Chapter Fifty-Two - Joshua #2
She doesn’t need me to elaborate, and she doesn’t deny it. “It wasn’t a complete lie. Tripp made him do it.”
“That doesn’t change the fact that he did it to you. I should’ve killed him for this.” I reach out, gently grazing the bandage with my fingertips.
“Hence, why I didn’t tell you.”
“Elise—”
“No, Joshua. Everything he did, he did for his daughter. I don’t blame him, and neither should you. Did he tell you that I begged him to do it to protect Lyla?”
No, he didn’t. Probably because he knows I wouldn’t have believed it.
“You might not be mad at him, but that doesn’t change the fact that he betrayed me. I can’t ignore that sort of thing—not even for him.”
Her already pale face loses the tinge of pink, and her eyes widen. “What do you mean? What’s happening to him?”
I rest my palm against her cheek, and she leans into it, relaxing as she does. I’d been right to handle the situation with Ryder like I did. There’s no way Elise would’ve forgiven me if I’d punished him the way I’d wanted to.
The way I still want to.
“I’m transferring him to a base close to Rachel and Lyla, which was generous after everything he did.”
Though her tensed muscles relax with the news that I don’t plan to kill him, she doesn’t look any happier.
“He’s leaving?”
“I can’t work with a man I don’t trust—and I don’t trust him after this, Elise.”
“But that doesn’t mean he has to leave.”
It takes me a moment to repress the frustration threatening to break through my composure. The only way to handle this is to tell her the truth.
“I want to kill him,” I admit. “Every time I see his face, all I can see is the fact that he betrayed me and hurt you. He needs to leave the base, so I have time to convince myself he doesn’t deserve to die for what he did.”
Elise goes so still I’d believe she wasn’t breathing if it wasn’t for the fact that the monitor beside her says otherwise.
“I know what he did wasn’t okay, but I wouldn’t have survived in there if it weren’t for him.”
“You also wouldn’t have been there in the first place if it weren’t for him.”
She softens her voice to a whisper. “He did exactly what my dad should’ve done for me. He fought for his daughter.”
Of course she’d feel this way.
Elise knows betrayal better than most. Her brother handed her over to her enemy, and her father left her there. It doesn’t surprise me that she can so easily forgive Ryder. I just can’t do the same.
She lays her hand over mine. “You know the video was fake, right? Nothing in that was real.”
As if I needed another reason to kill Ryder.
“Obviously, the video was fake,” I mutter, running my thumb over her bottom lip. “But if I ever see your lips on another man again, I will kill him. These lips are mine, understood?”
Despite the dark threat, she smiles.
“All yours,” she assures me.
The urge to take those lips now is nearly irresistible, which she must see because she blushes furiously and asks, “What about Rachel and Lyla? Are they okay?”
“Lyla has a few cuts on her arm, nothing vulgar like yours, but it’ll probably scar. She doesn’t understand much of what happened aside from the fact that some bad people had them, and her dad saved her. Kids are resilient. She’ll be fine.”
“And Rachel?”
“She’ll be okay too, but she’s pretty roughed up. She wasn’t exactly the most cooperative captive. She has severely bruised wrists from struggling against the cuffs, a cracked rib, and bruising along her cheeks and throat.”
Just as I suspected, Elise’s eyes go wide with concern.
“Where is she now?”
“She and Lyla are staying in Ryder’s room. I’m sure you’ll get to meet them soon,” I tell her, and she seems to cheer up at the idea.
“What about everyone else? Wasn’t Kade shot? Is he okay?”
Now that the conversation has veered from anger-provoking topics, I reclaim my place at her side.
“Kade is better now. The bullet went in and out of his shoulder, so the real problem was blood loss, but Donovan did a good job patching him up in the field to minimize the damage. It’s a miracle that he didn’t get more injured in the explosion.
Donovan managed to walk away from the experience without a scratch. ”
“For some reason, that doesn’t surprise me,” she says with a shake of her head. “So, Goliath is just blowing up the entire place?”
I shrug. “The Sacramento base used to be a military base. I pulled some strings to get my hands on some of their explosives. It’s a last resort.”
Elise’s eyebrows knit together. “What about Donovan and Kade?”
“What about them?”
“If they hadn’t found us in time, they would have died too.”
“Calculated risk.”
She pulls her hand from mine. “Calculated risk? You almost killed them!”
Every muscle in my body twitches to take her hand back, but I answer in the most controlled tone I can muster.
“Sometimes I need to make choices like that, Elise. It comes with the job. Don and Kade know that.”
She opens her mouth to respond, but nothing comes out. She closes it with a sigh and returns her hand to mine, her way of showing me she understands even if she doesn’t like it.
“We got lucky that they found us when they did,” I note. “Mason almost had us, which wouldn’t have been the case if it wasn’t for your friend.”
Elise stiffens, and I figure she hadn’t remembered that part.
“How did you know Kaitlyn was working for Mason?”
“She didn’t get out of the vans when your dad showed up. I figured the chances of her being a traitor were higher than the chances of her coming in as backup.”
Elise’s hand tenses in mine, and I rub soothing circles there. “I’m sorry, Princess. I know she was your friend.”
“Clearly not.”
I lean my forehead to hers. “You have friends here. Real friends.”
Those beautiful brown eyes finally open, and I swear I could stare at them all day long if she’d let me.
“I have more than just friends here,” she mutters, bringing her lips to mine.