Chapter 21. Just Us

Evelyn

His words sank in, and they still hurt—not because I didn’t trust him, but because I did. Because I believed every word he said. Because I’d always believe him, even when he was the one who hurt me. And yet, here I was, crying in his arms like a wreck.

But how could I blame him? He had been scared too.

I never once felt like a burden—my father never made me feel that way. But Jacob? The very first stage of his life had been nothing but torment. He had every reason to fear the word father because his own had carved scars into him before Rosaline and Enzo found him, before he ever had a chance to heal.

I didn’t know how this realization settled in, but as I felt his breath tremble, his body shake ever so slightly—so slightly, as if he was trying to suppress it just to keep mine steady—it suddenly hit me.

He was human too.

He had been a child too.

He had been terrified too.

“Do you… do you think it was easy for me to make th