All Chapters of Hate Me Till You Love Me: Chapter 71 - Chapter 80

Darkness swallowed the corridor.Evelyn could not see Alexander.She could not see Eden.She could not see the others.For one terrible second, she could not even hear them.Then a hand found hers.Alexander.His fingers closed around hers with desperate certainty.“I’m here.”Evelyn exhaled shakily.“I know.”“You’re shaking.”“So are you.”“I’m allowed.”Despite everything, a tiny laugh escaped her.It disappeared almost immediately.Because the child’s voice came again.“Evelyn.”Not Mother.Not Mrs. Kane.Not Bridge.Not Subject B.Just Evelyn.Her name.Spoken with a familiarity that made every instinct inside her scream.Alexander moved closer.“Who are you?”The child didn’t answer.Instead, a soft sound echoed through the darkness.A footstep.Then another.Evelyn tightened her grip on Alexander.“Stay behind me.”“No.”“Alexander.”“I said no.”He moved in front of her.“You don’t get to protect me from everything.”“I know.”“Then stop trying.”“I can’t.”She stared at the d

The first thing Evelyn heard was a heartbeat.Not hers.Not Alexander’s.Something slower.Deeper.It seemed to come from beneath the floor, beneath the walls, beneath the entire impossible hospital that existed inside the Echo.Thump.Silence.Thump.The sound travelled through the room.The younger Alexander sat upright on the hospital bed.His twelve year old face looked almost exactly like the man standing beside Evelyn, except there was something terribly wrong with his eyes.They had turned black.Not dark brown.Not shadowed.Black.Completely black.Evelyn could not breathe.Current Alexander stepped in front of her.It happened without thought.His body moved before his mind could catch up.Protect her.Always.Even when the thing standing in front of them wore his own face.The boy on the bed smiled.It was a small smile.Almost innocent.That made it worse.“You still do that.”Alexander’s jaw tightened.“Do what?”“Stand in front of her.”The boy looked past him at Evelyn.

For several seconds, nobody moved.The darkness had swallowed the hospital again, but Evelyn could still see the man standing beyond the white door.Not because there was light.Because something around him seemed to reject the darkness.He stood there as though the blackness belonged to everyone else.His silver hair fell across his forehead.His face was older than Alexander’s, but there was something familiar about it.Something in the shape of his eyes.The line of his jaw.The stillness in his expression.Alexander stepped in front of Evelyn.“Who are you?”The man looked at him.A strange sadness passed through his eyes.“You really don’t remember me.”Alexander’s hand curled into a fist.“I don’t remember you.”“You were never supposed to.”Evelyn looked at Gabriel.“You called him Nathaniel.”Gabriel shook his head.“I was wrong.”The man’s mouth curved slightly.“Gabriel was always good at being wrong when the truth frightened him.”Gabriel’s face hardened.“You should have s

“Evelyn!”Alexander’s voice vanished from her hand.One second, his fingers had been wrapped around hers.The next, there was nothing.Evelyn spun around.“Alexander!”No answer.The staircase stretched in every direction now, twisting into a maze of white, black, and red corridors.The seven year old girl stood in front of the glass door.She looked exactly like Evelyn.The same dark hair.The same eyes.The same small scar beneath her chin.Even the same stubborn expression.But there was something different in those eyes.Something Evelyn had never seen in her own reflection.Certainty.The little girl wasn’t afraid.She looked at Evelyn as if she had been waiting years for this moment.“Where is he?”The girl tilted her head.“Who?”“Alexander.”“You let him go.”“No.”“You did.”“I didn’t.”“You chose not to choose him.”Evelyn stepped forward.“I refused the Echo’s choice.”The girl smiled.“Exactly.”“Then why did it take him?”“Because refusing a choice doesn’t mean refusing a

The corridor disappeared.There was no warning.No sound of breaking glass.No flash of light.One moment Evelyn was holding Leo against her chest, Alexander’s hand wrapped around hers.The next, there was nothing beneath their feet.Evelyn fell.She screamed.Alexander’s arm caught around her waist.Leo cried out.“Hold on!”“I’ve got him!”Alexander pulled them together as they dropped through darkness.There was no floor.No ceiling.No walls.Only memories.They flew past Evelyn’s childhood.The Kane mansion.The Vale house.The white laboratory.A hospital room.A garden.A nursery.The first door.Evelyn saw herself at seven.Then seventeen.Then older.Then younger.Versions of her flashed past like reflections on broken glass.Some were crying.Some were laughing.Some were holding babies.Some were holding Alexander.One version stood alone.Another was surrounded by children.Another was sitting beside a grave.Another was standing in front of the Echo.All of them looked at