CHAPTER TWO: "LET ME GIVE YOU MORE THAN A MOMENT"

Eva held the glass Roman gave her with both hands. Her fingers shook a little, but her eyes stayed on him. The alcohol in her system made her warm, but her mind was not lost. She was far from the point of forgetting things.

Roman noticed the three empty bottles beside her. His brows pulled together.

“You drank all of these?” he asked.

Eva shrugged. “It helps.”

“With this amount?” Roman said quietly. “You should be on the floor.”

“I’m used to it,” she answered. Her voice stayed light, but her face tightened.

Roman searched her expression. “Used to drinking?”

Eva let out a soft breath. “When your life looks like mine, drowning the pain feels normal.”

He looked at her for a long moment, then said, “The party barely started. Isn’t it too early for a beauty like you to drink like this?”

Eva’s lips curved into a small, tired smile. “You came to me. I should praise you. You cracked the code.”

Roman tilted his head slightly. “What code?”

She laughed, a quiet, humorless sound. “If my sister sees us together, she’ll snatch you.”

His eyes sharpened. “Snatch me?”

“Oh yes,” Eva said, lifting the glass and taking a slow sip. “If I want something, she takes it. If she doesn’t want it, then it either get dumped to me, I had to work for anything I want, while they handed things to her. Simple.”

Roman said nothing, waiting.

Eva continued, “I could even add more icing on the cake and sleep with you tonight.” She raised the glass with a small, sarcastic smile. “Then Stella would really want to be engaged to you.”

Roman’s jaw tightened. “Why would she do that?”

Eva looked down at her drink. Her voice softened as if she were speaking from somewhere deep inside her chest.

“Because that’s how it has always been,” she whispered.

Roman did not move. He didn’t interrupt. He only watched her with quiet focus.

Eva took a slow breath. “My father had an affair. That’s how I was born.” She stared at the liquid in her glass. “My mother died giving birth to me. I didn’t even get to touch her.”

Roman’s expression changed, though he kept it steady.

“His wife raised me… publicly,” Eva continued. “She always smiles when the cameras are on. She hugs me in front of others. People call her kind. Loving. But behind closed doors” Her breath shook. “Everything I did was wrong. Every step I took was a burden.”

Roman listened without a single change in posture, but something cold settled in his eyes.

Eva kept going, even though her voice turned small. “They used me for business. For image. For praise. I was only important when the press watched. When the lights were gone, I became their punching bag, their live in maid.”

Her hand tightened around the cup.

“Any boyfriend I had? Stella stole them. The ones that didn’t want her. Well, my father paid them to date her anyway. They all left me in the end.” She laughed lightly, but it had no warmth. “It became a joke in the house. The girl no one wants to keep, worse than an ugly funiture.”

Eva paused to breath in slowly, as if trying to steady herself.

“When I turned eighteen, they kicked me out. No warning. No goodbye. They said it was time to ‘stand on my own’. They cut off everything. I had nothing. But honestly, that was better than staying with them.”

Roman’s hands curled slightly at his sides.

Eva held out her right hand. The skin across the top was swollen and red.

“My brother stepped on it last night,” she said quietly. “He came to my room. Sat on my bed. Threw money on the floor. When I bent down, he crushed my hand and told me not to dress better than Stella tonight.”

Roman stared at her hand for a long, cold second.

Eva pulled it back slowly. “Even now, it hurts. I couldn’t wear proper makeup because it might ‘outshine’ her. That’s why I look like this.”

She let out a small breath and looked at him directly.

“Do you even believe me? My family’s perfect image, it makes me look like a liar.” Her voice was thin. “It always does.”

Roman didn’t answer at first. Instead, he stepped closer. His eyes held something heavy. Something dangerous.

“Come with me,” he said softly. “Somewhere private. You can get to know me too.”

Eva blinked. “You want to leave the party?”

“Yes,” Roman said. The word was steady. Firm. “With you.”

Eva looked toward the entrance of the hall. Then she looked back at Roman.

“We should go through the back,” she whispered. “If anyone sees us, they’ll ruin this. And I’m enjoying my time with you.”

Roman’s eyes moved over her face, searching something he didn’t say aloud. Then he nodded once.

“Lead the way.”

Eva stood, swaying only a little. Roman moved as if ready to catch her, but she steadied herself with a small smile.

“It’s raining,” she warned.

Roman looked at the glass doors leading outside. Water rushed down the pavement. The sky was dark and heavy.

Eva stepped toward the exit. The moment they pushed the door open, cold rain hit her skin. She let out a small breath as if the rain washed away the weight on her chest.

She pulled the skirt of her dress up a little so she could run without tripping.

Then she grabbed Roman’s hand.

“Come on!” she said, trying not to laugh. “Hurry!”

Roman did not move at first.

He watched her.

Her hair sticking to her cheeks.

Her eyes bright for the first time.

Her chest rising and falling with simple, innocent excitement.

She pulled on his hand again, harder this time.

“Please,” she said softly. “Don’t make me run alone.”

That was the moment he followed.

Eva ran forward, splashing through shallow puddles, her dress clinging to her legs. Roman stayed beside her, not caring that his expensive suit was soaked. He watched her as she ran, as if she was something he had waited a long time to see.

When they reached the far corner of the lot, she stopped under a small overhang to catch her breath. Her chest heaved as she wiped water from her face.

Roman rested one hand against the wall beside her, his body still close from the run.

Eva laughed lightly. “You followed me so easily. Are you always like this?”

“No,” Roman said.

She looked up at him through wet lashes. “Then why follow me?”

Roman’s voice dropped. “Because it’s you.”

Eva’s breath hitched, but she looked away quickly, embarrassed by the sudden heat in her face.

Roman studied her. Rain dripped from his hair. His shirt clung to his chest. His eyes did not leave her for even a second.

He finally broke the silence.

“Do you know who I am?”

Eva looked back at him again. “Should I?”

“Most people do.”

Eva sighed and pushed her wet hair back behind her ear. “I don’t care who you are. Maybe because by tomorrow, you may be with my sister”

Roman’s jaw tightened in a way that showed he liked that answer more than he expected.

Eva leaned her back against the wall and closed her eyes for a moment. “Tonight is the first time I don’t feel heavy. I just want to keep this moment.”

Roman stepped closer. Close enough that Eva could feel the warmth of his breath in the cold air.

She opened her eyes and found him staring directly at her, as if she had become the only thing in the world.

Neither of them moved.

Neither of them spoke.

The rain softened around them, a quiet blanket of sound as the world faded beyond the overhang.

Slowly, Roman reached up and touched her bruised hand, the one Damien stepped on. His touch was gentle. Careful. Almost questioning.

Eva did not pull back.

She watched him, her heart beating harder than before.

Roman lifted his eyes to hers.

“Come with me,” he said again, voice low. “Just a little farther.”

“Where?” she whispered.

“A place where no one will interrupt us.”

Eva swallowed, her throat tight. “Roman”

He held her gaze, steady and sure. “You said you wanted this moment to last. Let me give you more than a moment.”

Eva whole body shook.

She didn’t answer.

She only reached for his hand.

Roman’s fingers closed slowly around hers.

And with that one silent move, the night changed direction.