Page 182 of Under Your Scars

I understand now what Elena said to me after I was shot, about how she didn’t know how to explain the situation to Caroline. Do all parents find it this difficult to protect their child’s innocence?

“Five million,” I confirm through a puff of smoke to the officer. Officer Jackson? Jacobs? Johnson? Something with a J. I didn’t listen.

“Alright. Is there anything specific you want people to be on the lookout for? We have what she was last seen wearing from the missing person report, but is there anything else? Scars, jewelry, deformities?”

Elena’s name anddeformitiesdo not go in the same sentence, and I think Officer Jerkoff picks up on that from the death glare I give him.

“She would have been wearing her wedding ring; purple diamond the size of the iceberg that sunk the…Titanic…”

My voice trails off as two of my security guards run out the front door and down the driveway, towards the front gate. Confused, I follow them, jogging slowly with the cop until we reach the front gate, where a dozen of my men are walking in a circle with their guns raised in caution.

When they see me, they split apart, allowing me a look at one of my security guards holding a small lump in his arms.

She’s covered in blood and dirt. Messy and nearly unrecognizable.

But when our gazes collide, I know it’s her.

“Oh my God,” I mumble.

She scrambles out of the guard’s arms so fast he partially drops her, catching her only inches before she hits the ground, which is moot on his part, because I practically tackle her myself.

“Fuck, angel, are you okay?” I pat over her body as she collapses in relief into my arms. “You’re freezing. Are you hurt? Is this your blood?”

My questions come out in rapid succession, but she only ever gives me one answer.

“I don’t know.”

Her voice is quiet, and her gaze is distant.

“Angel, talk to me,” I beg, pushing her messy hair out of her face and tucking it behind her ears. I make eye contact with one of my guards and instruct him to tell Bethany what’s happening and to keep Caroline occupied while I sneak Elena into the house to clean her up. The last thing I want is for Caroline to see her like this.

I pull my wallet out of my pocket and throw a fat wad of cash at the officer still carefully watching the interaction. “Not a damn word,” I warn. I stare him down as his eyes flicker between Elena, my guards, and the money at his feet.

Predictable as always, he takes the cash.

Against my body’s protests, I try to pick Elena up to carry her myself.

I can’t, and it hurts my fucking pride to ask another man to carry my distraught wife into the safety of our bedroom.

When we’re alone behind the locked door, I lead Elena into the bathroom and she slumps against the wall, sitting on the ground with her legs tucked up to her chest.

I take a hand towel, soak it in warm water, and use it to clean the blood from her face while she sits. It almost feels like a more fucked-up version of that night I forced her to take me to her apartment. I wiped blood off her then, too.

When her face is clean, I can see that she’s hurt. She has a thin slice across her cheek, bruises in the shape of fingerprints around her neck, and glass stuck in her tangled hair.

“Please tell me Caroline’s okay,” she pleads, a single tear falling down her cheek.

“Yes,” I whisper. “She’s fine, I promise.”

Elena lets out a long sigh and whispers, “Okay. I’m okay. I’m okay. I’m okay.”

She says that, but I don’t believe it. Not with the way she’s on the verge of dissociating. “Forgive me for not being fucking convinced. You’re shutting me out. Don’t do that.”

“Gavin?” she asks. I sigh as I shake my head and rub the back of my knuckles along her cheekbone. “He died because of me.”

“No. No. Hey, look at me. Don’t go down that hole. None of this is your fault.” Frustrated that she doesn’t seem to have any concern for herself in this moment, my patience begins to wear thin. “Elena,talk to me.”

She says nothing, and I snap. Fuck Kate and fuck Valenti and fuck the Silencer imposter. Fuck everyone on this goddamn planet. I drag Elena up to her feet and pull her into the shower with me, fully clothed, and turn on the water so hot it turns our skin red on first contact. I rip at the dirty fabric covering her until she’s naked and then shed my own clothes.