Chapter Seventeen
Cracked Stories, Crashed Plans, and Collapsing Composure
Elliot
When I hear the keypad beeping, I quickly close the tracking app on my phone and throw it onto the couch for good measure.
Switching on the television, I lean back, doing my best impression of a completely unbothered person who definitely isn’t keeping an eye on Sam’s every movement, as a Chappell Roan song fills the room.
The door slams shut, and light footsteps move closer before stopping right in front of the television. “I know you were watching me,” he says.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about. Will you please move? I’m watching that.” I gesture at him to slide away without letting on how relieved I am to see him in one piece.
“Oh yeah?” He turns to look at the show that was playing. “So, you’re watching Live: Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show 2024?”
I shrug. “I’m gay.”
“You wish you were refined enough to enjoy a fashion show. Did you know I get a notification every time someone accesses my location?
My eyes snap to him. “Seriously?”
He snorts. “No, but now I know you were keeping an eye on me.” He sighs and flops down beside me. “It’s so fucking condescending. You’re allowed to walk into the lion’s den all alone armed with a measly taser, and I can’t even meet a werewolf in public?”
“You’ve got to let that go. And I have combat training, remember?
Why does everyone think I’m completely useless?
I knew what I was getting into, and I was completely prepared for it.
Unlike you, I can handle a werewolf or two on my own just fine.
” Why does everyone think I don’t know what I’m doing?
Sam pulls one leg up onto the couch and faces me. “Dude, you know I’m not questioning your fighting abilities here. But this keeping an eye on my every move is weird.”
I blow out a breath. “Yeah, okay. I won’t do it anymore.” I lie. There’s no reason to fight him. He’s safe, and he’s here. I’ll just have to hide my paranoia better the next time he meets Adrian. “Did you at least get something out of it?”
Sam doesn’t look convinced by my easy submission, but he answers anyway. “Not really. He didn’t want to talk about his father at all. Felt more like he wanted to avoid that topic specifically. We mostly talked about his childhood, which seemed pretty normal.”
“What do you think? He’s hiding something?” I could be seeing things because I was desperate for them to be there.
Sam hums. “Can’t be sure. We definitely need to dig deeper here, though. I don’t think he knows you. He didn’t seem very interested in talking about you. Kept changing the topic every time I brought you up.”
I tilt my head as the song changes to one I don’t recognize. Sam pauses the video. “I still won’t rule him safe. We need to continue the precautions.”
“And they only apply to me, do they?”
“Ugh, I won’t go to his house alone. Can we get past that already?”
Sam sighs. “Whatever.” He gets up and makes his way to his room. Then turns. “I’m meeting him tomorrow for lunch at that cafe you like. We need to find everything before he starts believing I’m in love with him or something. The guy is intense.”
Perfect. As he leaves, I decide I’m accidentally running into them tomorrow. Two people are better than one. Besides, as Sam said, we don’t want to confuse Adrian, especially if he turns out to be a good man.
Leaning back, I switch the fashion show with the footage from the building we’ve been surveilling. There have been no unusual activities in any of them. And none of them have been killed.
If that continues, we may have to find a new way to catch the killer and soon.
***
I spend the night obsessively checking my phone every ten minutes. To watch the video footage, of course. Why else would I let the white light burn my cornea in the dark? Nicholas obviously wasn’t going to text. I know that. I made sure of that.
I don’t regret anything I said. He’d told me back when he was just dating me that he missed having someone to take care of. That’s why he loved Mickey. And that’s why he claimed to love me.
Besides, with a start like that, this relationship was destined to fail. I knew that even when I told him I loved him. When I begged him to love me back. I always knew it wasn’t going to work. So, I wasn’t hoping to hear from him again. It’d just make everything more difficult anyway.
Now that a new team is going to take over the investigation, they’ll inevitably find Dominic’s research. Despite the evidence Nicholas planted in Dominic’s house, they won’t dismiss it as easily as Nicholas convinced his team to. They’ll dig and find enough evidence to look closer.
Sooner or later, I’ll have to take up Sam’s offer to flee. And I don’t want to leave before ending the Raymond chapter. Who knows if we’ll ever find any trace of him again. This is the closest we’ve ever come. So, this is my last chance to bring him to justice. He might be the last monster I end.
And even if the thought fills me with dread, I intend to keep my promise to Nicholas to whatever extent I can.
Now that he doesn’t want anything to do with me, I can take my liberties with it.
Not like I wasn’t already planning to do that before.
The Vigilante Hunter won’t kill anymore.
