“But he wasn’t able to do what he wanted. She’s here and she’s safe.”
“For now.”
“Things are different now. We’re all keeping an eye on her. She’s going nowhere.”
“She’s going somewhere nobody will find her.”
“For how fuckin’ long?”
“Why the fuck do you care? You didn’t even believe her story,” I snapped.
Brendan drew his hand away from me and shoved it in his pocket.
“I was being skeptical. I was being overly protective of my family. I didn’t want to put anyone in danger because of someone we didn’t know or trust. I didn’t…I wasn’t aware you were in a relationship with her, bro.”
“I wasn’t. I’m not. There’s no relationship.”
“But you’re fucking her.”
“I have fucked her. That’s it. I’ve fucked a lot of chicks.”
Brendan glared at me because we both knew I wasn’t being honest. The silence between us was deafening.
“What do you want me to say?” I groaned.
“What you’re really feeling.”
“Feeling? What the fuck, man.”
“There’s nothing wrong with feeling something for a chick. I feel something for Rosalie I’ve never felt for anyone before.”
“Elsie is leaving. Soon. I’m going to make sure Aldo will never get to her.”
“And why do you care so much?”
I couldn’t think of a snappy explanation quick enough, and that made Brendan smile. The answer was obvious.
“I care because we had a deal. That I’d keep her safe.”
My brother grabbed me by my shoulders and shook me.
“Listen to yourself, Tristian. Listen to yourself making idiotic excuses. None of them are true. You care about your safety because you care about her, and if you send her away, you’ll never forgive yourself for it.”
“And I’ll never forgive myself if Aldo finds her again.”
“What does she want? Does she want to go and hide out for years until Aldo’s dead? And even after he’s dead, how do you know she’ll be completely safe from his men? His legacy? When will she be able to come back?”
I didn’t have the answers and I didn’t want to think about them.
“Look, Tristian, I get that you want to keep her safe. That is how I feel about Rosalie and Davey too. I’d do anything for them, man. But you have to respect her wishes too. It’s her life, and if she wants to spend it with you, who are you to say no?”
Brendan left me alone for a while before I decided to go back inside and speak to Elsie again.
Even though I’d spent some time thinking about it, I didn’t know what I’d say to her. How I’d make her see this was the only way forward.
I knew Brendan was right about everything. I cared about her, more than I cared about myself. And that was exactly why I had to send her away.
Isabelle intercepted me on my way back up to Elsie’s room.
“How is she doing?” she asked, looking worried.
“She’s fine. She’ll be fine.”
“And what about you? How are you doing?”
“I’ll live.”
“But what kind of life would it be if you don’t want to live without her?”
“What’s gotten into all of you?” I groaned. I felt attacked. The last thing I needed today was to feel anything.
“Maybe we all just care about you and we don’t want to see you drown yourself.”
I broke away from Isabelle and went up the stairs. I just needed to talk calmly with Elsie without both of us losing our minds. If I could just get her to see…
I knocked on her door and there was no answer. After I’d waited for over a minute and knocked again, and there was still no answer, I pushed the door open to find that her room was empty.
It looked like someone had pulled all the linen off the bed. The clothes she had worn were on the floor in a crumpled mess. I couldn’t tell if she’d flown into a frenzy and left the room in this state or there’d been a struggle here.
I cursed and ran back out of the room, calling her name.
I yelled her name. Isabelle was still at the bottom of the stairs.
“What’s happening?”
“Where is she?” I spat, running down. Killian and Nolan emerged from other rooms to see what was going on.
“Where’s Elsie?” I shouted while my brothers and Isabelle ran behind me.
I went out the front of the house and that’s when I saw her.
She was in the driveway, wearing a different set of clothes, sitting calmly by the fountain with Davey.
They looked up when they heard the commotion and I ran towards them.
Elsie looked confused, but there was also sadness in her eyes. And at that moment, I knew I’d never let her out of my sight.
Thirty-One
Elsie
Tristian ran to me and scooped me up in his arms before I even knew what was going on. I saw him and some of his family rush out of the house in a panic.
“What happened?” I murmured as he pressed himself to me, holding me tightly in his arms.
“I didn’t know where you were. I thought you ran away again or you were taken or something…” His voice was muffled by my hair and shoulders.
I pulled away from him and he cradled my face in his hands.
“Fuck! Don’t do that to me again!” he growled.
“Do what? Play with Davey? I’ve been sitting with him for a while. I didn’t want to be up there in the room by myself. I wasn’t feeling good,” I said with a faint smile on my face.
Tristian cursed under his breath and then looked at Davey, forcing himself to smile.
Killian came over to us and took Davey’s hand to lead him away, realizing t we needed some time alone together. I wasn’t sure what happened. I hadn’t expected Tristian to react this way to my absence from the room.
“Sorry if I scared you.”
“You didn’t. You just caught me by surprise.”
I held his hands and pulled them gently off my face.
“Tristian…I’m not going to run away again. It was a stupid mistake that cost Libby’s life, almost cost my own. I won’t do something like
