Chapter 21
Lex
I don’t know what, but even through the haze of worry and fear I see something come over Eli.
His shoulders snap back, his chin tilts up, and he nods once as if he’s suddenly made of stone.
“Get us to the hospital. Leave us in the ambulance bay.”
That’s fucking illegal, isn’t it?
Still holding my hand, he starts walking back out of the house as he brings Austin’s phone up to his ear, and I . . .
I can do nothing but trail behind him.
I don’t know how or why he’s so fucking calm, not when I can already feel the third tear streaking down my face.
“Bryce?” Eli’s hard voice snaps me out of my head. “Tell me everything.”
We climb into the SUV and Austin is peeling away from the curb like dogs from hell are chasing us.
Eli’s eyes narrow into thin slits as he listens to whatever Bryce is telling him, and though I want to listen too, to know exactly what happened, I can’t make my mouth move. I can’t force air up my throat.
He lets go of my hand to fish his own phone out of his pants and nods, even while he’s tapping away at the screen.
“Okay, stay there. Don’t let anyone fucking touch that car, Bryce.
I’ll do what I can to make sure the officers there know you can tow it somewhere.
Maybe my office.” He closes his eyes and shakes his head as if trying to clear it.
“I don’t know yet. No. No, I don’t care about the owners.
I’ll deal with it, Bryce,” he snaps, and that more than anything tells me this isn’t a version of Eli I’ve met before.
This is someone completely new.
“Just keep your phone with you.”
A second later he ends the call and starts another one with his own phone. He doesn’t pause except to nod my way as he waits for the call to connect.
“You should call your Dad.” He won’t look at me.
Why isn’t he looking at me?
“Shit,” I hiss, and get to making calls too.
Eli speaks again while I wait for Dad to pick up the damn phone, and his half of the conversation entrances and confuses me into a catatonic state.
“Hey, I need help. Dad was just in a car accident. The car that hit them had no driver, someone hacked it and drove it remotely. I need access to that car, and I especially need the NYPD to leave it the fuck alone until I get to it, but—yeah, okay. Thank you, Harry. What? Oh, yeah, Mount Sinai. No you don’t have to—okay, see you later. ”
“Alexei!” Dad’s shout finally snaps me out of it, and I realize he must’ve picked up.
“Dad.” I find the will somehow to speak. “Mom and Michael were in an accident. We don’t know a lot, just that they were both taken to Mount Sinai.”
“What the fuck?” I ignore his question.
“Eli and I are already on our way. We’re almost there actually. I think.”
Dad must have the same secret internal switch as Eli because his voice is detached and hard.
“Ally and I are on our way.”
And then the call disconnects.
When I turn, Eli is on another call.
“Seamus, I need a favor. Yes, I’ll owe you one.” The Eli I know would roll his eyes right there, but there’s only stone-cold determination on his face. I have no fucking clue who Harry or Seamus are, and it’s easier to think about that than—
No.
Focus on Eli.
“My Dad was in an accident on Thirty-Second and Madison. I need you to make sure that if there is anything online about that, it gets shut down. Ignore the news outlets, I’ll take care of those, and focus on social media. Any photos or videos should be taken down immediately.”
What. The actual. Fuck.
He hangs up just as Austin hits the brakes hard enough to have us pitching forward.
I stop myself from face planting against the front passenger seat just in time to save myself another surgery, and then . . .
“Who was that?” I don’t know why that’s the first thing I ask, but it’s the only thing that feels safe right now.
“Huh?” Eli asks, finally looking at me.
“Seamus? Harry?”
I can see he’s debating with himself on what to tell me, but then that hard mask slides over his face and he sits taller as he nods at the door for me to get out.
“I’ll tell you later,” he mutters, then turns to the front of the car.
“Go help Bryce. You heard what I said. I want no one to touch the car that hit them. I’m sure by now the police know it, so they won’t give you any trouble, but call me if they do.
I want that car somewhere safe where I can inspect it. ”
“You got it.” Austin nods, and I’m truly surprised by how unflinchingly he follows Eli’s orders.
