Page 22

Chapter Twenty-Two

Elias

All around him, the room had fractured into smaller groups, their conversations hushed and urgent as they processed the sheer scale of everything that had unfolded. It sat like dead weight in Elias’ chest. The ache behind his ribs was excruciating. For a moment, he struggled to breathe under the magnitude of information pressing down on him. His cozy, perfectly staged basement suddenly felt more like a tomb, too small, too suffocating, too final and entirely too dark in the face of the sprawling conspiracy they’d just unearthed.

His mind reeled. Adelaide. Not just compromised, but controlled. He turned away from the room and braced his hands on the bookshelves, searching the spines as though he could find some sort of reason or answer among the multitudinous political biographies and policy journals he had collected over the years. The woman he had once called friend, who had stood beside him for years as an ally, whom he’d supported unfailingly in her bid to right the wrongs of the country for the betterment of its people, was nothing more than a pawn. Or worse—a willing participant. He swallowed down a wave of bile as his hands clenched tighter around the shelf.

“Hey, baby doll.” Caleb’s warm presence and soothing voice blanketed Elias’ back as he wound his arms around his waist. “I know that look.”

“Do you, now?” Elias let one hand drop to cover Caleb’s where they splayed over his stomach.

“Mhmm. It's the look you get when something epically fucked up fundamentally changes the way you see the world.”

Elias exhaled and let his forehead rest against the spine of Barack Obama’s memoir. Maybe he could learn something from one of the greats through osmosis. “I must be wearing it a lot lately.”

Caleb squeezed his arms before shifting, ducking under Elias’ arm to squeeze in front of him. “We don't have to figure this out tonight, El. We have time.”

“Do we?” Elias searched those earnest eyes, studying the unique patterns and swirls as if he didn't already have the sight memorized. “I'm running for the Democratic nomination. We’re already walking a tightrope. If the CIA, the military, and God knows who else is planning a coup from within, what do you think happens if I win?”

“When.” Caleb pressed his palms to Elias’ chest. “When you win, we fight like hell. We give’em hell like we always do, bossman.”

A quietly cleared throat pulled Elias out of their private moment amid the stacks. Turning his face, he found Luke and Bella lingering intentionally close.

“We need to talk strategy,” Bella nodded toward the stairs, her movements subdued and subtle in contrast to her typically large presence. With a nod in response, Elias and Caleb trailed them through their home and into the kitchen, away from the hushed chatter of those remaining behind. Elias slid into a stool at the island, Caleb perching beside him, while Luke and Bell leaned against the counter opposite where they sat, arms crossed over their chests and matching somber expressions.

“We suspected the mole in the FBI already. I'm putting Taz on the job. Only that job, because if we don't root them out now, and they find out what we know…” Bella trailed off, the tension rolling off her body like relentless waves battering the shore.

Luke exhaled sharply. “And if what they said about Siamo is true, the military is not a failsafe. We can't just blow the whistle and expect justice. This is much bigger than a few bad actors.”

Elias released a slow breath and pressed his fingers to his sternum. “What’s the play, then?”

Bella and Luke exchanged glances before she spoke. “You must stay in the race. If you drop out now, they know something is wrong. You have momentum. If you back down, they win.”

Luke jumped in as soon as she paused. “If you're still in the race, you have leverage. You're too public to take out quietly.”

He shifted his gaze between them as he let the weight of it settle deeper. The reality of what they were up against was likely insurmountable, but as he listened to their appeal, he realized that for the first time since he’d first thought about running, he hadn't felt doubt. There were no moments of second-guessing, no anxiety over if he should or shouldn't. He wasn't naive about the risks involved in politics, but this was all out war. One thing he knew about himself, perhaps the only thing he was ever really truly sure about, was the fact that he wouldn't back down from a fight between good and evil. For the first time, he didn't need any convincing.

“I'm not backing down.” Elias let them absorb his words for a brief moment before continuing. “But we need a counter-offensive.”

“Si.” Bella nodded, uncrossing her arms to swirl and twist her hair into a knot at the top of her head. “I will speak with Director Robbins, while Taz works on the leak at the Bureau.”

