CHAPTER 11: AFTER THE SIGNATURE
As soon as the hall dispersed, Evelyn knew: peace did not free her. It only made the two men less restrained.
The hall gradually became emptier. Wooden chairs scratched lightly, shoes dragged on the floor, heavy doors closed. Everyone left, leavin the long table and Evelyn still sitting there.
Because there was no order, she was still not allowed to stand. She sat still because… her body did not know whether to leave or to face them.
But then, a sudden phone call rang, sharp as a knife, cutting through the remaining silence. Diego frowned, pulling the phone from his pocket. The screen lit up with the name "Carlos". He picked up, his voice low but tense: "Speak."
Suddenly his face darkened. "What? North Belt? Now?"
Viktoc, who had been standing at the end of the table, turned sharply. "Northern Belt again?"
Diego hung up, his eyes flashing with suspicion. "My team just reported that an unknown armed group attacked a warehouse near the sea. They used a new type of gun that was neither our nor yours. Two people are missing without a trace."
The atmosphere suddenly became tense. Evelyn could clearly feel that this was no coincidence. The incident from the signing program stil haunted her, and now it had spread to the backstage.
Viktor moved closer, his voice cold as ice: "You think I sent someone to do it? Right after the signing?"
Diego sneered, his hands still tapping on the table but faster, stronger. "Who knows? You always play fair, Viktor. But if it wasn't you... then who wanted us to tear each other apart again?"
Evelyn sat still, but her heart was beating too fast. She could clearly see that the peace had just been signed while the ink had not yet cooled, a third person had already set fire to it. The two men, who had just divided their territory on her body, now looked at each other like wild wolves.
"I'll send someone to check," Viktor said, his hands clenching the edge of the table until his knuckles turned white. "But if they find traces of you..."
"So what?" Diego interrupted, standing up completely, his body blocking Viktor and Evelyn unconsciously. "We just signed a peace treaty on her. Now you want to start a war right here?"
Viktor paused, his eyes glancing at Evelyn as if reminding himself. "No. But if this third person uses her as bait..."
Evelyn couldn't hold it in any longer. She stood up abruptly, her voice cutting off: "Stop using me as an excuse to doubt each other. You signed on my body to prove your trust. Now prove it by cooperating, not by arguing."
The two men paused, looking at her as if for the first time they were truly seeing her as more than just a decoration. The silence stretched, then Diego nodded slightly. "You're right, muñeca. Viktor sent the coordinates to my phone, we'll go together."
Viktor glanced at her for a long second, then nodded. "Okay. But this time, she's coming with me."
The drama faded like mist, but Evelyn knew: it was only a lull.
Viktor was the last one left.
His shirt was not completely buttoned, a few buttons undone from the signing ceremony, as if he'd left them there on purpose. He stood at the end of the table, his hand resting on the edge of the glass, looking at her as if he were examining a new crack in his territory.
Diego was different. He sat down on the edge of the table, right next to her hip, as if the ceremony hadn't ended yet. His fingers tapped unconsciously on the glass. The tapping was light, but enough for Evelyn to feel every vibration under her back.
She regulated her breathing, not avoiding it. Not hiding the fatigue on her face, nor hiding her guard.
She looked very… human. Not an object on the table anymore.
Diego watched closely.
"Are you tired?" he asked.
Evelyn answered bluntly: "I'm not a statue."
"No one told you I was a statue," Viktor said from afar. "You're the center of a deal worth tens of billions."
She turned her head to look at him.
"Not tens of billions. Thousands of deaths."
The atmosphere between them changed immediately.
Viktor approached slowly, but the distance between them was so narrow that the overhead lights reflected his eyes in hers.
Diego leaned forward and placed his hand on the side of her waist.
Just… there.
A silent question hung between the three of them: Was she a trophy? Or the factor that made them lose control?
Viktor stopped close to the table. His hand lifted, not touching her, just touching the glass table right next to her hand.
The sound of his knuckles tapping on the table made her neck jerk slightly.
It wasn't fear, it was a natural reaction of the muscles when surrounded.
He leaned in, whispering:
"You wanted to stand on the table today. Okay. You stood. But standing means you have to bear the cost of being seen."
Evelyn replied slowly, her voice hoarse with fatigue:
"I know what people look at. But it seems like you two look more than anyone else."
Diego chuckled, his hand moving from the side of her waist to a little lower, still not touching, but close enough that her skin tingled.
"We looked," he said, "because you were the only one in that room who wasn't afraid of us."
"Not that I wasn't afraid," she corrected. "It's just… I didn't have a better choice."
Viktor: "Did you just call peace 'no better option'?"
Evelyn replied without blinking.
"If I leave the city, you two kill each other again. If I stay, I'll be dragged into war in some other way. This deal… is just the least bloody version."
Diego leaned closer, his lips stopping inches from her face:
"So tell me, muñeca… Which do you choose?"
She lowered her eyes for a moment. Not avoiding. Just… considering.
"I choose to make it so that neither of you… can use me as you please."
Viktor laughed, his voice low but dangerous. Diego was silent, but his eyes lit up like fire after that.
She had just said something no woman in Blackhaven would dare say to these two bosses.
Viktor placed both hands on the table, trapping her between his arms without touching her.
"You think you can do it?" he asked, his voice low and close to her ear.
Evelyn replied in a firm, fearless voice: "I will try."
A sentence as straight as a knife cutting through the air.
Diego stood up, stepped behind her, his hands on the edge of the table. She felt the warmth behind her.
"Try how?" he asked.
She tilted her head back a little to look at him over her shoulder:
"By not letting you two choose for me."
Viktor glanced at Diego. In a rare moment, neither of them smiled, neither joked, nor half-mocking.
They were… really taking her words in.
The silence lasted for a few seconds. In those seconds, Evelyn felt the whole atmosphere in the building tense, as if waiting to see who would give in.
Then Diego broke the silence:
"Okay," he said. "Let's see what you choose when we…" His fingers slid over her shoulder blades. "…not on the same side."
Viktor continued, more quietly: "When you start choosing,
don't blame us if we start fighting too."
Their eyes met over her body.
Not sexual. Strategic, a strange kind of desire, sharper than a knife, both sensual and dangerous.
Evelyn clenched her hands lightly on the table.
She knew that right now… it wasn't about peace anymore.
For the first time, she felt… these two men weren't just fighting for territory.
But for her.
And the feeling made her breath skip a beat.
Not pleasure, but awareness.
A awareness that made her spine tingle as if someone had touched her, even though no one had touched her.
Evelyn thought she had regained her voice. But she didn't know… the right to choose was something that could drive both bosses crazier than any provocation.
If she chose either side, Blackhaven would bleed again in the middle of the city.