“I don’t, I can’t understand any of this shit,” I snarl, pulling at my hair in frustration. “You intercepted those letters and packages at her apartment. You read the threats and got rid of enough dead animals to know that Ellie was being targeted.”
“Yeah, and like you, I assumed that it was Jerry out of revenge, man. I mean, he was the most likely, the only suspect when we first started looking into things. I, like you, assumed it was him trying to scare her. Then when he hired Sten, I thought it was a hit. The guy isn’t exactly on the up and up.”
“But it’s true, bro. We heard it from Sten, himself. Jerry hired him to be her tail and make sure no one hurt her.”
“Why? He can’t know that Bolton isn’t dead, so he can’t be thinking that he’s still a danger to Ellie!”
I’m yelling at them as I jump up and start pacing back and forth, my mind running at a mile a minute with the confusion and disbelief coursing through me.
It’s true that Bolton isn’t dead, even if he is dead to me. He’s actually locked away in a little prison in France, never to see the light of day again.
When I heard that Bolton wasn’t in school for a few days and my own guy came back to tell me that Ellie was missing, I’d started searching for them both.
I’d be damned if the little shit died of a drug overdose and hurt poor Aunt Lynn, and I searched for Ellie because I fully suspected her to have gone off somewhere to get away and mourn and I didn’t want her to be alone with her grief.
Imagine my horror when I finally tracked Bolton down and arranged a meeting with him, only for him to laugh his ass off at me and tell me what he’d done.
I’d beat him almost unconscious while trying to find Ellie at that point, only to get to that little shack in the desert and find it empty. We’d learned later that she had escaped and made it to a little town not far away, and they got her to the hospital in time to treat her for dehydration, malnourishment, and extreme mental distress.
Bolton…he was another story, altogether.
I’d been so pissed, I’d wanted to kill him with my bare hands and would have at some point; the rage was that strong. Jared had stopped me and suggested a more fitting punishment. I contacted an old army buddy and set things into motion.
Bolton now lives out his days locked in a cell smaller than my closet with nothing to do and no one to talk to. Last I heard, he was mad as a hatter and needed medicating most of the time to prevent self-harm.
We faked his death, only to give his parents closure and to stop the police from looking for the man.
I know that it’s not Jerry sending Ellie death threats and trying to scare her, but it couldn’t be Bolton…could it?
“Get ahold of Case and have him call Jean Louis. I want to know everything that’s going on with that piece of shit Bolton and I want to know now.”
I look over at my brothers too late and notice their winces and Jace’s curse. I know before I turn fully that she’s standing in the doorway and has heard it all.
“Ellie.”
She’s white as a sheet and trembling hard enough that I’m surprised she’s still standing and not on the floor in a dead faint, but I should know by now that my baby is made of stronger stuff.
Her spine literally stiffens and she narrows her eyes at me in anger.
“I think you have some explaining to do, Wyatt Lane, and I swear to God, if you lie to me even once about anything, I‘ll be gone so fast you won’t believe it.”
Shit, shit, shit.
“Ellie, baby, I—”
She ignores my pleas and marches in, slamming the door with a resounding bang that makes me wince, and look to my brothers for help.
“Oh hell nah, bro, I told you to tell her everything before she found out by herself. You should have taken my advice. Ellie, sweetheart, don’t kill him or nothing, okay? He’s a fool, dumber than a post most days, but he’s a fool for you so he deserves at least a smidgen of understanding for his stupidity,” Miah quips, giving me a wink before rising and tilting his head at the door.
“Awww, I want to stay and watch her rip him a new asshole. Please?” Jace begs, laughing his ass off at my growl and Jared’s slap upside his head.
“Get the hell out of here and stay out till we’re done,” I snarl.
I’m sweating buckets as they clear the room and close the door behind them, leaving me alone with a rabid animal in the form of the woman I love.
Have I mentioned yet that this entire day has been a cluster fuck from beginning to end? That’s the trouble with lying to your loved one, though, and I knew it then as I know it now.
I knew she’d find out sooner or later and come charging at me with fire in her eyes. I was just praying it would be later, much later, after maybe a kid or two and a lot of loving.