No hesitation whatsoever.
We walk to the emergency room doors and into chaos. Eli grips my hand again, tighter, and for some reason the minimal show of emotion is enough to help me breathe more normally.
The feeling in my face comes back and I realize my cheeks are still wet with tears, tears I don’t remember shedding.
Despite how hard he’s holding my hand, he looks steady and doesn’t miss a step as he walks us to the nurses desk, and some-fucking-how he has a smile, genuine but small, ready for the older woman sitting behind it.
“Eli Ellsworth and Alexei Jankowski.” His voice comes out clear but obviously quieter. There are a lot of people around and there’s no reason to attract any more attention than my simple presence already does. “Our parents were brought in—”
“Yes, dear.” The nurse interrupts him and stands, walks around the desk. “They were taken upstairs at the insistence of their bodyguards. After a lot of grumbling the two tough idiots finally accepted help too, so let me take you up to where you can wait for their doctor.”
“Thank you,” Eli says, nodding once and pulling me with him to follow her. We wait a few seconds by the elevator and I see Eli’s eyes trail down to the name tag on her scrubs. “Thank you, Alysha.”
She only nods, but she’s clearly charmed by Eli. I don’t blame her, I can’t seem to look away from him.
His face is the only thing that makes sense, his hand is the only thing I want to feel, his voice the only thing I want to hear.
Eli straightens again, like he’s about to go into battle, or a courtroom, when the doors of the elevator open on the third floor.
“Right through here,” Alysha directs us, and when we’re through the frosted glass doors, she offers us a kind smile. “I’ll let Dr. Kully know you’re here waiting for an update.”
“Thank you.” I manage to speak up though my voice comes out rough. I stare at the closing door for a few seconds only, but when I turn to see Eli I find him on the phone, fucking again.
“Hello, Daniel. Yes it’s Eli. My Dad and Lyla were in a car accident.
We’re at the hospital. No—please don’t interrupt me, I don’t have a lot of time.
I need you to make sure no one in this fucking city prints a single word about it, okay?
Not until I give you the wording we’re going to use and not until I’ve approved an article for us. ”
Does the “us” mean their newspaper? Network? Who the fuck is Daniel?
It hits me like a dagger—I barely know Eli’s world.
He doesn’t realize of course. He’s figuring out so much shit I don’t understand.
“Anyone else better stay off this if they want to keep working in New York.” The way he’s speaking it’s like he’s someone completely different.
He’s not my angel right now. No, he’s . . .
“Bye.”
I can’t stop myself from speaking up now.
“Eli, what the fuck is going on?” My voice shakes, maybe because of the image I have in my head of Mom and Michael bleeding on the ground next to their car, or maybe it’s because this change in Eli is something I never imagined could exist.
I’m supposed to know him better than anyone, so how the hell didn’t I know this side of him?
His blue eyes are hard as steel when he looks at me this time. The soft sky-blue is gone and it took my angel with it.
“My father is unreachable, Lex, and he will be unreachable for fuck knows how long. That means, as of right now, I am the head of the largest media conglomerate in the world. That means I need to get shit done, I need to protect everything my family has built because I am literally the only one left standing.”
What almost makes my heart stop is the unyielding resolve, how matter-of-fact he is about it all.
But maybe . . . maybe this is how he deals with the fear.
It sure is a lot more useful than my way—freezing—and it also seems, from how he just said it, like he knows he doesn’t have a choice in how he reacts.
I believed I understood what or rather who Michael is, but maybe I don’t.
Actually, if this is what being the head of the Ellsworth empire does to Eli, then I know for a fact I didn’t and still don’t fucking understand what it means.
The only one left standing.
That’s the loneliest sentence I’ve ever heard.
What would I do if I literally had no one to rely on?
“You have me.” I speak without processing the thought, but when I have, I realize that maybe I can be useful somehow. “I can’t do any of the shit you’re doing, angel.”
I refuse to stop thinking of him as my angel. It’s what he is to me, no matter what. It’s what he’s always going to be.
“But I’m here, and I’m not going anywhere.
