Chapter Twenty-Eight — Keep Your Promise #3
A monitor inside the unit turned on. Claire appeared live. Different location. Still tied. Ronan’s stomach tightened. Not prerecorded. She moved. Breathing. Alive. Elliot stepped closer.
“Where?”
Saint ignored him.
“Did you enjoy your reward?”
Elliot’s face went blank. Ronan knew immediately. The sex. The bite. Saint had watched. His jaw clenched. Elliot said nothing.
“Ronan did.”
Ronan felt heat crawl up his neck. Vance looked straight ahead with impressive professionalism. Saint continued.
“He looks at you differently now.”
Elliot’s voice hardened.
“You don’t know how he looks at me.”
“Don’t I?”
“No.”
Pause. Then Saint said:
“He looks at you like he’s terrified of loving you.”
Ronan went still. Fuck. Elliot’s face changed. Barely. Saint had hit something real.
“Where is Claire?”
“Better.”
“What?”
“Keep choosing him.”
Elliot stepped closer to the speaker.
“Claire.”
The monitor changed. Not Claire. Ronan. Live. Sitting inside the van. His blood went cold. Camera angle from outside windshield. Someone was watching the van. Right now. Vance saw it.
“MOVE.”
Everything exploded. Officers shouted over radios. Vance grabbed Ronan’s shoulder.
“Down.”
Ronan ducked. Elliot’s body camera shook as he ran from unit twelve.
“No!”
Ronan shouted into the mic.
“Stay there!”
Too late. Elliot came around the corner.
Running directly toward the van. Saint laughed through the unit speaker.
Then Elliot’s phone vibrated. Ronan saw him look.
He stopped dead in the lane. Message. PROMISES, ELLIOT.
Another photograph. Claire. Knife still beneath her jaw.
Elliot’s entire body locked. Ronan got out of the van. Vance grabbed him.
“Stay down.”
“No.”
“Ronan.”
“He needs to see me.”
“What?”
Ronan stepped into the open. Elliot saw him.
Across two rows of storage units. Their eyes met.
Ronan lifted both hands. Empty. Alive. Stay.
He mouthed it. Elliot stared. Ronan touched his own shoulder.
The bite beneath his shirt. Then mouthed: Promise.
Even from twenty yards away, Ronan saw Elliot understand.
His chest rose. Fell. He stopped moving.
Good. Sirens finally broke the silence. Not police.
Fire alarm. Every unit light flashed simultaneously. Vance swore.
“System override.”
Smoke began pouring from the far end of the complex. Ronan’s stomach dropped. Saint was evacuating everyone. Creating chaos. Elliot’s phone vibrated again. He looked. Then toward Ronan. His face went white. Ronan knew before seeing it.
“What?”
Elliot didn’t move.
“ELLIOT.”
He held the phone up. Ronan couldn’t read from there. Vance ran toward him. Ronan followed despite her shouting. They reached Elliot. Ronan grabbed the phone. Message:
CLAIRE WAS NEVER AT MERCY STORAGE.
Another:
YOU WERE.
Cold moved through him. Then: WHILE YOU WERE BUSY PROVING YOU COULD CONTROL HIM…
A final photograph loaded. Rebecca. Standing outside the main house.
Taken less than a minute ago. Ronan stopped breathing.
Elliot made a sound beside him. Not a word.
Something lower. Dangerous. The next message appeared.
I TOOK THE WRONG MOM.
Everything inside Ronan dropped.
“No.”
Elliot’s face transformed.
“No.”
Ronan caught him.
“No.”
“Get off me.”
“Promise.”
“MY MOTHER.”
“I know.”
“GET OFF ME.”
“No!”
Elliot fought him. Hard. Not trying to hurt. Trying to escape. Ronan wrapped both arms around him.
“Elliot.”
“LET GO.”
“LOOK AT ME.”
He didn’t. Ronan grabbed his face. Forced their eyes together.
“Look at me.”
Elliot’s breathing came fast. Wild. This wasn’t the cold killer. This was panic. Pure.
“Saint wants this.”
“I don’t care.”
“Yes, you do.”
“No.”
“They want you to break the promise.”
“Ronan—”
“They want you to become exactly what they think you are.”
Elliot stared. Ronan held tighter.
“Don’t fucking give them that.”
His eyes were wet now. Actually wet. No control left.
“She’s my mom.”
“I know.”
“What if—”
“We get her back.”
“How?”
“Together.”
There. The word. Elliot’s breathing hitched. Ronan pressed his forehead against his.
“Together.”
Elliot closed his eyes. One second. Two. Then nodded. Ronan released him slowly. Elliot wiped his face with the back of his hand. Vance was already issuing orders. Main house. Roadblocks. Rebecca’s phone. Thomas. Cameras. Everything moving. Ronan looked at Elliot.
“Still with me?”
“Yes.”
“No killing.”
His jaw tightened.
“Ronan.”
“Say it.”
Elliot looked toward the photograph of his mother. Then at him.
“I’m not killing anyone.”
Ronan nodded.
“Good boy.”
This time Elliot didn’t react with heat. He reacted with pain. Then steadied.
“Let’s go get my mother.”
And Ronan understood Saint had made one mistake.
They believed Ronan’s job was to stop Elliot from being a monster.
It wasn’t. Ronan’s job was to remind Elliot that he still had a choice.
And if Saint had taken Rebecca expecting Ronan to fail, they were about to learn just how stubborn Elliot Mercer could be when the person he loved asked him to stay good.