Chapter 14 – Elias #2
“He’s the reason you’re running.”
“Yes.”
Her voice is so small and quiet. I remove my ice pack and pivot on the bed to face her. She matches my position .
I reach up my hand and brush my thumb over a makeup-covered cut along her bottom lip.
“He did this to you?”
She nods again, her eyes filling with tears. “When I refused to let him sleep here in my room with me.”
The fury within me builds and Sage places her palm on my forearm.
“Don’t worry, my mother stepped in and told him to take the guest room. I kept my door locked all night.”
“Tell me everything, Sage. Let me protect you.”
Her eyes widen, those pooling tears now falling. She jumps up off the bed suddenly.
“You have to leave... they’ll... they’ll see you. Those guys out there... Chase’s guys and... Elias, please... I can’t let them hurt you too.”
I stand and pull her into my arms.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I say, cradling her head to my chest. She’s sobbing now, and I rub my hand up and down her back, hoping the move soothes her. “You don’t have to worry about those men again.”
She hiccups and lifts her head.
“What do you mean?”
“I killed them.”
“You did?”
Her bottom lip shakes and more tears fall.
“I did. ”
“I’m so sorry, Elias. He threatened to kill my parents if I didn’t...”
I hold her head in my hands and wipe her wet cheeks with my thumbs.
“Didn’t what? What was he forcing you to do?”
She searches my eyes, as if gauging how angry I am. As if she thinks I’ll harm her after she tells me.
“He... he made me spy on you.”
I drop my hands and step back. My heart falls to my stomach. I feared this was the reason. I knew she was too good to be true—that fate didn’t bring her to me when I was so desperately lost.
Sage has given me purpose. She challenges me and stands up to me. I’ve become addicted to her.
But she’s working with the enemy.
She shrinks into herself seeing my reaction, cowering as if I’m about to strike out.
I'm going to kill that fucker for making her feel this way.
The fact that my anger is not with her is a good sign. If she were anyone else, she’d already be dead for her betrayal—forced or not.
But I can’t kill her.
I could never.
“Who is he, Sage?”
It’s clear he’s her ex; I just need the details of what he did to her .
Sage sits back on the bed, ice pack on her knuckles. She stares down at the floor and avoids my questioning eyes.
“I left him a few years ago after he used my social security number to apply for as many credit cards as he could get. He maxed them out, then targeted other people. Vulnerable people. That wasn’t enough.
He started stealing cars for a chop shop.
He lost his job and needed money, and it just got worse from there.
He went on to deal drugs, first in New Jersey, but obviously he made his way here to New York City.
Chase has always been charming, manipulative, and it sounds like that’s how he worked his way up to a leadership role.
“He found me the morning after the Christmas party. He told me how he was wanting to take out the local mobs. He wants to take over...” she waves her hand around in front of me, “...whatever the hell you do.”
I frown. I don’t think she knows exactly what the Queensboro Mob does.
“I assume gun running and drug dealing, but I think he’s doing more... something worse... like human trafficking.”
My head shoots up.
“Human trafficking?”
“I wasn’t sure, but I’ve seen on the news about recent sex trafficking rings being busted, and I put two and two together.”
“Does the name Moonlight mean anything to you? ”
Her eyes widen, and she nods. “When we were married, Chase would call me his sunshine, and I’d call him moonlight.”
I raise my hand to push away a piece of her hair, and she flinches. When she relaxes, I cup her cheek. She closes her eyes and inhales deeply. She’s trying so hard not to break down in front of me.
She’s being so fucking strong.
“The night we met...” Her bottom lip shakes again, and I refrain from pulling her into my arms again.
I can’t. Not yet. I need to hear the rest. “I promise I didn’t know who you were.
Chase had nothing to do with us meeting.
He had men at the Christmas party who saw me talking to Noah.
He found out we fucked in the bathroom and he. ..”
“What did he do?”
I drop my hand from her face and fist it next to my thigh. I’m going to fucking murder him.
“He, um... he...”
“Did he put his hands on you? Hurt you like he did tonight?”
She nods, swallowing hard.
“Did he rape you?”
Her eyes widen. “No!”
