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“Evangeline, what’s wrong?” he asked sharply. “Should I take you to the hospital? Are you sick?”
Sick? Oh God, she wanted to laugh again. She was sick to her soul. She would never be able to think of this night without getting sick, and there was no way she would ever be able to forget this night any time soon. Or even in two decades.
“Headache,” she croaked. “Making me sick. Don’t worry about me, Silas. Thank you for the ride. I’ll decide where I want to be dropped off, but just let me ride for a while if you don’t mind, please. Just until I figure out what I want to do and where I want to go.”
And maybe if the driver would let her, she’d just ride all night and then let the city swallow her up whole.
Silas cursed long and hard, his expression so murderous that it was hard to look at him without reacting in fear. Silas had always been nothing but kind and compassionate with her, but tonight, she saw what she’d never been able to see in Drake before tonight.
A monster.
“I’ll take you to my apartment building, Evangeline. Don’t worry, doll. If you aren’t comfortable staying with me, you can stay in one of the two vacant apartments I keep on either side of mine for privacy.”
Her brow furrowed, causing another burst of pain to shriek through her head. “You own an entire apartment building?”
He nodded. “I keep the top floor to myself. In time, I’ll renovate the entire upper floor and make one big apartment out of it. I just haven’t had time to get to it yet. I lease out the units on the lower four floors. You can stay with me or in one of the units next to me. Whichever one you’re more comfortable with.”
She lowered her head in shame.
“Evangeline, do not bow your head because you feel shame with me.” Fury laced his words, and his teeth were tightly clenched together.
“How am I supposed to feel, Silas? You tell me. I have nothing left. Not even my pride. I gave that up for him as well. And he threw me away like I was yesterday’s garbage, so now my only option is to go home with one of the men who work for him like I’m some pathetic charity case? That may very well be what I am. God knows the pathetic part fits. But it doesn’t mean I have to like or accept it. If I’m worthless, it’s because he made me who I am,” she whispered.
Silas was seething from head to toe. Well over six feet of bristling, snarling, pissed-off, dominant alpha male.
“Swear to God, I’m going to fucking kill him for what he’s done,” Silas said through clenched teeth.
“I’m not worth it, Silas. Just let it go,” she said wearily.
“Bullshit! You’re worth a hell of a lot fucking more than what you’ve gotten. You deserve far better than what you’ve been given. And if you think I’m going to sit by and just let it happen? No fucking way. You get me, Evangeline? It’s not going to happen!”
His voice was at a roar and a lesser person would be pissing herself out of fear. But she knew he wasn’t angry with her, and it made her want to cry all over again from the start.
“I’m taking you to my place,” he said, ushering her to the waiting car. “Tonight you’re staying at my place. Tomorrow I’ll give you the keys to one of the neighboring apartments. It’s already furnished. I’ll call Maddox and have him go by Drake’s apartment and pack you some clothes.”
She went pale, all the blood leaching from her face. “No! You heard him, Silas. And even if he hadn’t informed me that the cost of betrayal is everything, I’d never take a single thing he paid for.”
“Then I’ll go out and buy you something to wear in the morning,” he said in a voice that dared her to argue.
“Only if you’ll allow me to pay you back, and with that in mind, I would greatly appreciate it if you kept it cheap and just got a few pairs of jeans, some T-shirts and maybe a coat,” she said quietly.
“I’ll buy what I deem appropriate and we will discuss your repayment options at another time,” he said, slamming her door. When he walked around and got in on the other side, he pierced her with his stare. “It won’t be discussed tonight when you’re completely wasted, you’ve just had your fucking heart ripped out and goddamn tears are still sliding down your face.”
With that, he gave the driver the order to drive them to Silas’s apartment, and the car drove off through the blustery cold January first streets of New York City.
Hell of a way to ring in the new year.
