Chapter 90
Had she screwed up?
Evelyn flashed back to Issac’s words at her apartment.
The disgust in his eyes when he looked at her like she was nothing, then the softness and guilt when he spoke about Charlotte. He regretted ever getting involved with Evelyn, was so revolted he couldn’t even stand himself.
“ААААНИН!!”
“I’ll kill you right here! I’ll cut you into fucking pieces!”
“When you’re gone, I’ll move into your house, sleep in your bed with your man. I’ll build my happiness on the ashes. of your pathetic life! Issac and I will get married, have beautiful children, and live the perfect life! While you’ll be nothing but dust! I can beat a pile of dust!”
Her words became increasingly unhinged, her body vibrating with the urge to tear Charlotte apart.
She’d completely lost it.
Charlotte gave a bitter laugh. “Aren’t you worried I’ll haunt you as a ghost?”
Evelyn’s lips twisted. “If you become a ghost, I’ll hire the best psychic to trap your spirit. I’ll make you watch Issac and me in bed every single night. I’ll force you to see everything that was yours becoming mine.”
“God, you’re such a cliché,” Charlotte said flatly.
Evelyn stared at Charlotte’s face–bloody, swollen, completely disheveled, yet somehow still beautiful and defiant. This drove her over the edge, and she pummeled Charlotte with another round of blows.
From somewhere in the shadows, a man’s cold voice cut in: “She’s buying time. If you’re going to do it, do it now.”
The warning snapped Evelyn back to reality.
She stood up straight. “Stalling for time, Charlotte? Hoping someone will come riding to your rescue?”
“Dream on. Nobody’s saving you tonight. Nobody will look for you here. By the time they find you, you’ll be dead–suicide, complete with the note we’ve already written for you.”
“Time to say goodbye.”
She stepped back, flicking the lighter on with a metallic snap.
She savored the raw fear in Charlotte’s eyes as she tossed the lighter into the air.
The instant Evelyn lit the flame, pure survival instinct helped Charlotte fight through the drug’s effects. She tried desperately to escape.
12:09
The Moment I Let Go My Uncle: Escaping the Forbidden Past
骗
But she only managed to roll off the soda onto the floor.
As the flame descended, she squeezed her eyes shut in absolute terror,
Evelyn watched eagerly, waiting for fire to consume her rival.
In that split second.
A hand intercepted the falling lighter when it was barely two inches from the ground.
The explosion of flames never came.
The lighter that should have hit the ground made no sound, nor did it ignite the gasoline. Instead, a dark figure had materialized in the room.
“Who the fuck are you?!”
Evelyn’s face contorted with shock.
Realizing someone had appeared to ruin everything–that her plan was falling apart–she lunged toward Charlotte without thinking. She grabbed a knife from the coffee table and drove it toward Charlotte’s crumpled form.
Charlotte saw two shadows diving toward her simultaneously.
The expected pain never came.
The metallic smell of blood suddenly overpowered the gasoline.
“AHHH-!”
A woman’s scream pierced the air, followed by the heavy thud of a body hitting the floor.
Charlotte couldn’t process what was happening. A tall figure half–covered her body, and her face pressed against the fabric of his shirt. That distinct scent triggered something deep inside her. “…Zarek?”
He winced in pain. “You’re grabbing me.”
Charlotte realized her fingers were clutching his shirt desperately, her palm pressed flat against his abs beneath the
fabric…
She quickly let go.
The darkness and her swollen face mercifully hid her embarrassment.
Zarek pushed himself up, untied her bonds, then pressed a hand to the stab wound in his lower back as he moved to subdue Evelyn, binding her wrists.
Minutes later, Issac burst in.
The police and Summer arrived right behind him.
Everyone froze at the scene: gasoline splashed everywhere, Charlotte lying on the sofa covered in injuries, Zarek bleeding from a stab wound, and Evelyn thrashing and screaming like someone possessed.
Charlotte explained what had happened in a dull, exhausted voice.
Zarek handed the lighter to the police and described what he’d witnessed. He mentioned that in the chans, he’d caught the lighter bare handed, so his fingerprints were now on it, potentially compromising its value as evidence The knife, however, remained untainted.
With Hector capturing the man in black who’d tried to flee, Evelyn had nowhere to hide.
“You actually tried to burn her alive?” Summer shouted, her voice shaking with rage. “You’re a fucking psychopath! You belong in a padded cell!”
“Issac, please.” Evelyn immediately shifted gears, her voice small and trembling. “It’s not what it looks like. I’m being set up. I’m the victim here.”
Issac stood frozen, taking in the nightmarish scene, his eyes fixed on Charlotte’s battered form. His heart felt like it was being shredded.
He couldn’t move. Couldn’t speak.
The sounds around him warped and distorted, washing over him like acid.
The consequences of his affair were bleeding out in front of him. He remembered Charlotte’s words: You may not kill me yourself, but if I die because of you, what’s the difference?
There really was no going back….
Outside, the night was pitch black. The world before his eyes faded to endless shades of gray, all vibrancy leached away forever.
“Charlotte…”
His legs felt impossibly heavy.
She looked at him, her gaze empty as a frozen lake.
They stared at each other for what felt like eternity.
But in the end, neither spoke a word.
Some pain goes beyond language. They had traveled from brilliant summer to bitter winter, with no spring on the
horizon.
- 1.
Charlotte and Zarek were taken to the hospital..
Evelyn was hauled off in handcuffs.
She claimed Zarek had broken her ribs and demanded medical attention, but her movements clearly contradicted
ka Forbidden Past.
Chapter 90
her claims. The police weren’t buying it.
First hiring a hitman, now attempting murder herself. The charges were piling up.
Charlotte had only surface bruises, apart from the lingering effects of the drug
Zarek, however, had taken Evelyn’s knife in his lower back. Though no organs were damaged, the wound was deep enough to require several stitches, bandaging, and days of rest with regular dressing changes.
Charlotte felt a complicated mix of gratitude and guilt.
Night had deepened into the early hours.
They were in separate hospital rooms.
In her room, Issac sat beside the bed while Summer dozed on the sofa outside.
Issac hadn’t said a word since bringing her to the hospital. The man who once roared like a lion had become hollow and silent..
Charlotte truly had nothing left to say to him.
She didn’t have the energy to yell, to hate, to feel much of anything. All emotions had become distant, like viewing them through frosted glass.
“You should go,” she finally told him–her first words all night. “Summer’s here. I’m fine.”
Her tone was flat and detached, like talking to a stranger at a bus stop.
Issac lowered his eyes, his voice barely above a whisper. “I’d rather stay. Nothing waiting at home anyway. Someone should watch your IV.”
Charlotte looked at him for a long moment but said nothing more.
She closed her eyes.
Issac lifted his gaze. The soft glow from the bedside lamp washed over her face. He watched her like this through the night, memorizing every detail.
At some point, he rested his head near the crook of her neck, silent tears falling dampening her hair.
