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“We met in college and dated for two years. At the time, we were miraculously in love. I moved in with him before we graduated. Miami. He was rich and beautiful. A perfect gentleman. So when he proposed, I said yes.” She stumbled over her words and took a drink. “There weren’t signs of anything else.”

I kept my breath even. This was about her. Whatever my reaction was could wait. She needed to get this out.

“We’d been together for years, and everything was fine. Or I thought it was. One day, we went out to lunch or something, shopping maybe? I don’t remember at this point. We ran into one of my high school boyfriends. It was one of those things where we realized we were better friends and split, so it was nice to see him again. The conversation didn’t last long, maybe ten minutes, and then we went our separate ways. Everything was fine. If anything, Nathan was more attentive and affectionate than he normally was.”

Dread pooled in my stomach. Given the scars I’d already seen, I knew where this was heading.

“That night, he...” She trailed off and took another drink. “He said that he wanted to try something new. Tie me up and tease me. We’d never done that before but—” Another drink. “We had a good sex life, so I was down to try anything once. I realized something was off when he used metal handcuffs and made them way too tight everywhere. But he turned into a completely different person—I’m sorry.” Evelyn got up and went to the kitchen, pouring herself another drink.

She didn’t come back. After a couple minutes I followed her and sat at the table. She faced away from me, leaning heavily on the counter. God, I wanted to touch her. Let her lean on me instead. I couldn’t imagine what it was like to recall something like this.

All the trauma that I’d been through—it was my fault. Dealing with it when it wasn’t your fault? She was stronger than anyone I knew.

“He left me alone, just shackled there. And when he came back, he wasn’t the same. I’d never seen him angry, and all of a sudden, he was screaming.” She turned and looked at me then. “He told me that I was his alone, and no one else’s. He claimed he didn’t know that I’d been with anyone else—though it wasn’t something that I’d kept a secret—and if he’d known, he would have made it clear earlier.

“I was his until I died. No one else would ever have me. And if I ever tried what I’d done that day again, he’d be kind. He would bury me somewhere beautiful. In a field of flowers, even if I didn’t deserve it.”

She closed her eyes, and I waited. I would wait all fucking night if she needed me to.

Then she looked at me. “You said you know who they are?”

I nodded. “Yes. I’m familiar.”

“Nathan is smart. Incredibly smart. And he had a workshop in our house, so he had everything that he needed. To... burn me.”

This time I closed my eyes.

“He used my engagement ring,” she said. “Marked my arms, hips, and chest. His goal was to make it impossible for anyone to touch me without knowing that I was his.”

My hands gripped the chair so hard that the wood creaked. It was the only thing keeping me seated. Anger flowed through me, white-hot and explosive. But like hell was I going to interrupt her while she was this open and this fragile.

She made it sound simple. He’d burned her. The circular scars now made sense. What she didn’t say was that it would have taken hours for him to do that. Scars that deep took time. Over and over he would have heated the ring and used it on her.

I’d never seen such an intentional act of hatred.

Her voice was small now. “When he finished, he unchained me. Not that I could move at all. He was smiling when he kissed me and told me that he’d be back later. He called me his fiancée. And he didn’t come back.

“In the morning when he still wasn’t there, I managed to get myself up. I knew the burns were deep, and I took myself to the emergency room. They reacted exactly like you’d want them to. They were horrified, and the nurse called the police.”

Evelyn’s voice went cold. “The officer who came to see me was pissed. He talked me into pressing charges even though I was afraid to. After he left to file the charges, I never saw him again.”

A curse fell from my lips, and she looked at me, confirmation on her face. “Let me guess,” I said, the words rough. “Those charges disappeared?”

“Less than two hours later another cop came back. He said that there were no charges to press. And a doctor came and told me that I couldn’t stay there.”

I stood, unable to keep still. “He paid them off?”

“I don’t have proof.”

She wouldn’t get it either. The Wests were powerful enough to have that kind of reach. But was it just Nathan with access to his family’s money? Or was it his father too?

“Nathan was waiting for me outside the hospital. I was in too much pain to run, even after being treated.”

“Evelyn—”

She held up a hand. “He took me back to our house and told me that I clearly hadn’t learned the lesson. I tried to fight him—I promise that I tried to fight him.”

I crossed the kitchen to her, needing to be close, not sure if she wanted to be touched. Instead, I placed both hands on the counter beside her, leaning until I was looking directly into her eyes. “If anyone’s ever made you feel like this was your fault because you couldn’t fight him off or didn’t believe you, they’re wrong.”