Chapter 41
REN
I pace the floor outside the bedroom, waiting to hear if they’re both okay. Eloise refused to let me take her to hospital. She won’t let me touch her, and it’s driving me in-fuckin’-sane.
The door eventually opens, and I look straight at Hugo for some answers.
“Relax. Both of them are fine. I checked the baby's heartbeat and took some bloods, just to be sure that whatever she was drugged with wasn’t harmful. But from what I can see, everything is normal.” He taps me on the shoulder.
“Nothing about this is fucking normal.” I shake my head, “Her best friend kidnapped her with a plan to steal her baby.” I can’t believe I let that happen; I’ve spent years scrutinizing every aspect of Eloise’s life, why did I never scrutinize her?
“Has she calmed down?” I ask, hating how much stress all this must have put on her.
I don’t know what I’m supposed to do to make it better, cause she won’t let me comfort her.
“She’s still mad at you. She doesn’t want to see you, and Ren, if I were you, I’d respect that. The girl needs rest. Just give her time to calm down.”
“How much time?” I ask, desperate to be with her.
“As long as she needs.” He taps my shoulder again and starts making his way down the stairs, and when my phone continues to vibrate against my leg, I take it out of my pocket and see that it’s Lance.
I’ve ignored all his calls up to now, and I guess the least I can do is let him know Eloise is safe.
“Hey.”
“Hey? Ren, I’ve been trying to get hold of you for hours. I went to Eloise’s apartment, but you weren’t there. What's going on?”
“I got her. She’s safe,” I assure him, resting my head back against the wall and closing my eyes.
“And her friend?”
“Her friend didn’t make it.” I close my eyes and swallow thickly.
“Did you find out who took them?”
“Look, Lance, I appreciate all the effort you put in to help me find her, but this is a closed case now. Eloise is safe, that's all you need to know.” I hang up on him and head downstairs to my uncle's office. Staring at her door isn’t going to stop her from hating me.
Stefan already has a scotch poured for me, and he hands it over his desk when I take the seat opposite him.
“Still not talking to you, huh?” He smiles sadly.
“How’dya guess?” I knock the drink back.
“If she was, you wouldn’t be down here talking to my sorry ass,” he sniggers. “The important thing is, she’s safe and she’s home. She’ll come around,” he assures me, but I don’t have much faith. He didn’t see the way she looked at me when I came out of that cabin and got in the car.
“I need to get a clean-up team over to the cabin,” I explain.
“I can make that happen.” He smiles at me sadly and pours himself another.
“We need to send a team to Katelyn's place, too. There's a whole lot of Eloise’s DNA there.” I realize that I still don’t know where all that blood came from. All I noticed was a bandage on her hand, and I assume Hugo’s taken care of it.
“Not a problem. Your real problem’s gonna be the cop.”
“Lance is nothing to worry about.” I shake my head back at him.
“What makes you so sure?” My uncle looks doubtful.
“The fact that he’s in love with her,” I answer. “He wouldn’t do anything to hurt Eloise.” I shake my head, remembering the fear I saw on his face when he saw that blood.
“All the more reason for him to incriminate you.” My uncle stares at me as if I’m crazy.
“Nah, Lance wouldn’t do that. He’s a decent guy.
He’s gonna get past this by telling himself he loves her more, because he let her go, but in reality, he knows that he could never do the things that I would do to keep her safe.
Lance ain’t a threat, and my girl’s gonna need a friend.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I trust him. ”
Stefan nods his head as if he’s at least pretending to understand my logic.
“I need to call the governor, explain the situation, and make sure all the loose ends are tied. I can’t have this coming back on me, or her.” I stand up ready to leave, and my uncle frowns.
“What is it you have over him?” he asks with a curious smirk on his face. My alliance with Reginald has always confused him, and since he was honest with me earlier, I decide to put him out of his misery.
“Did you know Reginald’s wife used to be a surgeon?” I ask. “You can imanine the guy was pretty cut up when she found out he was fucking one of her co-workers. I was there the night he came around yelling at the door, warning Nile Meadows to stay away from her.”
“The govoner’s wife was fucking Eloise’s dad?” Stefan frowns at me.
“He wasn’t the governor back then, but he was still a powerful man; the kind of man I figured would be useful to have on side. So I went to him and I made him an offer.”
“You clever fucker.” Stefan laughs.
“I was killing the asshole anyway, might as well make the cunt useful for something.” I shrug, heading out the door so I can make that call.
I wait a few more hours before I open the door and creep into the bedroom. I’ve given her space all evening, but there's no way I can stay away from her all night.
“Go away,” she croaks, making a huge effort to turn over to her other side so she’s facing away from me.
“I just wanted to know that you're okay.” I step closer to the bed, desperate to kiss her. There was a time today when I thought I might have lost her, and I need to hold her to remind me that I didn’t.
“I’m not okay, Ren.” I can tell from how her voice comes out that she’s crying.
“I’m sorry, Kitten. But she should never have taken you. When I think about what might have happened–”
“Get out,” she whispers.
“How long are you gonna hate me for?” I reach out to touch her, then pull away when I think about how mad it’ll make her. She’s been through so much already, I don’t want to add to her stress.
“Right now, I can’t even look at you.” Her words come out so cold that I swear they stop my heart for a second, and I slowly step back and leave through the door.
Shutting it behind me, I make my way to the upstairs gym.
It may have been the longest day of my fucking life but I need to do something with all my frustration.
It’s not going to beat kicking someone's ass in the ring, but The Pit is too far away from her. She may not stand the sight of me right now, but love me or hate me, she’s still got my baby inside her.
A baby that’s due to come anytime, and there's no way I won’t be by her side when it happens.