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As for Damien —

His gaze went flat.

A man who had put her through that did not get to stand in her home asking for forgiveness. The right place for him was a hospital bed.

He caught his security's eye. A small nod. They understood. They slipped out.

After she fell asleep that night, Everett drove into the dark and pulled up at an empty industrial yard. His men dragged a trussed-up Damien inside and dropped him at Everett's feet.

Everett looked down at him. He spoke flat and cold.

"Burns. A car. Then commit him."

For a long time after, Damien didn't appear.

She thought he'd finally gotten the message.

Until she overheard the tail end of a phone call, and realized Everett had handled it.

The security hadn't brought Damien to the police that night. They'd brought him to Everett's hospital, where he'd been involuntarily committed for "psychiatric treatment." He'd only gotten out because it was old Nathaniel Thorne's birthday and the family had come looking for him.

Her first reaction was to worry whether Nathaniel had come down on Everett.

He hadn't.

"Don't do things like this again. The Thorne family is ruthless. If they push back, what then? Ruining your career for his sake — is he worth it?"

Everett caught her hand — she was shaking slightly — and a real smile crept onto his face. She was worried about him. In the middle of a reckoning against the man who had tortured her, she was worried about him. For the first time, he felt it in his chest, solid: he mattered to her more than Damien did.

"I swear. Never again. I will not let this bring trouble to you."

"He's not worth it."

She let herself exhale.