Chapter 8 - The Wall Comes Down
Roman slowly turned around.
The moonlight caught the silver at his temples, highlighting the deep lines of stress on his forehead. He stared at me as if he couldn't quite believe I was standing there in the rain.
"I gave you your freedom, Evelyn," he growled softly, though his voice lacked any real bite. "I am giving you everything you asked for."
"I asked for the truth, Roman," I said, taking a step closer to him, tossing the Manila envelope onto the damp grass between us. "Four years ago, you dragged me into your world. You gave me a cage, but then you built a home inside it. You protected me, you listened to me, you held me when I was terrified... and then you pushed me away the moment it mattered."
"I had to protect you!" Roman shouted suddenly, his voice cracking over the roar of the ocean waves below.
The cold, emotionless mask he had worn for four years finally shattered completely.
"The Marrows were watching!" Roman cried out, his chest heaving, his gray eyes shining with unshed tears. "Vance was watching! If they knew what you were to me, if they realized that you were the blood in my veins, they would have used you to break me! I told you that you meant nothing because I needed them to believe it! I needed you to run so I could burn them all to the ground without risking your life!"
I stood frozen, staring at him as the realization washed over me like a tidal wave.
He hadn't abandoned me. He had sacrificed his own humanity, destroyed his alliances, and invited a war onto his own head just to draw every threat away from me.
"Roman..." I whispered, taking another step toward him.
"I am a violent, broken man, Evelyn," Roman whispered, his hands shaking as he held them out between us. "I don't know how to be gentle. I don't know how to give you a normal life. But I swear to God... every building I burned, every man I hunted, every night I stayed awake for seven months... it was all for you. You are not my accountant. You are my home."
Tears spilled over my lashes, hot and fast against my cold skin.
I didn't hesitate.
I closed the distance between us and threw my arms around his neck, pressing my body against his.
Roman let out a choked, ragged sound, his arms wrapping around my waist like iron bands, pulling me off my feet, burying his face in the crook of my neck as if he were a drowning man finally reaching the shore.
"Evelyn... Evelyn..." he murmured over and over, his body trembling against mine, kissing my neck, my jaw, my hair with a desperate, overwhelming devotion.
I pulled back slightly, framing his face with my hands, wiping the rain and tears from his cheekbones.
"Don't ever lie to me again, Roman Calder," I breathed against his lips.
"Never," Roman swore softly, his gray eyes locked onto mine with fierce, absolute clarity. "On my life. On my soul."
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Then he leaned down and kissed me.
It was not the cold, possessive kiss of a captor. It was a fierce, passionate, breathtaking vow—a promise forged in rain, war, and four years of unspoken love.
