Chapter 67 I Hate That I Care
Lorenzo’s POV
Silence lingered between the space holding us. For a moment, I didn’t breathe. Eve didn’t breathe either.
She stood there with wide eyes, hands twitching, her shoulders pulled so tight it looked like they were gummed with her ears. And I just watched her, letting the quiet stretch until we could only hear the breeze coming from outside.
She was the one who walked out on us from the dining table.
Now she was here again, standing in front of me, acting like she didn’t give a fuck about what she just saw. Like seeing Kim plastered against me with her tongue practically halfway down my throat was something normal that she expected to see all time.
I had let Kim lead me into this room after breakfast, just the way she wanted. I let her sit on my lap, touch me however she pleased, even kiss me—only because I wanted to test myself. I wanted to know if I could feel even a flicker of arousal the way I do with Eve.
But no, the entire moment was flat. Empty. I felt nothing for her.
No matter how hard I tried, I still couldn’t feel Delilah in her, not the warmth, not the fire, not the softness I once knew then.
But Evelyn. My little storm.
The girl who stood here now looking pale, stressed, and bothered, yet still strong enough to stand before me even when I’m sure that she has enough rage in her that she wished to pour on me. She’s the only girl that could make me feel things I hadn’t felt in ages.
And I didn’t like that. Actually….. I hated it.
I hated that she reminded me of the old memories that I had spent with Delilah.
So I broke the silence first.
“Why’d you leave?”
She blinked, like she wasn’t expecting me to talk.
“I…..” she swallowed, her voice thin and raw. “I just needed air.”
“Air,” I echoed slowly, tilting my head. “You walked in on Kim kissing me and suddenly the whole mansion didn’t have enough air?”
Evelyn looked away.
Big mistake.
I stepped closer, closing the distance I’d allowed between us, letting the tension rise. She stiffened, her fingers curling slightly at her sides.
“Are you running from me now?” I asked.
She straightened her back, lifted her head to face me. “And why should I?” she asked firmly, before breaking eye contact.
I let my eyes drift over her face, the tight jaw, the trembling breath, the way she couldn’t stay still.
Then I smirked, leaning closer. “Tell me something, Evelyn Martins. Were you jealous?”
Her head snapped back so fast I thought she’d break her neck. “What? No….what the hell, why would I…..no.”
“You sure?” My voice dipped, smooth but sharp. “Because you looked like someone set your whole chest on fire and you were trying to hide the smoke.”
She scoffed, rolling her eyes so hard it almost covered the way her breath shook. “Please…. I don’t give a fuck who you screw around with. Kiss whoever, sleep with whoever. I don’t care.”
I smiled, slow and arrogant. The kind of smile people wanted to slap off my face.
“Is that so?”
“Yes,” she snapped, but her voice cracked. “God, Lorenzo, stop acting like….. like…..”
“Like what?” I challenged.
“Like you are a god.”
I chuckled dryly, of course I’m and I will prove it to her. Soon.
I stepped even closer, close enough to feel the little shaky breaths hitting my chest. Her pulse swelled at her throat as if it was trying to escape her skin.
“You look stressed,” I said, the arrogance fading into something heavier. “And pale. You okay?”
She turned her face away again, but her shoulders trembled, so slightly most people wouldn’t notice.
But I noticed everything.
Because I always did when it came to her.
“I’m fine,” she whispered.
“You don’t look fine.”
“Like you even care,” she muttered, so soft it felt like she was trying to swallow the words before they came out.
Something in me twisted sharply.
“What did you just say?” My tone dropped harsher than I intended.
She rubbed her arm with shaky fingers, head bowed slightly. “You don’t care, Lorenzo. So don’t…..don’t ask me if I’m okay.”
Then she broke into a tiny, quick sob, which she was trying to hide. She bit it back so hard, her jaw flexed.
And that punched something right in the center of my chest.
I scoffed dryly, but it wasn’t amusement. It was disbelief or anger. I don’t really know.
