Chapter 74 Kill her
Eva stood frozen for minutes, staring at the doorway Maverick had disappeared into.
Her mind spun so violently she thought she might collapse. Her fingers curled into a shaking fist at her side.
She pivoted sharply and stalked to her pink Lamborghini, rage twisting her dainty face into something unrecognizable. Her heels clicked like gunshots. She slid into the driver’s seat, slammed the door, and gripped the steering wheel so hard her knuckles went bloodless.
Her breath shook, her vision red as she zoomed off the Richards estate.
Then she tapped the car screen of her car with trembling fingers. Calling him. The only person who always came no matter what. The only one who never questioned her.
Killian.
The call connected on the second ring.
“Where are you?” Eva’s voice sounded desperate, electric and panicked
“…on an errand…”
“I don’t care…I don’t CARE. I need you right now!” she screamed, her voice cracking, her whole body shaking.
Her mind was spiraling. Spinning into something she couldn’t control, tearing itself apart.
The memory of the night before the hunt hit her like acid poured on her skin, like she was run over by a truck.
She had followed Maverick. Immediately he stepped out of the room, her eyes snapped open. She wasn’t asleep, she had sensed something off the moment she mentioned Heaven’s name. Maverick never reacted. But he had.
Just slightly.
She slipped out after him, silent, barefoot, breathing through her teeth.
He went to Heaven’s room, before moving to Boyle’s altar room.
Eva pressed herself to the doorway, peeking through the crack. And saw it. She saw him. She saw them, her world shattered, it felt like a bucket of cold water was poured in her.
Maverick was touching her.
Heaven’s breathy gasps filled the air.
His face was laced with satisfaction, hunger, possession.
Everything made sense then, the black card at her art gallery. The bracelet, her phone. The love emoji was for Maverick?
Eva’s chest caved in. She couldn’t breathe or scream, she placed a hand over her mouth to stiffen the sound of her sobs. She could only stand there, watching the man she worshiped pleasure another woman, her widowed sister-in-law, one she had called friend.
Her thumb had moved before her brain did. She brought her phone and filmed them.
She didn’t know why.
Maybe for proof or punishment or maybe because when everything inside her broke, she needed to hold something.
She didn’t confront neither of them.
She pretended, like she hadn’t seen anything, even though her insides were in shambles the morning of the hunt.
Because she had thought hard all night she wasn’t going to leave him, all men cheat they do, he is just lost he would come back to her. He belonged to her.
She was going to destroy Heaven.
Killian figured it out after she told him
On the day of the hunt, after she snapped at him then emptied her fury into a poor baby rabbit… like it had personally offended her.
“Young miss… what’s wrong?”he asked her.
She turned to him slowly, looking breathless, deranged, broken.
“Maverick is cheating on me…” she whispered. The words tore out of her chest. She had been trying so hard to hold it together since last night.“I SAW THEM.” she raised her voice.
Killian’s jaw locked anger, jealousy, fury all blending red behind his eyes.
Even though he despised seeing her love another man, he despised seeing her hurt more.
He already suspected. But he forced confusion. “What?”
“In Boyle’s altar room. Heaven… that bitch… Killian, Eva stumbled off her horse. He followed instantly.
She grabbed his arm, her nails digging into his skin, her desperation almost childlike. “Killian, you need to help me get my husband back.”
“You still want him?” Killian asked with his brows creased. His voice was steady but his eyes were storming. “If you tell your father now… he’ll take you away. And the Richards will pay…”
“I don’t want them to pay,” Eva whispered. “I want her gone. He’s just confused. If she’s not there… he’ll look at me again….”
Her hands shook as she grabbed his arm.
“Killian, please…”
He ran a trembling hand through his dark hair.
He was just a chauffeur..hopelessly in love with her..helping her fight for another man.
“Are you sure you can endure it?” he whispered.
“Smiling. Pretending. Acting like everything is fine?”
“I will… if it means I can destroy her quietly.”
A sick, feverish light glowed in her eyes.
She fumbled for her phone and pressed play on the video,the same video she’d watched a hundred times, even though it broke her every time. Her breathing turned erratic as she watched Maverick’s hands on Heaven’s skin. She bit her nails so hard she tasted blood.
