CHAPTER ELEVEN
460 Words
EVANGELINE
i couldn’t breathe right the whole day.
not cuz of fear.
cuz of him.
the way he avoided my eyes. the way his jaw locked every time i walked into a room. like he wanted me gone. like he hated what we did.
but last night—that wasn’t hate.
it was need.
and i couldn’t stop reliving it.
his hands. his mouth. the way he said “mine.”
but now?
he was colder.
harder.
like he’d built a wall overnight and didn’t care if it crushed me.
so when my father assigned another bodyguard—a stiff, pale guy named Marcus who looked like he’d never smiled in his life—I knew somethin was wrong.
nikolai flinched when he heard.
“he doesn’t need to watch her,” he told my father. “i got it covered.”
my father raised a brow. “got a problem, Vasin?”
they stared each other down.
and for a moment, i swore my dad knew.
“no, sir,” nikolai said, voice clipped. “no problem at all.”
but when we walked out, his hand brushed mine for half a second.
like a warning.
like a goodbye.
NIKOLAI
i was gonna lose it.
she smelled like vanilla and sin, and now this Marcus freak was tailin her like a shadow.
i watched from across the hallway as he stood too close to her. smiled too long. he was tryin to be friendly, but i knew that look.
he was observin. testin.
probably sent to spy on me.
and Evangeline? she just smiled and played nice like she wasn’t in the middle of a damn war.
when we were alone in the corridor, i grabbed her wrist, pulled her into a storage room, slammed the door.
she gasped. “what the hell?”
“don’t trust him.”
she yanked back. “you don’t get to tell me who to trust. not after you f*** me and disappear.”
i flinched. “i was protectin you.”
“bullsh*t.”
“Evie—”
she shoved me, hands on my chest. “you started this. You. And now you act like i’m poison.”
my breath hitched. she was so close.
too close.
her eyes were wet but furious.
i grabbed her face, couldn’t help it, kissed her so hard she whimpered.
our bodies slammed into the shelves, papers fallin, my hands slidin under her shirt.
“you are poison,” i whispered against her mouth. “and i’ll drink every damn drop.”
OUTSIDE THE DOOR
Marcus stood at the end of the hallway.
listening.
watching.
his hand went into his pocket.
and pulled out his phone.
“Sir. You were right. He’s crossed the line.”
- Writer
