Chapter 21 Nevaeh
TWENTY-ONE
Nevaeh
I’d scream if Caelian didn’t promptly cover my mouth to silence me. The paralyzing streak of terror only lasts for a few seconds. Then I feel the solid wall behind me and the familiar touch of only one person, and all fear vanishes.
Caelian’s home.
I’m able to half twist around before he subdues me with ease. Holding me where I am, he rumbles out the same question I’m wondering.
“What are you doing?”
“Waiting for you to get home!”
“You could do that from our bedroom.”
I jerk in his clutches and say, “It becomes boring. What are you doing sneaking up on me?”
“Something told me there was a naughty little ballerina wandering the halls.”
Despite my tantrum-like fit, twisting and turning in his hold, the sound of his voice undoes me. Excitement thrums through me and makes me think of how much I’ve missed my husband. He’s only looking out for me.
It’s true I wasn’t sure what I was getting myself into wandering after Ms. Poitier.
I go still in his arms ’til he turns me around himself.
What was an abrupt struggle in the dark becomes a tender, relieved reunion. Caelian whisks me off my feet for a kiss on the lips. My arms hang loosely around his neck, reveling in how nice his warm lips feel against mine.
A sense of desperation coils inside me in reminder how quickly he can disappear from my life, then reappear.
It leaves me even more upset by his recent absence.
“I was worried about you,” I say. “You were so angry when you left. You’ve been gone all night.”
“What have I told you, Nevi? I’ll always come back to you.”
He strokes my hair and clenches me tight for so long I’m convinced we’re about to abandon our covert mission altogether and head upstairs. Setting me back down on my feet, he inclines his head toward the glass doors.
“Did she head out there?”
Reluctantly, I nod. “But, Cael, we still don’t know what could be—”
“She’ll talk. No more waiting.”
Before I can really stop him, Caelian’s wrenching the doors open and striding across the terrace. When I made the decision to come downstairs and see for myself if Ms. Poitier was sneaking out at night, this wasn’t what I had in mind.
I follow Caelian anyway.
It happens in mere minutes. Tracking Ms. Poitier down proves to be easy. We come across her just as she’s emerging from the thicket of trees. Even in the dark I can spot the surprise bloom across her face. She backs away like she’s been burned by a hot flame.
Caelian lets her go nowhere—in a flurry of movement, she’s seized by the arm and escorted all the way back toward the large manor. I scramble to keep up. Caelian offers no words, no explanation, though Ms. Poitier sputters out her own version.
“I was out for a late-night walk… I couldn’t sleep… I was only getting some fresh air. Mr. C, slow down or you’ll wrench my arm out its socket!”
“Good,” Caelian grunts, then drags her along further.
I manage to stop him once we’re in the house and he’s hauling her off downstairs to the underground level of the estate.
“Cael,” I huff. “Please don’t do anything you’ll regret! We still don’t know what’s—”
“I’ll do what’s necessary. Go up to bed.”
Ms. Poitier’s eyes widen, the worry frozen in them.
The allegations against her might be true, but even if there’s a crumb of doubt, I have to help her. I have to serve as that buffer between her and Caelian’s temper and thirst for revenge. She’s done the same enough times for me.
“We have to hear her side of the story!”
“I was out for a night stroll!” Ms. Poitier squeaks.
I’ve never heard her voice raise so high in pitch. I’ve never seen her so panicked and fidgety. A man as massive and muscular as Caelian apprehending you will do that to you.
We turn down the corridor lined with doors I’ve never been through.
All except one. The cell I’d been kept in is down here.
Caelian brings Ms. Poitier up to a different door and throws it open. I rush to squeeze myself through and block his path.
“You’re going to let her explain, right? Cael…”
“Didn’t I say go up to bed?”
“Didn’t you say we’re partners?”
Caelian grits his teeth in a deep scowl. “Nevi, I won’t go easy on her because you happen to like her.”
“We’ll get the truth out of her. She’ll tell us everything,” I say. I round on Ms. Poitier. “You’ll tell him all about what you’ve been up to, won’t you?”
Ms. Poitier seems to regain some of her usual sass and confidence. She folds her arms as if she has nothing to hide. “I’ve already told you two chicken heads. I was out for a midnight stroll—”
“Sit down!” Caelian barks, pointing to the chair in the middle of the room.
We’re in another cell. Empty and dark except for a solitary lit bulb dangling above and the chair he’s directed her into.
Ms. Poitier defiantly waltzes over and then plops down with an expected stubborn air.
