Chloe had healed from most of the emotional pain James had put her through, but her wounds had been deep, and the last thing Gabe wanted was to tear any of them open again.
Maybe I should have told her.
It wasn't like he hadn't considered it, but for several reasons, he hadn't. He'd broken the news that James had committed suicide a while ago, knowing she was strong enough to handle it. But he hadn't shared the one other thing that he knew meant everything to Chloe: that her best friend was alive and recovering.
"Chloe, I have something to tell you, and I hope you'll hear me out," he started haltingly.
She turned her head and looked at him, her expression concerned. "Is everything okay with you?"
"It's fine. Really fine. But I have some news."
He watched as her worried expression grew bleak. "About Ellie?"
Gabe swallowed hard and nodded.
"Did they find her body?"
The sorrow in his wife's voice nearly broke him. "Yes and no." Holy hell, he couldn't keep making things worse. He needed to just spit out the truth and stop making his wife anxious. "Chloe, she's alive. Zane found her."
"Oh, my God! Is she okay? Where is she?" Chloe jumped off the ground like her ass was on fire. "I have to see her, Gabe."
He grabbed her shoulders to keep her from running back to her mare and galloping away to find her friend. They'd ridden to this spot and he'd deliberately stopped here to take a break so he could be completely alone with her to break his news.
"Listen to me, sweetheart. She's fine. She's with Zane, and they won't be here until this afternoon. They're flying in from Denver."
Chloe frowned at Gabe. "Where has she been all this time?"
It was one of the hardest questions Gabe had ever had to answer. "She was kidnapped by James and held prisoner in a remote hunting cabin. Chloe, she was in pretty bad shape when Zane found her. If he'd found her any later, I'm afraid she wouldn't have made it."
"But James has been dead for months," Chloe muttered irritably.
"Zane found her soon after we left," Gabe confessed.
Her expression filled with hurt. "He never told me. In fact, he pretty much lied."
"I know. We all did. Blake told me after she was found, but I knew you needed time to heal. Besides, Ellie didn't want you to know."
"Why?" Chloe asked tearfully. "She's my best friend."
He nodded. "That's why she didn't want you to know. She was in pretty bad shape, and she didn't want you to blame yourself for what happened to her."
Chloe shrugged Gabe's hands off her. "That's the way Ellie is-concerned about everyone except herself. But you all knew. Anybody else could have said something. God, she needed me. After that many months gone, she must have needed help."
"Zane took care of her, Chloe. She didn't need anything."
"It doesn't matter. I should have been told. God, you let me keep believing she was dead! How could you? Do you know how badly I was mourning her loss?"
"I knew. But I didn't want you to blame yourself either."
Chloe turned her back to him and leaned against a nearby tree. "Of course I blame myself. I got her the job with James. I led her right into his big fat web of evil." She took a deep breath before adding more calmly, "Tell me the whole story."
As he stared at his wife's back, Gabe explained as much as he knew about what had happened to Ellie. He knew Chloe was listening intently, but she didn't speak.
When he'd finally spilled every detail that he knew, she turned to face him, her expression filled with betrayal and hurt. "So you all decided that poor little Chloe wasn't strong enough to deal with the truth."
"We all thought it best to not stress you, sweetheart, yes."
"What did you think was going to happen? Did you think I'd crumble? I wouldn't have. I would have been happy, dammit."
"We knew that. But you'd been through hell. I didn't want you eating yourself up over Ellie's condition. She didn't want that either."
"You're my husband, Gabe. I trust you more than any other person on Earth."
"Don't you think I know that? Do you think it was easy for me to keep this to myself? Yes, I did it so you could have some time to heal, but I also did it because Ellie wanted it this way. She didn't want you to rush back to Rocky Springs to take care of her when you had your own wounds to heal."
Chloe ran her hand over her face, her expression horrified. "Oh, God. She saw those horrible videos."
"It doesn't matter. She's your best friend, and she realized you didn't know they existed." Only a few people had seen Chloe's videos, and Gabe had been one of those people. He shook off the anger he harbored for a dead man that swamped him all over again, trying to focus solely on Chloe.
"All of this happened to her because she was trying to help me. How do I live with that? And how do I forgive all of you for not telling me that she was alive?" Chloe's voice was tearful and desperate.
Gabe moved forward, but Chloe shied away from him, and that hurt him more than anything else ever could. "You'll have to forgive me, sweetheart. And you'll have to forgive your family. We all knew you were strong enough to handle the truth, but you were still trying to work things out. You needed to be your priority-and I won't apologize for putting your needs first. Ever. You needed to leave Rocky Springs, just like Ellie needed to get away from here for a while." His heart was hammering against his chest wall as he added, "I'm not me without you, Chloe. You have to forgive me because I can't be without you anymore."
"I hate it that I can't hate you," she told him angrily.
Gabe wanted to laugh at her comment, but he didn't dare. "Face it, darlin'-if you had to make the same call, you'd do exactly what I did. You'd think about protecting me if I was vulnerable."
She stared at him for a moment thoughtfully. "I honestly don't know what I'd do. But I know it would kill me to lie to you."
"Technically, I didn't lie. I just didn't tell you the truth." It was a lame argument, but he was desperate enough to try anything.
Chloe put her hands on her hips and gave him an irritated glare. "In this case, I don't think there's much difference."
Gabe released a frustrated breath. "I didn't want to do it, Chloe. But if I had to do it again, I would. Yes, I was protecting you. I love you more than anything or anybody else in this world. There isn't much I wouldn't do to see you as happy as you've been for the last several months."
A tear trickled down Chloe's cheek, and that tiny droplet was all it took to break Gabe's heart.
"I can't believe she's alive," Chloe said hesitantly, her tears starting to fall faster.
Gabe felt his phone vibrate and he pulled it out of his pocket. "She's not only alive, but she's back here in Rocky Springs. Zane said they just landed and are headed for his house."
Chloe started to cry in earnest, painful sobs pouring forward from deep inside her.
Gabe opened his arms, holding his breath as she hesitated infinitesimally, and then she ran forward and flung herself at him. He caught her up and cradled her against his body, knowing she'd forgiven him and everything was going to be okay. As he held her tightly against him, knowing she was everything to him, he vowed to himself that no matter how difficult it might be, he'd never ever risk losing her again. He was an open book to Chloe. She knew him, and she knew all of his secrets. From this day forward, now that she was stronger, Gabe swore he'd never keep anything from her again.
Zane was apprehensive as he pulled into the garage of his home at Rocky Springs. Gabe already knew they were here, and he had no doubt he'd be seeing his little sister and her husband in the next few hours. Gabe had let him know he and Chloe were headed back to the house to shower, and they'd set a time to meet in the early evening.
Hell, he'd already been warned that Ellie was going to cry, and for whatever the reason, he didn't like to see her torn up. Okay. Yeah. Maybe they'd be happy tears, but Ellie and Chloe were bound to dredge up some of their pain while they worked through all that had happened.
He took a deep breath as he cut the engine on the vehicle and closed the garage door. It had been a weird day. First, Elena had come up missing. Sean had called him, accusing Zane of somehow being responsible for her absence. The rant hadn't made a lot of sense, but Zane brushed it off since he knew how attached to Elena his director was, even though she didn't deserve it.
Zane had tried to explain that more likely than not, Elena would be back, but Sean hadn't been in the mood to listen. Honestly, the guy had sounded distraught.
More than likely, she'd found a richer man than Sean.
Zane paid very well for a man in Sean's position. Unfortunately, he knew that his director had lavished Elena with luxuries, some that were incredibly costly. Keeping up with the demands of a woman like her had to eventually leave the poor guy broke.