15 Everleigh Wolves of Worry—Chance Peña #3
“I left the city a while ago.” I urge him to understand with nothing but eye contact. “But the painting is safe in storage.”
“I’m glad.”
“It’s still the most beautiful art I own.”
The poor man doesn’t need to know that Christopher hurled a tumbler of whiskey at it and ruined all of Elias’s hard work. I don’t remember what he was raging about on that particular day, but the canvas bore the brunt of it.
After how the night ended, I was surprised that Christopher hung the watercolour piece at all. Elias didn’t exactly appreciate his attitude and made it abundantly clear when we were introduced at the auction.
“Maverick, can you check on your sister and unload the last few boxes?” Elias nods outside the storefront. “I’d like to show Eden the new collection upstairs.”
“Now?” Maverick’s brow furrows.
“Please. We’re on a time crunch.”
“Alright, fine.”
With a final frown, Maverick squeezes my arm, then steps outside to resume bickering with his sibling. I chew my lip, waiting for the interrogation to commence. But Elias simply holds out an arm and gestures for me to follow him.
“Thank you,” I murmur.
“You’re welcome, Eden.”
Ascending the staircase creates hot prickles across my scalp. It’s already too late to tear free and leave the building. Not if I want to get Elias on board before he blows my entire cover story with what he saw that night.
“When does the collection launch?”
“Next month.” He releases my arm, scanning the mezzanine. “We’re going to host a launch event here, open the gallery for the evening. Wine, nibbles, a charity raffle.”
“Will Maverick do the catering?”
Elias nods, granting me an inscrutable look. “Feel free to come along.”
“I don’t want to put you in an uncomfortable position.”
Glancing back down the staircase to ensure we’re alone, he waves for me to follow him over to a stack of canvases waiting to be mounted.
“Then perhaps you’d like to explain why you’re hiding all the way out here under a false name. Maverick’s told me about the woman who randomly turned up at his workplace. I didn’t know it was you.”
“It’s a long story,” I hedge.
“Does this story have anything to do with Doctor Banks?”
“Look, Elias, I appreciate your concern but . . .”
“What did he do to you?” Elias growls out.
Recoiling like I’ve been dunked in boiling water, I fight to keep my voice level. “This isn’t what you think.”
“What do I think? You’re living under a secret identity, Everleigh. In my town no less.”
“That’s a pure coincidence.”
“Then how on earth did you end up here?”
“I ran until I couldn’t run anymore!” I explode, chest heaving.
Elias stares down at me. “What does that mean?”
“Please drop this. Forget about me, the gala, everything. I’m sorry.”
“Why are you living a lie?” he presses.
“I’m surviving the only way I know how.”
His mouth opens and closes. “Pretending.”
“Playing the part,” I supply weakly. “Just like I did that night.”
“Everleigh, I heard the way he spoke to you. How he slapped the food from your hand and threatened you with lord knows what if you didn’t hide your tears. It was sociopathic. That man isn’t who the world thinks he is.”
“That man has more money than most politicians and has spent a lifetime building his flawless reputation.” Pain ripples over me at my strained smile. “The world loves Christopher Banks.”
“They don’t know the truth,” he seethes.
“And neither do you, Elias!”
“I know he scares you,” he throws back, nostrils flaring. “Else you wouldn’t be calling yourself Eden bloody Coles and lying through your teeth to people who actually care about you.”
His words hit in a physical blow that rattles me to the core. Taking a shaky step back, I fight for some small scrap of assurance to offer him but come up empty. There’s no use in trying to hide it.
“You’re right.”
“Everleigh—”
“I am afraid,” I admit. “You would be too.”
Elias caught a glimpse of the real Christopher when he walked in on us at the gala. He’s seen the truth behind closed doors, even if only for a moment. After years of shrinking to fit my husband’s demands, all it took was a split-second to shatter the carefully cultivated illusion.
“I have to get back to work now,” I drone, flat and cold.
“Please, Everleigh. Stay.”
“It’s Eden now.”
“Tell me what I can do to help. You can’t live like this.”
“Nothing.” My feet backtrack, creating distance between us. “Just play along and let me do this my way. I have nowhere else to go.”
“What about when Banks tracks you down?” His grey brows pinch, deepening his age lines. “What happens then?”
“He doesn’t know I’m here.”
“Yet he has all the riches in the world and the ear of countless powerful elites in your mind,” Elias points out. “Can you hide forever?”
“He hasn’t reported me missing,” I reveal, shoving past bubbling nausea.
“Because he intends to get you back.”
The sick look on his face mirrors my own internal meltdown. Lips pursed, I pat Elias’s arm and escape downstairs to leave the gallery. If I stare at him for a moment longer, I fear I’ll see the inevitable barrelling towards me.
He’s right—I can’t hide forever.
Nor can I keep running from myself.