SALT #9
Hesitantly, I glance around and realize I am still in the small room, and on the screen, the same person is still there, looking at me with open concern.
"What is this? Eliano, where did you get this recording? What kind of sick joke is this?"
"Salt," Eliano says patiently, "this isn’t a joke. This is a real live connection, not a recording."
I let out a shaky breath. "What do you mean…?"
He smiles gently. "I’ll leave you here now. Try not to lose consciousness again, okay?" He winks.
Then he slips an arm around my waist and effortlessly lifts me off the floor, settling me back into the chair. I still feel unsteady, but my eyes lock onto the screen again.
Eliano quietly leaves the room, closing the door behind him.
"I’m sorry to shock you like this," the person says softly. "But I had to see you, and today I was finally ready. Only now am I healed enough to talk about all of this with you."
I say nothing. I cannot even open my mouth. I just stare, stunned beyond words.
"My heart broke when I found out what happened," the person continues. "That you tried to avenge me, that you killed those men, and now you’re imprisoned yourself—"
"Who are you? Why are you hurting me? Are you his imposter?" I blurt out hoarsely, tears threatening to spill.
"No, Salt. I would never… It’s me. Senu."
"Senu?" The word leaves my mouth like it is rising from underground, barely recognizable even to me.
He slowly nods. His face seems so different, radiant, as if I were speaking to a ghost or an angel.
"What does that even mean?"
"Simply… that I’m alive."
"Alive? How is this possible?"
He takes a deep breath. "He took me to his underground dungeon. I was there for several months with a few other omegas. It was…" Senu trails off and looks away, then gathers himself and meets my gaze again. "It was really hard for me, but it ended well. You could say a miracle happened, because—"
"I don’t understand any of this. I thought you were dead. I thought they killed you!" I shout, still unable to grasp what I see, whom I see.
"That was how Tanner collected omegas. In front of his brothers and associates, he pretended to kill them by choking, then claimed he would take the body to the shredder. In reality, he took us underground."
It still does not feel real, though I can sense cracks forming in the surface of this so-called dream.
"Is this really you?" I manage weakly. Tears run down my face. My control finally breaks, and I start sobbing uncontrollably. "Don’t lie to me! Don’t be a dream."
His face saddens, his eyes welling up too. "Oh, Salt. I’m telling the truth, and you’re awake, for sure." Senu gives me a soft, warm smile.
He lifts his hand in front of the camera, his fingers splayed as if he could touch me through it. Slowly, I raise mine and press my hand to the glass, our fingers lining up on either side.
I let out a shaky huff.
It’s like someone has let light into the room, and something inside me begins to thaw.
He tilts his head, almost teasingly. "And your eyes. Are they healed?"
But I ignore it. It’s too much.
"S-S-Senu!" I cry out, pressing my hands to my face. "I went through hell! But you’re alive. You’re alive…"
"Yes, Salt, I am. And I’m so happy I can see you, but I’m also so worried about what you did and about the fact that you may never be free, we can’t be together again… It crushes me."
"I really thought you were… dead. I needed to kill them. I love you so much…" I stutter, overwhelmed with emotion.
Senu closes his eyes. Tears stream down his cheeks, one after another. He sobs for a while, and neither of us says anything.
Finally, he calms down a little and takes a deep breath.
"You are the best brother there is, do you know that? What you did for me… avenging me and also, sending him, our savior to rescue me, it’s amazing. I love you so much, Salt. So much!"
He lowers his head, his small hands pressed to his chest, curling into fists. I try to wipe my cheeks with my sleeve, but I can’t keep up, and they’re wet again every few seconds.
Finally, I pull myself together a bit and fix my eyes on him. His light hair is longer than the last time I saw him five months ago, falling all the way to his shoulder blades. He is wearing a clean white T-shirt. His cheeks have a faint flush. He does not look bad at all, healthy, even glowing!
"Where are you, Senu?" I whisper. "Are you safe?" I ask, wiping at my tears that refuse to stop, my heart tight with joy, shock, and disbelief.
My Senu is alive.
A miracle. An impossible miracle.
"How did you escape? Where are you now?" I fire off more questions.
"I’m staying at my True Mate’s home."
"Wait. What? I don’t understand anything."
"Okay, there’s a lot. I’ll start from the beginning."
"Yes, please," I say, my eyes glued to the screen, drinking in every detail of his face, still unable to believe he is real, my brother, alive and well.
"One day, while I was sitting in the cage, I heard loud banging, then the sound of someone forcing a door open.
Soon the blanket covering my cage was ripped away, and an unknown alpha was standing there.
He came back with another man shortly after.
I overheard their conversation and started to hope quietly that they had come to save us, and…
they had. Not long after, the police and paramedics arrived. And with them came my True Mate."
"Senu, oh Senu… damn, I cannot believe this. You’re not some AI-generated image?"
Senu smiles softly and shakes his head. "I’m really here. I would have come to see you myself, but this island has very strict rules. No visitors."
