When I still believed what Evelyn Chase and I had was real love, she had taken three stabbings for me—one that left a scar above her brow, another across her ankle and one buried deep in her back. People used to say Evelyn loved me more than her own life. That was before another man showed up brazen.

“You Adrian Penn?” he asked, flinging a stack of photos into my face. “Evelyn doesn’t love you anymore. Take the hint and get lost.”

In those pictures, Evelyn’s gaze was soft, tender.

I looked out at the rain pounding harder against the windows. I raised my hand—his scream was swallowed by the storm. He only managed to spit out one last line as he staggered off.

“Evelyn will never forgive you!”

I stayed cold, staring at Evelyn who now sat across from me, full of self-righteous fury.

“You’re filthy. Sign it,” I said flatly.

——

“Adrian!”

Evelyn’s voice cut through the air, flanked by the very people she had built her empire with these past two years. Her bodyguards, dozens of them, filled my grand hall. This situation didn’t feel like a negotiation, more like a siege.

I watched her tamp down her anger, fingers tapping once against the table.

“He’s still in the ICU.”

She lifted her brows. The chandelier’s light hit just right, making the scar across her brow stand out sharper.

“He’s only twenty,” Evelyn said, her voice low, heavy, pressing down like a weight. “And you nearly took his life. Do you know what the doctor told me?”

Her voice broke through the steady drumming of the rain against the windows.

“They said he may never walk again. Not like a normal man.”

And in that moment, I remembered the same man, half-dead, still mustering up the strength to shout:

“Evelyn will never forgive you!”

“So,” I said, meeting Evelyn’s furious eyes, passing my untouched tea to the servant at my side, “you gather this whole circus to stand up for him?”

“What then?” I laughed, amused despite it all. “Do you want half my life in trade? Or maybe you’ll take one of my legs to make up for his crippled one?”

I pulled the blanket tighter around my shoulders, smiling. The butler quietly adjusted the thermostat. I turned my gaze back to Evelyn.

“Who the hell is he, to make you storm in here and point fingers at me? Did you forget who walked every step of the way with you to get where you are today? Tell me, are you here to make me apologize, or to finish me off?” My voice was steady, deliberate.

Sensing the tension, my butler pulled a pistol and leveled it at Evelyn’s head. Her guards instantly raised their defenses, but Evelyn only smiled.

“Those days of blood and blades are behind us. I didn’t come to start a war.” She shoved aside the divorce papers I had prepared. “I’m not signing it. A divorce would hurt us both. But you’re going to make an apology to Carter, in person. Or don’t blame me when things get ugly.”

Evelyn rose from the sofa and strode right up to my butler. With one swift move, she seized his wrist and pressed the barrel of the gun against her own forehead.

“Think you can shoot me?” she sneered.

With one swift twist, she yanked his arm outward. A sharp crack split the room—the sound of bone snapping. One of her men cried out, just as the fruit knife from my table sank into his thigh. Evelyn’s stunned face turned toward me—while I smiled.

“My people don’t resist you out of respect for me. But that doesn’t mean—” I stepped up to her, pried her fingers off my man’s wrist one by one— “that you get to lay a hand on them.”

And in that moment, I knew—whatever love Evelyn and I once had, it ended here.

Later, while the doctor set my butler’s broken arm, the old man was still fuming.

“Sir, you went through hell for Evelyn back then. And now you’re just going to let her walk all over you?”

I didn’t answer.

Instead, I stared at my phone. A new friend request had just popped up on the screen.

The profile photo was bold—a picture of a man kissing Evelyn.

I accepted the request. Immediately, a voice message came through.

“I warned you. Evelyn will never let you off the hook. Breaking your butler’s arm was just a small lesson. Evelyn says you’ll have to apologize to me in person. I’ll be waiting.”

“Everyone says Evelyn loves you more than life itself. Well, I’m curious—how does she show it?”

He sent a few more pictures.

“Which bed do you think suits us best? She says the safest place is the one no one would expect. When I’m discharged tomorrow, I’ll be moving into the house you share with her.”

“That locked door—your sacred space—I’ll be the one walking through it.”

I listened to his voice, then lifted my eyes to the giant wedding portrait still displayed in the hall. Evelyn’s smile mocked me. With a flick of my wrist, the dagger in my hand pierced right through her painted eyes.

“Filthy.”

When I stepped into the hall, Evelyn was directing men as they hauled a bed from a truck into the house. She froze when she saw me leaning in the doorway.

“Evelyn, why aren’t you coming in?” the man’s eager voice called from inside.

He turned then, meeting my gaze.

“Well, well, if it isn’t Adrian Penn himself,” he drawled, curling an arm possessively around Evelyn’s. “Did you come out here to welcome me? Ready to apologize yet?”

His arrogance, the softness in Evelyn’s eyes as she looked at him—it was like thousands of needles piercing my chest. Before I could speak, Evelyn cut in for him.

“The doctor said Carter needs peace and quiet,” she said, her voice gentle when she spoke his name. “You’ve got a chef and a nutritionist anyway. One more plate at the table won’t kill you. Don’t throw away the chance I’m giving you, Adrian.”

I couldn’t understand her. On what grounds, did she assume I’d just take it? That I’d keep lowering my bottom line, swallowing my pride?

