I don’t even have time to react as he instantly closes the space between us and shoves me up against the blood-splattered wall.
“Love? Is that what’s brought about your recklessness, Seven?” he snorts. “Funny. You’ve just given meeverything,and for absolutely nothing in return. I’m guessing you haven’t realized that this one is meant for Dante.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Evelyn, is Dante’s cure. She canneverbe yours if he wishes to release himself from his cursed existence.”
My brow furrows as I glance from Valentine to Dante who’s now bending over Evi as he covers her in a black robe.
“What is he talking about?
“I’m talking about the fact that Evelyn is both a virgin, and only eighteen,” Valentine answers for him. “Newly eighteen at that.”
My blood runs cold.
“Did you know?” I ask Dante.
He looks up at me, but before he can answer, Valentine slams my head back against the wall. I crumple to the bloody floor, and the last thing I see is Dante stepping back from the lounge to allow Valentine to lift Evi in his arms.
Thefuckingbastard.
21
Evelyn
My ovaries feel like they’re trying to burst out of me when I finally come to. Blinking, it takes me a moment to realize we’re no longer in the club, but back in Valentine’s limo.
He’s staring out the window as we drive, his hands covered in blood as disappointment washes over me.
I’d hoped … I shake the next thought from my head.
What does that mean for Seven and Dante? Why am I still with this man?
I didn’t even get a chance to tell either of them that I’d found evidence. A cramp sucker punches me in the gut, and I let out an involuntary groan of discomfort.
It’s too soon for my period, though I suppose all the stress, and God knows what else that’s gone into my body over the past couple of weeks might be to blame for that.
Valentine doesn’t so much as glance my way as I breathe through the next cramp and move to curl in on myself. It’s only as I do this that I realize there’s something hard pressing against my stomach.
Looking down, I notice that I’m once again covered by Valentine’s black robe, only as I feel my body beneath it, I find a small book has been tucked into the loosened laces around my waist.
I want nothing more than to see what it is, but I’ll have to wait until it’s safe to do so. Pulling my arms out from beneath the robe, I wrap them around my stomach and the book as I feign yet another cramp.
Thankfully, when we finally pull to a stop in front of Valentine’s building, he doesn’t even try to get me to walk. Scooping me into his arms, he carries me out of the car and all the way up to his bedroom before finally placing me down on the floor in the bathroom.
“Clean yourself up once the pain has passed,” he says, unhooking the leash from my necklace. He straightens, cracking his neck as he turns to exit the room. “I’ll be back for you later, once I’ve dealt with my son.”
I don’t move as I wait for the sound of the bedroom door to close and his footsteps to fade.
The moment I’m sure that he’s gone, I quickly pull out the book.
It’s Anna’s diary.
My heart races in my chest as I stare down at it. I don’t know how, but Dante must have slipped it to me at some point while I was passed out.
Flipping it open, I don’t waste any time as I begin reading through each of her entries.
My eyes widen as I turn the pages, losing myself to her life story. I don’t know how long I’ve been reading, but it’s as I read the next passages that it all finally begins to click.