Chapter 16: Say My Name
Bryant didn't knock.
He never knocked.
But this time, the door didn't open with rage—
It opened with need.
He stood in her room, coat half-off, eyes red-rimmed from something he would never name.
"You read it," he said.
Evelyn didn't pretend.
She held the scroll in her hand like it was loaded.
"I did."
"What did it say?"
"Ask me like you want the answer."
He didn't move.
Didn't blink.
Only said, "You're hiding something."
"So are you."
His jaw twitched.
She threw the scroll at his feet. "Read it yourself."
He didn't.
Not yet.
His eyes didn't leave hers.
"You knew I would come," he said.
"I hoped you wouldn't."
"Why?"
"Because I break things too, Bryant. And I think I'd enjoy breaking you."
He moved fast.
Too fast.
One second between them.
The next—
She was beneath him, pinned against the table, scroll crinkling under her back, his breath shaking at the base of her throat.
"You want the truth?" he growled.
"I want you to stop pretending I'm just another toy."
He stared at her.
The scar between them.
Her truth.
His lie.
And then—
He kissed her.
Hard.
Raw.
Not gentle.
Not slow.
But not cruel.
It was a kiss made of fire and warning. Of surrender and violence. A kiss that asked nothing and demanded everything.
She kissed him back.
And it scared him.
Because it wasn't lust that made her lips part.
It was power.
She pushed him off—not because she was weak.
But because she could.
And when she stepped away, her voice was steel.
"My name isn't Evelyn."
His chest rose once.
Twice.
"What is it?"
She paused.
Then said the name she hadn't spoken in a decade.
"Nyra."
The room went still.
And Bryant's eyes darkened—
Not with confusion.
But recognition.