22. CJ
CJ
I sit on the couch, staring at the closed bedroom door.
Four days.
Four days since the nightclub.
Four days since everything changed.
Four days since Eli has eaten properly, left the room, or really looked beyond those four walls.
Finn and Deck sit beside me, both pretending to scroll on their phones. None of us is fooling anyone. Our attention never leaves that door.
Eli has turned my bedroom into a bunker. The blankets are his armor. The drawn curtains his shield. Those four walls are the only place his mind believes Adrian can’t reach him.
And I get it. I understand. Because Adrian didn’t just scare him. He took away the one thing Eli had finally started to believe: that he was safe.
Weeks have passed since Adrian stepped back into his life, but since then, there has been nothing.
No texts. No calls. No sightings. Nothing.
Deck has called in every favor he has: former military contacts, private investigators, people who owe him, and people who owe other people. I’ve done the same, drawing on years of building connections and remembering who could be trusted.
Nothing.
No digital footprint. No bank activity. No CCTV.
Adrian Blackwell is a ghost.
And that scares me, because men like Adrian don’t disappear. I know how they operate. They wait, they watch, and they learn. I know Adrian is waiting, watching, and learning. And when he comes back, I know it will be when it hurts the most.
Right now, he has all the power, and all we can do is wait.
While we wait, the apartment has become a fortress.
Finn stays over whenever he isn’t working.
He sits with Eli, talks to him, and tries to convince him to eat something, but most days, he just lies beside him and holds him.
Even Mack and Silas have shown up with food, trying to help, but nothing works.
The problem isn’t about keeping Eli safe. It’s about convincing him that he already is.
Tonight is the same. I open the bedroom door and see Eli curled on his side, wearing one of my shirts and his forever-present, fluffy duck socks. Finn sits beside him, scrolling through his phone, pretending he isn’t watching every single breath Eli takes.
“Eli.”
Nothing.
“Baby Boy.”
His eyes move slightly, just enough to show me he heard.
“Baby, please eat something.”
The same answer. The same one he has given for four days: “I’m not hungry.”
I grab the plate and set it on the bedside table, then sit against the headboard and pull him into my lap. He doesn’t fight me. I can feel the weight he’s lost, the way his body seems smaller. He just sighs and settles against my chest.
A slow ache spreads through my chest. He looked so alive four nights ago, dancing like the world couldn’t touch him. Now he feels breakable in my arms.
Finn watches silently.
Then the phone rings.
All three of us jump.
I look down at the screen: Deck.
“Hop up, baby. I need to take this.”
Eli moves reluctantly, curling into Finn’s side. I leave the room, step out onto the balcony, and answer.
“Tell me you have something,” I say, my voice already breaking. “I don’t know how much more of this he can take.”
Silence. Too much silence.
“CJ.”
Every muscle in my body tightens. “What?”
“I have him.”
The world stops, and ice runs through my veins. “With you?”
“On the phone. He wants to talk to Eli.”
My grip tightens around the phone. Deck had taken Eli’s phone days ago just in case Adrian tried to make contact.
“We’re tracing the call,” Deck adds.
My breathing slows. “Keep him talking. You know the drill. I’m heading to you now.”
I’m already moving back toward Eli. “Give me one minute.”
* * *
I step back into the bedroom, and Eli looks up. The moment he sees my face, he knows something is wrong.
“Baby.” I kneel beside him. “Baby Boy… Adrian’s on the phone.”
Eli’s face changes. “Adrian’s on the phone?”
All color drains from his skin.
“He’ll only speak to you.”
Eli shakes his head rapidly. “I can’t.”
My chest caves in at the sheer terror in his eyes. It’s so raw it feels like a physical blow.
Finn immediately grabs his hand. “Yes, you can, El.” Eli looks at him, eyes wide. “We’re right here.”
I squeeze his other hand. “You’re not doing this alone.”
His eyes move between us. Then slowly, he nods. “Okay.”
I pick up the phone. “Deck.”
“Ready.”
I put it on speaker, and the call connects. Then I hear it: the voice I never wanted Eli to hear again.
“Hello, Elijah.”
Eli bolts upright, the blankets falling away. Every trace of color drains from his face.
“No.”
One broken word, and something inside me turns savage. Deck’s voice stays calm and controlled over the line: “Adrian.”
A quiet laugh echoes through the speaker. Deck is completely ignored.
“Mr. Palmer,” Adrian says, addressing me, sounding amused, as if this is all a game. I suppose to him, it is. “I was beginning to wonder if you were looking for me after I sent my little gift.”
“We received it.”
Another low laugh. “Did you? You were always so photogenic, Elijah.”
Deck doesn’t react to his taunts. He just asks, “Why are you calling?”
Silence. Then…
“I miss you, Elijah.”
Eli lets out a sound that barely escapes him: a choked gasp that turns into a sob. I swallow hard, fighting the urge to tear the world apart for him. I grab his hand, and Finn wraps himself around Eli from behind, anchoring him.
“You don’t get to say that,” Deck says, his voice colder now, taking back control of the conversation.
“I love him.”
“No,” Deck snaps, sharp and unyielding. “You owned him.”
The silence that follows feels dangerous, but then Adrian laughs, low and cold. “Tell me, Mr. Palmer. Has he told you everything?”
Eli closes his eyes as shame settles over his face, exactly as Adrian intended.
“Mmm,” Adrian continues. “I imagine he left out the parts that make him difficult to love.”
My jaw locks, and a growl builds in my throat. When Eli tries to pull his hand away, I don’t let him. I hold on tighter, lifting his hand to my lips to press a kiss across his bruised knuckles. I’m here. I’m not leaving.
“Careful,” Deck warns over the line.
Adrian ignores him completely. “You sound a little… emotional, Mr. Palmer.” Then his voice shifts, turning softer, almost gentle. “Tell me, Elijah.”
A pause.
“Is he still sleeping in the bed with you?”
The room stops, and my blood runs cold as Eli stops breathing.
Finn looks up at me in shock. Adrian didn’t guess. He’s been watching us.
I stand up so quickly the bed shifts beneath us. “Where are you?” My voice drops into a low, lethal threat.
Adrian ignores me. “Still hiding, Elijah?”
Silence.
“Still pretending someone is going to save you?”
“Stop,” Eli whispers, his voice cracking, barely audible. But Adrian hears it, and he enjoys every second.
“Three years, Elijah.” His voice drops lower. “And you’re still the same.”
Tears stream down Eli’s face, and Finn pulls him closer against his chest.
“You know what?” Adrian whispers. “I’ll come for you soon, sweetheart. You know I always keep my promises.”
The line goes dead.
Silence fills the room. Nobody moves. Nobody breathes.
Then Eli breaks. Sobs tear out of his chest, and Finn holds him tight, tears falling from his own eyes.
I stare at the phone’s empty screen.
“Deck,” my voice is rough, barely recognizable. “Please tell me you got him.”
A heavy pause. “We got an area.”
I close my eyes. It’s not enough. “Not exact?”
“No.”
Failure again.
“Eli,” Deck’s voice softens through the speaker. “We will find him.”
I look at Eli, at the man curled into Finn, at the terror Adrian dragged right back into our home.
“He’s not hiding,” I whisper to Deck.
Adrian isn’t running. He isn’t hiding anymore.
Adrian is hunting.
And this time, my boy is the prey.