“I’ll work my contacts and try to get to this defected General before the CIA does.”

“And I need to talk to Connor about contingency plans.” Elias pressed his palms to the cool granite of the countertop. “Cay, call Matt and Cynthia. I think it's time we took them up on the offer to stay at the guest cottage.”

“Aye, aye, boss man.” Caleb leaned in and pressed an audible smooch to Elias’ cheek before hopping from his stool. He captured Luke on his way out of the kitchen with promises to show him the secure phone line they’d set up in the office. The less Elias knew about what was on that thumb drive, the better. He already knew entirely too much.

The evening swiftly turned to night as everyone worked together, in turns commiserating their fate while also strategizing their future. It was chaos, but a muted, quiet sort of smoldering chaos. Elias floated somewhere just above it all. He checked in with Taz, who had magically commandeered a laptop. He spoke at length with Connor, who was busy contacting the security team about the updated address and heightened threat level. Beau offered more details that Elias needed to grit his teeth to stomach. Bella brought promises of discretion and full support directly from the mouth of the Director of the FBI. There was still one last thing he needed to do before he could rest. One more very important thing.

He found Theo cloaked in darkness, huddled on the couch in the family room beneath the folds of a throw blanket, his face pale in the feeble moonlight filtering through the sheer curtains of the window. Elias’ heart hurt to see him struggling. Too many times in their shared history he had seen the young man clinging to the brink. He couldn't stand aside and watch him suffer without extending his hand. He refused to. Theo was, for all intents and purposes, his. He never could pinpoint the exact moment he began to think of Theo as his family, but the bond was there nevertheless, and he wouldn't allow them to drift apart on opposite sides of this rift between them.

“It's good to see you, Theo.” Elias stepped into the room and approached the couch with slow and steady movements.

“If you're here to explain why you didn't tell me, or try to convince me why this is a great idea, just… don’t.” Theo didn't look up, his voice flat and hollow.

“I wasn't going to.”

That got his attention. He lifted his head, eyes shadowed with exhaustion and something deeper. Something haunted, hurt, and desperate.

Elias slowly eased himself downward to sit on the table before Theo. “I came to apologize. I know I should have talked to you first. I was wrong. And I know your feelings about this are complicated. More complicated than I could ever try to comprehend. I'm not going to try to convince you that I'm making the right move.”

“I just—I don't get it!” He ran a hand over his face and somehow sank even deeper into the folds of the blanket. “After everything we’ve seen, after everything we learned about how the system works, why would you still want to be a part of it?”

“Because it's the only way to change it.” Elias reached out and laid a gentle hand on Theo’s knee.

“No. No, you know that's not how this works. The system isn't designed to allow people like us, like you, to change anything. They're either going to control you, or k-kill you.”

Elias flinched, but refused to look away. “Maybe. I won't say I'm not scared. I won't lie to you. But if I don't try, they win. If we don't do something, they will get what they've been working for all this time.”

“What happens to Caleb? What happens to—” Theo cut himself off with a shake of his head. Burgeoning tears threatened to spill from his hazel eyes, making them sparkle in the moonglow. “Damn it, Eli. You're the closest thing I've ever had to a mentor. I believed in you. I do believe in you. I just—I just can't watch you walk into the fire. I can't lose you, too.”

Elias’ heart cracked right down the middle and all his emotions, every single conflicted, tortured feeling that had been building up for years spilled out in messy, real, raw sobs. He couldn't promise anything. He couldn't promise he wouldn't be hurt. He couldn't promise they'd all make it out the other side. But he had to do something. He had to do everything he could to try and make those hopes he couldn't promise come true.

They moved in sync, arms wrapping tight around one another as they crumpled to the floor between the couch and coffee table, a pocket of unspoken promises forged in a tearful embrace that said everything they couldn't utter aloud. It was a feedback loop of fear, worry, sadness, but above all else, love. Elias clutched Theo even tighter, a buttress of love shielding them from the horrors they'd been through and those yet to come. Because at the end of the day, that was all they had to fight with. Love was all they had to fight for.