Page 60 of The Forbidden Secret

The shot echoed through the whole house, no doubt alerting all the guards outside, but I didn’t care as I watched ClideNewton clutch his chest and look at me. He lifted his gun again, rage in his eyes.

I fired again, and this time, he fell backward.

“We need to go,” Jaimie chanted as she limped toward Zeke and quickly untied the knots.

He didn’t have the ropes fully off his wrists before rushing to me and lifting me into his arms. He buried his face into my hair and took a long breath. “You’re going to be okay,” he promised.

However, with every step, I felt myself fading. I buried my face against his chest to stifle the scream as they brought me out of the garage and headed for the window where we had snuck inside.

We didn’t make it there before I lost consciousness.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Evelina Bianchi

The sound of machines greeted me first.

Then, the dull throb of my chest and face.

I heard someone shift from across the room, and I expected to open my eyes and find Zeke sitting in his room. Or maybe mine. What I didn’t expect was a hospital.

But when I saw it, everything returned at once, and I tried to sit up.

Zeke shook his head and pressed my shoulder, keeping me down and in bed when all I wanted was to fling my legs over the side of the bed and sit up. Though judging by the aches that seemed to span across my entire body, I wasn’t sure I would even be capable of doing that right now.

I breathed in a crisper, purer air that I attributed to the tube wrapped around my face.

“I think I missed a few things,” I whispered, my voice raspy and throat sore.

Zeke’s concern didn’t leave his face, but he did force a chuckle. “Talk about an understatement.”

“Are you okay?” I asked, looking over every visible part of his body. He had slightly discolored bruises across both of his wrists and a few shallow cuts on his face. The nastiest injury appeared to be a bruise budding beneath his right eye, but it didn’t look half as bad as it could have been. “What happened? Did they feed you? Did they torture you for almost two days before we found you?”

“Evelina,” he whispered, shaking his head and running his knuckles gently over my face. “How could you possibly be concerned about me after what you went through?”

“I wasn’t held captive for days on end,” I nearly shouted, wincing as pain lanced through my throat.

“I was ready to give my life if it meant keeping them away from you,” he told me. “Why did you have to do that, Evelina? Why couldn’t you let me do this for you? You have done everything for a family I didn’t know I had. You gave everything to bring our daughter into this world with no help, and that was because of me. Don’t you finally deserve peace?”

Oh, he soundedpissed.His voice remained quiet, but his words felt like a physical blow.

“Don’tyoudeserve peace?” I asked. “You’ve spent your entire life feeling like you meant nothing—like you were one moment away from becoming a monster. Maybe now—”

“I would have become a monster,” he whispered.

My voice faded out, and my brows furrowed. He continued.

“I always thought it would happen naturally. I thought I would grow into him with age, but that’s not the case. I love you too much to become that, and I realized it when Alonzo and Clide had me tied to the chair, trying to figure out a wayto contact you. I realized in that moment that if something happened to you—if they got to you somehow—I would become worse than my father. I would destroy the world and all the innocent people who got in my way to keep you safe.” He cleared his throat, clearly becoming choked up at the thought. “I realized that with you and our daughter, I will always be a better version of myself.”

“You won’t have to worry about that ever again,” I promised.

“Don’t let me become that,” he begged. “Evelina, please never do this again. Never risk your life like that.”

His biggest fear had always been becoming like his father. And if something happened to me, his two biggest fears would come true. I hadn’t realized what saving him could mean. A tear fell from my eye as I leaned into his hand and nodded.

“I’m sorry for putting you through that,” I whispered.

“God, don’t apologize. You’re the one lying in a hospital bed. I’m sorry I couldn’t protect you.”

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