So yeah, you have me.” I close the space between us and take his free hand, cupping his cheek with my other hand.
“You can keep making your calls, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to just leave you alone.
Hell, I don’t want to be alone either, especially right now. ”
Facing this alone isn’t an option, but I didn’t even think about calling Dad until Eli told me to.
Letting Eli face this alone isn’t something I’m capable of doing.
For better or worse, we’re in this together.
This is the worse.
I kiss him slowly, maybe using it to help us slow down, maybe to reassure myself that even when he’s like this, he’s still my angel.
It doesn’t matter because the end result is that I get to stop feeling like I might actually die for the first time since Austin told us about the accident.
Or maybe not an accident.
With that niggling thought, I pull back, and before I can even start to debate whether I should ask about the million calls or leave it be, the door opens.
My heart leaps to my throat, but I deflate when I recognize Dad’s hulking figure behind his movie star girlfriend.
They’re both worried, frantic, and asking the same questions I have about Mom and Michael’s conditions, but since we don’t know, they deflate too.
It’s not until thirty more agonizing minutes pass that a doctor finally comes in. He’s a short balding man but has kind eyes, and he has a plastic bag in his hand, though I can’t see what’s in it.
“I’m Dr. Kully, I’ve been overseeing the treatment of Mrs. Storm, Mr. Troy West, Mr. Roberto Silverado, and Mr. Ellsworth.”
“How are they?” I ask, not hiding my desperation.
“Mr. West is currently in surgery, they’re repairing a bad break in his arm and he has a severe concussion.
Mr. Silverado only has a mild concussion and is with Mrs. Storm.
She’s awake and asking about her husband and children.
She has a broken arm and a very mild concussion.
She’ll make a full recovery. Nurse Reed is outside waiting to take you to them both.
” He nods back as if we’re all just going to go, but . . .
“What about Michael?” Dad asks.
“Mr. West brought in some paperwork stating that the details of any medical procedures and the condition of Mr. Ellsworth can only be shared with his son, and he’s the only one authorized to make medical decisions for him if he’s unable to himself.
Even if you say it’s all right to share them,” he says, looking at Eli then at me. “I can’t.”
The sudden silence is way too loud, but with how he’s been acting, it doesn’t surprise me when Eli’s the one to break it.
“Right.” He turns to look up at me, squeezes my hand, and I see a hint of my angel when he smiles reassuringly. “You go see your mom. I’m sure she wants to see you too. I’ll come find you when I can.”
Despite his stony facade, he can’t hide how hard this is for him, not from me.
“Angel,” I start, but snap my mouth shut when he closes his eyes tightly and shakes his head once.
“Go. Tell Lyla I’ll take care of Dad.”
“Of course you will,” I whisper. Then, not giving one single fuck who sees, I kiss him again. Hard and short, but it’s the only thing I can do.
I know I’m not going to change his mind, but I’ll be the one coming back to find him as soon as I’m sure Mom is okay.
I need to see her with my own eyes.
And when I do, I know it’s going to take a long time to get back to Eli.
She’s inconsolable, worried sick about Michael and Troy.
Sil is okay, thankfully, and stays quiet in the corner of the room, but he does have a chair. Admiration for him flares right up inside me. He’s fucking dedicated to keeping Mom safe, that’s for sure.
“There was so much blood,” Mom cries out. “They wouldn’t let me see him, they took him away.”
She hasn’t been able to speak calmly, to tell us what happened, so Ally, Dad, and I focus on reassuring her.
But we can’t, can we?
We have no freaking clue what the hell is happening with Michael.
“Troy’s in surgery already, they’re taking good care of him.” I try reassuring her with that, but it just sets her off again.
Her sobs are rattling enough that I’m thinking of asking a nurse if they can give her something to calm her down before she hyperventilates and passes out, and that’s when Eli comes in.
He’s pale.
Almost translucent.
The fluorescent lights of the hallway make his platinum-blond hair look like a halo over his head, but that doesn’t disguise the dread in his eyes.
“No, no, no.” Mom’s sob sounds pleading and devastated before her eyes roll back and she passes out.