torture of having a child who was unreachable.
I headed toward Jake’s office. I’d taken too long, had meant to meet them right away and was uncharacteristically late.
I paused for a second when I saw the spy herself, Stella Adair, standing a few feet away, dressed seductively in a bodice with her dark locks tumbling over her shoulders. She looked guilty as hell.
With her sudden appearance along with Rylee’s and Eve’s, it was a night of party crashers.
The last time I’d interacted with the minx, we’d been stuck in an elevator together at Pendulum.
The enemy was closing in.
Did she sense we were onto her?
“Where the fuck did you come from?” I snapped.