Her self-righteous tone only made me laugh.

As my chuckle echoed through the hall, the butler approached, carrying the ruined wedding portrait, eyeless. 

“Sir, where should I put this?” the butler asked.

I caught the flicker of anger on Evelyn’s face. Pointing to the trash bin, I said, “Destroy it. Throw it away.”

The butler nodded, going for the scissors. But Evelyn stopped him, striding straight up to me. “What tantrum are you throwing now?”

“Adrian,” her voice turned cold, “I told you already—this is your fault to begin with. Helping Carter recover is me doing you a favor. Don’t you dare throw it back in my face.”

“That’s right, Adrian,” Carter added smugly, stepping forward.

“Evelyn told me everything. Your child with her died because of you. A priest said if you ever want another, you’ll need to earn virtue. Instead, you keep piling up sins. You’re forcing Evelyn away.”

His words stabbed through me like needles, tearing open an old wound I thought had long scabbed over. It festered raw, all over again.

I stared at Carter’s smug face, then at Evelyn’s half-raised hand, about to silence him. But it was too late.

I grabbed a fistful of his hair and yanked his head back, laughing darkly.

“Who the hell gave you the balls to talk to me like that?”

Before he could beg, I slammed his skull into the heavy oak door. The thud shook the hall, followed by his scream. Evelyn seized my arm before I could finish him off.

“That’s enough!” She looked me dead in the eye.

“Carter’s young, reckless with his words. But that doesn’t make him wrong. How long do you plan to keep piling sin upon sin?”

I stared at Evelyn in disbelief

At that time, in a reckless bid to seize her rival’s business, Evelyn’s carelessness dragged us straight into an ambush. I staked everything—my life, my resources—storming into enemy territory and taking down their leader just to pull her out alive. And that was the moment we lost our baby.

She had fallen to her knees afterward, striking herself ninety-nine times, begging. Her face swollen, blood streaming from her nose, she swore to me through her sobs.

“Adrian Penn,” she wept, “If I ever betray you again, let ruin fall on me. I, Evelyn Chase, swear to remain loyal and devoted to you for the rest of my life.”

That vow still rang in my ears. Evelyn ordered every whisper buried, silencing anyone who dared mention the child. She knew the subject was my taboo. Neither of us ever spoke of it again, yet silently, we both prayed for the baby.

My focus back at present as I loosened my grip on Carter. Evelyn let out a small sigh of relief, her tone softening.

“Adrian, your temper—”

My blade flashed, driving straight into the bone above her brow.  And I smiled.

“Evelyn, those who betray true love must swallow a thousand needles. This is only the first.”

The knife tore in, then slid out.

Blood spattered hot across my face. I watched the proud mark above her brow vanish, replaced by a mangled wound. A twisted smile curved my lips—until Carter shoved me back with all his weight.

I staggered, then lifted my head to meet his furious glare.

“How dare you lay a hand on her?”

The next instant, I closed the distance between us, my fist smashing into his jaw.

“If you want to prove you’re anything more than a kept man, then show me. Stop living off her and stand like a man.”

I grabbed a fistful of his hair, slammed my boot into his knee and forced him to kneel before me, his eyes lifted up in pain and defiance.

“Either make me take you seriously—divorce Evelyn from me and become her next husband…” I bent down, my voice curling into a smile. “…or wait for the day I destroy you piece by piece.”

Carter’s eyes welled red, his body trembling like a dying fawn, yet stubborn fire burned behind the tears.

“Kill me, then!” he shouted. “If you don’t, I will never leave Evelyn’s side! I’ll be with her until the day I die!”

I froze.

Memories clawed back. I was sixteen again—my father ambushed, sinking into the sea, my mother sacrificing herself to push me to shore. The sunset burned crimson with blood. And there was Evelyn, waiting on the coast, fearless, a girl who carved a path through death itself just to drag me back to life.

Evelyn—her brow split open like a badge of honor, her back scarred from battle—had crashed into my heart that day with one desperate cry.

“Adrian! Run!”

Terrified and desperate, I had still rushed back into the sea of blood to survive with her at my side.

Now, she shoved me away with all her strength. Blood streamed from her brow, spilling down her lashes like scarlet tears that dripped straight into my chest.

“Adrian,” Evelyn winced, closing one eye against the pain, “you’ve disappointed me.”

“I’m not refusing divorce out of love.” Evelyn pulled Carter into her arms.

“It’s because,” she said, “your parents once saved me. Because you and I have bled for each other. But don’t test the last of my patience. If you do, Adrian Penn—I swear you’ll regret it.”

Carter collapsed into her embrace, sobbing.

“Evelyn! I don’t want to stay here anymore! I’m scared!” His fists knotted in her clothes, his cries hysterical. “I don’t want to live with this madman! He’ll kill me, he’ll kill me!”

The air went still.

For a moment, I saw my sixteen-year-old self again—wild, broken, shoving Evelyn away. Yet she had only drawn me close, whispering softly in my ear: Don’t be afraid. I’m here.

Now she held Carter the same way, stroking his back, soothing him with those same words. “Don’t be afraid. I’m here.”

Evelyn’s eyes locked on mine, sharp with warning. “I won’t let you hurt Carter. If you won’t yield, then don’t blame me for what comes next.”