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Callum’s smile suddenly froze.
Evelyn pulled out a knife and pointed it directly at her own stomach.
“What are you doing?” he asked, his voice sharp with panic.
She tossed a crumpled medical report at his feet. “I’m pregnant, Callum. Let Vincent go, or I swear I’ll take your child with me.”
Callum stood frozen.
Joy and anguish collided in his chest.
She was carrying his baby.
But she was threatening their child’s life–for another man.
His voice cracked. “Evelyn, how could you? That’s our baby! And you’d use it against me–for him?”
She snapped back, her tone like ice. “Didn’t you threaten me with my sister’s life to protect Estelle? Don’t pretend we’re different.”
Her beautiful face twisted into a bitter smile.
Callum flinched as her words hit home. It felt like she’d ripped out his heart and crushed it in her
hand.
“I regret it,” he whispered, broken.
Evelyn’s next words shattered him.
“Regret doesn’t bring back the dead. Who’s going to answer for my mother’s death? You?”
He looked like a man utterly lost, crushed under the weight of guilt.
Then she pressed the knife to her belly.
“You always gave me ultimatums. You tried to control me with threats, with people I love. You
called it love, but it was just manipulation.”
Her voice rose.
“Now it’s my turn. Either you let us go, or we both die. No one wins.”
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Calhim dropped to his knees. The arrogance was gone. The power, the pride all of it had crumbled.
“No, Evelyn… please don’t. I’ll let you go. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”
With a nod, the ropes holding Vincent loosened, and he crashed to the ground.
Evelyn rushed to him, not taking her eyes off Callum until they were out of that place.
Only then did she let herself collapse.
“I’m so sorry,” Vincent rasped. “I should’ve protected you.”
But before he could say more, he coughed up a thick spatter of blood.
Evelyn’s face went pale.
Back home, she helped him out of his shirt. His back was covered in wounds–some old, some bleeding and raw.
He tried to hide, muttering, “I’ll take care of it. Don’t look… it’s not pretty.”
But Evelyn’s heart clenched.
He’d suffered so much–maybe more than she had.
And still, he’d been the one to save her.
“Do you regret saving me?” she asked quietly. “If you hadn’t, you wouldn’t be like this.”
He didn’t answer right away.
Then, finally: “I never thought about regret. That day, when you got off the plane… your eyes were
screaming for help.”
Evelyn blinked, confused. “But you weren’t even there.”
Vincent’s lips curled into a small, warm smile. “You forget–I was your bodyguard. I was always
there. Just in the shadows.”
Tears welled in Evelyn’s eyes.
Sunlight streamed across his scarred back.
It felt warm. Safe.
She rested her forehead against him.
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“Thank you,” she whispered.
Chapter 22
