Chapter 55 Do Something
Evelyn’s POV
Our car hadn’t even parked properly when I saw Patrica running out from the cell building, her voice cracking in fear.
“Lucifer! Lucifer!” she screamed, her panic slicing through the air as she sprinted toward us.
I flung the door open and ran out of the car, grabbing her by the shoulders, trying to steady her enough to understand what had gone wrong.
“Pat, what’s wrong?” I demanded.
Lorenzo stood beside me, silent but visibly tense.
“It’s the prisoner. Nolan!” she stuttered, breath shaking.
Fear crawled inside me. “Patrica, talk to me! What happened to Nolan?”
She swallowed hard before the words finally came out. “He…. he passed out.”
“What!” The word burst out of me, sharp with shock. I didn’t look back to see Lorenzo’s reaction, I just ran. The building felt too empty, too quiet. No guards. No footsteps.
When I reached the room where Nolan had been kept, I froze.
I could barely recognize him.
He lay there draped on the cold floor, weak, colorless, barely alive. His shallow, ragged breaths twisted something deep in my chest.
Guilt crashed over me.
I caused this. If I hadn’t tried to escape, Lorenzo wouldn’t have locked him here like this. No food. No water. No light. Nothing.
God, I need to do something. I have to.
“Lorenzo!” I shouted, running toward the door. But he was already standing there, hands tucked casually into his pockets, too calm, too unmoved for the disaster unfolding in front of us.
I rushed at him. “Lo…. Lorenzo, we have to do something.”
He didn’t move. Not even a flicker of emotion crossed his face.
“Jesus Christ!” I shoved his shoulder hard. “Did you hear me at all?!”
He pinched the bridge of his nose, sighing like I was being unreasonable. “There’s nothing I can do here, Eve.”
My head snapped slightly with frustration. “What do you mean? Lorenzo, he’s dying. We need to take him to the hospital.”
“That’s never going to happen,” he replied, pushing himself off the doorframe. “You don’t expect me to agree to that when you know he could easily escape from a hospital.”
“Haven’t you punished him enough?” I fired back, anger boiling under my skin. “It’s been three days, Lorenzo. Three fucking days and you still think it’s okay to cage him like an animal. No food. No water!”
“Please,” I pleaded, voice breaking. “We need to help him before something bad happens to him.”
“Nah.” He moved closer, his tone flat. “Stop overreacting, Eve. He’s just pretending. Trust me, he’ll drop the act as soon as he realizes no one actually cares.”
I scoffed, disbelief choking me. “You call this an act?” I ran back to Nolan, who still lay face-down on the floor.
My shaky hands moved to his side as I turned him over gently until his face came into view.
He looked dry. His face pale. Hair tangled. Lips swollen and cracked. The smell coming off him was so strong it felt like it could kill fish in a river.
“God…. Nolan.” I tapped his cheek carefully. “Can you hear me? Look at me. It’s me, Eve… Evelyn.”
His eyelids fluttered weakly.
“Eve…” He tried to speak, but his voice crumbled into silence and his hand slipped lifelessly onto the floor.
I let go of him and rushed back to Lorenzo, tears burning my eyes.
“Please. Just this one time…. don’t let anything happen to him.” My knees hit the floor as I cried openly. “I won’t forgive myself if anything happens to him.”
He rolled his eyes and leaned slightly toward me.
“You’re being dramatic right now. Get it together.”
“Okay…” I wiped my face with the back of my hand and stood up. “Fine. Since you’re scared of taking him to the hospital, can I at least take him to the main house? Feed him? Give him home treatment?”
Lorenzo hesitated. His eyes flickered with something I couldn’t read.
Just when I was about to try again, he broke his silence. “Fine. But he should know his boundaries.”
“Yes. He will,” I said quickly.
A moment later, Lorenzo signaled his men. They stormed into the room, lifted Nolan off the floor, and carried him out. I followed them closely, heart racing.
They placed him in the guest room.
Lorenzo disappeared almost immediately, leaving Diego behind to watch us while Patrica and I worked to stabilize Nolan.
I managed to bring his temperature down by running warm water over his skin with a small piece of cloth. I gave him pain-relief medication, which helped a little, though he still couldn’t speak much, even when he tried.
I fed him as gently as I could and finally got him to sleep.
By the time I returned to the room, the sky outside had already gone dark.
Lorenzo lay on the bed with his back turned toward me, broad shoulders rising and falling in a slow, steady rhythm. He must’ve been asleep.
Thank God.
I slipped quietly into the bathroom and stood under the hot water, letting it beat into my skin until steam filled my lungs. It wasn’t a shower. It was an attempt to rinse away the fear, the guilt, the thought that I had almost lost Nolan because of my stupid mistake.
When I stepped back into the room, the lights were off. The air felt colder… heavier.
I moved as silently as possible, careful not to draw his attention, and slipped into my side of the bed.
His body shifted the second I settled beside him. He released a slow inhale that felt too intentional to be sleep.
Then the mattress dipped slightly as if he turned toward me, sensing my presence, claiming the quiet between us like it belonged to him.
My pulse quickened. I held my breath, praying he would stay still.
And he did. Instantly.
Whether he was pretending to sleep or not, I didn’t know and I didn’t want to find out.
I rolled over and shut my eyes tight.