I think about the conversation I had with Doc. He said Emery only puts herself in danger. Did she… Did she hurt herself?

“Tell me who did that to you,” I sign with a firm expression as I sit up in the bed. “I need to know.”

“I already told you, Ryler, I can’t tell you.” Her eyes silently plead for me to understand as she hugs the sheet to her chest.

Her lips are swollen from my kisses, and her skin is flushed. All I want to do is kiss her again, drown in her instead of my worry. Go back to an hour ago and be inside her again.

But I need to know who hurt her, more than I did before.

My hands speak for me as I kneel down on the bed in front of her. “Please, just tell me. I care about you and need to know who hurt you, otherwise, it’s going to drive me crazy.”

She nervously chews on her fingernails. “It doesn’t matter. None of this does. You can’t change what happened to me no matter how much I want you to be able to.”

“How do you know that for sure? Maybe I’m not the person you think…” I trail off, wincing at my words.

She carries my gaze, meticulously studying my expression. “You work for my father,” she says more to herself.

No, I don’t work for your father. Not really. My lips long to utter the truth—long to utter anything—but like always, I bite back the truth. “It’s just a job.”

“Is it?” she questions with a drop of hope in her eyes. “A lot of my father’s acquaintances would disagree with you.”

“Well, I’m not them.”

“I want to believe that.” She rests her chin on her knees, her bottom lip slightly jutted out. “After what just happened between us, I want you to be the guy I first met. The one I keep trying to convince myself exists, but I’m not sure I can.”

“Why not?”

“Because you work with the person who hurt me.”

“Your dad did that to you?” I gape at her, even though I’m not shocked.

“You look so shocked, yet you know who my father is. How much of a monster he is,” she says with her brow curved. “How is that so?”

“I don’t know.” I’m nervous talking about her father, worried I might let the truth accidentally slip out. My fingers and lungs ache for a cigarette, a dose of nicotine to settle my nerves. “Because you’re his daughter… I didn’t think he’d hurt you.”

A soft, hollow laughs slips from her lips and then she stares at me long and hard. “I think if you really knew him, you’d know that he’ll hurt anyone who doesn’t abide by his rules, even his own flesh and blood.”

I don’t know how to respond to what she said. I want to tell her that I’ll beat the shit out of Doc for hurting her, but I’d be sentencing myself to death if I tried. But good God, I need to help her somehow.

Her shoulders sag, misinterpreting my silence. “It wasn’t my father, anyway. It was Evan, which is worse.”

“Evan, your ex-boyfriend? He’s the one who hurt you?” When she nods, anger ripples through me like a violent thunderstorm. “When?”

“This morning,” she mumbles with a shrug. “After class… He gets rough with me sometimes… All the time actually. Even on our first date, he gripped my wrist so tight I bruised, all because I suggested we go to a movie instead of a party.”

The idea of Evan being in her place, touching her, hurting her… forcing her? “Did he… did he force you to do stuff?”

She shrugs again, her eyelashes fluttering as she fights back tears. “He does all the time. Has for years.” She sucks back the tears. “Up until recently, I thought that’s how things were supposed to be but… How can they be so different with you? I don’t get it.” She huffs in frustration, pressing her hand to her forehead, stressed out. “I don’t get it. I’m not supposed to be this comfortable with someone who works for my father. I’m not supposed to be with someone who isn’t part of this world. Someone like the you I first met.”

“I am the guy you first met,” I assure her, trying to remain calm. I want to ram my fist into Evan’s face, watch blood spill from his nose, do the same to him as I did to Ben. “I want to beat the shit out of Evan.”

“You don’t have to do anything to him. That’s not why I told you—so you could go risking your life.” She lowers her hand to her lap. “I get it. Evan is Evan. Everyone hates him but has to respect him because he’s Donny’s son.” She rolls her eyes and shakes her head.

My jaw drops. Evan is Donny Elderman’s son? What the fuck? How didn’t I know about this?

Emery reads the shock on my face, and she slaps her hand across her mouth. “Oh, my God. You didn’t know who he is, did you?” Tears bubble in her eyes. “I thought you knew Evan is Donny’s son. I thought… because you were so close to my father… Oh, my God. Oh, my God. They’re going to kill me. They’re going to kill me.” She folds her arms around herself and scoots away from me.

I think about all the signs I missed that made Evan’s real identity pretty obvious. Evan has bodyguards. He’s protected at all times. He’s in charge of import tasks, but never actually does the dirty work.

“I’m not going to say anything to anyone,” I assure her, dipping my head to meet her teary gaze. “It doesn’t even matter who he is. At least not to me.” My gut twists at my lie. It does matter. A lot.