CHAPTER 22: THAT NAME
"Some names don't need to be spoken out loud. Just brush past them… and your heart already skips a beat."
---
The safe-room door slammed shut with a chilling, metallic thudding finality.
The metal locks clicked into place, dry and absolute. Outside was certain death. Inside was a different kind of danger: slow, creeping, razor-sharp.
Evelyn was still cradled in Viktor's arms.
He hadn't put her down yet. Not because there was any rush, but because he simply didn't want to let go.
Diego stood one step away, back leaning against the door, eyes locked on the center screen. That ice-cold message still glowed there, blatant and mocking:
"I WANT HER ALIVE."
"V. S."
Three letters. Short, but heavy enough to crush the air out of the room.
Finally Viktor lowered Evelyn into the steel-framed chair, yet his hand never left her shoulder, like an anchor refusing to release.
"You know who it is," he stated, no beating around the bush, eyes drilling into her.
Evelyn looked up, meeting that fierce stare. "Know what?"
Diego peeled himself off the door and walked over slowly. His eyes were darker than wet stone, unreadable and lethal.
"The signature. V. S."
The room froze.
Evelyn glanced at the screen again. She swallowed hard.
It was a tiny motion, almost nothing, but Viktor caught it like a hawk.
"You swallowed when you saw it," he said, voice iron-hard. "That's muscle memory, Evelyn."
Diego dropped into the seat beside the console, elbows on knees, voice gravelly. "It's not me."
Viktor didn't even spare him a glance. His eyes stayed glued to her. "Not me either."
Silence stretched, thick enough to choke on. Evelyn could hear her own heartbeat pounding in her ears.
She lowered her voice, trying to hide the tremor. "I… I really don't remember anyone with those initials."
Diego gave a soft, humorless scoff. "Sounds familiar."
Viktor crouched in front of her, eyes pinning her in place. "You don't have to remember. Just know this: that person just dropped five million dollars to keep you breathing."
Evelyn's fingers twisted together in her lap. "What if… it's a trap to drive a wedge between you two?"
Diego's gaze sliced toward her. "Possible."
Viktor's voice dropped lower, darker. "Or it's someone who touched you… long before you ever stepped foot in Blackhaven."
The words landed like a blade, slicing through the last shred of calm.
Evelyn turned her face away.
Both men saw it.
"Anyone put their hands on you before us?" Diego asked quietly, but the threat underneath could've flayed skin.
Evelyn didn't answer right away. She stared down at her interlaced fingers.
Viktor rose slowly, stepped around until he blocked every escape route from his gaze.
"Evelyn."
She dragged in a breath, steeling herself. "I don't know who he is now. But yes… someone once called me by that name."
Diego shot to his feet, tension crackling off him.
"Called you?"
"Not Evelyn," she whispered. "Vee."
The temperature in the room seemed to plummet.
Viktor's jaw flexed; the faint grind of teeth echoed.
Diego said nothing, but his eyes turned pitch-black, predatory, like a wolf catching the scent of an old rival who once marked his territory.
"Who?" Viktor demanded, voice strung wire-tight.
Evelyn shook her head. "It's the past. I thought he was dead."
Diego's laugh was soft and venomous. "Dead men don't post bounties."
Viktor slammed his palm on the table and leaned in until she could feel his breath. "Were you his?"
The question cracked like a whip.
Evelyn's head snapped up, fury flaring. "I don't belong to anyone!"
Diego stared, unblinking. "But he thought you did."
Silence again, heavier than before.
Viktor turned away, pulled out a cigarette, bit down on the filter without lighting it. A second later he crushed it in his fist; tobacco crumbs scattered across the floor like brown snow.
"How long?" he asked without looking back.
"Before Blackhaven," she answered, voice barely audible.
Diego's next question was blunt and arctic. "Did you love him?"
Evelyn went still.
Viktor spun around instantly, eyes boring into her.
That silence was more dangerous than any yes.
"Evelyn." Viktor's voice dropped to a growl. "Answer me."
She lifted her chin, meeting both their stares. "I thought I did… once."
Diego's smile was pure darkness. "Then that five million isn't to capture you."
He tilted his head, eyes cutting straight through her. "It's to reclaim you."
The words squeezed her chest like a vice.
Viktor stepped close, hand bracing on the back of her chair. "No one takes what's already in my hands."
Diego moved to her other side, voice low and certain. "And no one takes what's in mine."
Evelyn was trapped between them, this time not by bodies, but by a past that had just clawed its way back to life.
---
"Think whatever you want," Evelyn said, forcing her voice steady. "I'm not going back to anyone. Not him. Not either of you."
They both looked at her.
At the exact same moment.
Identical predatory stares, like two apex beasts cornering the same prey.
Viktor spoke slowly, every word deliberate. "You don't have to choose anyone."
Diego continued without missing a beat. "But no one else gets to choose you."
Viktor's fingers closed under her chin, grip firm, warning clear. "And whoever dares put a price on you… will pay something far more expensive than five million."
Diego leaned in until his lips almost brushed her ear, whispering, "Know why he said he wants you alive?"
She didn't answer. A shiver raced down her spine.
"Because he still believes there's something in you that only he knows."
She shut her eyes, ice flooding her veins.
---
Viktor suddenly yanked her to her feet. "From now on, every electronic device you touch is monitored."
Diego nodded, face carved from stone. "Every person you meet gets vetted."
Evelyn glared. "So you're putting me in a cage?"
Diego caged her against the wall with one arm, breath ghosting cold over her cheek. "No. We're keeping you from the man who touched you before we got the chance."
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
Viktor tugged her back between them, eyes blazing. "And if he comes back to collect…" He leaned closer. "He'll find something that no longer belongs to the past."
"I'm not property!" she snapped.
Diego met her fury without flinching. "No. You're the one thing we won't let anyone steal."
The center screen flared to life on its own.
A two-second video clip, unprompted.
A partial profile of a man.
A rough, familiar-yet-foreign voice:
"Vee… I'm not coming to take you.
I'm coming to take you back."