41. Elle
41
ELLE
F resh morning air fills my lungs as I walk out of the police station a free woman. Tilting my head back, I gaze up at the blue sky above and draw in a deep breath as I walk away from the building. My body feels light.
I made the right decision.
When it all came down to it, it was an incredibly easy decision. Clear as day. I never would have made any other choice than this one.
Shock pulses through me when my dad’s car suddenly swerves into the parking lot in front of the police station. My heart leaps. I really don’t want to talk to him right now.
Ducking away, I hurry towards the alley that runs between the buildings opposite the police station. If Dad wants to lecture me about how much of a disappointment I am, he’s going to have to wait. Right now, I’m too relieved to deal with his dark mood.
A bright morning sun peeks up over the horizon and bathes the world with light. Not a cloud can be seen in the sky. It’s as if the world itself is showing me that regardless of how dark the night gets, a bright morning always rises in the end.
I hurry past another alley mouth on my way to escape the admonishment my dad is planning to give me.
My stomach lurches.
A yelp slips past my lips as someone grabs me by the arm and yanks me into the alley. I let out a huff as my back connects with the brick wall behind me. A pair of hands appear on the wall on either side of my head, caging me in.
Tilting my head back, I stare up into the dangerously handsome face of Tristan Kane.
My heart skips a beat.
Last time I saw him, he told me that he was going to kill me. And now…
My pulse thrums as we stare at each other.
Crackling silence hangs like a death shroud over the alley.
Pain and regret flash across his face.
I stop breathing.
“I’m so sorry,” he says.
My heart leaps.
Taking his hands from the wall, he cups my cheeks and leans down to rest his forehead against mine. “I’m so, so sorry. I should have believed you. I should have trusted you. I should have had more faith in you. In us .”
It feels as if my heart is going to burst.
Grabbing the collar of his shirt, I crush my lips against his.
He slides his hands into my hair and kisses me back with such desperation that my soul momentarily leaves my body. I draw my hands down to his chest. His heart pounds underneath my palm.
When I break the kiss, he looks just as dazed and breathless as I feel .
Resting the back of my head against the wall, I draw in a deep breath and try to piece my mind back together. Then I lock eyes with him.
“Yes, you should have,” I reply at last.
He winces.
“But I get it,” I add. “We’re not perfect. We’re messy and complicated and we’re going to make mistakes and argue and make up and learn and experience it all.” A small smile plays over my lips as I hold his gaze. “It’s what makes us us .”
His eyes flood with emotion. Cupping my cheeks, he kisses me slowly and achingly tenderly.
“I love you so fucking much,” he whispers against my lips.
My heart does a somersault in my chest. Those words spear through me with such emotion that my heart aches from the sheer joy and intensity of it. Because Tristian is the first person to say those words to me and truly mean them.
He doesn’t love the perfect, fake version of me that I have presented to the world all my life.
He loves me .
All of me. Not the perfect fa?ade. He loves the flawed and messy and complicated person that I really am. The one who gets angry and sad and disappointed and the one who makes mistakes and who tries to learn from them. But also the one who cares about others and who laughs freely and the one who enjoys wearing cute dresses and the one who is filled to the brim with excitement and joy for a future full of possibilities. The one who is not afraid to show her emotions anymore. Tristan loves that version of me. The real me.
My throat is thick with emotions, and yet, I have never breathed more freely than I do right now.
“I love you too,” I whisper back .
He kisses me again. Furiously. Possessively. Making me lose my breath all over again.
Then he rests his forehead against mine once more. One hand is braced on the wall next to my head, the other rests against the side of my neck.
“Fuck, I’m so glad that you managed to see through Derrik Payne’s bluff too,” he says.
Confusion ripples through me. Pulling back slightly, I stare up at him. “What do you mean?”
He straightens. Confusion blows across his features too as he studies my face. “His bluff. About being able to charge us both.”
I frown, not understanding what he’s talking about. “What?”
“That he had no proof. We were just two college students making out in an empty room. There was no way for him to prove that the drugs were ours. The only way for him to nail us was if one of us talked.”
My mouth drops open. “Oh.”
He stares at me, his eyes as wide as my own. “What do you mean ‘oh’? Didn’t you… didn’t you figure that out?”
“Uhm… no.”
“But then what did you think was the reason why he released us both just now?”
“I just thought that his colleagues finally showed up here now that it’s morning and told him that he had taken it too far. That this was somehow against the rules or something.”
“So right up until this moment, right up until a few minutes ago when he surprised you by letting us go, you really thought that you would be going to jail if you didn’t sell me out?”
