Page 188 of Chandelier Sin
“Cameron.” Greyson glared at him. “Please tell Atticus to stop playing hero.”
Cole locked eyes with me. “You’re not a machine of war,” he said. “Remember that.”
A machine of war.I mused over his choice of words, and then recalled where I’d heard that before. It was his reference to soldiers on the battlefield who’d seen too much death.
He and I had seen plenty of that—our life and death decisions had affected the world around us.
His using it in this context proved Cameron saw things weregetting complicated. Morals would be challenged. All of us had once been filled with idealism. Now we were trying to hold onto our humanity with every last semblance of strength.
None of us were prepared for one more loved one to suffer.
And for me, that was Eve.
It was a revelation that privately shook me to my core.
When I looked into her eyes, I saw resilience. She was still fighting, even now, even as the darkness threatened to consume her.
She’d have made it home by now, be back in that house. The thought of it made me shiver.
My reaction was not lost on Cameron.
Hearing the doorbell ringing at eleven o’clock at night made me jittery. I’d just gotten back from Jake’s party, having bailed early.
We had all been shaken by the revelation Stella had shared with us. It was a miracle that she’d managed to hold it together up until this point.
So many of us had been targeted by Lance. With me, he was playing with my sense of safety—drawing it out until the final blow.
So, when the doorbell rang, it naturally made me wary.
If anyone deserved a ticket to the sixth-floor death party, it was Lance.
I walked toward the front door after setting down my iPad, having read the latest news, trying to take the temperature of the country and escape this hermit phase.
Everything tasted off lately—the food, the drink, and my motivation to visit Chrysalis. I couldn’t fathom why.
Itwas Eve at my door.
I felt an immediate jolt of happiness, which I tried to suppress. I was too proud to show how far I’d fallen. After she’d shared with me earlier what Aemon had done to her, I was close to becoming the kind of man I’d lost respect for—the impulsive kind who made one wrong move and ruined his life. Because storming over to their house to demand that he release Eloise to her mother was a real possibility.
I glanced behind Eve to make sure her sick fuck of a husband wasn’t with her—or anyone else.
My heart flipped at seeing her again. She was dressed in jeans and a white shirt, looking pretty but flustered. Her large, chic-looking handbag was flung over her shoulder.
She barged by me and hurried inside, making her way into my kitchen.
I closed the door and followed her. “Why don’t you come in.”
The joke seemed lost on her.
I joined her in the kitchen. “Drink?”
“No, thank you.” She took in my kitchen like she’d not already had the pleasure.
I’d not expected to see her again so soon. Earlier, she’d gatecrashed Jake’s party, so her turning up out of the blue had me concerned. Then I saw it. Her engagement ring, that big ole’ orange diamond, was back on her ring finger.
Seeing it sent a shiver of foreboding through me.
It was a symbol of Aemon’s ownership and I hated that for her.
