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She could hear it in his voice.

That he thought she was simple and foolish.

A child who had no idea what she wanted.

“You’re wrong, and I do know. I know what I want.” The plea carved through her mounting embarrassment.

Trevan gulped, his tone softening, his dark, dark eyes black in the night. “You know I love you, but not like that.”

Pain cleaved through her middle.

Rending and severing.

Mortification had her jumping off his bed while the heartbreak had her stumbling back.

“Elena.”

It was nothing but an apology.

She swallowed around the barbed ball of hurt in her throat and choked, “Just forget it,” before she fled out his door.

FIFTY-THREE

TREVAN

There was no question about it.

Elena Mercer was going to be the death of me.

Most people considered that a figurative exaggeration.

This was simple fact.

Silas watched her, too. Obviously, not in the same way, but just as close. “Can’t wait to bleed that motherfucker dry and hear his wails of agony.”

My attention snapped in Silas’s direction, confused for a beat, before I realized he hadn’t been talking about me.

I was sure my transgressions had to be scored all over my body. Had been sure that the second he rode up to the scene in front of Elena’s apartment, Silas’s eyes would have darted my way.

Instinct immediately pinpointing the one responsible for the crime.

“You think you’re actually going to let yourself relax once we end him?” Phoenix gritted it from where he leaned against the wall of the house.

Not quite a part of the gathering, but Silas wanted his family there this afternoon, and since Silas considered him a part of that, Phoenix conceded.

Though he always remained at the edges. Haunting the periphery.

He wasn’t even urging Silas in that direction. It was just a clear issue that Silas was never going to let his guard down when it came to Elena.

Maybe it was also a warning for me.

Silas sighed as he closed the lid, the flames set to low. He took a long pull of his beer as he roughed his fingers through his hair. “Allowing her to move off the compound and open her store was giving enough, don’t you think?”

“And what, you’re just going to have Trevan stay with her indefinitely?”

Phoenix looked at me.

Inky eyes ominous yet not letting Silas in on anything since they forever raged with a dark glower.