24. Ryder

The soft clink of billiard balls echoes through the sunny room as Oliver and I engage in a friendly game. Oliver just got back from another trip for Declan, and we are catching up, the tension of the day melting away with each precise shot.

We're in the lounge, the oak-paneled walls exuding an air of old-world elegance, a stark contrast to the modern furnishings scattered throughout the spacious room.

As I line up my next shot, the heavy wooden door creaks open, drawing our attention. Evangeline stands in the doorway, tension in her shoulders.

"Hey, Eva," I call. "What brings you here?"

We haven't seen as much of her since Aunt Bridget took her out of the manor and placed her under her employ. She's still here every evening for dinner, but she's gone a lot of the day now, trailing behind our aunt as she tends to her business.

Her gaze flits between the two of us, a hint of nervousness behind her eyes. "I need to talk to you," she says, her voice barely above a whisper. "Both of you."

My heart quickens at her words, a sense of unease settling over me.

"Alright, what's on your mind?" I ask, motioning for her to take a seat on one of the leather sofas nearby. "You have our undivided attention."

She sinks onto the sofa, pressing her face into her hands. "I lied," she says, her voice hoarse. "The baby… it's yours."

"How—"

"I spent the night with you at your club just a few weeks before I started working here," Eva confesses. "I didn't know it was you, and I didn't take the job for any reason except I needed it, badly," she's quick to add.

"Why are you telling us now?" Oliver asks, tone entirely too measured for the news that Eva just dumped into our laps.

"Theo overheard me talking to your aunt at her office," she says, wrapping her arms over her belly. "He confronted me and stormed off. I didn't want you two finding out some other way."

Her words trigger something in me as I recall that night at the club that I had those flashbacks to the night we must have spent with her.

"How could you not tell us?" I demand, my voice laced with a mix of disbelief and indignation. "After everything we've done for you?"

Oliver speaks up, his voice heavy with regret. "If we hadn't treated her like crap, Ryder, maybe she wouldn't have felt the need to lie to us."

His admission only adds fuel to the fire inside me, a bitter reminder of our shortcomings in how we dealt with Eva from the start. We pushed Evangeline away, blinded by our own pride and prejudice, and now we"re reaping the consequences of our actions.

"It's not that simple, Oliver," I snap back, refusing to yield on the hurt and betrayal I feel inside. "We have done so much to make up for the past, but apparently, it wasn't enough. It doesn't fucking matter, anyway. Now that we know, there's no going back on the fact that she didn't think it was important to divulge this information before now!"

Eva shrinks back under my yelling, but I don't care anymore. She brought this on herself. I've given her no reason not to trust me ever since I took care of her when she ran off and nearly died in the forest.

Hurt washes over me like a relentless tide, mingling with a profound sense of inadequacy. No matter what I do, it seems like I can never escape the shadows of my past mistakes. I can't look at Evangeline right now. I can't get past the betrayal I feel.

With a shake of my head, I take off, needing space. I know that we were terrible to Eva for a while, but we've been good to her since then. We've treated her better. We let her do her work without harassing her and we gave her regular sex. Wasn't that enough?

But for some reason, no matter how much I try to rationalize my actions, I can"t escape the gnawing sense of guilt that eats away at me from the inside out.

Fuck. This is so messed up. I get in the car and punch the accelerator, the urge to do something crazy boiling inside me.

Normally, when I'm upset, I fall into my old, reckless patterns. My favorite things were getting into fights or stealing people's shit for the fun of it.

But right now, there's only one place I can think to go to take out my frustrations, so I head there now.

As I reach the familiar doors of my gym, I feel a sense of relief wash over me, the weight of the world lifting from my shoulders with each step. Pushing open the doors, I step inside, the familiar sights and sounds of the gym welcoming me like an old friend.

With a renewed sense of purpose, I make my way to the weight room, the clatter of metal and the hum of conversation filling the air around me. As I begin to lift, the weight of my burdens falls away, replaced by the simple, primal satisfaction of physical exertion.