Caelian turns to me once more. “Go ahead, bella, if you think you can get the truth out of her. We’ll do things your way to start. Then when it doesn’t work, you can’t guilt trip me for my methods.”
I gulp for Ms. Poitier’s sake. She better divulge whatever it is she’s been up to or else she’ll have to face Caelian’s interrogation. The stubbornest person can admit it’s a fate they’d rather not face…
“Ms. P, you’re going to have to be cooperative,” I begin gently. “You have to tell us the truth.”
“I have,” she snaps. “It’s not my problem if neither of you believe me.”
“We know you sneak out every night at the same time. You go straight into the woods and then come out minutes later.”
“I don’t have any idea what the heck either of you are talking about.”
“Fine, then lie! We’ll do things the hard way,” growls Caelian. “If you think I’ll take mercy on you, then you haven’t been paying as close attention as I thought—”
“No, wait!” I call out.
I’m still between the two, still acutely aware the room isn’t as empty as I initially thought it was. In the far corner, I spy a table with devices on it. A shudder racks through me at the thought this really is one of the rooms where Caelian and his men have tortured and interrogated people.
Grabbing both of Ms. Poitier’s hands in a sincere plea, I urge her again to divulge what she’s hiding. For her to come clean and tell Caelian what she’s been up to all these late nights.
“Tell him,” I say. “Whatever it is, it’ll be handled better if you just—”
“I told you!” She wrenches her hands out of mine. “What’s gotten into you two? You really think I’m doing something I shouldn’t be?”
But there’s a quiver in her voice. The slight shake of someone trying their best to bullshit their way through a moment. I may have only known Ms. Poitier for a short time, but even I can tell there’s something fishy going on. She’s been doing more than taking late-night strolls.
“I can’t help you if you won’t come clean,” I beg. “We’ve seen the security footage. You’ve been going out every night.”
“I’m not going to explain myself again. You either believe me or you don’t.”
We reach a stalemate, with Ms. Poitier stubbornly crossing her arms and Caelian lurking feet away as if to pounce. He’s a current of tense energy that makes me desperate.
But I can’t help Ms. Poitier if she’s not willing to help herself.
Sighing, I say, “I wish you’d just be honest.”
I’m fully expecting Caelian to dismiss me and for the real interrogation to begin. He’s made it clear no matter who it is, if they’re a traitor, they’re his enemy. Ms. Poitier is like a mother to him, but that still won’t prevent him from doing what he deems necessary.
Caelian and I are different in that way—he compartmentalizes much easier than I do.
In the bated moment leading up to his decision, I forget to breathe. I’m under the assumption he’s about to make me nauseous with his brutish mafia boss ways. He proves me completely wrong.
“You have the rest of the night,” he says to Ms. Poitier. “You have the next few hours to sit here locked up in this room with nothing but the dark and your thoughts. I’ll return, and when I do, I expect some answers… or you can expect some suffering.”
I’m speechless as we walk out of the room and leave Ms. Poitier seated in the dark cell. My voice doesn’t return until the door thuds shut and we’re halfway down the corridor. Clutching Caelian by the arm, I force myself to keep in step with him despite his gait being twice as wide as mine.
“You’re giving her some time? I was half expecting you to start prying off her fingernails for answers!”
“I was about to… but you saved her. For a few hours at least.”
“What will you do when you return?”
His square jaw pulls tight as he considers his answers for a moment. “Scare the shit out of her in hopes she’ll come clean without bloodshed.”
“Cael, you didn’t want to hurt her!” I squeeze his muscled arm tighter. “You’re saying it was because of me… but you didn’t want to either!”
“I’m not entirely convinced yet. It still seems like there’s something we’re missing. It makes no sense for Ms. Poitier to betray me now, after years of loyalty. If this was really about sabotaging me, she’s had plenty of opportunity in the past.”
“You mean you think this is a red herring?”
“I mean I’ve had a long night. There has already been bloodshed,” he says mysteriously.
We’ve reached the spiraling staircase that leads to the ground floor.
He eases me in front of him to go up first. “A few hours will give Ms. P time to think about what she’s done and if she wants to cooperate. And it’ll give me time to recharge.”
Caelian says this as if it’s nothing to worry about, but by the time we’re making it up to our bedroom, my concern has grown. Twice I notice him clutch at the left side of his chest as though his heart’s paining him. He takes his nightly dose of medication and is almost immediately out.
I’m wide awake, plagued by worrying thoughts that Caelian is right.
Things aren’t yet all the way clear and it still feels like we’re missing some puzzle pieces.
It feels like we’re not done facing whatever it is we’re fighting against.