I’ve often felt guilty about all the women he’s stolen from their lives over the years. How many did he traffic before me? How many since me? I couldn’t have done anything about the women before me. I didn’t know what he was capable of at the time.
But after I woke up in Westin’s basement, I knew Larkin was a monster. Maybe I should have run. Gotten help. Found someone who would believe me. Maybe I could have stopped more girls from being kidnapped and sold.
I jerk my eyes open when I realize my mind has drifted to horrible thoughts again. I reach for the button to turn off the jets, but it’s not until a sob escapes my mouth that I realize I’m crying.
Not just crying. I’m sobbing. I gasp, trying to draw in oxygen.
“Eloise?” The door opens, and Cannon rushes forward. He drops onto his knees next to the tub. He reaches out and pulls me against him, soaking himself in the process. “Angel, what’s wrong?”
I wrap my arms around him and let him lift me out of the tub. He lifts my naked body against his chest before grabbing the towel and wrapping it around me, cradling me. He stands and rocks me back and forth, kissing my temple.
“How many?” I manage to ask on a sob.
“How many what, Little one?”
“Girls.” I can’t catch my breath. “Maybe I-I-I could have s-s-stopped him.”
Cannon holds me tighter. “Oh, angel, no.”
I cry harder, holding on to his shirt. I didn’t realize how much this was weighing on me until now. The dam has broken.
“Eloise… Oh, angel. Let it out.” He doesn’t tell me to suck it up or stop crying. He lets me cry. He actually encourages it.
And I do because I’ve held this in for so long. By the time I’m able to pull myself back together, I’ve soaked Cannon’s entire shirt and probably his jeans. I’m wrapped in the towel, but it’s wet, too.
Without a word, he dampens a washcloth and cleans off my face. Next, he sits me on the vanity, pulls the towel away, and quickly eases my nightgown over my head. When he stands me on my feet to put my panties on, I lean into him.
“Thank you,” I whisper.
He lifts me into his arms and carries me into his bedroom, where he sits in a giant armchair with me in his lap. “Now, you listen to me, Eloise Manning. You’re not responsible for anything Larkin did.”
“I know,” I say without looking at him. “But maybe if I had run away and gotten help. Maybe I could have found someone who believed me and stopped him. Sometimes I feel like I was a coward for staying with Westin for three-and-a-half years.”
He tips my head back and looks me in the eyes. “You are no coward, Eloise. You did what you needed to do to stay alive. You had to assume that if you ran, you would end up in prison on a litany of false charges. How would that have helped anyone?”
I sniffle. “I know, but…”
“No buts. According to Larkin’s lies, you never would have survived escaping that mountain with no shoes, angel. And for what? You didn’t think you could go to the police, Little one.”
I nod. He’s right. It’s good to hear it from someone rational. There were a million times that I stared at the sky at night, wondering how many girls had died or worse while I lived.
I swallow and ask the question I’ve been dying to ask for hours. “Did Blade and the others check to see if the police are looking for me?”
“Yes, angel. No one is looking for you. Larkin lied. There is no record anywhere of you ever committing a crime or being accused of one or even being stopped for jaywalking.”
I suck back new tears. I don’t even know if they’re happy or sad tears. I’m glad no one is looking for me, but I feel renewed guilt for being duped. “Will you catch him?”
“Absolutely. One of our team members is heading there now. Tank. He’s a great guy. He will gather data and bring it back here.”
“And then what?” I sit up taller, suddenly worried that Cannon will go to Virginia and leave me here. I grab his wet shirt. “You can’t go there.” I’m shaking.
He sets his forehead against mine. “I don’t need to, angel.” He draws in a deep breath. “My team is going to lure him here.”
“How?” I frown, confused.
Cannon hesitates. “Trust me when I say I never would have agreed to this if I thought you would be in danger. You will never be in harm’s way.”
I stiffen.