But Elliot will, for the first and the last time.
Therefore, around lunchtime, I tell Ashley I'd be eating out and drive to my favorite café.
I spot them quickly. A man as big as Adrian, dressed in a sharp suit, is hard to miss among people sipping coffee beneath striped umbrellas. They're sitting at one of the outdoor tables. Sam clocks me as soon as I start walking between the rows of white tables. His eyes narrow at me.
When I reach their table, I put on my best surprise face that Sam would have been proud of in any other circumstance. “Oh my god, what are you guys doing here?”
Adrian tilts his head in confusion, then his frown turns into a formal smile. “Just getting lunch.”
I take that as an invitation it definitely wasn’t. “Oh, great, me too.” I pull a chair from the empty table across from them and sit between them. “What a coincidence.”
Sam gives me the fakest smile in the world. “Didn’t you say you had to work through lunch today? You should do that. Animals are important.”
I laugh. “I finished the surgery early. Lucky, right? So, what were you guys talking about?”
A waitress comes in with a menu, and I wave her off. “I’ll have the pancakes,” I tell her.
“I was boring Adrian with the memories of my parents.” Their gazes meet with the intensity that distinctly makes me feel like a third wheel.
Adrian shakes his head slightly, not breaking their eye contact. “I loved hearing about them.”
Okay, yeah, that’s a bit too much. I clear my throat, and their heads snap to me.
“I just broke up with my boyfriend, so we’re not doing this whole thing.
Parents, we can talk about.” Time to finish this once and for all.
I can’t let Sam get more tangled up in this.
He’s clearly taken too much interest in this project.
“Adrian, didn’t you say your father lives in the city?
” I fire in the dark, hoping it’ll stick.
He frowns for a quarter of a second before nodding. “The last I knew.”
Sam’s eyebrows go up. “So you came here looking for him?” Sam asks.
Adrian sighs. “Kind of? Please don’t judge me, but I hired a private investigator to find him, and she located him here two years ago.”
“And did you? Find him?” I ask.
Adrian frowns at me, and Sam kicks my foot under the table, making me realize I might have let some of my feelings slip.
“No, I didn’t. But that doesn’t seem like such a bad thing considering everything my mother keeps telling me.”
Sam covers Adrian’s hand with his. “Parents are never easy, alive or not.”
I tune them out as the waitress brings over my plate of delicious-looking pancakes that I no longer have an appetite for. Raymond is here in LA. Does he know I live here too? He can’t be here for me, right?
I try to thank the waitress as she leaves, but no words come out. I try moving my hand to start eating, to not blow up our cover with my stupid reaction. I can’t. Fuck, he’ll find me.
What if he finds out I have people I love now?
I feel a sting behind my eyes as Nicholas’s face flashes through my mind.
His long lashes and beautiful blue eyes always trained on me.
His valiant, albeit stupid habit of putting himself in danger to protect me.
His broad shoulders shielding me from the rest of the world.
My heartbeat kicks up, my body suddenly feeling too heavy.
Would Sam be embarrassed if I lie down here on the floor?
What if Raymond finds out about Sam? About how he’d do anything for me?
Would he use that too? What about Oliver?
He’d been wanting to meet since I left abruptly from the bakery.
I’d need to stop talking to him. Sam needs to leave.
At least Nicholas no longer wants to do anything with me. He’s safer that way. Everyone is safe as long as they stay away.
“Elliot.” Sam's face slides into view, replacing the pancakes.
“He’s here,” I whisper.
“Is he okay?” I hear Adrian’s voice.
“Yeah, we’re gonna go, though. Elliot, you’re fine, okay?” Sam says, pulling me up.
I try to put my weight on my legs, but they feel like jelly.
A firm hand wraps around me, and I lean against the warmth as we walk out of the cafe. “You need to leave. It’s not safe,” I tell him.
Sam shushes me. “I know, babe. Just stay quiet for a few more minutes.”
I focus on putting one foot in front of the other. Then I’m suddenly sitting back in a warm seat. Sam puts on my seatbelt for me. “Just hold on, okay? I’ll be right back,” I hear him say.
It’s good that he’s leaving. That’s the only way. He’s listening. He’s always listening.
Then Sam is back again, sitting in the driver’s seat. Then the restaurant fades in the rearview mirror. “You’ll be okay, Elliot. You’ll be completely okay.”
I feel tired, too tired. I let my head fall back on the seat, closing my eyes. Then all I see are those eyes, focused on me. All I hear is his voice.
“Eli boy, you really thought you got away.”