Page 19 of Saving Wyatt

"I...I thought you needed someone. To be there for you," he said with a defeated shrug.

"That's really sweet, Elliot, but⁠—"

"And so I can tell them you didn't do a damn thing," he added.

I let out a sigh, and my hand dropped down to his arm. I gave it a little squeeze. "You're too young to worry about me, Elliot. It's very sweet you want to be there for me, but I don't need you."

I tried to be gentle with the boy. He had been through too much and gotten the short end of the stick one too many times in life. He didn't need an old man shouting at him. Not that I ever would.

"That's bullshit and you know it," he said. "You're pushing everyone away because you think this is all your fault, but if there's a time you need your people around you, it's now when you're going through this...this...this terrible thing."

Elliot blinked, and after a moment, bit his lip. Then as if remembering himself, his eyes popped wide open and his head dropped.

I cupped the boy's cheek and patted it a couple of times with a reassuring smile. "You're right.”

"I-I am?"

"Yes. Of course you are. When did you get so wise, huh?" I asked. “I'm an old man used to doing everything for myself, and I don't know how to ask for help."

"You-you are?"

“What? Old?” I asked. “I thought that was obvious.”

“No.” He shook his head. “I meant…I don’t know what I meant.”

It was almost amusing, the way he was in total disbelief at my admission, but this wasn't a moment for laughing.

"I am. And I appreciate that you want to be there with me. But you're involved in this in ways I'd like them not to find out about, and I've already made a mess out of everyone's lives. I don't want you catching strays too."

Elliot closed his gaping mouth and swallowed a knot on his throat. "My brother," he said.

"The last thing I want is for Salieri to catch wind of you getting involved in this and going after you and the mistakes you made."

It wasn't that long ago when he was just an abused, neglected orphan teenager doing his criminal brother's bidding and wrecking havoc in Hwan's store and other businesses around the island.

His brother may have been in prison now, but that didn't mean Salieri couldn't pull a stunt on Elliot just to get back at me. No one knew he had been a criminal-in-the-making, and I refused to let him pay for someone else's mistakes and influence.

The boy had done a one-eighty since I'd taken him under my care and given him a job and a home. He was a hard worker, dedicated, and an excellent assistant to Joey. So much so he was managing the kitchen at the bar all by himself without getting flustered like any other boy his age would. He had a life left to live, and I'd be damned if I let him put it to waste for dear, old me.

"So you can't come inside with me, but you can wait out here if you want. Okay?" I told him, and he nodded as Camille pulled up behind him in the parking lot of the station.

"Ready?" she asked me when I caught up with her, and she glanced at Elliot who leaned against the tree he'd been hiding behind.

"Let's do this," I told her.

"Great. But first—" She put a hand to my chest and glared. "What do you say if they ask you anything?"

"No comment," I replied.

"So did you kill the guy?" she asked, dropping her hand from my chest.

"You know I⁠—"

"No comment!" she shouted at me, and I bit my tongue.

Gosh. Why was this harder than it had to be? Probably because it was my friend questioning me. My friend who thought I'd killed someone in cold blood.

"So you're denying the last time you saw Detective Bennet was before he went into hiding?" Hank asked.