Page 60 of The Deception You Weave

I shrug. "Both. Not that I had anything to do with him being a part of it."

"W-what does he do?" she asks hesitantly.

"You really should get some rest," I say, trying to steer the conversation away from this topic.

"Tell me," she snaps, the harshness in her tone enough to make me look over at her.

She's laying with her eyes closed, so I've no idea how she's really feeling right now.

"He organizes distribution. The garage is a cover."

"Jesus. I can't believe he ended up tangled-up like that."

"From what I heard, he didn't have much of a choice. His family was at risk."

"Right," she sighs.

"What about… what about the rest?" I ask, although I'm still not sure I'm ready to go there, but I feel that I need to make the most of this little truce between us.

"Have you read my letter." I glance at the floor where I know it fell when Reid stormed in.

"No," I admit.

"I wrote it for a reason."

My lips part, but once again no words come out. All I feel is guilt and pain. Regrets swamp me for all the things I could have done differently, all the mistakes I've made. Almost all of which have involved Letty.

"Okay," I whisper.

She never responds and when her breathing evens out and her body finally relaxes, I breathe a sigh of relief that she's getting the rest her body needs.

I, on the other hand, just sit there staring at the wall trying to drum up the courage to read what it was she needed to say to me.

I have no idea how much time passes, but when I finally climb from the bed and pick up the envelope, the sun has long risen and is streaming through the gap in the curtains.

Before I do anything else, I grab her purse and dig out her cell.

It's dead, so I put it on a charger and wait for it to power up.

It only takes two attempts to get through her passcode. Seems I know her too well.

She's got messages and voicemails from both Luca and Leon, and all her roommates.

I hesitate, trying to figure out the best way to handle this situation. I can hardly message the Dunns back as her, they'll see right through it. Equally, I can hardly tell them that she's with me, that won't reassure them.

In the end, I open one message and hit dial.

"Where the fuck are you?" a sleepy, husky voice comes down the line.

"It's Kane," I whisper, not wanting to wake Letty up. "She's with me. She's… fine."

"You really expect me to believe that?" There's rustling in the background before the deep rumble of a guy's voice.

"Yeah, actually I do. She's asleep in my bed, so can you please call off the search party?"

"Why would I do that?" she snaps, suddenly sounding very awake.

"Because you're a good friend, Ella."