Oakley.
Eva isn’t in bed when I wake, so I search for her. My heart pounds harder when I don’t find her in the kitchen or the little library. The light in the glasshouse is on, where I keep my laptop and journal.
“Eva,” I say her name as I walk in.
“What is this?” Eva asks, signaling to my laptop open on the photoshopped image of her kissing the janitor.
I must have left my laptop on without locking it. Either that or she guessed my password. The look in her eyes is one of pure anguish, and it makes my chest ache. “You were the one who sent the photograph to my parents.” She shakes her head. “Y-you.” Her voice breaks, and a stray tear escapes her eyes, trickling down her cheek. She nods at the open diary on the table too. “I know everything.”
“Eva, listen.” I move toward her, but she takes a step back.
“No,” she barks, louder than I’ve ever heard her speak. “Don’t come near me. Natalya warned me someone wanted me here.” She clenches her fists by her side. “She said that someone doctored the images, so my parents sent me here. I should have listened to her.”
I stop moving toward her, holding my hands up in surrender. “Please, Eva, just listen to me.”
She shakes her head. “This entire time, you’ve lied to me.” Her eyes narrow as she glares at me with a look of hatred. “You punished me for not telling you the truth about the janitor and all along…” Her voice cracks as more tears flow down her cheek. “You are sick,” she spits, grabbing the diary off my desk and throwing it at me.
I catch it and place it down on the side table next to me. “I guess you didn’t read from the beginning. The reason I’m doing this.”
“I don’t give a shit why you are doing it, Oak.” She clenches her fists by her side. “You used me. You…” She turns away from me, rushing out of the glasshouse into
I follow her, knowing that this is the last thing I want. My intention to explain everything to her and test the water has backfired.
Eva is in the bedroom, packing her bag.
I lean against the bedroom door. “What are you doing?”
“Getting as far away from you as possible.” The look in her eyes is one of hatred, fear, and utter anguish that cuts me to the core.
I move toward her and set my hands on her hips gently, forcing her to stop. “Please, Eva. Let me explain.”
“Don’t touch me,” she growls, trying to escape.
I can’t let her go, not this easily. She needs to calm down and listen. “You can leave as soon as you’ve let me explain.”
Her body turns rigid beneath my fingers. “You don’t deserve the chance to explain anything.”
I let go of her, shutting the door to the bedroom and locking it. “I’m not letting you go until you listen to me.”
Eva gawks at me, glancing between her half-packed bag and the locked door. “You’re holding me captive?”
“No, I’m forcing you to hear me out.” I take a step toward her, but she steps away.
“You don’t need to be anywhere near me for me to hear you out.” Eva crosses her arms over her chest and glares at me. “You sit over there.” She points at a chair in the corner. “I’ll sit right here.” She points to the edge of the bed.
I sigh and do as she says, moving to sit in the chair far from her. All I want to do is hold her, melt her resolve, and tell her I never wanted to hurt her, not since I got to know her.
“What part of my journal did you read?” I ask.
Eva’s jaw clenches. “The part about you getting me here under false pretenses.”
I run a hand through my hair. “I have a sordid history with your parents.”
Her fists clench at the mention of her parents. “What does that have to do with me?”
“Five years ago, your mother and father destroyed my multi-billion-dollar corporation all because I refused to pay them protection money and do work for their crooked enterprise in Atlanta.” I lean forward and rest my elbows on my legs, steepling my fingers together. “They left me an ominous message two nights after I’d refused them, and I got to my data corporation building to find the entire place on fire.” I clench my jaw, memories of that night flooding back. “They didn’t only destroy my company that night.” I meet Eva’s gaze, feeling a little weird telling her about Jane. “They killed my recruitment officer in the fire. A woman who loved me, and I’d loved her, even though we’d never acted on our feelings. After all, I was the CEO.” I swallow hard, trying to gauge Eva’s reaction to my story.
She is just sitting there, blankly taking in each detail.
“That night, I died right along with my corporation. I changed my name and fled Atlanta, knowing that staying would be foolish.” I give Eva a pointed glance. “You can’t recover from being on the wrong side of your parents.”
I swallow hard. “So, I got my insurance money from the company being destroyed and bought the Syndicate Academy, with the view of getting my revenge through one of the Carmichael children.” I clench my jaw, knowing she won’t like my initial target was her brother. “Initially, I targeted your brother, but your father wanted him involved in the family business from a young age rather than studying.”
“And what exactly did you intend to do with him?” She asks, her voice calm considering what I’m telling her.
“Embroil him in a scandal, force your parents to come rushing back to the Syndicate Academy and…” I rub my face, knowing that uttering the next two words might destroy everything with Eva. “Kill them.”