The understatement of the century. Ronan is probably tearing the city apart looking for me, and here I am hiding in a safe house with the one man who should have told himimmediately where I was. Guilt floods me yet again, and I bite my lip.
"What did you tell him?"
“That I’d look for you, too,” Elio says simply. "That I’d do anything I could to help him find you.”
I swallow hard. "And he believed you?"
"For now." His jaw tightens. "But he's not stupid, Annie. If we don't figure this out soon, he's going to start asking harder questions."
The weight of what we're doing—what I've asked him to do—settles over me like a heavy blanket. I've dragged him into this mess, made him complicit in my deception, put his entire future at risk. And for what? To spare Ronan some pain that he's probably going to feel anyway when the truth eventually comes out?
“I’m sorry,” I whisper. “I shouldn’t have dragged you into this.”
Elio runs a hand through his hair. “Maybe not,” he says wryly, his green eyes meeting mine. I feel a jolt that runs all the way through me, a reminder that we’re alone, far away from anyone else. The closest and most isolated together that we’ve been in years. “But we’re here now, Annie. We’re doing this. So whatever I can do to help you, whatever you need, just tell me. I’ll get you through this however I can.”
I believe him, absolutely. I know he means every word. And as he looks at me, his gaze calm and unwavering, I realize that I have no idea what I need.
Except for one thing—him.
13
ELIO
The night before
The phone buzzesagainst my chest at 3:47 AM, jarring me from the restless half-sleep I'd managed to fall into on the couch. Annie is curled up in the bedroom down the hall, finally getting the rest she desperately needs, and I was reluctant to leave her alone even for the few hours it would take to drive back to my own place. I didn’t want her to wake up alone after what happened. And I’m hoping in the morning, after a good night’s sleep, she’ll feel ready to not only tell me what happened but to go back to the city and fill Ronan in. That one night will be enough to clear all of this up, and keep me from having to lie to her brother any longer.
Ronan's name flashes on the screen, and my stomach drops. This can't be good news.
"Yeah?" I answer, keeping my voice low.
"Elio." Ronan's voice is tight with barely controlled panic. "Annie's missing."
I sit up straighter, forcing surprise into my tone even though my heart is already racing. "What do you mean, missing?"
“Leon called me. Her head of security. Said she told him she was going to stay the night with a friend, that she didn’t need him any longer that night. He felt weird about it and decided to check on her phone location. It gave him the fucking Charles River as a location. He followed it and sure enough, the GPS took him to the fucking river. So her phone’s been tossed, and no one knows where she is.” There’s the sound of his teeth grinding together on the other end of the line. "I'm mobilizing everyone. Every contact, every resource we have. I need you here.”
Fuck.I fight to keep my breathing steady. Ronan is calling me first from the sound of it, turning to me in his moment of crisis, and I'm sitting here harboring his sister in a safe house while lying through my teeth.
"I'll be there in two hours," I tell him, already reaching for my keys. “I’m not in the city right now, but I’ll head back.”
"Make it one,” he snaps. “I’m going to decide in the meantime if I’m going to shoot Leon or just fire him.”
The line goes dead, and I stare at the phone for a long moment, guilt eating away at my chest like acid. In the bedroom, on the other side of the open door, Annie shifts in her sleep, making a small sound that could be distress or contentment. Either way, it makes me want to go to her, to smooth the hair back from her face and tell her everything will be okay. I want to stay here with her, to not leave until she’s awake, and I know she’s not going to panic all over again.
But I can't. Not when her brother—a man who is nearly a brother to me, the man who has given me everything—is out there losing his mind with worry.
I write a quick note and leave it on the nightstand where she'll see it when she wakes up. Then I slip out into the pre-dawn darkness, nodding to Ed and Angelo, the two guards I'd stationed outside. They're good men, and they’re loyal to me. Annie will be safe with them.
The drive back to Boston feels endless, every mile stretching the knot of deception tighter in my gut. By the time I reach the city, dawn is painting the sky in shades of gray and pink, and I've rehearsed my lies so many times they almost feel like the truth.
Almost.
Ronan is waiting for me in his office at the mansion, surrounded by a map of the city, scribbled notes on a pad, and his phone open to a text thread. He looks like he's aged five years in the past few hours; his usually pristine appearance is disheveled, his eyes dark with fear.
He’s talking to someone else as I walk in—I recognize Tristan’s voice on the other end, coming over the speaker from another phone set on the edge of the desk.
“...I can fly out today if you need me,” he says. “Simone is on bedrest, but I’m sure she’ll understand?—”
