He’d bet on it.
Sometimes, what you saw wasn’t the truth. You had to dig deeper into it and figure it out. Elizabeth was just like a mystery, but she was also a human being with genuine feelings.
Sometimes, they forgot that under that tenacity and strength, there was a broken person who’d seen too much, and lived through some bad moments too.
As she stood there, the water pouring down over her, masking the tears that were also falling, Gene knew the best way to handle this.
See, he was a pro at soothing the savage beast, simply because he’d spent seven years fighting the demons with, and for Ethan.
“Come here, Honey.”
Without a word, she turned and went into his arms. They were both naked and standing under the spray, fighting for her.
“I’m so angry,” she whispered, as he held onto her.
Well, he could get her through that.
To help comfort her, Gene scooped her up and sat on the bench in the shower stall. There, he let her just curl into his much bigger body.
Alone, they sat there being pummeled by the hot spray, and the whole time, he let her take whatever strength she needed to fight her way through this.
And he reassured her.
“It’s just us. Let it out.”
She clung to him, and as she did, she did what he suggested, because everything she wanted to do went against her core and values.
Elizabeth wanted to burn the world to the ground.
Instead, she vented, and the words came out in a wave of rage.
“I hate his fucking guts!” she said. “He’s hurting people and I am going to have to carry that!”
He said nothing.
Instead, he rocked her, protecting her as best he could. In this case, the little he could give her might help her survive this.
“I’m breaking, Gene. I can’t handle much more. There’s blood on my hands.”
As soon as she said it, he knew it wasn’t from the literal blood of beating on that bag.
This was going to be far deeper and harder to swallow. Sometimes, bad won.
He’d learned that lesson a long time ago, and it was why he’d left the FBI and burned his own relationship to the ground.
Sometimes, it became too much to swallow—let alone carry day after day.
Yes, Elizabeth might come across as tough, but that was a shell. Beneath it, she was the sweetest, gentlest soul. She loved kittens and puppies and had a soft spot for children. Who she was at work was not who she was on Christmas morning in her matching pajamas, or on Easter when she was up hiding eggs in the yard for her kids.
She was a mother to her core, and that meant she wanted to protect the weak.
She fought for the abused and never gave up in a fight. Now, her soul was being shredded as she was forced to carry the weight of what Devon Slater was doing.
It was a lot to swallow for anyone, but for someone who won more often than lost, it was a slap to the face for all she’d worked so hard to accomplish to keep people safe.
Elizabeth continued.
“One more, and I’m going to snap. I need a favor,” she whispered, her lips by his ear.
