Chapter 504
Dominic's fingers were icy against Evelyn's skin. The gesture should have been intimate, but it sent a chill down her spine.
She remained frozen in place.
He simply sat there, radiating a disturbing sense of anticipation.
"Still don’t remember me?"
His voice was deceptively soft.
"Have you heard about my methods?"
Dominic smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. "It’s fine if you don’t recall. I’ve always been curious about the texture of a woman’s brain matter."
His hand slid to the back of her head, fingertips pressing against her scalp.
Evelyn flinched.
Was he serious about cracking her skull open?
Her pulse spiked.
Dominic Powell was infamous—a man who thrived on cruelty. She knew he wasn’t joking.
Yet, something about his demeanor triggered a memory.
Back in prison, there had been a notorious inmate—a wealthy heir locked away for violent crimes.
Initially sentenced to three years, his penchant for chaos extended his stay. Fights, riots, even a death—his sentence ballooned to a decade.
Most prisoners sought early release through good behavior.
Not him.
He ruled the prison like a king, feared by inmates and guards alike. No one dared cross him.
Evelyn had kept to herself during her three-year sentence. The men’s and women’s blocks were separate, so their paths should never have crossed.
But on Christmas Eve, the annual prison gathering blurred those lines.
Evelyn, barred from joining due to "special restrictions," stood outside in the biting cold.
That was when she saw him.
At first, she barely noticed the man walking past.
Then she spotted the dark stain on her sleeve.
Blood.
His blood.
She had no idea where he was injured.
With less than a year left on her sentence, Evelyn had learned the hard way—kindness in that hellhole only brought suffering.
Her own legs still ached from old wounds. How could she help anyone else?
But as she turned away, flashes of her own past assaults flooded her mind.
The beatings. The retaliation. The scars that never fully healed.
Maybe he was just like her.
Against all reason, she ran after him.
By the time she found him, he was slumped in a shadowed corner, unconscious.
Only minutes had passed—how had he deteriorated so fast?