Chapter 44

The evening I get home after that wild confrontation with the Luna – the one where Marcus stepped in to defend me – I'm beyond exhausted. I enter the villa through the kitchen doors and toss my keys onto the countertop before pulling out my phone to scroll through a takeout delivery service app.

Having settled on Chinese, I set my phone on the kitchen table and get myself a glass of water. Musing, I sit down and drum my fingers thoughtfully on the table as I wait for my food to arrive.

I could go sit in the living room, but the kitchen is my favorite part of the house, something that's reinforced to me every time I come home. There – there's that word again. Home. I think of the villa as home.

I'm starting to think of Kent and the gang as more than just people I've been thrown together with for the sake of a mission. I see them as friends – almost family. They're certainly a better group of people than my actual family.

It's a bit funny, the fact that a gang of drug dealers turn out to be a lot more upstanding and honorable people than my "technically we've never broken the law" father, stepmother, and stepsiblings, but here we are.

They're kinder, too, and a better support system. And I have new friends at work, in Roger and Claire and even Mrs. Potts.

And then there's Marcus. The way that he stood up for me today, the way that he looked at me…

There's something between us, and it doesn't seem to matter if I'm Nicole or Evelyn when we meet. That enticing pull is always going to be there. Maybe it's time to stop hiding from it – at least entirely.

And there's something else it's time to stop hiding from: myself.

I have been thinking about this in the back of my mind all day. It's ridiculous, sleeping in that tiny, windowless, stuffy room. Making myself uncomfortable and miserable, and for what? To prove some kind of point? To whom?

Nobody is helped by me punishing myself. I'm not even helped. It doesn't make me remember the past or focus on the task at hand. I'll never forget the past, nor will I forget what I need to do now. And it's not even that I'm motivated purely by revenge anymore, either.

Somehow, my brain and soul have started healing and moving forward again, without me even fostering that change on purpose. It's how life works – life goes on. It's no exception for me. That doesn't mean I've forgotten about what Charles did to me, or even that I've lost interest in my mission.

It just means that my life is healing and moving forward, as it should. And it also means that I have a lot healthier motivations these days, aside from pure revenge.

Like I realized this morning in my office, sitting behind my desk to look out the window and muse about gardens, I've come to value so many things about my new life. I value my home, the villa; I value the friends I've made; I value the Alpha as a person, not a political pawn; and I value Marcus.

I'm acting now from a desire to help those I love, not to destroy someone for hurting me. And, damn it, it feels good.

Just like it felt good when Marcus came to my defense this morning in his father's office, standing up to his mother and even hauling her off afterward for what I'm sure turned into a private argument.

I sit and think for the entire 45 minutes it takes for my food to arrive. By the time I get up to answer the doorbell, I've made a few decisions.

One: after I finish eating tonight, I'm going straight upstairs to move my things into the master bedroom. It's past time to keep moping in the dark like a petulant little girl, or hide myself away like I'm the criminal the world once believed I was.

Two: First thing tomorrow, I'm going to seek out Marcus and thank him properly, in person. I can't hide away from him forever.

What's more, I don't want to.

It's time to have a real conversation with him.

I instant message Liam on the in-house communication service the moment I get in the next morning. Marcus doesn't have an official secretary to keep his appointments, so Liam is my best bet at nailing the guy down.

Liam responds within half an hour, confirming that as far as he's aware, Marcus will be in his office until lunchtime.

"Go ahead and drop by for a chat," Liam's message reads. "I know he won't mind, and you'll be doing him a favor, anyway. He sits and broods too much these days."

I laugh aloud. Marcus can be a little broody. I know he has a lot on his mind, but still. Levity is important.

Maybe I can bring some levity into his life.

Mid-morning, I finish my second cup of coffee and have finally worked up the nerve to go to Marcus's office. I'm still anxious that he'll see through my disguise somehow, but I promised myself I wasn't going to hide anymore, and I'm not.

Just like I promised myself that master bedroom, and I had the best sleep of my life in there last night.

"Come in," Marcus calls when I knock on his door ten minutes later. He sounds irritated, and I almost turn around and leave again. But no – I said I was doing this. I steel my nerves and turn the handle.

Marcus look of annoyance fades instantly the moment he sees me – his entire face seems to light up, in fact.

"Evelyn!" he says, sounding surprised but delighted. "Er – Dr. Prism, I should say. My apologies."

"Evelyn is fine," I smile. "Please."

"Very well, and then you must call me Marcus. Come in, come in." He waves me inside and toward the comfortable-looking chair across from his desk. "What can I do for you?"

"I just wanted to thank you for yesterday," I say, sinking into the chair. It is comfortable – some time of very plushly padded leather, I think. I should get a set of these for the living room in the villa.

Marcus looks surprised again, but the expression is washed away with one of pleasure and perhaps even a hint of gratitude.

"Evelyn, please, if anyone deserves to be thanked, it's you," he says earnestly, leaning across the desk and reaching for my hand. I extend my left toward him, and he squeezes it fondly. "I was so impressed by the way you stood up to my mother – very few people have ever done that, you know."

"Ah," I can't help but laugh. "I've met scarier people than your mother, believe it or not."

"I do find that very hard to believe," Marcus chuckles in response.

"I have," I say again. "And they almost always back down. Besides, it's my job as his physician to advocate for your father. His health concerns are serious, and it's part of my job to get his family, friends, and staff to understand that."

"I understand it completely," Marcus says. "But my mother is stubborn. And my siblings – well, sometimes I'm not sure they have the best of intentions. I don't mean that I think they'd deliberately hurt my father!" he hastens to add as I frown in unease.

"But they're ignorant, selfish, self-centered. They just…well, I think they don't care very much for my father as a person. They only really care about what he can do for them, or not," Marcus ends somewhat sadly.

Now it's my turn to squeeze his hand in comfort.

"My family – my family are not good people," I say. "I can't – I don't really want to talk about the details, but I know what it's like to be let down by the people who are most supposed to care for you. I'm sorry."

Marcus smiles at me gratefully, then opens his mouth to say something. He hesitates.

I raise my eyebrows in question, and, after a pause, Marcus finally speaks.

"Evelyn, would you do me the honor of having dinner with me some evening this week?"