“You think I don’t care?” I said with a sharp voice. “Is that what’s in your head?”
She didn’t answer. Which pissed me off more.
I stepped forward again, backing her against the wall, not touching her, just close enough that she couldn’t look anywhere else.
“Let me teach you something,” I said, each word clipped. “All those times you shake in fear, you think I don’t notice? You think I don’t care?”
Her eyes flickered up, wet but stubborn. “You only care because……because I’m tied to your stupid power and your stupid empire. Because I have something that belongs to you.”
My jaw clenched. “That’s what you think?”I leaned in, my voice dark. “You think the only reason I get pissed when you’re in trouble is because of my power you possess?”
Her breath hitched, but she didn’t say anything.
Fine. She wanted honesty? Then she’d get the kind that cut.
“Evelyn,” I said, voice rougher than before, “when you were being chased, when those bastards had you running for your life. Do you know what went through my mind?”
She blinked, shaken but listening.
“I wasn’t thinking about my power. Or my mortality. Or any of the bullshit you keep throwing in my face.”
My hand lifted, but I stopped it halfway, fingers curling at the restraint.
“What scared me,” I continued, harsher now, “was the thought that I had lost you.”
Her lips parted, barely.
“I hate it,” I said through my teeth. “I hate that I care. I hate that I can’t switch it off. I hate that I feel something pull so damn tight inside my chest every time you get hurt or cry or disappear for two fucking minutes.”
Evelyn swallowed, eyes shining. “Lorenzo…..”
“No.” I cut her off. “You listen.”
The room felt smaller and heavy.
“I don’t want to lose you,” I said, voice low but harsh. “Even when I don’t want to care. Even when I don’t want to give a damn about anybody. I still…..” I broke off, jaw clenching. “I still find myself looking for you. Protecting you. Getting angry because someone touched you. Worrying like a goddamn fool.”
Evelyn stared at me like I had just opened my chest with my bare hands.
But I wasn’t done.
“You think Kim kissing me would bother you if there wasn’t something already burning inside you?” I lowered my voice to a whisper. “You’re scared of what you feel. Just like I’m scared of whatever the hell this is.”
She shook her head weakly. “I already told you how how I feel about you. I’m not scared.....”
“You are,” I interrupted. “But it’s okay."
A long breath left me. “I’m just telling you,” I finished quietly, “that I care. More than I should. More than I want to. And more than you realize.”
Her breathing went unsteady again, her fingers trembling slightly at her sides.
I straightened, pulling a hand through my hair like I needed to physically wipe the vulnerability off me.
“But don’t get it twisted,” I said, slipping some arrogance back into my voice because it felt safer. “I’m still me. I’m still the same monster who runs things his own way. And you’re still the girl who drives me insane every damn day.”
She blinked, a tiny, broken laugh slipping out, half disbelief, half emotion.
“But,” I said, meeting her eyes dead on, “don’t ever tell me I don’t care. Because apparently, against all logic and all the shit I’ve been built on. I do.”
Evelyn looked at me like she didn’t know whether to yell at me or collapse into me.
I stepped closer once more, lowering my voice so only she could hear it.
“So tell me again,” I said slowly, “why’d you leave the room, Evelyn?”
She opened her mouth, closed it and then whispered. “I didn’t want to see you with her.”
There it was. The part of her that I’m beginning to learn, soft, vulnerable. No defiance.
I stared at her for a long second.
“Evelyn,” I murmured, “you feel something.”
“I don’t know,” she whispered weakly.
“Yes.” My voice dipped dangerously. “You do.”
She looked away, wiping her cheek quickly, ashamed of the tear that escaped. “I’m only getting used to being close to you and it feels wrong seeing you in another woman’s arm, but whatever you think is going on in my mind is not real. I’m young and having you tease me the way you always do makes me want you but not enough to say I love you.”
I lifted her chin with one finger, not gentle but not rough, just firm enough to make her look at me.