Chapter 5 I SHOULDN'T CARE

Rafael's POV

---

I shouldn't still be here.

The dinner was over. My suit was still crisp. My glass of wine untouched. The city buzzed around me like a swarm of wasps, and yet I remained parked across the street, in the dark.

I didn't even like attending these type of meetings but I had to go to keep up appearances,just full of snobby men who only wanted my money. Being fake just to impress me. I was used to it by now but I could see right through their charade.

Watching.

I told my driver to wait.

And he did - silently. Trained not to ask questions, even when I gave no explanation. The window beside me was cracked just slightly, letting in the cool night air. From here, I had a perfect view of the restaurant entrance.

And of her. Evelyn Laurent.

She walked just behind her husband - that man with the pretty face and the rotting soul and that body, soft curves, i wonder how her husband could fumble such a woman and go for a snake like lillian. Damian didn't even turn to check if she was keeping up. He stormed ahead like she wasn't there, his mouth already moving, already angry.

I watched him grab her arm. Watched the venom on his face. She didn't fight back.

Didn't flinch.

She just stood there... still. Not afraid. Not loud. Just quietly breaking.

The valet glanced between them awkwardly, unsure if he should step in. He didn't. Lillian came next. Late, of course. Deliberate.

I knew women like her - full of sugar when men were watching, full of poison when they weren't. She curled herself around Damian's arm like a second skin, lips brushing his shoulder as she whispered something to distract him.

It worked.

He turned to her instantly, face softening like he hadn't just chewed his wife out in public. And Evelyn?

She was left standing there. Alone. Like a forgotten umbrella in the rain.

---

"Should we leave, sir?" my driver finally asked.

I didn't respond.

My fingers tapped lightly on the leather armrest. Slow. Precise. Controlled.

That woman... she didn't raise her voice. She didn't cry. She didn't run.

She just stood in it. In the pain. In the disrespect. In the echo of silence no one else seemed to hear.

It was the kind of stillness I recognized.

The kind that isn't weakness - but containment. A dam ready to break. A scream buried so deep it turns to stone.

I watched her turn away from them. She didn't get into Damian's car. She went to her own.

Alone.

I exhaled. Finally.

Then said quietly, "Now we go."

---

The city rolled by in silence.

I stared out the window, jaw clenched. Hands loose in my lap.

She kept appearing in my mind - flashes of her face, her posture, that moment she laughed without meaning to.

It hadn't been loud. Barely audible. But it had been real.

And it had been mine.

Damian hadn't noticed it.

But I did.

The way she covered her mouth like she was ashamed of the sound. The way she'd glanced down the table, nervous, like someone might punish her for forgetting her place.

I'd seen a lot of things in this life. Pain. Betrayal. Blood.

But I had never seen a woman so exquisitely composed while silently falling apart. And I didn't know why that bothered me so damn much.

---

When I got home, I went straight to the bar.

Didn't turn on the lights.

I didn't need brightness to remember what darkness looked like.

The glass in my hand was heavy. Full of aged scotch I didn't really want.

I didn't drink often.

Didn't like losing control.

But something about tonight...

Something about her.

She had smiled once - shyly - and even that had felt like a rebellion.

She was still wearing his ring. Still holding her back straight like she belonged beside him. Even when he'd humiliated her.

Why?

Why the loyalty? Why the silence?

Did she still love him?

Or did she just not know she could leave?

She kept clutching her stomach the whole night, almost subconsciously and I didn't know why. I didn't ask either. I didn't want to pry, yet I would be lying if I said I didn't want to know every thing that made Evelyn Laurent the woman she is, even the dark parts.

I stared out over the skyline, fingers curling around the glass, then set it down - untouched.

---

I pulled out my phone.

Pressed the button.

A voice answered immediately. "Boss?"

"Find out everything you can about Evelyn Laurent," I said, my voice low and even. There was a pause on the line.

"Laurent?"

"Yes."

"You want me to follow her?"

"No." I turned away from the window. "No following. No contact. She doesn't even need to know I looked."

"Understood."

"I want to know why she's still with him. Who let that happen. What she lost... and what's keeping her there as soon as possible."

"Give me a few hours."

I ended the call without another word.

---

I didn't do this. I didn't get involved.

People were problems. Messy. Emotional. Loud.

I didn't rescue people.

I didn't feel for them.

But Evelyn Laurent was different.

There was something in her silence that screamed louder than any sob. Something in her eyes that told me she'd spent too long being unseen - and had learned to pretend she liked it.

She reminded me of someone I couldn't afford to remember. And maybe that was the problem.

I ran a hand through my hair, agitated.

No. I didn't want her.

But I couldn't ignore her. I wouldn't call her. Wouldn't send flowers.

Wouldn't play games like I usually would.

But I would watch.

And I would protect her.

I would kill her husband if she asked me too, but i know she won't, in some sick, twisted way, she still loved him.

I would protect her.

Even if it was from a distance.

Even if it was from her own damn husband.

---

The clock read 2:11 AM when the knock came.

I was still in my office, lights dimmed, jacket off, sleeves rolled. The glow from the city barely reached my desk.

"Come in," I called.

My second-in-command walked in, holding a thick folder in his hands.

His face was tight. Eyes focused.

"You need to see this," he said.

I straightened in my chair.

He placed the file on the desk between us.

"This woman... Evelyn Laurent..." He met my gaze. "There's something you need to know."