“Yes. ”
He’s truly gaping at me now. “Then why didn’t you sell me out?”
“Because I understand the meaning of loyalty. Even if you hated me , I never would have sold you out. I’ve told you before. I protect the people I love as well. Fiercely.”
Astonishment shines in his eyes as he stares at me. Then he slides his hand up my throat and grabs my chin. Leaning down, he claims my lips and murmurs, “You’re fucking crazy, have I told you that?”
I laugh against his mouth. “No. But I’ll take it as a compliment.” Drawing back again, I fix him with a curious look. “But then if you figured out that he could only nail us if one of us talked, and you didn’t take his deal, that means you were putting an enormous amount of trust in me.”
A crooked smile blows across his lips. “Yeah. Once I realized what an idiot I was back in that annex when they arrested us, I remembered one of the many reasons why I fell for you in the first place. You know what it’s like to feel trapped. And I knew that you would never want either of us to be trapped like that again.”
I grin up at him. “So you do trust me?”
“Implicitly.”
“Good.” I glance towards the parking lot around the corner. “Because I’ve just had a brilliant idea.” I meet his gaze again and flash him a wicked grin. “Wait here.”
He raises his eyebrows in surprise but does as I said and remains there in the mouth of the alley while I round the corner and stride towards the parking lot.
Morning sunlight gleams in the windows of the cars parked there, and the bushes along the wall of the police station rustle faintly as a warm wind sweeps through. It ruffles my hair as well, blowing several strands out of place. I don’t bother fixing it.
Right as I reach the edge of the parking lot, my dad comes huffing out of the police station. Presumably after being told that his daughter has already left. He hasn’t seen me yet, but I study him. His jaw is clenched tight and his face is flushed with indignation. I’m not sure how he had planned to spend his Sunday morning, but I’m willing to bet that this was probably not it.
He sweeps his gaze over the parking lot, as if searching for me. Though, based on the way he jerks back a little, he looks surprised to have actually found me. Giving his head a quick shake, he stalks in my direction. I keep walking, meeting him halfway across the parking lot.
“Do you have any idea what you have just done?” he demands as he comes to a halt in front of me.
“Good morning to you too, Dad,” I reply.
Anger flashes in his eyes. “Do not take that tone with me, young lady.”
I grind my teeth at the use of young lady , but I decide to let it slide. I have other more important things to discuss with him. “Then I will be brief and get straight to the point.”
He blinks, as if stunned that I didn’t apologize.
“You’re going to transfer a very specific amount of money to my account,” I declare. Keeping my spine straight and my chin raised, I hold his gaze with confident eyes. “Or your daughter is about to become a drug dealer.”
His mouth drops open.
For a few seconds, all that makes it out is a series of stuttering noises as he trips over his tongue to get the words out.
“You… you,” he splutters. Raising a hand, he shakes his fi nger in the air with angry, jerky movements. “I get woken up late last night by a fellow mayor colleague who tells me that my daughter has been arrested during his charity event. And you… you… dare to ask for money right now! Do you have any idea how much embarrassment you have caused me?”
“Probably lots. But I don’t really care. You either transfer the money or I will embarrass you further by becoming a true drug dealer.”
Lightning flashes in his eyes. “I will disown you.”
That age old fear and panic rises inside me. But this time, I manage to shove it back down. I am not a people pleaser anymore. If he is disappointed in me, then that’s his problem. His opinion of me does not affect my true worth in any way.
“Go ahead,” I reply, managing to keep a shockingly nonchalant tone in my voice. “But what do you think will sink your career faster? Having a disowned daughter who works as a drug dealer, which the public will know all about, or being privately disappointed in a daughter who is studying political science at Bercester U, who the public still sees as the perfect little daughter you raised?”
He opens and closes his mouth several times. Hesitation blows across his features. It’s followed by a considering look. I just keep staring back at him.
Because I already know that I have won.
The moment that I realized that my reputation is worth more to him than it is to me, I knew that I could make him do whatever I wanted.
Anger and indignation still crackle in his eyes, and he grinds his teeth for several seconds as he glares down at me. Then, at last, he breaks. Just like I knew he would.
“Fine,” he grinds out. “What’s the specific amount?”
Victory pulses through my whole soul like sparkling light .
God, I feel like I could climb mountains.
If I had known how incredible it would feel to stand up for myself, I would’ve done it years ago.
I grin. This was the best case of two birds with one stone I could ever have dreamed of. I stood up to my dad. And I now have enough money to pay off Rob Bracken so that neither Tristan nor I will ever have to work for him again.
We will never be trapped again.