Chapter 26
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“What is it that you want but can’t have?” Beckett wasn’t so arrogant as to assume she meant him, but damn, he wanted exactly that.
Sydney’s fingers danced along her collarbone while saying, “I want what Valentina and Martín have. I didn’t need to spend much time with them to know they have the kind of marriage most people dream about. I could see and feel their love for each other in every look and touch.”
He could sense her guard was still down, but was it temporary?
“I gave up on the possibility of ever falling in love again,” she continued in a soft tone, “but seeing them together made me wish I could have that too.”
“And why can’t you? Why is it not possible?” He’d sworn off love and romance too, but then this blonde badass archer with a beautiful soul came into his life, and now he wasn’t sure what to think from one minute to the next.
“Hey,” a voice called out. Jack and his horrible timing . . . “Emily and Elaina just pulled up.”
Beckett took a step away from Sydney at the sight of Jack’s disapproving frown.
“Coming,” Sydney told Jack, stealing a quick look at him still hanging back in the hall.
Jack must know about us. But is there an us? Can there ever be?
Jack nodded and slapped the doorframe once as if to say hurry, then left.
Beckett hated that their conversation felt unresolved, and he had no clue when or if they’d have a chance to pick things back up again. He followed her from the room, then paused at the top of the stairs, wondering if they shouldn’t enter the living room side by side.
“You go first,” Sydney suggested, sharing his thoughts. “I’ll give it a minute and come down.”
“Yeah, okay.” At the sound of Elaina’s voice, he shoved aside his emotions and maneuvered around Sydney to go downstairs.
“Beckett!” Elaina called out the moment he walked through the doorway to the living room. She shot straight for him, arms stretched open for a hug.
Elaina wrapped her arms around his waist, and the guilt at being there and away from his daughter struck him hard. “Hey,” he said softly, meeting Emily’s tired eyes from across the room where she stood between Gray and Griffin.
Aside from Jack on the couch, the room was empty, but he heard footsteps coming from the hallway.
“How are you?” He meant his question for both Emily and Elaina as Emily swapped places with her daughter for a hug.
“I’m here. That’s all I know,” Emily said into his ear and faked a small smile for his benefit after pulling back.
“I’m sorry,” he mouthed, his head spinning, reality settling in with the two of them in Santiago.
“Mya.” Elaina beamed and started for Mya, who’d walked into the room with Oliver.
“Wait, you two know each other?” Beckett pointed a finger back and forth between them as he tried to remember when and how Mya had met Elaina.
“I was at Julia and Finn’s wedding in North Carolina last fall,” Mya reminded Beckett, and then it clicked as Elaina fist-bumped Oliver in greeting. “Both of us were.” Mya tipped her head toward Oliver as if this would jog Beckett’s memory.
Oliver dragged a finger over his throat, and it came back to Beckett. Julia and Mya were friends. They’d been the ones to help keep Oliver from losing his head last year. And Julia was married to one of A.J.’s teammates, Finn.
Mya waved to Emily. “How are you?”
“I’m here,” Emily repeated what she’d told Beckett and faked yet another smile. She looked exhausted and stressed, and she had every right to be.
As more guilt stabbed him in the chest, he crossed his arms and tried to steady his breathing so he wouldn’t look so shaken up.
“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you anything in D.C.,” Elaina told him while striding back his way, and she pursed her lips apologetically. “It had to be this way.”
“Right.” Beckett nodded. “Mya,” he shared. “She would’ve . . .” He closed one eye a second later. “Why’d you call her a dark-haired woman with dark eyes if you knew Mya’s name?” he asked at the realization. “Why not tell your mom it was Mya that needed help?”
Elaina turned to look at Mya for a moment. “I didn’t know Mya was in trouble.” She lowered her head as if surprised by that fact. “I only saw the other woman in trouble. I’m sorry.”
“Hey, it’s okay. I’m fine.” Mya approached Elaina and took a knee alongside her. “If Beckett hadn’t gone to Mexico, I might not have been okay, so you saved me anyway.”
“Wait.” Now Beckett was really curious. “You said ‘the other woman.’ Who’s the woman who’d die if?—”
“Her.” Elaina pointed to the hallway, and Beckett swiveled around to see Camila and Carter joining them in the room.
“Well, you must be the one I’ve heard so much about.” Camila smiled and extended her hand while waiting for Elaina to approach.