Killian snatched the phone gently but firmly.
“Young miss… stop watching this.”
“No…give it back!” she snapped, reaching for it, like a maniac.
He held her shoulders. “Look at me. Listen. I will handle it.”
Eva looked up at him like he was the only stable thing in her collapsing universe.
He exhaled once, heavy.
Then he lifted his gun and shot the antelope she had pointed out earlier.
A clean shot.
A promise.
The first step in helping her destroy Heaven quietly.
back to present
Eva reached her private apartment her father’s gift, a miniature princess castle.
Her mascara smeared, her hair wild, her lips trembling uncontrollably.
She paced.
Killian wasn’t there yet.
Her steps staggered as she moved to the cellar. She slid a whiskey bottle out with shaking hands. The first one slipped and shattered on the marble. Glass sliced into her leg, thin lines of blood forming… but she didn’t even flinch.
She grabbed another bottle.
Drank straight from it..gulping it desperately.
Then she pulled open a drawer.
Her fingers closed around a bottle of pills.
She shoved them into her mouth and swallowed with the whiskey.
Killian burst through the door.
“Eva…stop!”
He ran to her, ripping the bottle and pills from her hands.
“You’ll hurt yourself…don’t do this…”
“It doesn’t hurt me!” she screamed, face red, voice cracking. Her blonde hair stuck to her tear-soaked cheeks.
“It makes me calm… so I can smile at them…so I can pretend…so I can be perfect for him!”
Her breath hitched, body shaking.
“Killian… am I not beautiful?”
Her voice broke like glass.
“Why doesn’t he see me! Why?! All he sees is a widow!”
Killian held her shoulders firmly, grounding her trembling body.
“Eva,” he said gently, “tell me what happened.”
Her nails dug into her lips, biting hard..blood threatening to bloom.
“I touched him,” she whispered. “He was in at first… but then he just… stopped.”
Tears spilled down her cheeks.
“I begged him, Killian…begged..but he said he wasn’t in the mood.”
Her face crumpled in agony.
“But he went to Heaven.”
She reached wildly for the bottle again. “Give it back… Killian, please…I’m going crazy…”
He let her take a small sip just enough to stop the shaking then took it from her again.
Eva leaned her forehead against his chest.
“I heard him,” she whispered, voice hollow.
“I listened to him fuck her all night… He’s obsessed with her… The video… the text… it only amplified his need for her…”
Her breath hitched violently.
“So the next day on the cruise, I lost it… and confronted her…”
Her voice cracked, tears spilling again.
Killian’s eyes widened.
“You what? Eva, now she knows it’s you. What if she tells him?”
His jaw clenched; he raked a hand through his raven hair.
“I’m sorry… I’m sorry for ruining our plans.”
Eva sobbed harder.
Killian pulled her tightly into his chest.
“It’s okay… it’s okay… I’m not angry.”
She swallowed hard.
“I blackmailed her. She won’t tell him yet. But Maverick… he’s doubting me.”
“I thought you said she wouldn’t tell him yet,” Killian replied, concern deepening.
“I…”
Her laugh was manic.
“I pushed myself off the cruise. Made it look like she tried to kill me.”
Killian froze.
“What?”
“She’s hated now. Mother slapped her. Maverick didn’t defend her. Father wants to see her…”
Eva smiled…unhinged, dizzy.
“She’s going to be punished… Everyone believed it.”
Killian grabbed her face gently, turning it side to side, checking for injuries.
“Eva, why would you do something so risky?” he whispered. “Are you hurt?”
But Eva kept talking,,,frantically, breathless:
“He said he smelled alcohol on me that day… I only drank a little… and now he’s doubting everything. Killian, I blew our cover.”
Her fingers trembled against her lips.
“Killian… let’s kill her before he finds out. I can’t lose face.. I can’t..”
She shook violently, borderline hysterical.
Killian pulled her into a full embrace, his arms wrapping around her trembling frame.
“I’ll do something about it,” he murmured into her hair.
“Don’t hurt yourself… I’ll kill her for you. Don’t stain your hands, okay?”