Roarke gave Eve her personal space when she went away the whole time they travelled in the yacht to reach the mainland. She didn’t speak or even shed any tears, and wore a blank expression that even him couldn’t decipher what’s in her head. It was a torturous 30-minute journey for Roarke, and he didn’t know where to vent his anger – to the man who was seeking a child connected to Eve, or to himself who happened to know the whole story.

Don Miguel was his mentor, his opener to international connections, and even though their values clashed, he was a friend, a bloody friend, who would never do such lengths if the information was not highly sensitive. And like Roarke, he was also a possessive and dangerous man.

Eyeing the abandoned glass used by the Don, he pulled a clean cloth and covered it for his further analysis.

When they got on their plane, Eve just brushed him off and went straight to the cabin.

It was so painful for him to see her curling herself on the recliner. She didn't even remove her stilts or complained on her back-bared gown like she used to. When he sat beside her and brushed her arms with his fingers, she didn’t stir.

It was like a stab in his heart, so overwhelming he knew this time, he’ll going to break Eve.

“Baby, take this soother. You were distraught and shaken. Please, agrah, talk to me.”

Eve motioned to sit, took the liquid from Roarke, drank it straight without complains, and lie down again in silence. She had this similar condition when her badge was taken from her, but not like this – so broken.

He wanted her to be in rage because she could vent out what’s in her mind, but in this scenario, he was scared for her, and for himself.

“You will talk to Mira.”, he said.

“Okay.”

That simple answer had alarmed Roarke. When he pulled her closer to his and looked at her face, he was at loss. It was unlikely for her to agree easily in taking medicines or even evaluating her mind. This was not her Eve.

“Goddamn it, Eve! You have to gather yourself and say something! Why don’t you get mad and tell me what’s inside that brain of yours! Tell me that you’re mad at somebody, anybody, or me! You’re mad at me, hated me for bringing you here, and despised me to know I have another connection in your past! Oh God.”

Roarke hugged Eve tightly and shuddered when she didn’t stir.

Finally, she spoke. “You knew.”

He did not answer. He just moved her into his lap and cradled her like the ones he did whenever she had nightmares. It was a small relief to see those golden eyes were no longer in blank slate.

“I am fucked up, Roarke.”

“You were never been a fucked-up, Eve. Never.”, he replied calmly but his eyes were vicious. “You define yourself, whatever your pasts are. What we have learned tonight will never change who you are and what we have right now. Remember that.”

Eve managed to grip Roarke’s wrist, and saw his swollen knuckles. She knew he had pummelled some faces during the chase, but his hands were not that severe, and these were fresh wounds. He must have pummelled something somewhere, and then destroyed.

“I don’t know who am I now.”, she said between sobs.

“But I know you, my beloved Eve. You’re Lieutenant Eve Dallas, a homicide cop, a solid one, with a mind sharper like a knife and a generous heart like gold. You were my miracle, my heart and my soul, and the only woman I have truly loved. I am nothing without you, and I cannot live without you.”

He pulled her closer, murmured his declaration of love to her ear with sincerity and passion. She burrowed her body in his, poured all her emotions and cried.

When they finally reached home, Roarke carried Eve inside who fell into deep slumber after he tranqued her. Summerset greeted him at the foyer with great concern in his eyes.

“Is the Lieutenant alright?”

“She’s barely holding herself. Have you contacted Dr. Mira?”

“I have. She’ll be here at five.”

Roarke laid her in their lake-sized bed, removed her clothings, and covered her with warm blankets. Like her, he was overwrought and tired, and he wanted to be with her, but there was a tremendous rage within him and that he might hurt her.

So he went to his office, activated the monitor screen of their bedroom, and tried to dig the old files about the woman named Stella and her connection to a mafia lord Don Miguel, starting the year 2028, the same year Eve was born.

Summerset entered his office with a cup of coffee and laid it to his table.

“I believe you will need this as a fuel for your task tonight.”, the butler said, fixing his eyes on Roarke’s stern face. He knew that they went to Italy for Don Miguel’s party, and when he saw their state, he knew something had happened.

Roarke sensed his concern, so he ogled at him and asked, “When I went to Dublin after I learned about my biological mother, Eve said that the two of you talked about me. What was your topic about?”

Summerset sat at the chair and sipped his coffee, “About you and your past.”

“Did you share something that I don’t know of?”

“Nothing.”, he lied. Roarke was too tired and preoccupied to notice it. “What did the mafia did to Eve?”

His busy fingers suddenly hovered in the air, and paused.

“How close are you with Don Miguel?”

“Hmm. We maintained a business-related partnership during my grifter days, him as the customer while I as the broker. Not that really close, but enough to be involved in his circles. Not that I joined his syndicate. I think you’re more involved to him than I, not until you conned him and brought his coffee plantation that almost killed us both. That was the most stupid thing you have ever done.”

Roarke gave a genuine laugh, “I beg to differ, because several years later, that plantation produced the product that made me win a wife.”

“You did not answer my question, Roarke.”

He hinted the worry on Summerset’s tone. It was fascinating how this man who never liked Eve from the start and would always exchange vile words with her was so distraught and disturbed whenever she’s hurt.

He sighed. “Do you remember about that man’s motto carpe diem?”

“Seize the day? Of course. He used to brag it to his enemies that he lived in that mantra, yet he told me that it also brought him his demise, and made somebody enciete.”

That perked Roarke’s curiousity.

He knew about the Don’s youth and his conquests to women, and his misadventure of having an illegitimate child among them, but the story about the woman and his child was never discussed further. Everybody believed it was a bluff, even him, but when the Don showed a photograph of a girl placed on a frame with his family crest seal, Roarke realized it was never a lie.

The Don was searching for them, yet he’s hiding that fact to many. Why?

“Were you asked by the Don to look for confidential matters? Let’s say, a woman with a daughter out of wedlock?”

“I don’t get what you imply here.”, Summerset frowned, trying to hide his unsettled feeling.

“Have you found them? That mother and child?”, Roarke asked, looking at the monitor screen.

“No.”

“Why?”

Summerset took another sip, and inhaled deeply, “Because…the time I was preparing to leave for travel, I learned the news about my Marlena. Her abduction…and her death.”

It was too much for Roarke, too many things had happened and unearthed in one day that he couldn’t contain himself. Or control himself. He cursed, balled a fist and slammed them to his table.

It startled Summerset. “Good heavens, what’s the matter?”

Roarke waited for his anger to simmer down, gripped the sides of his chair to balance himself, calmed and cooled his blood from his head, before he revealed everything.

“The child that Don Miguel was looking for, the one that was assigned once for you to look for and the one that was connected in McQueen’s case…was none other than Eve.”

A loud crash bellowed inside the room as the warm liquid spilled beneath Summerset’s feet. His knees gave up. His hands were shaky and dropped the ceramic mug he was holding. His mind went blank, and couldn’t think of any words to say. Or appropriate ones.