With each rep, each bead of sweat that rolls down my brow, I feel a little bit closer to finding the peace I so desperately crave. And as I lose myself in the rhythm of my workout, my anger subsides, giving way to hurt.

I know that we haven't exactly treated Eva like she deserves to be treated. Aunt Bridget made it clear that she disapproved of our dalliances with her, even taking her away from us like one would take a toy from a naughty child.

But what we have with Eva is complicated, unaided by our shared past behavior. It's not like we haven't tried to get closer to her, but she seemed to resist it at every turn. The only thing she allowed was our presence in her room late at night, so I took what I was offered.

And I didn't think twice about how it might have made her feel, I realize now as I push myself to the limits. The rhythmic clang of the weights and the steady thud of my own heartbeat drown out all other noise in the gym. I'm so lost in thought that I don't realize it until I'm turning my head that I hear a familiar voice, like a beacon in the dark.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spot Daniel striding purposefully into the gym, his easy confidence and infectious grin lighting up the room. Despite my own turmoil, a sense of relief washes over me at the sight of him, a welcome distraction from the storm raging within.

Setting down the weights with a muted thud, I make my way over to him, a tentative smile tugging at the corners of my lips. "Daniel," I call out, the sound of my own voice foreign to my ears after so long spent lost in my own thoughts.

As he turns toward me, his eyes light up with recognition, a warm smile spreading across his face. "Ryder," he replies, his voice filled with genuine warmth. "What's up? I haven't seen you around here in a while."

I chuckle softly at his teasing, the tension that had gripped me slowly beginning to loosen its hold. "Just needed to blow off some steam," I admit, running a hand through my damp hair in a futile attempt to tame it. "Looks like I"m not the only one."

Daniel grins, a mischievous glint in his eye. "You know me, always up for a good workout," he quips, flexing his muscles playfully. "But enough about me, what"s been eating you alive? You look like you"ve been carrying the weight of the world on your shoulders."

The weight of everything presses down on me like another piece of gym equipment, filling me with an ache. But as I meet his gaze, resolve washes over me. I've kept everything inside too long.

"Can I talk to you?" I ask, my voice low but steady. "It's about something important. Something personal."

"Is it about your family?" Daniel asks, dropping down onto the machine next to me.

"It's about Evangeline," I tell him. He raises an eyebrow as he starts his workout, giving me space to talk.

"We messed up," I confess. "We pushed her around. Made her feel like crap when she started working for us."

"Damn," Daniel says, giving a low whistle. "I had no idea. I'd have gotten her out of there if I knew."

"Yeah. It was bad," I admit, the words leaving me feeling raw and exposed. "But she tried to run off, got caught in a storm and nearly died. We realized we needed to stop taking our crap out on her. But we might have gone about things all wrong. We pursued her while she was still working for us instead of doing right by her. All that crap we did, it pushed her away and made her feel like she had no other choice but to lie to us."

"Lie about what?" Daniel asks, concern etched across his face.

"Eva's baby is ours," I tell him. He doesn't seem shocked, instead nodding in understanding.

"You knew?"

"I dunno, call it my detective skills or whatever. From the way you three were obsessed over her from the beginning, talking about her all the time, to the way she seemed obsessed with you right back… I had a feeling. Figured you'd tell me the truth when you were ready."

"We didn't know," I explain, the guilt washing over me anew. "She didn't tell us. But Theo overheard today, and she ended up coming to confront me and Oliver at the manor. Said she wanted us to know from her, not from someone else."

"I don't blame her for keeping you guys shut out," Daniel says. "But I do get why you might feel hurt at that."

"Yeah," I admit, setting the weight I was lifting down.

"So, what do you want to do about it now that you know?" Daniel asks.

I think his words over, uncertainty hovering around me like a cloud. "I'm not sure," I confess. "I'll have to talk to her eventually, though."

Whatever I decide to do, it's not just my future hanging in the balance anymore. The fate of that tiny kid in her belly is resting in my hands too.