Sloan's POV
"Wait." I stopped him.
Zane froze.
"Evie, she doesn't deserve your mercy," he said, his voice raw. "I'll handle this for you. I'll make it right."
Zane's eyes brimmed with pain. For the first time, I saw tears welling in them—real, silent tears.
"Why didn't you tell me what you went through?" he rasped. "Evie… I could've protected you. I wanted to protect you. I always have!"
Zane's voice broke as he shouted, his gaze desperate and pleading.
He looked like a lost child begging for forgiveness.
But I… I was no longer the woman who could give him that kind of grace.
I stepped forward, slowly, deliberately.
Both my hands rested gently on my lower belly.
"I never had your protection," I said quietly, but firmly. "When someone hopes over and over, and that hope keeps brea
