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She might have smiled at him sarcastically and flipped him off if he didn’t look like an older version of Stephen, her ex-fiancé.Shit. Based on the stench of money that seemed to exude from him with just one glance, Evie had a sinking suspicion she knew who’d posted her bail.
She hadn’t had a chance to meet any of Stephen’s family before she’d called off their engagement, but she’d learned about the infamous Senator Keesler. Given his strong resemblance to Stephen, his father’s presence was like a bucket of ice water being tossed over her head.
Not good, not good at all.
How had he known she was here?Stephen, probably.But why have his own father release his assailant from jail? Whatever his reasoning, she doubted she’d like it.Shit.
“No sense in dawdling, Ms. Chambers. Into the car, if you will?” Senator’s Keesler’s voice was soothing, just like Stephen’s, and it immediately put her on edge.
Evie scoffed bitterly. “Why would I do that?”
“It’s in your best interest to do so. Unless you’d prefer to be returned to your prison cell?”
Evie clutched her bag to her side, sorely tempted to search the contents. Maybe her mace hadn’t been confiscated along with everything else. If not, she could spray Senator Keesler in the face and make a run for it.
She banished the thought before it had time to grow. What she’d done to Stephen was bad enough; she doubted that adding assaulting a senator to her list of crimes would go over well.
One of his security detail stepped from the front passenger seat and onto the sidewalk beside her, motioning for her to move forward as he opened the back door.
Sighing in defeat, Evie stepped into the car. There wasn’t really any other option, and at least Stephen wasn’t with him. The door slammed shut with an ominous thud, and the SUV took off before she even had a chance to buckle her seatbelt or ease her now-racing heart. It felt like a getaway car, but instead of seeing her to safety, it was leading her to her doom.
“I take it you know who I am and why I’m here,” Senator Keesler stated, looking rather bored as he stared at her with unmasked disdain.
“I can take a guess, but why don’t you tell me?”
Senator Keesler raised a mocking brow, looking for all the world likehewas the one being accosted byher.
“It’s been brought to my attention that my son has been causing you a bit of trouble.”
Evie crossed her arms and raised a brow. “If by ‘trouble’ you mean stalking me, threatening to kill my neighbor for speaking to me, breaking into my house, and ensuring I can’t get a restraining order against him, then yes. You could say he’s been causing ‘a bit of trouble’ for me. “
“Can you prove any of this?” Senator Keesler asked dispassionately, clearly unphased by his own child’s behavior.Had Stephen done this to other women from his past?
The thought left her sick to her stomach. Regardless, she could definitely prove that Stephen was a skeevy psychopath, even if the police in her town were corrupt as hell, only listening to the money lining their pockets.
She’d brought them evidence weeks ago of Stephen caught on camera trying to break into her home along with photos of him following her whenever she left her house. She even had her neighbor’s written statement, recounting an encounter where Stephen had threatened to kill him for coming near her.
None of it had mattered in the end. She’d been turned away after being given a very brief speech about working out this ‘lovers’ quarrel.
Senator Keesler lifted a hand, effectively cutting her off when she began to describe, in detail, just the kind of evidence she’d collected. “Spare me the theatrics, Ms. Chambers. I do not care. What Idocare about is my son’s well-being, and you are clearly a detriment to that.”
Evie’s eyes widened before she let out a shocked laugh. “You’re joking, right? Your son is crazy!”
“And what exactly does that make you? You were once engaged to him.”
“And now I’m not.Because he’s crazy,“ Evie reiterated.
“Be that as it may, my son is on the right path to take my place; graduating top of his class from Harvard and working under me, learning the ropes. I’ve been training him for years to become the next Senator Keesler. He doesn’t need a blemish like you on his record to thwart his future success,” Senator Keesler stated, eyeing her up and down in disgust. “He claims to be in love with you, though I can’t understand my son’s appeal to you in the slightest.”
Evie didn’t give the senator the reaction he was evidently craving, remaining stoic and unbothered by his vague comment on her appearance. He sneered at her with a curl of his lip, but she still didn’t take the bait. She’d been dealing with boys and then men like Senator Keesler all her life.
She was too thick, too mouthy, tooeverything. It used to grate on her self-esteem until those same boys and men tried to date her behind closed doors. Always wanting her, but too ashamed to admit it publicly.
That’s when Evie really dissected the heart of her own doubts, patched up her self-worth, and started to justlive, unencumbered by others and their shitty opinions. It had worked out really well, and Evie had even thought she’d landed the love of her life in the process.
Stephen was handsome, sexually well-versed, and extremely affectionate. He even laughed at all of her jokes, which in her eyes made him nearly perfect. Until she started noticing some things.
Like how he had begun to grow increasingly irrational and angry when another man so much as spoke to her or even just looked in her direction when they were out in public. It had gotten so bad that he’d put their waiter in the hospital one evening because he’d asked Evie if she’d like a refill before her glass was technically empty. Stephen hadn’t liked someone being so attentive to her and had absolutely lost his mind, dislocating the waiter’s jaw.
