49

I stepped out of the car and ran through the rain to Kai's apartment building. I rushed up to his apartment. I forgot to grab the bracelet Caroline had asked for, so I came back to grab it quickly. As I searched frantically for the jewelry, there was a knock on the door.

I sighed as I walked to the door. I opened it to see a woman. Her shoulder length, wavy hair framed her freckled face. Her green eyes were glossy. The smile on her face wavered. She was twisting a ring around her finger.

"Can I help you?"

She cleared her throat before nodding. "You're Evelyn, right?"

I furrowed my brows as I tightened my hold on the doorknob. "Who are you?"

She tilted her head. "My name's Taylor." She was quiet for a moment. "Can I come in?"

I shook my head once. "I'm sorry, who are you?"

She stared at me for a minute. "You already know."

"I really don't."

She lifted her left hand. "I'm Taylor Parker. Your boyfriend's wife."

I felt my stomach sink. "What?" I thought back to a few weeks ago. Forever Ours, K+T.

"We need to talk."

I furrowed my brows. "No, we don't."

She rolled her eyes as she walked past me. I turned to face her after pushing the door closed. After looking around, she looked at me. "You need to let go of my husband. Undo whatever witchy spell you cast on him. He doesn't love you anymore. He thought you were dead. He only came back to check."

I scoffed. "You're not serious, right?"

She stepped closer. "He married me. He chose me."

I shook my head, "I'm sorry, but I don't think that's what you should be focusing on."

She sighed. "You're upset." She nodded. "I would be too if I lost someone like him. But I didn't."

"Listen, Taylor," I tilted my head, "I've had a very long, horrible week. So, it would be great if you just -"

"No! He's my husband!"

The words felt like a stake to the heart. We're engaged. He asked me to live with him. He asked me to spend the rest of our lives together. "I'm sorry."

"You don't believe me." She laughed. "Ask him where he was a few weeks ago when he disappeared."

I was struggling to keep myself calm. "I didn't steal -"

"With me! He was with me! He chose me! Not you! While you were here crying about your dead... whatever, he was with me!"

The rage that I was suppressing was buzzing in every part of me. The sadness I had felt the past few weeks faded from my brain. It's unnecessary. Everything he felt for me was fake. Right? Why else would he go off and get married. He doesn't actually care about me. It was all just fun for him. Her mouth kept moving as she kept rambling on about how he chose her. Who the hell cares?

I rolled my eyes as she kept dragging on her sentences. "Are you done?"

She got an offended look on her face. "I was in the middle of -"

Before she could get the rest of her sentence out, I shoved my hand in her chest, clutching her heart. She screamed out as I squeezed it. The color drained from her face as blood spilled from her mouth. I used my other hand to separate her head from her body.

I blinked a few times as her blood spread everywhere, including on me. I ripped out her heart and watched her body drop to the ground. The blood from her chest went up to my wrist. I looked at her hand. The ring. I bent down and tore her ring finger from her body. I pulled the ring off before dropping the finger from my hand. The ring had the same engravings as Kai's.

I got Kai's ring from his room and held both of their rings tightly in my hand. I dropped her heart at his bedroom before walking out of the apartment. I shut the door before walking to the elevator. I made my way out of the building. The only thing on my mind was returning the rings to Kai.

I didn't bother getting in my car since it had stopped raining. The blood on my hand had mostly been transferred to the things I touched.

I pulled open the door to the Mystic Grill before walking in. The music playing made me pause. You Found Me by The Fray filled my ears.

"Oh my God. What- Are you okay?"

I looked at Bonnie, who was in front of me. I shook my head once. "Where's Kai?"

She pointed to the bar. Before she could ask something else, I made my way to the bar. Kai was at the end of the bar by Damon and Ryan. He turned to look at me, immediately concern and worry were etched into his face, "Are you okay?"

"It's not my blood."

He furrowed his brows, "Then whose is it?"

