Page 108 of Tempest’s Torment

Evan comes back sometime in the early evening, at least, I think it's early evening. The light coming through the edges of the curtains has changed, and my throat is so dry it hurts to swallow. He picked me up off the floor and put me back upright in my seat. I’m sat facing him, watching him, and I hate every second of it.

He's calmer; that's the first thing I notice. There’s no pacing, no restless checking of the windows. He pulls a phone from his pocket, one I haven't seen before, and looks at the screen, and then he smiles. It’s a cocky, confident smile that causes my stomach to drop.

"They're moving."

"Who?"

He looks at me. "Your bikers."

My heart kicks hard against my ribs, his stupid grin making me feel sick. I pull against the restraints. "You've been waiting for this."

The smile widens. "Ever since I found you." He comes closer and crouches in front of me.

"I watched you move into that building. It was normal at first, but he’d look at you, watch you, and I knew he wanted you. Then he was always around you."

My skin crawls.

"You never let anyone close to you before him."

My heart is hammering against my chest. "Stop.”

"I watched you smile at him on the steps one morning." His head tilts. "You didn't smile much before he came along."

I swallow hard. "Shut up."

"I watched you change."

My wrists burn as I twist them against the restraints.

Evan smiles, and he turns to his brother. "Marcus put a listening device in your apartment a week ago."

Everything stops. "What?"

"I wanted to know what happened when the door closed."

I stare at him. No.

“He put it on after you started taking more notice of your biker.”

My stomach drops. "You're lying."

"Am I?"

All those hours with Kai, the nights on the sofa playing rummy, our first kiss, and last night when I asked him to come to bed.

Oh God.

"I heard everything, Lilah."

Nausea rolls through me. He heard us. Not just conversations through a wall or Kai coming and going. He heard the things that belonged to us.

Evan watches my face and smiles and then he says just one word.

"Kai."

My blood runs cold and I stop breathing.

"He told you his real name."