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Drake shot to his feet, standing over the desk, his gaze boring into Hatcher, who was still on his knees in front of Drake’s desk.
“You set Evangeline up, you worthless piece of shit?”
Hatcher remained stonily silent, his gaze averted and focused on some distant object, his jaw clenched, his features brooding.
The blood drained out of Drake’s face as he remembered someone else on her knees just four nights ago. Evangeline. Her sobs. Her begging. Her pleading with him to listen. To give her a chance. To please believe in her. That she’d always believed in him so could he now do the same for her?
Oh God, he’d failed her at the very first opportunity that presented itself after she’d forgiven him for the unspeakable things he’d done to her that horrific night in their apartment.
His knees buckled as grief consumed him. Regret, so much regret filled him, until he was drowning in it. He collapsed back into his chair and then buried his face in his hands.
“What have I done? Oh God, what have I done?” he asked in a raw, tortured voice filled with aching emotion. His throat throbbed with it. His heart was ravaged by it.
All he could see was Evangeline on her knees in this same room, begging him over and over.
Please listen to me.
“She’ll never forgive me, and it’s no less than I deserve,” he said in a voice ravaged by grief and . . . guilt.
“What do you want done with this piece of shit?” Maddox asked quietly.
Drake focused on the traitor. But worse than betraying his own brothers, the men he worked with and had pledged loyalty to, the bastard had betrayed Drake’s woman. Evangeline, who was completely innocent, the only innocent one of all of them. And Hatcher had ruthlessly used her to further his own greed and ambition. Drake didn’t really give a shit what his motives were. Not now. Not ever.
“Get rid of him,” he directed at Silas. “Make sure he gets the message loud and clear about what we do with traitors.”
For the first time, Hatcher looked scared shitless, and Drake couldn’t really blame him. Silas was one scary, badass motherfucker on his best day. But he and Evangeline were tight. Silas held a very soft place in his heart for her, and he wouldn’t have much mercy in the message he’d send to Hatcher—and to anyone else thinking to turn on his brother.
“Get him out of here,” Drake said, motioning for Maddox to take care of the matter. “I need to speak with Silas first.”
“What about Evangeline?” Justice asked, his arms crossed over his chest. “Swear to God, Drake, you fuck this up with her and I’m moving in. You left her with nothing, but I’ll step in and treat her with the respect she deserves and she’ll never have to worry about a goddamn thing for the rest of her life.”
Drake sighed wearily. “I understand, Justice. All too well. Believe me, I get it. I fucked up. I was already well on my way to figuring that out before you came through my door with that piece of shit Hatcher. Another five minutes and you wouldn’t have found me here because I would have been gone to find her. I know I was an asshole and I know you all had her back when I didn’t. I’m sorrier than you’ll ever know. This is something I’ll pay for for the rest of my fucking life.”
“Save it, man,” Maddox said stiffly. “You’re apologizing to the wrong people. None of us are Evangeline, and she’s the one you need to be on your knees in front of begging her for forgiveness.”
Drake swallowed. “If that’s what it takes to get her back, then I’ll stay on my fucking knees forever.”
“Now that I’d pay money to see,” Zander drawled. “Come on, Maddox. Let’s take the trash out while the boss man talks to Silas, although I’d pay money to see this heart-to-heart too. Imagine, our man Silas acting as a relationship therapist.”
If looks could have killed, Zander would have died on the spot under the heat of Silas’s intimidating scowl. Grown men had been known to piss their pants when Silas was in their faces.
“I suggest you get the fuck out before I change my mind about who the recipient of my message is,” Silas said in a frigid tone designed to freeze a man’s balls. Judging by the discomfort on the faces of his men, Drake thought that look had more than hit its mark.
As soon as the others departed, Drake turned desperately to Silas, his eyes as vacant as his heart, surely.
“I have to find her, Silas. You and I both know I don’t deserve a third chance with her. Not after fucking things up with her twice now, but I have to try. I won’t just walk away or let her walk away, even though I threw her out.”