"What did you do," Ryan asked.

I kept staring at Kai. I lifted my closed fist. He held out his hand under mine. "Congratulations." I placed the rings in his hand, "You're a widow."

All the life drained from his face. "Evelyn."

"What are you talking about," Damon asked.

I pulled my hand away from Kai. "You'll find your wife's remains in your apartment."

"What did you do?"

I tilted my head, "What I wanted to do."

"What the hell is going on," Stefan asked as he stepped next to me. "Why are you covered in blood? You're freaking everyone out."

I looked at Stefan. "You can relax, I'm leaving."

He put his hand on my arm, "No. Explain."

"I will dismember every limb from your body and give it to Caroline if you don't let go of me right now."

He pulled his hand away, "What the hell is wrong with you?"

I turned away from them and walked off.

"Evelyn, stop!" I ignored Kai until he ran in front of me. "Talk to me! Tell me what happened!"

"Talk to you?!" I scoffed.

"Yes!" He stepped closer. "You killed Taylor!"

"She was a bitch and she deserved to die! I was doing you a favor."

He furrowed his brows, "You just killed someone and you're okay with it!"

"You killed your family and you're okay with that."

He tilted his head, "That's not fair."

"No," I laughed. "What's not fair is having to find out that the guy I'm in love with, the guy who asked me to marry him, went off and started another life when I needed him most! That's not fair!"

I started to turn when he grabbed my arm. "I thought you were dead!"

I pulled away from him. "So, you got married?!" I stepped back from him. "Do you know how insane that is?!"

"I didn't know what to do!"

The tears in my eyes made me want to rip my hair out. "You don't get married right after the person you're in love with dies! You come home and find out if they're actually dead!" I laughed breathily, "But I guess you had a home, right? With Taylor and whatever the fuck else family you made."

"I couldn't come back, you know that."

I furrowed my brows, "That's your excuse!" I shook my head, "You're demented!"

"No," he shook his head. "Killing Taylor is demented. She didn't do anything to you."

"Right," I laughed. I put my hand against my stomach. "My bad. The woman who claimed I stole you from her, then proceeded to explain that the reason you were with her was to let me suffer and grieve alone, didn't do anything to me." I dropped my hand.

He tilted his head, "This is ridiculous."

"No." I sucked in a breath of air as I tried to speak. I looked away from him, shaking my head as I took a second. I looked at him. "I trusted you-" my voice caught in my throat. I furrowed my brows. "I love you. I did everything for you. I died for you. I defended you and every single horrible thing you did. I gave you everything." The lump in my throat caught my cry. "I found your ring a while ago. I chose to ignore it. And- and I forgive you. For all of this." A rush of air slipped past my lips. I shook my head once. "That's ridiculous." The tears in my eyes gave way, rushing down my cheeks.

He started to come closer, "Baby..."

I wanted to let him back in. I wanted to rush to him. I felt like I was betraying myself by letting him. I faltered back a step. "No," I cried softly. I shook my head.

He looked as if he wanted to say something, but it was caught in his throat. He tilted his head. The footsteps from behind me stopped beside me.

"Come on," Ryan whispered as he touched his hand to my arm gently.

I let him pull me away to his car. He helped me into the passenger seat before getting in. I sat quietly, swallowing my cries. If my eyes weren't closed, I was staring at my hands in my lap as I scratched at the palms of my hands.

Ryan helped me out of the car, leading me into the house. Once the front door shut, the gates holding back my collapse inducing sobs raked through me like a freight train. Ryan caught me before I was completely on the floor. He held me firmly to his body. His hand in my hair made me cry harder.

I was at a loss for what to do. I forgive him, but I don't want to. My loyalties still lie with him, though. Every part of me is still with him. I'm still with him. I don't want to need him, but I guess that's not a choice. The horrible differences between wanting and needing someone: not knowing where the line that separates them should be and how often it blurs.