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“Leave Mila with friends. In fact, bring her to me.”
I am about to scoff when I realize that the one place safer than my own home is Elijah’s home. Eve and Mila would be untouchable in there.
For a brief moment, I flirt with the idea but discard it, knowing that Eve might not be on board with it. Convincing her to stay here is a hard enough task.
“I can look after my family,” I say, my voice thin. “But if the time comes, I’ll avail that option.”
Once the call disconnects, I find myself telling Eve what happened.
Watching the blood leech from her face till her eyes look too big for her face, fear so prominent that it makes me feel useless. And yet I know that fear isn’t for herself.
It is for Mila.
It is for Ron.
And it is for me.
When she tries to pull away from me, I grasp her tighter, giving her a mild look. “I don’t think so.”
“I don’t think this is a good idea, Zayn. You need to stay away from me. I can take Mila and—” Her sentence trails off.
“And what?” I ask. “Where will you go?”
She tries to say something, but she just lost her home. Her business was destroyed in a way. She has nowhere to go but here.
I see the panicked look in her eyes, the despair, the look of a caged bird.
“You have nowhere to go, Eve. I don’t know what happened with your family, but you don’t seem to see them as an option anymore. I am all you have.”
This time when the tears well in her eyes, it infuriates me.
It makes me want to wash the streets with the blood of the person who had caused this strong, unbendable woman to break.
She presses the heels of her hands against her eyes to stop herself from crying, and amidst all the rage inside of me, I feel pride at how strong she is.
I pull her into my arms, into my lap. “Eve.”
She stares at me, her eyes dull yet shimmering. I force her hands around my neck.
“I’ve got you,” I tell her. “Thick or thin, I’ve got you. And I’m not letting go.”
She doesn’t say anything for a few moments, leaning forward till our foreheads touch, her eyes closed.
“Everything in the world that I owned was in that apartment,” she tells me, her voice so unbearably sad.
“Things can be bought,” I say letting her sink her head into my shoulder. But I know what she means.
“I feel like somebody just erased my presence, the proof of my existence. They took away my livelihood. They’re trying to take away people I care about. What if the next person to go is you? How am I supposed to…?”
She breaks off her sentence midway as if realizing what she is about to say.
A part of me knows how that sentence was going to end, but a part of me desperately wishes she finished it.
However, this is beyond my feelings right now.
“We’ll get through this. With Elijah and me, there is no one who can get to you or Mila. And once, this matter is put to bed, I’ll help you rebuild your foundations.”
“It’s not that easy, Zayn,” she says in a low voice, and I kiss her neck, making a humming sound.
