Page 36

The older woman’s fingers trembled as she reached into her desk drawer and removed it. “We’ve called the police,” she said, defensively.

“But you said she left at lunchtime.” He read the note with a sense of disbelief. In a pretty damn good impersonation of his writing, on his personal stationery, Ellie had forged a letter.

Eleanor will be leaving early this afternoon for personal reasons. Dimitrios Konstantino.

Damn, she’d even nailed his signature. And if he hadn’t been in such a state of panic, he would have admired her ballsiness. But this was his ward, his responsibility, his promise to his friends. He couldn’t have her be gone.

“She could be anywhere by now. How come no one thought to call me?”

“Believe me, we’ll be looking into our standard practices,” the woman murmured. “But the note⁠—”

“Yes, the bloody note,” he responded, closing his eyes on a wave of nausea, right as his phone began to ring.

Chloe’s face filled the screen and his gut churned at just the sight of her. How had she known to call him now, in this moment, when he needed her words of wisdom more than anything?

He swiped to answer before he could think about whether or not it was a good idea. He opened his mouth to say something, like ‘she’s gone’, but Chloe spoke first.

“Ellie’s here. She’s okay.”

Dimitrios sat down heavily in the chair opposite the headmistress’s, dropping his head into his hands in sheer relief. And then, anger.

“Jesus Christ, Ellie. What the hell were you thinking?”

“There’s no point coming here today,” Chloe whispered, slipping out of her office and closing the door. “And certainly not if you’re in this mood.”

“I’m sorry. I’ve just had the worst thirty minutes of my whole goddamn life, with no idea where she was, and if she was even okay, and you’re telling me my mood is the issue?”

“I understand that you’re cross⁠—”

“Cross? She’ll be lucky if she’s not still grounded at eighteen.”

Despite the seriousness of the situation, and the way her body was reacting to hearing his voice, a smile tugged at her lips. She could just imagine his expression as he spoke.

“Listen, she’s just…upset. Let her stay with me tonight. You can come get her tomorrow.”

“She’s not your responsibility,” he said, voice so cold it froze something in her heart. “You made it quite clear that was your preference.”

Numbness spread through her, and she supposed she should have been glad. Numbness was better than the chronic, crippling pain she was staving off.

“She’s here. You’re there. Just—let me talk to her tonight. See what’s going on. Okay?”

“No.”

“You’re being a stubborn ass,” she muttered. “You said you needed help, and you do. So let me help.”

Silence. She glared across the hallway to the Christmas art on the wall, waiting for his response, hoping she hadn’t misjudged him. Even when she knew she generally had terrible judgement in people, she crossed her fingers that the decency she’d sensed in him had been accurate.

“Ask her to call me when she’s back at your place.”

Chloe rolled her lips, reluctant to end the call. She moved her weight from one foot to the other. “Are you okay?”

She was asking about Ellie’s having run away, but there was a broader question there, too. In her heart of hearts she wanted to know if almost a full week after she left, he was missing her, too.

“I’m fine,” he snapped, curtly. She flinched at the tone of his voice, realizing she might have been wrong about him after all.

“Okay.” Her voice was a whisper. “I’ll ask Ellie to check in with you later. Goodnight.” She disconnected the call before he could say anything else.

“I needed this,” Ellie whispered, much later that night.