from that fate. God, he was never one to question facts backed by proof—Ellsa was a murderer and a dangerous one at that, but… the woman he knew all those years ago and the one he met today, she didn’t look capable of hurting a fly.
“Damien!”
Hoping against hope that this wouldn’t bite him in the ass, he said, “I think Ellsa is under protective custody.” When that revelation was met with silence, he went on. “I spoke to the woman. She knew who I was and how long I’d been searching for VS. She said I was making their job hard with my persistence.”
“What job?” Dale hissed.
“Protecting her from Vladimir—at least I think it’s him. He was the guy she was running from the first time we met.”
“In Miami?” Ellie squeaked. “Why would she need protection for all these years and why didn’t she tell me?”
Damien shook his head, “She must have had her reasons. These people meant business, Ellie. There was nothing law enforcement about them. They looked more like hired mercenaries.”
She clutched her hair in tight fists, her eyes wide with fear. “And you let them go off with my sister!”
“I didn’t have much of a choice! They asked me nicely to step out of the car and when I say nicely, I mean with a gun in my face.”
Ellie turned, burying her face in Dale’s chest. He held her to him, remorse in his eyes. “If I was there with you we might have—”
Damien shook his head, “No, I think she’s safe with them.” When Dale went to protest, he held his hand up. “You don’t go against the Russians unless you can play on an equal playing field. We can’t, but they can. They seem to care about VS and that’s enough for me—for the moment.”
“If Ellsa knew this man was a threat, why didn’t she do anything to protect Ellie?”
“She has been safe.”
“Except from Ellsa herself,” Dale gnashed out.
There was so much of this that Damien didn’t understand—a state he despised being in—and he needed to figure it all out before the walls came closing around Ellsa. He looked at his wrist watch. It was a few minutes to midnight. Why hadn’t DJ called him yet?
Sniffling, Ellie brought her face out of hiding from Dale’s chest, “You mentioned a boy. Did she kidnap another child?”
“No,” “Yes,” He and Dale answered simultaneously.
At the tortured look on Ellie’s face, Damien quickly said, “The boy is hers.”
Dale snorted, “How would you know?”
With a silent prayer that he wasn’t making a mistake by confessing this Damien said, “Because he’s mine too.”
He’d expected a lot of things, shock being at the forefront, but he never expected laughter. Dale doubled over laughing and he and Ellie were left staring at him, a little stunned.
“Middle D, you can’t be that gullible. Hell, I need a drink.” He sauntered off to the kitchen, still laughing.
Ellie took Damien’s hand and squeezed it, “Don’t mind him. He cares nothing for Ellsa, but you and I do. Tell me about him?”
Damien shook his head. “Maybe another time, Ellie. Good night.” He kissed her cheek and walked to his room, locking the door once inside.
He paced the carpeted floor, his mind jumbled with thoughts. Dale’s laughter had set warnings off in his head. He couldn’t sit down and discuss his son when all he could think about was those walls now closing in faster after his stupid mistake. He should never have said anything. He yanked his shirt off and dropped onto the bed, his head in his hands, his elbows on his knees. What was he going to do when DJ called and Dale answered? Now he wished Elaine would find his phone in DJ’s backpack. He needed to come up with a plan tonight and then tomorrow he was going by his son’s school with a new phone. One just like his—couldn’t be tapped, traced, hacked or cloned. Searching for Victoria Secret all those years had made him paranoid, but not paranoid enough if Elaine could pick up his trail behind them.
It
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