My tense shoulders sag, but anger prevents my body from relaxing completely.
“He was super controlling when we were married, and he’d hit me if I angered him, but he never forced himself on me.
But that was then. Now... he’s changed. He’s even more unpredictable than when we were married.
I never feared him then like I do now.” She swallows hard, her bottom lip still shaking.
“He threatened to kill my parents if I didn’t help him.
When I told you I didn’t know about Noah’s life and her involvement with the Empire, I meant it.
Us meeting was truly a coincidence, but when Chase found out I was friends with Noah and that you and I were.
.. you know... he made me wear a wire to that dinner. ”
I curse but Sage’s palm on my chest immediately pushes the boiling rage to a simmering point.
“Don’t worry. It didn’t work. I think it malfunctioned or something.”
We sit in silence for a minute or two while I process everything she’s told me.
“Why didn’t you come to me... or Noah? Either one of us could have helped.”
She shakes her head.
“I couldn’t take any chances. Chase had men here watching my parents. One call from him and they would have come inside and harmed them... or worse. I wanted to try and figure this out for myself first.”
“And did you?”
“I was waiting on my parents to fall asleep, then I was going to take leftovers to those men outside. My mom has some old sleeping pills that I was going to crush and put in the food. Then, when they passed out, I was going to take my parents away and hide them.”
I rub my palms over my face.
“I’m sorry, Elias. I never meant to lie to you or deceive you. I did what I had to, even if it wasn’t the right thing. Fear led me to make irrational decisions. I realize that now.”
Her palm is still flat against my chest. Surely, she can feel how fast my heart is beating.
“Why did you leave me the night we met?”
“Because I was scared. Not of you,” she adds quickly.
“I was scared to put myself back out there again after giving my heart to someone who didn’t deserve me.
I was scared because you did more to take care of me than Chase ever did.
You protected me without a question. I mean, you killed that man who groped me for fuck’s sake. No one’s ever done that for me.”
I bark a laugh, and she smiles, her watery eyes staring up into mine.
“No one’s ever killed someone for you?”
She laughs, and it’s the best sound I’ve heard all night.
“Surprisingly, you’re the first. But you know what I mean. No one’s ever put me first. No one’s ever looked at me the way you did that night... the way you are right now.”
“And how am I looking at you, Reine?”
“Like I’m the one who can save you. ”
Fuck. I’m falling hard and fast for this woman. I knew I was going to fall in love with her from the moment she grabbed the balls of the man who groped her. I just didn’t realize loving her would happen so fast.
I won’t share my feelings with her just yet. It’s too soon, and I need her to see more of the man I am. The dangerous mafia boss who would kill a hundred more men if she asked me to without a second thought.
“I’m going to take care of this, Sage. I have a place your parents can go. They’ll be protected.”
“What about me?”
“I want you by my side. I’m never letting you go again.”
She sucks in a sharp breath. Tears once again threatening to fall down her rosy cheeks.
“Promise you won’t tell Noah? Not yet. I need to do it, but I can’t put this on her right now. She’s got enough on her plate, trying to figure out who’s responsible for her mother’s murder.”
My phone vibrates with a text, and I pull it out of my jacket pocket. It’s from Phil letting me know he’s tracked down a few of Chase’s men in Manhattan. I forward the information to Martin and instruct him to send in some soldiers to grab them.
If Moonlight is heading back to Manhattan now, he’ll find out soon that he’s been compromised .
Who is this fucker? He seems to have come out of nowhere which has me thinking he’s partnered with, or reporting to, someone else.
Someone rich and powerful.
“I won’t tell Noah,” I say and palm her cheek one more time, because I can’t get enough of her.
I’d fuck her right here in her childhood room, while covering her mouth to muffle her moans, but I’m too eager to return to the city and track down her ex to kill him. She’s also too vulnerable right now. I can’t imagine how hard it was to confess everything.
Did she worry I was going to hurt her? I never want her to think that of me.
I point around her room. “Grab everything that’s of value to you. Then wake your parents and have them pack essentials. I can send some men for the rest later. We leave in an hour.”
“Where are we going?”
“After I send your parents to a safe house, I’m going to find Chase and kill him.”