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Evelyn’s eyes were glassy, and she broke away from my gaze. But she didn’t move away. “He did it again. This time covering my back. Didn’t untie me for days. I’m not sure how long he had me there.”
Closing my eyes, I pushed away from her. I couldn’t imagine it, because if I did—I couldn’t.
“I didn’t run. I couldn’t. He told my family that I’d fucked up while cooking and there was a grease fire that spread to my clothes. Melanie—my sister—was the only one who didn’t believe it. And she got me out. It took a couple of months for the burns to fully heal, and she worked the whole time. She got me a fake ID. A new place, new car, new job. An email account that only we knew about. And in the meantime, I convinced him that I was happy. That I’d learned my lesson.
“When he stopped being so suspicious, I ran. It took him less than three weeks to find me the first time, and I barely got out. With everything at West Tech he has access to... I had to get good at disappearing. After that, the bracelets started.”
“Bracelets?”
She walked into her bedroom and came back with a shoebox. I took it from her and opened it. Inside were bracelets. Thirteen of them—I counted. “They have the names of my aliases on them, and a birth and death date. His way of telling me that he’s found me and killed another one of my lives.”
“It’s like the ring.”
“Yeah.” She shook her head. “But it’s never been a ring before. And it’s never been my real name. I think... I think he really might kill me this time.”
“That’s not going to happen, Ev.” She didn’t believe me. I could see it on her face. “I’m not going to let that happen.”
No response, but it was a promise whether she believed it or not.
He wasn’t going to touch her again.
“Thank you for telling me. I’m so sorry, Ev.”
“Why?” She shook her head. “You didn’t do this.”
“No one should have to go through this. And I hope that I’ve been doing an okay job of showing you that I care about you.”
She looked away. “You have. I... don’t pretend to know why.”
“Yes, you do.”
A delicate silence hung in the air between us, fragile as blown glass. It was as close as I’d ever come to telling her I wanted her. All of our cards had to be on the table now.
“What happens now?” she asked.
“I’d like you to stay on the property for now. You’re the safest here. Until we can figure out if he’s here in person and how he found you.”
She nodded. “Okay.”
“But to be clear, you’re not a prisoner.”
A small smile. “If I’d thought that, I would have been gone already.”
“Good.”
“I think it was the email,” she said. “When you saw me at the library, I’d gotten an email from Melanie that just said he knew about the account. If he looked for it, maybe he saw where I logged in from?”
“It’s possible.” I faced her squarely. “I know you don’t want to hear this, but we need to tell the police. I understand your hesitation because of what happened, but the police chief, Charlie, is a friend. He’s a good man.”
She shut down. Utterly deflated, shoulders drawing in in defeat. “You can’t guarantee Nathan won’t get to him. Or anyone else in the department. Nathan is charming. Beautiful. And he has all the money in the world. What if it happens again?”
It was a valid point. I didn’t know the lengths he would go to yet, and there was reason to be cautious. “What if we tell the chief and only the chief? If someone like Nathan is going to be wandering around Garnet Bend, then he’ll want to know.” She hesitated. “I promise that I know him well, and I would trust him with my life.”
Long seconds passed before she nodded. “Okay, but only him.”
“Thank you.” I stepped into her orbit, daring now to pull her closer. The anger that was pulsing through me was a living thing. At this monster of a man. At the fact that I could have been working to fix this if I had only known.
Now I knew.
