Page 79 of Sweet Revenge
He grinned. “Only because I love you.”
Cait’s eyes were wide as she watched Declan leave, and Evie reclaimed her seat on the couch.
“Okay, well, we’ll come back to that. You’re okay?” Cait asked, sinking into the spot next to her. “I mean aside from…” she fluttered her fingers at Evie’s throat.
“My throat’s a little sore, some cuts and scrapes on my side from the broken glass. But other than that, I’m fine.”
“Okay. Good. That’s good. I would have been over sooner, but I had to wait for my mom to come over to watch Evan. I’m so glad you’re okay,” she added, voice breaking.
“I feel like I’m maybe too okay.”
“What do you mean?”
“I just watched Declan beat and kill a man. I would have killed him myself if given the opportunity and a clear shot. Why am I not more upset? More shaken?”
“You killed a murderer, Evie. A man who was hunting you, who wanted to destroy you. Maybe it says something about me, but I’m not going to be shedding any tears over the loss of that guy, and you shouldn’t either.”
She reached for Cait’s hand just as they both heard running feet pounding down the hall. Evie tensed. Maybe she wasn’t as fine as she thought. When Maura skidded into the doorway, she let out the breath she’d been holding with a huff.
“Maura? What are you doing here? Shouldn’t you be getting ready for your wedding?”
“Oh, shut up,” Maura said, rushing across the room and dropping onto the couch to throw her arms around Evie. “James told me what happened.” She sat back, eyes wet with tears. “I’ve never been so scared in my life.”
Maura’s eyes dropped to Evie’s throat, and she gasped, reaching up to trace the outline of a fingertip with her own. “That fucking bastard.”
“He’s dead,” Cait confirmed.
“He’d damn well better be. What the hell happened?”
Evie took a sip of her now-cold coffee, setting it on the table before wiggling back against the cushions and waiting for Maura and Cait to settle in beside her.
“It’s like it happened impossibly fast and excruciatingly slow all at once. The alarm woke me up out of a dead sleep.”
“The security alarm?”
Evie nodded. “Shrill and screaming. Declan went to check it out and told me to stay put.”
Cait squeezed Evie’s arm. “Finn would have told me to do the same.”
“When Declan left, I got up and got dressed. And when the alarm finally stopped, the house was eerily quiet.”
“You don’t have to tell us,” Maura said when Evie rubbed at her forehead.
“No, I think it helps. I walked over to the balcony doors to look out the window, just trying to calm my nerves. It took me a minute to see his face, but he was right there. Staring back at me. He busted in the door, I’m not even sure how, and there was glass flying everywhere. And then he was there. And I was in the room alone with him.”
Telling it was easier than she anticipated. Reliving it helped her put it into focus. It helped remind her that it was exactly as Cait said—they’d killed a murderer who would have killed her without flinching if he’d gotten the chance.
“He did all that because he wanted to blame you for his wife’s car accident?”
Evie nodded.
“Jesus, what a psychopath. You know it wasn’t your fault, right? Her accident?”
“Actually, I do know that. He needed to blame somebody, to make them pay, and he convinced himself if she’d never met me, she’d still be alive.”
“It’s all very tragic, but we still hate him.”
“We absolutely do,” Cait agreed. “Now can we go back to the part where Declan said I love you?”
