"Your husband is the father, right?"
"How do you know I have a husband?" I ask, raising my eyebrows.
"Well, he was the one who found us. Our savior. He left his phone number," Senu says, lifting a small piece of paper. "I was too nervous to call him directly, so I called the general line instead, when I gathered enough courage to do it. I was ashamed, because you had warned me so many times about getting involved in Tif’s problems, and it’s what got me in troub—"
"Wait, wait, wait! Go back. What savior? Who found you again?"
"Oh. I see he didn’t tell you anything," Senu murmurs, lifting his brows slightly. "Well, he kept his word. I can see he waited patiently until I was ready."
"What was he supposed to tell me? What are you talking about?"
"The man who found us introduced himself as Eliano. He left me that contact card and signed it as your husband."
"No, no, stop. Rewind. I… What are you saying? Eliano found you? How is that even possible? What is happening?" I press my hands to my temples.
"I don’t know how. Like I said, one day we heard the banging, he walked in and pulled the covers off our cages."
I clench my fists, emotions surging through me so violently I can barely process them.
"He didn’t tell me anything," I say numbly. My mind spins, I’m dizzy, rubbing my face with my hands. "Senu… I can barely believe any of this. How did Eliano even find you? I was furious at him because he stopped me from taking revenge on Daniel Tanner. I wanted to escape and kill that bastard myself."
Senu blinks, lifting his hand to his mouth, covering it before whispering, "Oh dear… thank Fate he stopped you. If Tanner had died, no one would have found us. The police searched his house multiple times. The basement was incredibly well hidden. Your Eliano must have listened to him and watched him for days before realizing something was under the floor. If you had killed him, we all would have starved to death down there and been buried forever."
The emotions flood me like a spring river.
My body shivers hard. I jump to my feet and wrench the door open.
Eliano is standing nearby, leaning against the wall. I know he heard everything, as an alpha. I was shouting, after all.
I look at him. He looks back at me with that strange sadness in his eyes.
"Why… why didn’t you tell me?"
"It was Senu’s place to do that. And I wanted you to take me back because you genuinely liked me and wanted me here. Just for me. Not because of what I did."
The pain nearly folds me in half. I drop to my knees, sobbing, hands pressed to my face.
Eliano steps forward and crouches beside me.
"I banished you from the island. I told you I hated you, and you… You did this? You went to the mainland and saved my brother?"
"Well, to be fair, I didn’t know I would save him. I was looking for evidence, watching Tanner, hoping I could find something to put him away."
My breath just hitches in my lungs. I simply can’t take it.
"You stopped me from killing him. If you hadn’t, Senu would have died down there. Starved!"
"Salt… I just wanted to make it right for you. Since I took it from you, your revenge, and I felt guilty—"
"I love you," I blurt out.
Eliano shakes his head with a bitter grimace and makes a move like he wants to move away. "That’s gratitude, not love, Salt," he says sadly. "Don’t say it."
"Bullshit!" I grab him by the neck with both hands and pull his head toward mine. "I finally see you in full perspective, Eliano. From the beginning, what you wanted for me, for us. What you did. Even when I told you I hated you, you still acted for my good, for me, for my brother. How could I not love you? You are perfect!" I can’t help it, tears keep streaming down my face.
Almost violently, I pull him to me in a sudden motion and bury myself in his arms.
"I’m hardly perfect…" he whispers. "Just look at where we are right now…"