Elaina took slow steps, studying her without accepting her palm. Was she nervous around her? No, that wasn’t it. But the way Elaina observed her was?—
“You were going to die earlier today,” Elaina whispered, interrupting Beckett’s thoughts. “But you didn’t.” There was a childlike quality to her tone Beckett hadn’t heard from her since they’d met when she was around eight or nine.
Camila withdrew her hand and peered at Carter for clarification. She appeared as confused as Beckett felt.
“What do you mean?” Carter asked, and Beckett spied Sydney coming into the room from the corner of his eye.
Elaina frowned and took one more step toward Camila as if feeling the need to inspect her closer. “You were going to be somewhere else earlier. You would’ve been taken as a hostage. Tortured. And then killed.” Well, that was blunt, even for Elaina.
“I, um.” Camila’s forehead tightened as she studied Elaina, and Mya pushed upright to stand by Sydney.
“Elaina, sweetheart.” Emily came up behind her daughter and set her hands on her shoulders. “Sorry,” she apologized to Camila.
“It’s okay,” Camila began. “I was supposed to be somewhere earlier, but then Carter called, and I changed my plans. She may be right.”
Beckett remembered now. Camila had planned to surveil Jorge’s house, and fuck, that meant she would’ve more than likely been detained while there. Because Elaina was always right. And neither Mya nor Camila would be standing there now had . . . Well, had Cora not called me for help. Because either way, Mya would have been in Tulum to meet her contact. And Camila would have tracked her scientist to Santiago and to Jorge Rojas.
But Cora . . . she was the link that brought them all together. The reason these two women were still alive. This is over my head.
Elaina continued to observe Camila as if there were something else she wanted to share, searching for a thought that wouldn’t quite materialize.
“What is it?” Mya asked, drawing the same conclusion as Beckett.
Elaina reached for Camila’s arm instead of her hand. Closing her eyes, she whispered, “You’re like me, aren’t you? But not quite the same, I suppose.”
Beckett watched the whole scene unfold in shock, not sure what to make of it. It seemed only Emily was at ease with her daughter’s abilities. Of course, she knew Elaina better than anyone in that room.
“I don’t know what you mean,” Camila said while Elaina opened her eyes.
Beckett shifted to the side to better view Elaina as Emily offered her daughter an alternative explanation, “Maybe you just feel connected to her because of your vision.”
“Honestly, it’s starting to feel like we’re all connected,” Oliver spoke up, voicing exactly what Beckett was beginning to believe.
“If you’re not ready for others to know, I understand.” Elaina let go of Camila’s arm and stepped back. Emily wrapped her arms around her. “Most people wouldn’t believe you anyway.” She peered around the room, remaining comfortably within the safety of her mother’s embrace. “But they will.” Her shoulders fell on a sigh. “Mom, my head doesn’t hurt anymore. The headache is gone.”
“Well, that’s something to celebrate,” Emily said, her eyes glistening as if she might cry at the news.
“But I’d like to go to bed,” Elaina told her while squinting at Camila with that searching-for-a-memory look of hers Beckett had grown to know.
“I saved you a room with a queen bed instead of bunk beds,” Carter said. “Griffin can show you where it is.”
“Of course.” Griffin stepped away from where he’d remained by Gray and swiped a hand along his jawline.
“Elaina?” Camila tipped her head and stepped forward when Emily released her hold of her daughter.
“Yeah?” Elaina asked in an almost wistful tone.
“Do you know anything else . . .” Camila let her voice trail off.
“Not yet, but I think being here will help me,” Elaina said with confidence. “I think being near you will help me,” she added, and Emily shot Beckett a puzzled, slightly worried look. “Goodnight.” She tossed a hand in the air, doing a three-sixty to make sure she waved to everyone, and then Emily quietly followed her and Griffin from the room.
“That was interesting,” Oliver muttered a few moments later, setting his hands on his hips while focusing on Carter.
“Her head was pretty bad when she arrived at the airport,” Gray shared, speaking for the first time since returning with Emily and Elaina. He certainly had Beckett’s attention. “The closer we got here, the less pain she was in.”
And now her headache is gone. Beckett shifted toward Camila, who looked like she’d seen a ghost. Quite the contrast to the cool and confident woman he’d first met a little over an hour ago. Is Elaina better because of you? Why?
“I don’t know why,” Camila said, responding to the question no one had vocalized, but Beckett had definitely been thinking.
But knowing Elaina, Beckett had a feeling they’d all soon find out.