Tous les chapitres de : Chapitre 51 - Chapitre 60

POV: Malachi“Shit.”The word is barely out of my mouth when Evelyn moves.From how she's thinking, I know she doesn’t think it through. I can see that immediately. There’s no pause, no hesitation, just a raw reaction as she closes the distance again and grabs the front of my shirt, pulling herself back into me like letting go would break something.And then she kisses me.Harder this time and it's desperate. It's not soft, not careful, just messy and urgent like she’s trying to hold onto something before it slips away again.For half a second, I freeze.Then reality hits. I pull back sharply, my hands coming up to her shoulders as I put space between us.“No,” I say, shaking my head, the words coming out fast now. “No, no, no, no, no—we’re not doing that.”She’s breathing hard, her chest rising and falling too quickly, her eyes searching mine like she doesn’t understand why I stopped.“Why not?” she asks, her voice unsteady, almost frustrated. I tighten my grip slightly on her should

POV: NinaBy mid-afternoon, I was done waiting.Malachi was still “building the picture.”Evelyn was still holding herself together by force.And somewhere out there, Samantha was still walking around like she hadn’t just tried to have a child taken.Yeah. No.I stood in the hallway for a moment, listening. Toby’s laughter drifted faintly from the living room. Something light, normal. Malachi’s voice followed, low and steady, keeping things calm like nothing was wrong.Evelyn’s door was closed and it was too fucking quiet but that was all I needed.I grabbed my jacket, slipped my phone into my pocket, and headed for the door. No announcement. No permission. If I told Malachi, he’d stop me. If I told Evelyn, she’d come with me.Neither of those things were happening. The door shut behind me without a sound.***Samantha wasn’t hiding.That was the first mistake. People like her never think they’re the problem. They think they’re the smartest one in the room, that everyone else is react

POV: EvelynI ignored him and walked into the kitchen for a glass of water but the air in the kitchen felt suddenly too thick, too warm. Malachi’s last step closed the remaining distance until there was nothing left but heat and tension and the faint scent of his cologne mixed with the lingering adrenaline still buzzing under my skin. His chest brushed mine. I had to tilt my head back to meet his eyes, and the moment I did, something inside me snapped into place.I wasn’t backing down tonight.I was done being the one who waited, who was protected, who was told what she could and couldn’t handle.My hand came up slowly, fingers curling into the front of his black shirt. I didn’t pull him closer yet. I just held him there, feeling the rapid thud of his heart beneath my palm.“Maybe I do want that,” I repeated, voice low and steady. “Maybe I’m tired of you deciding what’s too much for me.”Malachi’s eyes darkened, pupils blown wide. His hands flexed at his sides like he was fighting t

POV: NinaI catch the shift in Evelyn before she even fully says anything.It’s subtle at first, just the way she stands a little straighter when she’s talking to Malachi, like she’s already decided something in her head and nothing else is part of the conversation anymore and Malachi, of course, is already watching her like he knows it too.I lean against the doorway, arms folded, not interrupting yet. Toby is still upstairs, thankfully asleep, which means I don’t have to juggle this with anything else for the moment.“We’re going to make her talk,” Evelyn says again, like she’s confirming it to herself more than anyone else.Malachi doesn’t answer straight away. He just looks at her for a second too long, then exhales slowly like he’s already tired of where this is going.That’s when I step in.“No,” I say.Both of them look at me at the same time. Evelyn’s expression doesn’t change much, but I can feel the edge in it immediately. Malachi just raises a brow slightly like he’s waitin

POV: Malachi“And you fucking let that happen?”The words come out harder than I planned, but I don’t take them back because right now, I don’t have the patience to soften anything. Rebecca is gone, the one person we had sitting right in front of us with answers, and somehow she walked out like we handed her the key to our door ourselves.Nina doesn’t flinch.That alone pisses me off more than it should because I know that look. I’ve seen it before. It’s the one she uses when she’s already accepted whatever she did and decided she’s not going to show it, not even a little.“That’s not what happened,” I take a step closer, close enough that she can’t avoid me. “Then explain it properly,” I say. “Because from where I’m standing, it looks exactly like that.”She exhales through her nose, like she’s already annoyed with me for even asking. “She played it,” Nina replies. “She kept me talking, found a gap, and used it.”“In a locked room,” I say flatly.“There’s a secondary latch,” she sho