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"Stopped you from doing what, exactly?" Octavius all but growled the words, and Jason narrowed his eyes at the man he considered a brother.
Looking back at Jason, Evie took another deep breath. "Stopped me from provoking him."
Jason's blood turned to ice in his veins. "Come again?"
Evie swallowed and reached for her sisters' hands, but she stood her ground. "I wanted him to hurt me. So, last night, I pushed his buttons. As many as I could, without it getting too bad."
"You did what?" Luca's voice was deadly quiet. Judging by the way Teagan's eyes went wide and she shifted to stand in front of Evie, she was familiar with the tone.
"She had her reasons." Teagan gave Luca a death glare of her own before turning her attention to Octavius and, lastly, to Jason. "You're going to sit, quietly, and listen to them."
"Darlin'." Luca's voice still hadn't lost its deadly quality. "You are already in so much trouble. If you ever want to sit comfortably again, you will watch your tone with us."
Teagan's cheeks flushed red, but she didn't move from her spot in front of Evie. "Yes, Daddy. I'm sorry, but it's important." She hesitated, and Jason knew it cost her to back down, even a little bit. "Will you please hear her out?"
"Yes." Jason spoke up before the others could get into a pissing match with their women. He needed to hear what Evie had to say.
Teagan relaxed, but she kept her position in front of her sister. Evie closed her eyes for a brief moment and took one of her deep breaths before speaking again. "I had two reasons. You can pick your favorite when I'm done." The corners of her lips lifted in a small, hopeful smile.
Jason didn't have to look at his brothers to know none of them were returning the gesture.
The smile disappeared, replaced with the bland, emotionless expression she wore when she wanted to hide her feelings from them. "Reason one. I wanted there to be no doubt in anyone's mind why I was leaving him. I know you all were against making a statement, but I needed to. I needed people to see what he was capable of."
"By risking your life?" Octavius pushed off the couch and began pacing the small area between the couches. "He could have killed you, Evie. Do you get that?"
Despite his growing anger at the situation, Jason felt a little burst of pride when Evie's eyes flashed.
"Yes," she snapped, finally dropping the ice queen façade. "Of everyone in this room, I'm the only one who truly does get it." Releasing her sisters' hands, she reached for the hem of her shirt and yanked it up over her head.
Rage, fear and a dozen other emotions warred within him at what greeted them. It wasn't just her back covered in bruises. Nearly every bit of skin covered by her shirt was black and blue.
"I have lived with this, every day, for three years. So don't you dare stand there and lecture me about what might have happened. I get it, Octavius. I know what he's capable of. This was what I needed people to see. Why doesn't anyone understand that?"
"We had pictures." Luca, still perched on the couch, flexed his hands. "We took plenty of pictures, before. You didn't need this."
The frustration was clear on Evie's face. "Pictures can be explained away. He would have claimed they were doctored and he would have paid handsomely for professional analysis that said exactly what he wanted it to say. He can't explain away what happened tonight. People saw me. And what's more, they saw him."
It was brilliant. He fucking hated to admit it, but he couldn't deny it. "You knew he'd attack you."
Her gaze shifted back to him, and Jason saw the warrior in her, the same warrior who'd stood on that podium and exposed her personal nightmare to the world. "I had a strong suspicion, yes."
Octavius and Luca both swore under their breath. Jason sat in silence until the red faded from his vision. He wouldn't give her anger. Not now, not when she'd finally made this stand. "You said there were two reasons," he said once the fury had settled to a manageable level.
She pulled the shirt back on, and her sisters moved in closer. The muscles in her throat worked for a minute before she was able to speak again. "I was scared," she finally whispered.
"Scared of what?" He kept his voice as even as possible.
"He hadn't touched me in a few days. And I could feel myself slip—" Her voice hitched and she took another deep breath. "Slipping back into that sense of complacency. To that place where I believed it wasn't so bad, and maybe I didn't need to leave. I couldn't let myself stay there. I pushed him, so I would remember why I needed to go and I'd have the strength to leave."
Logically, he understood the cycles of abuse. As he often did when approaching a new mission, he'd researched and read everything he could get his hands on about abuse and domestic violence when they'd discovered the hell Evie was living in. He knew all about the honeymoon phase and how easy it was for victims to let themselves believe it was going to be different this time.
But he was having a hard time thinking logically or rationally at the moment. All he could focus on was the fact she'd put herself in harm's way, risked her life, without letting any of them in on her plan.
"I need a drink." Jason pushed out of the chair and stalked over to the wet bar. The first shot of whiskey didn't even register, so he poured himself a second and a third. He might have polished off the bottle if Luca hadn't plucked it from his hands.
"Enough." Despite the calm, quiet tone, there was no mistaking the command.
Slipping his glasses off, he pressed the heels of his hands to his burning eyes. "She could have died, Luca."
