"Charles, are you even human?!"


    Evelyn was livid. Without thinking, she pped Charles hard across the face.


    How could he have the nerve to use Adam''s injury as leverage against her? Didn''t he know exactly why Adam''s hand was hurt in the first ce?


    "Eve, take it easy. Getting upset isn''t good for you," Charles said, his voice calm, his expression unfazed by the sting of her p. He reached out, meaning to smooth the deep line between her brows.


    Before he could touch her, Evelyn knocked his hand away with a sharp smack.


    The sound cracked through the car.


    She hadn''t held back.


    Charles''s skin was tough-he barely felt it—but Evelyn''s palm was left stinging and bright red.


    He caught her hand, concern flickering across his face. He brought her hand closer and gently blew on her reddened skin.


    His eyes lowered, overflowing with helplessness.


    He just never knew what to do when it came to Eve.


    He knew bringing up Adam''s injury would push her over the edge, make her furious enough to want to strangle him. But he was desperate.


    He needed her to keep their baby.


    If Eve wasn''t so sure, so determined to end the pregnancy-if there had been even the smallest sliver of hope he never would have done something so cruel.


    Evelyn tried to pull her hand away.


    But Charles held on, not tight enough to hurt her, just enough so she couldn''t escape. He pressed her hand, warm and trembling, to her still-t stomach.


    The baby was barely a month along-her belly hadn''t changed at all. Charles''s eyes turned red as he held her hand there.


    To him, this baby was his salvation, the one chance left for him and Eve.


    "Eve, I''ll do anything-anything-to keep our child," he murmured.


    He''d already lost one child. He couldn''t lose another. He wouldn''t survive it.


    He had her trapped-her back pressed to the seat, his solid frame blocking any escape.


    Evelyn couldn''t break free.


    She wasn''t as strong as Charles. All she could do was re at him, her eyes burning with anger and hurt.


    She searched his face, trying to read him.


    Adam had told her himself-he''d


    figured out, on his own, that Chades was the one who''d found the specialist to fix his hand, spending months and a small fortune. Charles had never said a word about it.


    Evely engths for Adam because


    Evelyn knew Charles had only gone


    to such


    of her He understood how much Adam meant to her, how guilty she felt about Adam''s injury.


    She''d nned to thank Charles once Adam was healed.


    But now, Charles had turned around and used Adam''s pain as a weapon against


    her.


    Her emotions twisted into knots.


    Her mind shed with


    memories Charles''s threats,


    Adam''s long months of quiet misery,


    hiding his pain behind forced smiles,


    and then the light in Adam''s eyes the day he heard his hand could be healed, the way he seemed toe alive again.


    Caring so much for Adam—that was what made her hesitate.


    She didn''t know if Charles was bluffing or if he meant every word. Would he really do whatever it took, no matter what?


    She couldn''t risk it.


    Charles, watching the flicker of change in her expression, finally let out a quiet breath.


    He was terrified terrified that Eve would see through him, realize he''d never actually hurt Adam, and go through with ending the pregnancy anyway.


    But she believed him.


    And that belief cut deep.


    Because it meant, to her, he was the kind of person who''d hurt the ones she


    cared about just to get what he wanted.


    Charles forced himself to steady his heart.


    As long as Eve kept the baby, everything else he could fix in time.


    He would repay every bit of pain he''d caused her and their child, a hundredfold.


    Someday, he''d earn her forgiveness.