I breathed in deeply and closed my eyes.
“Can we stop blaming each other? I’m here now. I’m safe.”
“And Aldo is out there somewhere.”
“You’ll get him. I know it,” I said.
Tristian drew away from me and walked over to the window in the room. I hadn’t seen him this worried before and I wasn’t sure what he’d do next.
One thing was clear—he was determined to keep me safe.
Twenty-Eight
Tristian
They were right, Elsie was very tired and needed rest.
I spent as much time with her as I could, just keeping her company while she sat on the bed and reminisced about her friend who’d been killed.
She was sad about it and blamed herself. I tried to make her see there wasn’t anything she could’ve done differently. The real person to blame was Aldo. He was the one who destroyed everything in his path.
Elsie seemed broken. The deaths of all the people close to her had shattered her, and I knew I’d never allow her to be hurt again.
She’d been kidnapped and imprisoned by Aldo twice. It couldn’t happen a third time. I wasn’t sure she’d make it out alive if it happened again.
Eventually, she dozed off and I helped her get comfortable in bed and then left the room silently.
I wasn’t comfortable leaving her alone, but there was a man posted outside the door who was instructed to alert me if there was anything that needed my attention. It was the only way I’d leave her.
The rest of my family was in the house.
This had been the biggest attack on Aldo yet. We’d come so close to getting him. Ending this thing.
I found them in the kitchen. Isabelle, Reese, Marley, Leah and Rosalie were all there too. Apparently Davey was out in the garden with Dad and our stepmother. My brothers were all discussing the shootout, nursing their wounds and trying to come up with new plans of getting Aldo.
Reese and Rosalie cooked and swerved up plates of spaghetti. Leah handed me a plate, giving me a sympathetic smile and a squeeze on the arm. They all knew what happened between Elsie and me, and the fact that she’d been seriously hurt.
“How is she doing now?” Isabelle asked, coming up to me.
“She’s resting. We talked for a bit, but she fell asleep.”
“That’s good. She just needs a few days and then she’ll be back on her feet. She’ll be fine,” Isabelle said encouragingly.
I didn’t feel very encouraged at the moment.
“Yeah, she’ll be fine because I’ll make sure she disappears and Aldo never finds her.”
Isabelle’s brows furrowed. “What are you talking about?”
“He can’t get his hands on her again. The next time it happens, he’ll make sure she doesn’t get out alive. I have to make her disappear. It’s not safe for her, out in the open.”
Isabelle looked worried, but maybe she understood because she nodded.
“It’ll be very difficult for Elsie to adjust to a life on the run.”
“It won’t be easy, but it’s the only way to keep her alive.”
Isabelle had the good sense not to remind me it wasn’t going to be easy for me either. I had to be prepared to let her go, but I wasn’t sure if I was ready.
Elsie slept through most of that day and the next morning she was doing better.
I found her in the kitchen eating breakfast with the other girls. Her eyes brightened up when I walked in.
I wanted to touch her, kiss her—but I held back because of the decision I had already made.
“Do you want to go for a walk in the garden?” I asked, while the others watched us with big smiles on their faces. Elsie nodded and stood up, carrying the mug of coffee in her hand.
We went out through the back of the house into the garden and she breathed in deeply like she needed to fill her lungs with fresh air.
“This place is beautiful. The garden is just gorgeous.”
“My stepmother looks after it,” I said, leading her into the manicured mini-maze.
Elsie walked slowly beside me, admiring the flowers and bushes.
“Tristian, I’m not sure if I thanked you already for everything you’ve done for me.”
“You don’t need to thank me. It was my duty to make sure you were safe. We had given you our word that you’d be safe with us.”
She looked over at me with a smile. She was beautiful. I imagined her lying next to me, waking up beside her.
“And, we need to keep you safe now. Far away from Aldo.”
“I feel perfectly safe with you…all. Here.”
I stopped in my tracks and she stopped too. Maybe she sensed there was something more coming because now she looked worried.
“Tristian…”
“I’m making arrangements to make you disappear. You have to go away. Somewhere Aldo won’t find you. I can make that happen.”
“You want me to leave?”
“You have to. We can’t risk him finding you again. He won’t give up. It’s a matter of pride and revenge for him.”
Elsie shook her head.
“I’m safe here. He can’t touch me here.”
“No, you’re not safe here, Elsie,” I growled, grabbing her arm tightly. She gasped and I let her go.
“If you send me away, I’ll lose…everything,” she murmured, her eyes filling with tears. I didn’t know exactly what she meant by that, and I didn’t want to know. I didn’t want her to tempt me into changing my mind.
“It’s the price you’ll have to pay for staying alive,” I said, through clenched teeth.
She yanked her arm away from me, spilling some of the coffee from the mug on herself. It seemed like she was about to say something but then she changed her mind. She turned around and ran back towards the house.
Fuck.
Didn’t she see I just wanted the best for her?
“Elsie!” I roared her name through the house, following her up to the room she stayed in.
Her temporary accommodation before my plan to ship her out came through.
I didn’t care who else heard me or what they thought. I just needed her to be okay.
She