I let out a bitter laugh. "I doubt I’ll be here much longer anyway. You need to know that I’m expecting a child, Senu, so the program is ending for me. We’re at a crossroads. We have no idea what comes next."
"Wait, are you serious? You’re pregnant? But you’re…"
Senu presses his fingers to his lips.
I nod. "And yet."
"Your husband is the father, right?"
"How do you know I have a husband?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.
"Well, he was the one who found us. Our savior.
He left his phone number," Senu says, lifting a small piece of paper. "I was too nervous to call him directly, so I called the general line instead, when I gathered enough courage to do it. I was ashamed, because you had warned me so many times about getting involved in Tif’s problems, and it’s what got me in troub—"
"Wait, wait, wait! Go back. What savior? Who found you again?"
"Oh. I see he didn’t tell you anything," Senu murmurs, lifting his brows slightly. "Well, he kept his word. I can see he waited patiently until I was ready."
"What was he supposed to tell me? What are you talking about?"
"The man who found us introduced himself as Eliano. He left me that contact card and signed it as your husband."
"No, no, stop. Rewind. I… What are you saying? Eliano found you? How is that even possible? What is happening?" I press my hands to my temples.
"I don’t know how. Like I said, one day we heard the banging, he walked in and pulled the covers off our cages."
I clench my fists, emotions surging through me so violently I can barely process them.
"He didn’t tell me anything," I say numbly. My mind spins, I’m dizzy, rubbing my face with my hands.
"Senu… I can barely believe any of this.
How did Eliano even find you? I was furious at him because he stopped me from taking revenge on Daniel Tanner.
I wanted to escape and kill that bastard myself. "
Senu blinks, lifting his hand to his mouth, covering it before whispering, "Oh dear…
thank Fate he stopped you. If Tanner had died, no one would have found us.
The police searched his house multiple times.
The basement was incredibly well hidden.
Your Eliano must have listened to him and watched him for days before realizing something was under the floor.
If you had killed him, we all would have starved to death down there and been buried forever. "
The emotions flood me like a spring river.
My body shivers hard. I jump to my feet and wrench the door open.
Eliano is standing nearby, leaning against the wall. I know he heard everything, as an alpha. I was shouting, after all.
I look at him. He looks back at me with that strange sadness in his eyes.
"Why… why didn’t you tell me?"
"It was Senu’s place to do that. And I wanted you to take me back because you genuinely liked me and wanted me here. Just for me. Not because of what I did."
The pain nearly folds me in half. I drop to my knees, sobbing, hands pressed to my face.
Eliano steps forward and crouches beside me.
"I banished you from the island. I told you I hated you, and you… You did this? You went to the mainland and saved my brother?"
"Well, to be fair, I didn’t know I would save him. I was looking for evidence, watching Tanner, hoping I could find something to put him away."
My breath just hitches in my lungs. I simply can’t take it.
"You stopped me from killing him. If you hadn’t, Senu would have died down there. Starved!"
"Salt… I just wanted to make it right for you. Since I took it from you, your revenge, and I felt guilty—"
"I love you," I blurt out.
Eliano shakes his head with a bitter grimace and makes a move like he wants to move away. "That’s gratitude, not love, Salt," he says sadly. "Don’t say it."
"Bullshit!" I grab him by the neck with both hands and pull his head toward mine.
"I finally see you in full perspective, Eliano.
From the beginning, what you wanted for me, for us.
What you did. Even when I told you I hated you, you still acted for my good, for me, for my brother.
How could I not love you? You are perfect!
" I can’t help it, tears keep streaming down my face.
Almost violently, I pull him to me in a sudden motion and bury myself in his arms.
"I’m hardly perfect…" he whispers. "Just look at where we are right now…"
I pull back from his shoulder and look straight into his eyes.
"I believe in you. I believe in you, Eliano!
" I say, with full conviction in every word.
"You can do anything. Anything. You can make the impossible happen, Eliano!" My voice breaks. "You could bring the dead back to life if you had to. You will find a way out. I know it! I know it, and I love you. I’m yours. I’m sorry for being an asshole all the time, for doubting you. You’re the best thing that ever happened to me! "
There's silence. Something subtly shifts in Eliano’s face. I can see that my words reach him somehow. My assurance gives him a surge of strength.
But his face is still a bit sad, when he asks,
"You really do believe I can find a solution?"
It shocks me how much he’s been struggling with this, feeling like he failed me. It’s practically saturating him, the gloomy energy.
"I know it," I answer, meaning every word. "Whatever you put your mind and energy into, you make it work."
I can feel it matters a great deal to him, the simple fact that I have faith in him.
It’s like a rush of revitalizing energy flooding his body.
"Then I’ll make it happen," he says quietly but surely. "I’ll find a way out for us, Salt. I promise."
I nod firmly, grab his hand, and pull him back into the room where Senu is still sitting. He must have heard everything with his omega hearing. He looks deeply moved, his eyes shining with tears.
That’s when I notice someone kneeling beside him.
"Jordan Arnold?" I whisper.
Senu beams.
"Yeah. Meet my True Mate."