Chapter Fifty-Two - Joshua
CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
Joshua
“All I’m saying is that I could’ve been more useful inside,” Alec says for the hundredth time.
Donovan rolls his eyes. “Oh, please. Then I would’ve had to carry both your injured asses out of that factory.”
“I wouldn’t be dumb enough to get shot like some people.”
“Shut the hell up, Tonis. You literally got shot two weeks ago,” Kade points out.
“Well, I wouldn’t be dumb enough to get shot again,” Alec defends.
The rest of their conversation blurs into the background, and I find myself doing the same thing I’ve done nonstop for the last forty-eight hours—thinking about Elise.
I don’t like leaving her side, but I can only sit in stifling silence with her brothers for so long before the urge to kill them takes over. So, I let myself relax on the sofa in Kade’s room with the guys—who are trying to keep the conversation light for my sake.
Not that it makes much of a difference.
Kade lies in his bed, still too injured to return to work. Alec, whose leg is freshly uncasted, leans against the far wall beside Donovan.
No one mentions the missing piece of the group, but that doesn’t make the emptiness any less noticeable.
I haven’t talked to Ryder since we got back from the factory.
The first day here was pure chaos, and I didn’t have time to deal with it, but now that things are starting to settle down, I can’t push it off much longer. What he did was unforgivable, though I know Elise would say otherwise.
The only thing stopping me from putting a bullet in his head is that she’d never forgive me for it.
That only makes it more difficult to decide how to handle it, especially considering that there are hours from that night that are unaccounted for.
I have no idea what Elise and Ryder endured in the time before we arrived and I’m not going to be able to make a decision until I know all the facts.
But Elise is still unconscious, so if I want information, I need to talk to Ryder.
I push out of my chair without warning, ending the conversation around me.
“I’ll see you guys later,” I say without looking back as I leave the room.
I head toward my office and send a quick message telling Ryder to meet me there. His confirmation is instant.
He’s already at the door when I arrive, and I’m hit with a sickening sense of irritation as soon as I see him. Maybe I should take time to calm down before doing this, but I’m too eager to get it over with.
I push past him and round the desk as he closes the door behind us.
We stand in thick silence for several seconds before I even know where to start, but I finally take a seat and face the inevitable head-on.
“What happened that night? Tell me everything from the moment you heard from Mason to the moment I got to the factory.”
And he does.
He tells me how he received a call that Rachel and Lyla had been taken.
About how he got Elise to come with him by telling her that I left the base.
About how she attacked him on the side of the road after realizing she’d been tricked.
About how Mason forced them to make that video by threatening Lyla.
“We were taken to a cell, then Tripp came in.”
It’s then that Ryder stops to take a seat across from my desk. His breath hitches, and there’s a tremor in his hand.
Ryder rarely shows emotion, so I know the grief must be overwhelming if I can see it.
“I didn’t want to do it, but there was no other way.”
“Do what?”
“Her arm.”
My stomach twists, and it’s through gritted teeth that I ask, “What about her arm?”
He searches my face. “You didn’t see the cuts?”
I squeeze my eyes closed and force myself to take a deep breath to stop from reaching for my gun.
I shouldn’t be surprised that Elise lied to me. She knew how I’d react; she knew I’d want to kill Ryder for this.
And she was right.
“She told me it was Tripp,” I bite out, squeezing my fists so tightly that my fingernails draw blood.
Ryder seems just as surprised by the news as I am.
“He knew she wouldn’t fight me, so he held us at gunpoint and told me that if I didn’t do it to Elise, he’d do it to Lyla. As soon as his aim drifted, I threw the knife, and that’s it. I didn’t even write the whole word—”
“Don’t you dare lie to me, Ryder. I saw the whole word.”
He freezes, and the blood drains from his face. “No.”
My chest constricts, and I slowly push to my feet so I can look down at him. “What?”
“I swear he was unconscious when I left.” His voice breaks on the last word, but his pain does nothing to ease my fury.
I slam my fist onto the desk, and everything on it shakes. “You left her alone with him while he was still alive?”
He shoots to his feet, but there’s nothing defensive about his countenance. “When I heard she’d killed him, I assumed she’d just finished the job. I never thought there would be another fight.”
It takes a conscious effort to stop myself from lunging over my desk to strangle him. How could he leave her there with the man who tortured and almost raped her only weeks ago?
“I had to go to Mason’s office to find a key to Rachel and Lyla’s cell, but he and Nate were in there.
