Two bones cracked, then a third. When he reached across to clutch his shattered wrist, she released her grip, got on her knees, and cocked her right leg back.
Her right knee slammed into his face, crushing his nose and spattering a row of books with blood. His head fell back against the carpet, and he rolled way from her. Beyond his feet, near the far wall, Evelyn began to stir.
“Evelyn, get out of here,” Vanessa urged as she followed Alek and pulled him into a Rear Naked Choke.
“I—I can’t. I think he broke my ankle.”
Alek shook violently, then used his good hand to push himself up. With Vanessa still clinging to his neck, he stood and threw his weight backward. They crashed against a bookshelf, knocking aside the hardback tomes and colliding with the stone pedestal at the corner of the room. A sculpture of Artemis teetered on its perch, then tipped and struck Vanessa’s face.
Stars erupted in her vision and her hold on Alek slackened. It was enough for him to break free. As she struggled to reorient herself, Alek spun around and clawed at her face, digging his fingers into her eyes. She leaned away from his attack, exposing her neck, and he instantly latched on. Instinctively, she raised one shoulder and threw her head to the side—a move that never failed to break a strangle hold in training. But it failed to break Alek’s iron grip, and as he leaned over her, she knew she had lost.
I’m sorry, Donny, she thought. I tried.
It had all been a nightmare, she was sure of it. But the pain was still there, dragging her into unconsciousness and then waking her with fresh suffering.
Evelyn opened her eyes and suddenly felt like she was outside her body. Alek was huddled over her, doing his best to pin her down while he strangled her. Then she remembered Vanessa’s voice and realized it was her in Alek’s death grip.
Evelyn reached out with both arms and pulled herself toward the man she never knew. Wincing in pain, she pulled herself up until she could rest on her knee.
Her left leg screamed at her to stop, and the nerves in her abdomen joined in. She buckled forward, supporting herself with an elbow and an open palm. Shaking, she pushed herself up again. She limped forward, first bracing her knuckles against the floor, then shifting her right knee to support her weight. Ahead of her, Vanessa’s attempts to fight back were growing more and more feeble. Alek was panting like a dog in heat. He lifted one leg to straddle her then flattened himself on top of her, so his face was directly beside hers.
He was so immersed in the throes of ecstasy that he didn’t notice Evelyn moving in behind him. He didn’t see the shadow of Artemis climb his body and come to rest on his head. But he felt the sculpture crack the back of his skull.
Evelyn raised the blood-soaked statue and brought it down again, harder than before. Alek’s body jerked, but he made no sound. She raised it again, blinking her tears away to make sure she wouldn’t miss.
“I don’t love you,” she said.
Artemis hit her mark.
“I never loved you.”
Like a dull axe failing to split a block of dense wood, Artemis rose and fell again and again.
“I hate you.”
“I hate you.”
“I hate you.”
Epilogue
Evelyn held a single, black rose. She stepped onto the manicured grass, weaving a familiar path between the headstones. Every Wednesday for the past three months, she and Vanessa had traced the same steps to the place where Donny rested. Today, Vanessa had canceled without explanation, leaving Evelyn to walk the somber trail alone. She passed a broad granite stone and turned right; to her surprise, someone was already standing at the grave site—a man with a colorful bouquet.
She lowered her head and kept her distance, allowing the stranger to grieve in peace. But when she heard the man begin to speak, she stole an upward glance. He had dropped to his knees with his fingers intertwined. A few moment later, he rose and began walking in her direction.
Suddenly, she felt embarrassed by the black rose, and she hid it behind her back. As the man drew closer, she offered a sympathetic smile and looked into his eyes.
It was as if the world stopped turning. Her heart skipped a beat, and her breath caught in her chest.
He still walked with a limp, from the bones in his pelvis that had been reconstructed. There was a jagged scar on the left side of his jaw where the glass had pierced him, and his right cheekbone was slightly higher than the left. When he saw her face, he stopped and hung his thumbs in his back pockets, like he always did when he was nervous.
For a long moment, the dry leaves dancing across the cemetery offered the only sound. Evelyn stared at the ghost from her past, struggling to find her voice. The cold wind bit at her cheek, bringing her to the present, and she managed to say, “Hello, Jeb.”
He nodded but offered no words to break the silence. His gaze fell on the black rose, which protruded from behind her back.
She glanced down and bit her lip. “You shouldn’t be here. You don’t know what he did.”
Jeb swallowed and glanced at the headstone. “I…I do know. Vanessa sent me a letter. She explained everything.”
The black rose hit the grass. Evelyn’s knee buckled behind the brace, and she shifted her weight to the opposite leg to keep from falling. “Wh—What?”
He exhaled and stared up at the cloudless sky. “That’s why I’m here. I needed to let go…to forgive him.”
Evelyn was speechless. She had carried yet another black rose to Donny’s resting place because she wanted to honor him, but she still couldn’t forgive him. And Jeb had flown halfway around the world just to say that he had. She looked at the rose, then at the bouquet Jeb had brought for Donny. “That’s…an incredible gesture—flying all the way in from Switzerland and giving him those.”
Jeb scratched the back of his neck. “It would have been…if it was the only reason I came.” He hung his thumbs in his pockets again. “Your flowers are, uh, in the rental car.”
It didn’t make sense. Why would he bring her flowers after all this time? She took a step back, accidentally crushing the rose. “But…why?”
It was as if he was waiting for her to ask that very question. He hurried forward and said, “I’m sorry, Evelyn. I’m sorry that I let my bitterness keep me away. I should have visited, or called, or…” He shook his head. “I’ve been a coward. Could you ever forgive me?”
She pushed her knuckles against her mouth, holding in the sobs. Tears fell freely onto her jacket, forming dark circles as they absorbed into the fabric. She nodded her head.
Jeb’s shoulders sagged with relief. “Thank God.” He swallowed, straightened, and looked into her eyes. “Listen, I don’t know if you’re free right now, but do you want to grab a cup of coffee?”
Still unable to speak, Evelyn stepped forward and took his hand. He chewed his lower lip, then he wrapped her in his arms and held tight. She buried her face in his chest and wept. For a moment, all the evil in the world and all the horrors of her past couldn’t touch her. She was where she always wanted to be.