Chapter 35 #2
“You know your brother never cared about you, right?” The change of subject is a little abrupt, and I think he’s just trying to hurt me now. But the joke's on him; I already knew my brother didn’t care.
“What gave it away, Einstein? The fact that he tried to sell me? Or the fact that he handed me over to you?” I spit out sarcastically. His hand tightens, and I suck in a pained breath through my teeth.
He leans over me more, his crushing weight making it hard to breathe.
He whispers in my ear as he tells me, “The truth is, he doesn’t care about you at all.
Especially not now that he’s found his real prize.
” I frown, unsure what he means, and he must see the look on my face cause he chuckles.
“Ahh… So you haven’t figured it out yet. ”
“Figured what out?”
“That the real bargaining chip here is Elias.” My eyes widen in surprise.
“But he threatened to kill him,” I say in denial.
“That was just to make you compliant.”
“If that’s true, why are you telling me now?”
His free hand runs down my side until it lands on my hip, and he gives it a bruising squeeze. “Because after I’m done with you, it won’t matter. You’ll have no fight left in you.”
“I’ll never stop fighting,” I tell him angrily as I try to buck him off me to no avail.
“Regardless. Even if you do escape…” His hand trails up my side and onto my shoulder blade. He presses a spot with his thumb, and pain shoots through me.
“Svoloch!” I scream in Russian. Holy mother of muffins, what was that?!
“That right there is how we’ll always be able to find you.”
My mind reels with that information. Is there a tracker in my back? How had I never noticed it before? I think about every time Robert has found me. The first time, we thought it was the vehicle or phone. And I assumed they had followed us back from our stakeout the other night.
But if Robert had been tracking me this whole time, he knew I was following him across state lines. That’s why he never tried to take me again after that first time; it was easier to wait until I came to him. Maybe he decided it was better to attack than to wait for us to go after him, as we did.
Or else they were watching our safe house and waiting for the right moment. And Elias and I stepping outside on our own was the perfect opportunity for him.
And of course, he wants Elias; not only is he a highly skilled hacker, but he has insider knowledge. He’d be a huge asset for Robert, or for him to trade to Ivan.
His hands move to my wrists, and he yanks them over my head, holding them both in one of his large hands. I twist and pull, and try with everything I have to get him off me, but he’s a big guy, and he doesn’t budge. If anything, he seems amused by my attempts, which just makes me panic more.
Tears stream down my face as his free hand pulls the back of my dress up, exposing my ass to him as he runs his palm over it.
“No!” I scream in fear. His hand slides up until his fingertips can dip under the edge of my panties, his hand moves back down, right down the center of my ass, toward the last place I’d ever want him to touch.
I scream at the top of my lungs, and a loud bang has me jolting in surprise—cutting my voice off. Suddenly, Carlos' weight is pulled from me, and I try to use my hands to push to my knees, but they tremble beneath me. I press my face into the bed as tears roll down my cheeks.
Get a grip and get up!
I try to push up again, and suddenly someone's rolling me over. I open my mouth to scream, but a hand clamps over my mouth. My eyes shoot open, and I’m met with a pair of concerned, beautiful brown eyes.
Relief fills me as he lifts his hand. “Elias!” I whisper, throwing my arms around his neck as he pulls me into his lap, my legs straddling him as I cry into his neck.
“It’s okay, sweetheart. I’m here now, I’ve got you.” It takes me a minute of his soothing words and soft stroking of my head and back before I’m able to stop trembling and crying.
If I never cry again, it will be too soon. I hate feeling weak and having no control.
I pull back and wipe my face, as Elias watches me with that worried look in his eyes.
“W-What happened to Carlos?” I stutter out.
“He’s dead,” he says with no remorse. I let out a sigh of relief as I glance at the door. I’m not sure when he did it, but Elias managed to barricade the door by pulling the large dresser in front of it.
I take a few deep breaths, knowing we can’t keep sitting here while we’re in danger, and that’s when I realize how I’m sitting, straddling him as I cling to his neck. “Oh, sorry,” I say as I move off his lap.
“Sweetheart, you never have to apologize for that,” he says, giving me a strained smile. Then his eyes take in the bedroom, and his expression turns determined. “But we do need to figure a way out of here.”
We both climb off the bed as he moves to the window and yanks back the curtains. “Fuck, it’s barred,” he says, grabbing the metal bars and giving them a yank for good measure.
“How’d you even get up here?” I ask. Last I knew, he was stuck downstairs on the computer.
“I lost it,” he says, looking pained. “I heard you scream and I knew something bad was about to happen. Then I lost control. I’m not even sure how I did it but I managed to knock both guards out before they used their guns on me.”
That makes sense after what Carlos just revealed to me. They need him alive.
Someone bangs on the door, making me jump in surprise. Elias immediately grabs me and pulls me behind him as he stares at the door in worry.
They bang again, hard enough that I can see the door move. “This is bad, isn’t it?” I ask in concern.
He spins around to face me, that look of worry even worse now as he cups my face and looks down at me. “I don’t have a gun. They will probably come in here with theirs aimed at us.”
“What do we do?”
“They aren’t going to hurt you. Robert needs you.”
I shake my head. “No, Carlos said you’re the one they’re really after.”
“Me?”
