Kiss Me, Damnation

XI

Evelyn

"Break up with him."

Adrian's words were calm, deliberate, like he had rehearsed them a hundred times. His eyes pinned me in place, sharp and unblinking, leaving no room for misinterpretation.

My breath caught. "What?"

"You heard me." He leaned closer, his voice low but steady. "End things with Daniel. And come to me."

I shook my head, my lips trembling. "You can't—Adrian, you can't ask me to—"

"I'm not asking." His tone cut me open. "I'm telling you. Because if you don't, I'll tell Daniel everything. Every secret you've tried so hard to bury."

The world swayed beneath me. My heart hammered so hard I could hear it in my ears.

He knew. He knew.

I opened my mouth to deny it, to beg, to scream, but no sound came. My throat felt like it was closing.

Adrian tilted his head, studying me like I was a puzzle he had already solved. "You think you've hidden it well. But I know, Evelyn. I know what your uncle did to you. I know how it shaped you. And if Daniel finds out, if he looks at you differently—" His lips curved into a cruel smile. "You'll have no one left but me."

I felt the ground crumble beneath me. His words were chains, binding me, dragging me down. The secret I had guarded for years—the shame, the silence—it was now a weapon in Adrian's hands.

I turned away from him, clutching my arms to my chest, desperate to hold myself together. My voice was barely a whisper. "Why are you doing this?"

His answer came without hesitation. "Because you're mine."

The word clung to me long after he left. Mine. As if I belonged to him, body and soul. As if my choices, my future, were already written in his name.

That night, I couldn't breathe. Daniel's messages lit up my phone, sweet words asking if I was okay, if I'd eaten, if I wanted to talk. But I couldn't bring myself to reply. How could I tell him that I was drowning? That the boy I feared most held my life in his hands?

I needed peace. Just a moment of peace.

But peace has never lived in my house.

My uncle was waiting for me outside my room, his shadow stretching long across the hall. The stench of alcohol clung to him like a second skin. His eyes glistened with hunger I had seen too many times before.

"Evelyn," he slurred, blocking my path. "You've been avoiding me." His hand brushed my arm, and bile rose in my throat. "Don't you miss our little nights? Don't you remember what I taught you?"

The words seared me. My skin crawled. I shoved past him, bolting into my room, and slammed the door shut with a force that rattled the frame. My hands fumbled with the lock until it clicked, and only then did I let myself breathe.

On the other side, his laughter echoed like a demon's hymn. He pounded on the door, his voice rising, taunting.

"You can't hide from me forever, Evelyn. You know you want it. You've always wanted it. I made you."

Tears blurred my vision. I pressed my palms to my ears, but his voice still clawed its way through. No matter how tightly I shut my eyes, his words were there, a sickness that never left.

The pounding stopped.

Silence.

I froze, fear prickling down my spine. Silence was worse than noise. Silence meant something was coming.

The lock clicked. The door swung open.

But it wasn't my uncle who stepped inside.

It was Adrian.

My breath hitched, confusion warring with dread. My uncle stumbled back, caught off guard, but Adrian moved with terrifying precision. He shoved him into a chair and, before I could even scream, pulled rope from his bag and bound his wrists.

"What are you doing?" My voice cracked, desperate and terrified.

Adrian didn't answer me. His gaze was fixed on my uncle, his lips pressed into a thin line. Then, slowly, he turned to me. His expression softened for a moment, almost tender, before hardening again. He dragged me toward another chair and tied me down too.

"Adrian, please," I begged, struggling against the ropes. "Let me go. Please."

He leaned close, brushing a strand of hair from my face. "You need to see this, Evelyn. You need to understand why you belong to me."

My uncle spat curses, thrashing in the chair. "You're insane! Get off me, you sick—"

Adrian reached into his bag and pulled out a hatchet. The sight of it stole the air from my lungs.

"You touched what's mine," Adrian said, his voice calm, almost eerily calm. "You ruined her. You broke something that belonged to me. And for that..." He lifted the hatchet. "...you'll pay."

Panic surged through me. I screamed against the ropes, sobs choking me. "Adrian, stop! Please!"

But he didn't.

The hatchet came down.

My uncle's scream split the night, high and ragged, echoing through the room. Blood spilled across the floor, dark and glistening. My stomach heaved; I thought I would vomit, but the ropes kept me locked in place.

Adrian didn't flinch. His face was serene, like a man performing a holy ritual. His voice cut through the chaos, steady and cold.

"Never touch what's mine again."

My uncle writhed, his cries broken and desperate, but Adrian leaned closer, whispering in his ear.

"And thank you," he murmured, his lips curling into a cruel smile. "For training her for me."

The words pierced me deeper than the screams, deeper than the sight of blood. My chest constricted, my lungs refused to work. I shook violently, my tears blinding me, the room spinning into a nightmare I couldn't escape.

I wanted to scream, to fight, to run, but my body betrayed me. My vision blurred, my ears rang, and then—darkness.

I fainted.