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“Still,” Ian curses. “There was no reason to hide this from us. Besides, he was definitely acting very fatherly towards you right now. Coming to your rescue and all.”
Zayn growls. “He came to Eve’s rescue, not mine.”
It is Fergus who doesn’t burst out in indignation like the rest. His voice is quiet. “What else are you not telling us, Zayn?”
I feel Zayn’s unease.
I squeeze his hand so hard that I might have stopped his blood flow, but I don’t know any other way to tell him that I am right here.
I feel his glance on me before he admits, slowly, “Elijah found me under ‘complicated’ circumstances. I don’t ever want to talk about them. He erased my past, offered me a blank slate, and I agreed. But that meant that what happened in the past remained buried there. He was the one who sponsored me in school. But that was all it was. There was no relationship between us, just a detached one. You guys should know. I was with you every Christmas, Easter, summer break.”
It is Sarah who speaks now, her voice soft. “What does Elijah do, Zayn?”
Zayn’s head shoots up, and he meets Sarah’s gaze. “How do you think eradicating the Silver Serpents was so easy?”
Sarah’s lips part and understanding dawns on her face.
“Your father runs a gang?” Ian asks.
Zayn snorts. “He doesn’t run a gang. He runs the underground. He regulates all this shit. Looking at it from a food chain’s point of view, at the top of the food chain is the government; but on top of the government is him.”
Philip makes a small sound, which I ignore in favor of trying to wrap my head around this information.
“He’s a very dangerous man. He lives by his own set of principles and rules. But he’s so fucking well connected that nobody can touch him.”
“Making him the proverbial emperor,” Fergus murmurs.
Zayn gives him a look. “I’m not my father. And I refuse to stand in his shadow. If I had it my way, you guys would have gone your entire lives not knowing about him.”
Nobody says a word.
Zayn didn’t sleep that night.
And neither did I.
He holds me in his arms, plays with my hair, lost deep in thought.
“What didn’t you tell your friends?” I finally ask as the sight part in the curtains reveal a peek of the pink and blue hue of the sky as the first rays of the sun emerges.
Zayn is silent.
I am sprawled on his chest, wearing his T-shirt, and when he chooses not to answer, I nudge him. “Zayn.”
He sighs, a deep sound, before he looks at me and for the first time, I see a hint of wariness in his eyes, mix with fear.
He studies me as if searching my eyes for an answer.
Finally, he asks, “Do you think you could learn to love a man like me, Eve?”
I still at his question before answering carefully. “You got me into your bed, didn’t you? You got me into your home.”
“That’s not what I asked,” he replies, quietly.
I shift till I am now sitting on his stomach, straddling him.
Leaning over, I cup his face in my hands, unable to bear the stark vulnerability that he refuses to show the world and is revealing to me for the first time. “I’m already in love with you. I love you so madly. You’re in my blood, and I hate you for it at times.”
Blue eyes are on me, unwavering, and I feel strong, firm hands running over my waist, stroking, urging me to continue.