I shrug. “He didn’t explain, but it’s probably because of your hacking skills and connection to the FBI.”
“Shit.”
“This is good,” I tell him, placing my hands on his wrists as he holds my face. “It means they won’t shoot you.”
“They’re just gonna use us against each other.” He glances at the window in thought before looking back at me again. “I’ll try to make a path for you to escape. When I tell you to run, you go, don’t look back, you understand?”
“I can’t,” I say, shaking my head as tears fill my eyes.
“You can, Wren. You’re the strongest person I know.”
“You know I can’t get past the gate without you. Besides, they’ll find me. Robert’s been tracking me.”
“What do you mean? How?”
I turn around and point to my shoulder. “There’s a tracker in here.”
“Shit, did he tell you that?” he asks, pointing to the dead body on the ground. I nod, and he gently prods the area. “Fuck, yeah, I can feel it. We need to get rid of this right now.”
He moves over to Carlos and feels around his body until he finds a switchblade in his pocket. “This should work.” He looks up at me and grimaces. “Sorry, Wren. This is going to hurt. I wish I had a way to numb you first.”
“It’s okay,” I say, giving him my back as I brace my hands against the wall. “I want it out. I can take it.”
“That’s my girl,” he says proudly as he moves in behind me.
“Okay, I’ll be as fast as I can, try not to move.
” I nod, and the pain is instant. I whimper catches in my throat as I will myself to stay quiet.
It feels like he’s digging around under my skin, and my fingers press into the drywall as my back slowly starts to arch, trying to get away from the pain. “I know, I know, almost there… Got it!”
The worst of the pain suddenly stops, and now it’s just a constant sting. I turn around, and he shows me the small chip. “I wonder how long that’s been in me.”
“He’ll notice it’s gone, but at least it should give you some time before he tries to replace it.” He tosses the chip on the dead body before cutting off a piece of Carlos's shirt and using it to clean up my back.
The banging gets louder and more frequent, and I have a feeling we don’t have much time left. We both look at the door before looking at each other.
“I need to—”
“I want to—”
We both start talking at the same time, then smile as I tell him, “You go first.”
He grabs my hands and pulls them up to his chest as his expression softens. “Wren, I’m sorry all of this happened. It’s all my fault, I—”
“Elias! None of this is your fault!” I say in alarm, cutting him off.
“Please, let me get this out? It’s hard enough as it is.
” I nod, unsure what he wanted to say that was so difficult.
We’d been best friends our whole lives; we could tell each other anything.
“If I had just taken you away when we were eighteen, we could have avoided all of this. I know I could have supported you; it might just have been rough at the beginning. Instead, I left you in that place, with him, for years.”
He takes a deep breath before continuing. “And for that, I’m so sorry, Wren. It’s my biggest regret. And if I’m going to die here, I don’t want to live with another one.”
He licks his lips as his eyes bounce between mine, and I can’t help but whisper, “Another one?”
Despite the loud banging of them trying to break in, and the terror of what will happen when they do, Elias has all my attention at this moment. The tension is rolling off him in large waves as he contemplates his response.
Finally, he speaks. “I don’t want to regret not telling you how I feel.” I suck in a small breath of surprise. Did he care for me the same way I did for him? “You’re my best friend, Wren. I’ve loved you our entire lives. But I’m also in love with you.”
A tear rolls down my cheek as several emotions flood me at once. Happiness at knowing he feels that way. Sadness that we may never get the chance to explore it, and finally guilt, for wanting something with him when I already have four boyfriends. Four boyfriends who barely tolerate him as it is.
“Elias, I—”
He shakes his head, cutting me off. “You don’t have to say anything. I know your heart lies with them, but I needed to tell you in case I never get the chance.”
I glance at the door as it starts to buckle from the pounding on the other side. He’s right, this may be our last chance to tell each other how we really feel. Looking back at him, I flip our hands so now I’m holding his between mine against his chest.
“I love you, too, Elias,” I finally admit.
“I’ve had a crush on you since we were thirteen and I started seeing you as something…
more.” His eyebrows raise in stunned surprise.
“I always imagined you’d be the one I married.
Well, before you disappeared. And now… Things are complicated.
But I want you to know, I feel it too. I feel it every day.
And since the moment you reappeared in my life, it’s been painful to stay away from you.
I want you, Elias, but I can’t cheat on them. ”
A few tears spring free, and he wipes my cheeks. “I know, sweetheart. It’s okay, I understand.”
He reaches into his pocket as he tells me, “I felt the same way. In fact, I had this crazy plan that as soon as I got you away from Robert, I’d whisk you away and marry you.”
“You did?” I ask in surprise. He chuckles in a self-deprecating way as he pulls something from his pocket and holds it between us.
“I even got you this.” He opens the box, and a stunning platinum ring with three beautiful diamonds glistens brightly. I gasp at the sight.
“Elias…”
“I know I’m too late,” he says as he grabs my left hand and slips it on my ring finger. “But I want you to have it anyway, to remember me.”
I open my mouth as I look up at him, trying to form words that won’t come.
I hear the door splinter, and he quickly leans down and presses his lips to mine.
Before I can even decide to kiss him back or not, he pulls away and pushes me behind him.
Then he turns to the entrance, holding the knife out, ready to face whatever comes through that door.