Unexpected Eva (Triple Trouble #3)(95)

“I would have liked to be there to see that.”

“You wouldn’t. I’m so tired.” She tries to hide her yawn with the back of her hand. “I was keen to get them to bed. I dumped my bags and all our presents from everyone at the front door. We ran straight up the stairs.”

Eva looks deflated.

“The boys brushed their teeth, hopped into bed, and I got myself ready for bed too. I feel like such a fool.”

“You are not, Eva. No way.” I push her hair off her forehead. “And then what happened?”

“I must not have closed the door properly when we went into the house. It’s so stiff with it being winter; I need to get it fixed. I keep forgetting to call a carpenter. When I went back down the stairs an hour or so later to grab my phone from my purse, Ewan was standing in the hallway with my phone in his hand. He became frantic, unintelligible ramblings, kicking the presents. I ran down, urged him to get out of the house, but he wouldn’t listen. It all got out of hand.

“He pinned me against the wall, shouting in my face, screaming at me to tell him what the passcode was for my phone. But I wouldn’t give it to him and kept hiding my face so the facial recognition wouldn’t work. He mentioned something about Lincoln. His family saw us. I’m a bitch. I caused this mess. Same old, same old. Threatening to hunt Lincoln down.”

“Intoxicated?”

“Heavily. And he was dirty and unwashed.” She screws her face up, forgetting about her bruised skin. “Ow, that is sore.”

“It’s gonna hurt like a bitch tomorrow.”

“Difficult to hide.” She forces a smile.

“And then?” I keep pushing. I need to know what that bastard did to her.

“I got away from him. Somehow. He was so strong, Knox. He chased after me. Into the kitchen. Around the dining table. I’ve never been so scared. I don’t know what he planned to do to me. He picked up the kettle and threw it at me. Then the toaster and anything else he could find. I dodged them all. I don’t remember what happened next, but I think he turned his back, and I made a run for it to the living room to get to the house phone. He was on me so fast. My heart was racing. I tried to slam the living room door shut, but he pushed me through it and I fell to the floor and smacked my face on the edge of the coffee table. He was straight on top of me and I did everything I could to get him off, but he was so heavy.” She cups her mouth with her hand. “What if the neighbors hadn’t called the police? Oh my God, Knox. I might not have been here tonight. And my boys. Archie heard everything.”

Her chest heaves in deep waves of audible gasps. Her tears flow and I let her get it all out as I move up onto the bed and cradle her in my arms, making sure I don’t make her injuries any worse.

Rocking her back and forth, I coo, “Hey, that didn’t happen. You are here now. Safe. Your boys are safe. They are sound asleep. You’re okay.”

“He was going to hit me with my phone in his hand.” She howls. “I should have given him the passcode.”

Fucking bastard. I’m going to make sure he pays for this.

“He’s no longer entitled to be near you. Or dictate who you see or what you do. He overstepped the mark tonight. Way over the fucking boundary and beyond. What he did was completely unacceptable, Eva.”

She takes a few minutes to gather herself before she continues. This is not my usual solid, in control girl. He fucking broke her tonight.

“It all happened so fast. The next thing I knew, the police were there. They caught him midair. He didn’t get a chance to hit me. But he was going to. The police arrested him. He didn’t go easy. There was lots of shouting and they had to wrestle him out of the house. Archie was crying. Luckily, Charlotte from next door sat with him in his bedroom, comforting him while the paramedics checked me over. Hamish slept through the entire thing. The police took my statement and now here we are. My kitchen is a mess. My walls have massive dents in them. They’ll need to be plastered. I left everything. I didn’t want to stay there tonight. I wanted you.” She hugs me tighter. “I was so frightened.”

“What did the paramedics say? Your cheek is very swollen. How do they know your cheekbone isn’t broken?”

“I don’t know. But I didn’t want to go to the hospital. Not on Christmas night.”

“Then we will go to the hospital tomorrow. Get you checked over.”

“Oh no, I don’t want anyone seeing me like this,” she gasps.

“Corey is a doctor, Eva. He will see you privately.”

“It’s Boxing Day tomorrow. I can’t take him away from his family.”

“That man would walk through fire for me. It will take him half an hour, an hour tops to see you. No arguing.” I continue to rub her back.

“Okay. Thank you. I don’t want to tell my sisters. I’m so ashamed.”

“You have nothing to be ashamed of.”

“I still don’t want them to know. Look at my face. What if my dad and mom find out? I want to tell them about Ewan on my own terms. But after the divorce. I don’t want them worrying about me.”

It’s going to be very hard to keep this quiet and people do like to talk in Castleview. Especially Mrs. Mitchell, the leader of the gossip patrol.

Eva is fiercely independent in every way.