But he did. He saw me alone and vulnerable, so he made his move.
That strategy didn’t help anyone other than me, revealing the villain only to myself. I couldn’t expose him and the people directing him.
Because we were out by the river without any witnesses.
Because I tried to do it all by myself.
I look at my phone again. No response from Daphne. No indication she’s gotten the message.
My fingers tighten around the case. My heart constricts with the gesture.
I don’t want to put anyone else in danger.
Other people already are, though, aren’t they? My matches are, and they came together to show that they’d rather have me in their lives than go free.
Don’t I owe it to them to believe them?
I inhale deeply and tap out one more message. Then I head toward the river.
Forty-Three
Elodie
I’m not surprised that Salvatore makes it to the spot first. He ducks beneath the low-hanging branches of a pine into the discreet clearing I found, his gaze roving over my body. “Is something wrong, a chroí? Why the secret meeting?”
My hand reaches toward him automatically. I start to catch myself and tamp down on the instinctive fear.
I’m allowed to want him. I’m allowed to turn to him.
Which he confirms with the slide of his fingers around mine and the wrapping of his other arm right around me.
“I’m not in immediate peril,” I say, just to reassure him. “Let’s wait until everyone’s here.”
In lieu of a more complete answer, Salvatore settles for tucking me against his massive frame and kissing the back of my head. His fierce warmth envelops me in a way the sun beaming down from above couldn’t quite manage.
How could I imagine I belong anywhere else?
It’s only a few minutes later that the crunch of two sets of footsteps breaks through the warble of the river beyond the trees and the peals of birdsong.
Cole and Asher emerge through the brush together. The professor’s eyes darken as he takes in my pose with Salvatore, but with a heat that brings me back to our brief kiss in the hotel bedroom.
“We’re waiting for Worth,” Salvatore informs them before I have to.
I tap him lightly with my elbow. “Sometime you’ll have to start referring to each other by first names.”
The mafia heir hums nonchalantly. “We’re not exchanging friendship bracelets yet.”
“Let me know when you are, because I’d like to see what you come up with.”
As Salvatore chuckles, the final member of our union steps between the trees.
Byron walks right over to me and takes my hand with a narrow glance toward Salvatore as if daring him to object. “What’s going on, Elodie?”
I drag in a breath, and my eyes well up without warning. Cole’s stance stiffens even as he takes a jerky step toward me.
Asher brushes past him, stopping just shy of touching me. “What happened?”
A snarl comes into Salvatore’s voice. “If one of those scalders took another stab at you?—”
