The Blood In the Backseat.

CHAPTER 7

The room went completely silent.

Evelyn felt the words settle inside her chest like ice.

There was blood inside.

Lucas looked stunned. “What?”

Damian’s expression remained grim as he slipped the phone back into his coat pocket. “Her car was found abandoned downtown near the river.”

Fear hit Evelyn so violently she had to grip the edge of the kitchen counter to steady herself.

“No,” she whispered. “No, Sophia wouldn’t—”

Her voice cracked before she could finish.

Despite everything—the betrayal, the lies, the engagement—Sophia had still been her best friend for years. They had shared apartments, birthdays, heartbreaks, dreams whispered at three in the morning.

This wasn’t supposed to happen.

Lucas ran both hands through his hair, pacing the penthouse like he could outrun panic itself. “Did they find her?”

“No,” Damian replied. “Just the car.”

“That could mean anything.”

But nobody truly believed that.

The tension inside the penthouse thickened until it became difficult to breathe.

Evelyn looked toward Lucas slowly. “Who would want to hurt Sophia?”

Lucas stopped pacing immediately.

And for one brief second—

He looked afraid to answer.

Damian noticed too.

“What aren’t you saying?” he asked coldly.

Lucas clenched his jaw tightly. “This isn’t the time.”

“The hell it isn’t.”

Evelyn stared between them in frustration. “Can somebody stop speaking in riddles for five minutes?”

Lucas looked at her then, and the guilt in his eyes nearly shattered her.

“There are investors involved in my company merger who don’t tolerate loose ends,” he admitted quietly.

A chill crawled down Evelyn’s spine.

“What does that mean?”

“It means Sophia may have seen documents she wasn’t supposed to.”

Damian folded his arms. “And now they’re cleaning up the mess.”

Lucas shot him a furious look. “Don’t act innocent in this.”

“I’m not the one whose father started the fraud chain.”

The atmosphere exploded instantly.

Lucas stepped forward aggressively. “Careful.”

Damian didn’t move an inch. “Or what?”

The hatred between them felt years old.

Personal.

Evelyn suddenly realized this rivalry had existed long before her.

“Stop it!” she snapped.

Both men fell silent immediately.

Evelyn’s chest rose unevenly as emotion overwhelmed her again. “Sophia could actually be hurt and you two are standing here arguing like children.”

Lucas softened instantly at the sound of her voice. “Ev—”

“Don’t.”

Pain flickered across his face.

And God help her, part of Evelyn still hated seeing it.

That was the worst part about loving someone for years. Feelings didn’t disappear just because betrayal arrived.

Lucas took a slow breath. “I never wanted you involved in any of this.”

“You lost the right to decide that for me.”

Silence.

Rain hammered harder against the windows overlooking Manhattan, lightning flashing across the dark skyline.

Damian checked his watch. “We’re leaving.”

Lucas frowned sharply. “Leaving where?”

“To the scene.”

“You think that’s smart?”

“No,” Damian replied evenly. “I think it’s necessary.”

Before Lucas could argue again, Evelyn grabbed her coat first.

“I’m coming too.”

Both men answered instantly.

“No.”

Evelyn glared at them. “I wasn’t asking permission.”

Damian looked particularly unimpressed. “You’ll only complicate things.”

“And you’re controlling.”

Lucas almost smiled despite the tension.

Damian noticed.

That made his expression colder.

Interesting.

The realization caught Evelyn off guard.

The hostility between them wasn’t just business. Something deeper existed underneath it.

Something personal.

But before she could think further about it, Damian’s phone buzzed again.

He glanced at the message.

Then looked directly at Lucas.

“You didn’t tell me your father landed in the city tonight.”

Lucas went still.

Evelyn noticed immediately.

“Your father’s here?”

Lucas avoided her eyes for the first time since entering the penthouse.

“He wasn’t supposed to arrive until tomorrow.”

A cold feeling settled heavily in Evelyn’s stomach.

Richard Bennett.

The man connected to the destruction of her family.

The man her father had feared enough to stay silent for years.

And now he was in New York while Sophia was missing.

Perfect.

Damian grabbed his car keys. “This just became a bigger problem.”

Lucas stepped forward. “I’ll come with you.”

“No.”

“What?”

Damian’s voice sharpened dangerously. “If your father’s involved, you stay away from the investigation.”

Lucas laughed bitterly. “You think I trust you alone with her?”

The words hung heavily in the room.

Evelyn blinked.

Damian’s expression darkened almost imperceptibly.

“You don’t get an opinion on who she’s with anymore,” he said quietly.

The tension that followed was unbearable.

Lucas looked like he wanted to hit him.

And Damian looked like he genuinely wouldn’t mind.

Evelyn suddenly felt exhausted.

Emotionally exhausted.

Everything in her life had transformed into secrets, accusations, and fear within forty-eight hours.

Her best friend was missing.

The man she loved had lied to her for years.

And somehow the person making her feel safest lately was the man she spent half her life hating.

That realization terrified her most of all.

—

An hour later, Damian’s SUV pulled beside flashing police lights near the Hudson River.

The rain had finally weakened into mist, but the cold remained brutal.

Sophia’s white Mercedes sat abandoned near the dock area, surrounded by investigators.

Evelyn’s chest tightened painfully at the sight.

The back driver-side door hung slightly open.

Damian stepped out first and immediately moved around the vehicle toward her side before she could open the door herself.

The gesture felt instinctive.

Protective.

And strangely intimate.

Evelyn ignored how her pulse reacted to that.

“You stay close to me,” he said quietly.

She rolled her eyes automatically. “You’ve said that three times tonight.”

“And yet you still wander off.”

Before she could reply, another black car suddenly pulled into the area behind them.

Lucas stepped out.

Of course he ignored Damian.

Tension instantly tightened the air again.

But before anyone could speak—

A deep voice cut through the misty night.

“I was wondering when you’d show up.”

Evelyn froze.

An older man stepped from beside the police barricade wearing a dark wool coat and leather gloves. Gray streaked through his hair, but power still radiated from him effortlessly.

Richard Bennett.

Lucas’ father.

Her pulse stumbled painfully.

Lucas stiffened beside her. “Dad.”

Richard’s gaze moved calmly across the group before landing directly on Evelyn.

Recognition flickered in his eyes.

Then something colder.

“Well,” he said smoothly, “this reunion was inevitable eventually.”

Evelyn felt physically ill.

Years of anger rushed through her all at once.

“You destroyed my family.”

The words slipped out before she could stop them.

Silence spread instantly across the dock.

Richard Bennett studied her carefully.

Then smiled faintly.

Not kindly.

Not apologetically.

Just calculating.

“You sound exactly like your father,” he said.

Damian stepped slightly closer to Evelyn immediately.

Protective again.

Richard noticed that too.

And his expression changed.

Very slightly.

Very dangerously.

Then his gaze shifted toward Damian completely.

“You should’ve kept her out of this.”

The warning in his voice made Evelyn’s blood run cold.

But Damian answered calmly.

“She was never truly out of it.”

Lightning flashed across the river behind them.

And at that exact moment—

One of the investigators shouted from inside Sophia’s car.

“Sir, you need to see this.”

Everyone turned sharply.

The investigator emerged slowly holding a bloodstained envelope.

With Evelyn Carter’s name written across the front.