Blackbird (A Stepbrother Romance #1)(55)

Who had, no doubt, made Eve her sole beneficiary. She was like a daughter to her.

“Mom?” I said, softly. “What’s wrong?’

“I had to see you again. I’m dying, Victor. I have lung cancer.”

I blurted out, “but you don’t smoke.”

She started laughing, and stopped herself when it turned into a wet, thick cough. “I know. It’s hilarious. First I lose my husband, and now this. Eve is devastated, Victor. She cries day and night. She missed her final exams. She thought you loved her.”

“I do, I do I swear. I signed a plea deal so she wouldn’t have to testify. I’d do anything. Please tell her, Mom. I love her. Look at me. Look at me.”

She looked at me. From her eyes, you’d think she was dead already.

There was a sliver of doubt there, though. Just a touch.

No matter what, she was still my Mom.

“I might tell her, when she calms down and can think rationally. She really does love you, Victor. I don’t know what it’s going to do to her, going through this.”

She stood up. Time was up.

Before she left she said, “Wait. I do know. It’s going to make her like him.”

She coughed again.

“Mom,” I said. “I love you.”

She walked out. They closed the door.

Five years is a long time.





Chapter Eighteen





Evelyn





Neither of us speaks for a long time.

Finally, I clear my throat, and fill the air. “You claim it was all a setup,” I say, softly.

Victor looks at me. His face is hard but his eyes, his eyes are pleading.

“It was. I swear to God, they made it all up. It was a trick. I never thought they would try to make it look like I was sleeping with Brittany.”

“You weren’t sleeping with her,” I say.

“No. I swear it on my mother’s grave. I was not sleeping with Brittany Andrews. Or anybody else after I met you. Not since the day I met you. I even had some girl pawing at me at our parents’ wedding.”

“I remember that, you blew her off.”

“I would again, and again, every time for a thousand years for you, Eve. I love you.”

The words hit me like hammers. I. Love. You.

I want to say it back, but if it was true I wouldn’t have believed the lies, would I?

“You took the conviction to spare me?”

He looks up at me and nods, slowly. “Yeah. I knew it would be brutal for you if they put you on the stand, and I knew there was nothing I could do to stop it. My lawyers couldn’t even stop it. The whole thing was crooked. Your father had control of the money, and money buys power.”

I shake my head. He stands up and walks over to the bed. I hug my knees to my chest and curl up, waiting. He sits down. I look over through the fringe of my hair as he sits on the bed and, gingerly, reaches out and touches my back.

My voice comes out tiny, childlike. I can’t help it.

“A-after that your Mom got really bad,” I blurt out. “She got sick very fast. It was weeks. She spent the last two months in the hospital. I visited her every day even when I was supposed to be studying. Father pulled strings and got my degree conferred on me on time. He moved all of your stuff out of your room.”

He tugs on the hood of my sweatshirt.

“You kept this.”

I nod, and sniff back tears. “I used to sleep in it. I hid it from him so he wouldn’t know. I kept the ring, too. I still have it.”

He reaches over and touches my chin with his fingers. A little tug and I turn to face him, still curled up. He looks right into my eyes.

“Evelyn Ross, I swear, I did not sleep with anyone but you. I didn’t do anything they accused me of. I saw proof that your father is a criminal.”

My mouth works silently, but I can’t say anything.

Finally, I manage to choke it out. “I’m sorry.”

“Why didn’t you see me?”

“I couldn’t,” I whisper, “at first. After that… Father was always there. When your mother died, I was alone with him. I started to forget. It went back to the way it was. I was alone with him in the house all the time. It was like he knew what I was thinking. Then I just…”

I take a long breath.

“It hurt so much, I just didn’t want to feel anything. When I lost your mother, I was crushed. There was nothing left. I was like a robot. I woke up, went to work, slept, woke up, went to work. The only time I felt something was when people were afraid of me. It made me feel strong. Like I meant something.”

Victor puts his arms around me. I stay still at first. Part of me is still fighting it, but it hurts too much and I don’t have the strength anymore. I give in. I collapse against him, but I don’t cry. My eyes are dry. I just press them shut. Then they start to sting a little and I feel an itch on my cheeks and lie to myself, and almost believe it’s not tears. Then the sobbing starts and I slip my arms around Vic’s broad chest and squeeze him, hard. He breathes against me, sitting still at first, and slowly puts his arms around me.

“We used to be really good,” he says.

“I’m sorry,” I mumble, over and over. “I’m so sorry. I should have carried her message.”