I took Nate out, but that was my last bullet, so I fought with Mason.
He fell back and hit his head on the desk.
It knocked him out, and I left him there.
I found Lyla and Rachel, got them out of the building, then went back inside to find Elli.
She was in this janitor’s closet. Damn it, Joshua, she killed two of Mason’s soldiers with only a knife. ”
I recall how surprised I’d been when I saw the corpses myself.
“After that, we went to find you. You know the rest from there.”
Neither of us says a word.
We catch our ragged breaths. After a few minutes, I let myself sit back down, and Ryder does the same.
“He had your daughter, I get that, but that doesn’t justify what you did.”
“I know.”
And my decision is made.
“I’m transferring you,” I tell him. “You’ll accept a capo position at the base in Sacramento. It’s the closest one to Rachel and Lyla.”
Ryder looks at me with warranted disbelief. “A transfer? That’s it?”
I’d laugh if it weren’t for the venomous bile crawling up my throat.
“Would you like me to do worse?”
“I deserve worse.”
“Yes, you do,” I agree.
“So, why don’t you?”
No one has ever used the word merciful to describe me, and rightfully so. Ryder deserves a bullet to the head, and we both know it, but there’s one very important reason I can’t bring myself to hurt him.
“Elise,” I answer. “She cares about you too much, and I’m not willing to hurt her. She’s been through enough.”
A million words pass between us in this silent moment.
My best friend and I stand across from one another, separated by far more than a desk. This man stood by my side through the best and worst days of my life. He’s seen me at my lowest, celebrated with me at my highest, and watched my entire world shift on its axis when Elise came into my life.
I trusted him with everything I had, and he stabbed me in the back.
“I suppose I owe her my life then.”
“Don’t make me regret this, Ryder.”
“Yes, sir.”
He stands, nodding respectfully, before leaving the room.
Before the door shuts behind him, a hand shoots out to stop it. No one comes into my office uninvited, especially without knocking, so I’m about to lay into the intruder until I see who it is.
I’m on my feet when James Consoli steps cautiously into the room, and he says the words I’ve been waiting to hear for the last forty-eight hours.
“She’s awake.”
The second my eyes meet hers, it’s like breathing fresh air for the first time in days. My chest loosens, my shoulders sag, and my heart pounds expectantly.
Her skin is pale, highlighting the bruising around her throat. Her lips are cracked and chapped but still pull into a small smile at my entrance.
“Joshua,” she breathes, and it feels like years, not days, since I’ve heard that melodic voice say my name.
I rush to her side, ignoring how Logan glowers at me the whole way.
“Damn it, Elise. I’m so sorry I wasn’t here when you woke up.”
With so many parts of her injured, I can’t exactly pull her into my arms, so I settle for taking her hand.
She holds mine like it’s her lifeline, and her eyes pool with tears. “I’m so sorry. Those things I said in your office. I didn’t mean any of it. I was on my way to apologize when—”
I silence her with a gentle hush. “You have nothing to apologize for, Princess.”
A gagging sound interrupts our reunion, and Elise glares at Logan. “Could you give us a moment?”
James, who still stands at the door, nods, stepping out of the room without another word. Logan, however, doesn’t move an inch.
“Logan, please?”
When he looks at her, his stony glare falls away, and I wonder if there’s anyone who could withstand the power of her big, brown eyes.
I doubt it.
He huffs a sigh. “Fine, I’m going to check on Damon. If you need anything, call, and I’ll come right away.”
Does this asshole think I’d hurt her? Just the thought pisses me off.
I take both her hands in mine once the door closes behind him. “I don’t think your brothers like me very much.”
Her breathless laugh is the sweetest sound I’ve ever heard. “Doesn’t seem like you care for them, either.”
I shrug off the observation. “How are you feeling?”
“I’m on some pretty strong pain meds, so I don’t feel much of anything. What about you? How’s your leg?”
I’d almost forgotten about my graze wound.
“I’m fine, Princess. It’ll take a lot more than a shootout and an explosion to take me down.” I wink to emphasize my point.
Her no-nonsense glare doesn’t falter, and I give in. “My leg really is fine, but I have a few broken ribs from how I landed in the explosion and a ruptured eardrum.”
“I guess we got lucky then.”
My eyes fall to the wrap covering her arm. “I wouldn’t go that far.”
“Don’t worry,” she says as she holds up her arm, turning it to either side for closer inspection. “I’m sure it won’t scar.”
“You lied to me.”