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“Are you okay?”
That came from Kane.
It hadn’t been more than thirty minutes since Leo left, and I couldn’t miss how much Kane had been watching me. There was no question he had a lot of thoughts running through his mind, but since I was lost in my own thoughts about everything, I couldn’t manage to find a way to ease any of his concerns.
After letting me know what their game plan was moving forward, I spent some time answering a bunch of questions for Leo about Patrick. There was no guarantee that anything I gave him was going to lead anywhere—how could it when I never even knew this was going on—but as both he and Kane had insisted, it was better to share everything I could. What might not have seemed important or relevant to me could have been the difference between proving guilt or innocence on his behalf.
So, I told them everything they wanted to know.
And now that Leo was gone and Kane and I were alone, it seemed he could no longer hide at least part of what was on his mind.
I shouldn’t have been surprised that he was worried about me, but it stunned me, nonetheless.
“I am,” I replied. “I’m not going to lie and say I don’t feel any worry or anxiety, but I’ve realized that I’ve done all I can do. I’ve got to hope that things will work out the way they should. And I’m hoping that we’re going to continue to work on my self-defense training and even start weapons training. What else can I do?”
Kane nodded at me, indicating he understood where my attention was focused. “You’re doing all the right things, so you should feel good about that, at least.”
“I’ll feel even better if we can do a bit of training today,” I noted. “Do you have a class this morning?”
He shook his head. “Nope.”
“Do you have something else planned?” I pressed.
“If I did, I’d be cancelling it,” he remarked.
I ignored the way hearing that made me feel and asked, “Will you take me in to Harper Security Ops today, so you and I can have our first private lesson?”
Kane’s lip twitched, causing my belly to flip, which was just another thing I chose to ignore. I needed to stay focused.
“I planned on it. But before we leave, I did want to ask you about something,” he said.
I tipped my head to the side. I’d thought he already said all he needed to say. More importantly, I thought I’d answered all the questions that he could have had for me by now.
Apparently, I was wrong.
“Okay. What did you want to ask me?”
He jerked his head to the side and said, “Earlier today, when I found you in the other house talking to Hanna and Leo had shown up, right before we left, she said for you to reach out to her, because she had an idea about your parents. What was she talking about?”
Instantly, my mood shifted, and sadness washed over me.
I sat down, my gaze focused on the ground as I attempted to control my emotions. After taking a few seconds to breathe deeply, I lifted my chin and looked at Kane. “Hanna was there with me yesterday morning when I saw the news. She was the only reason I even knew that there was a story being covered about my disappearance. Anyway, they interviewed my family, and it was devastating to watch.”
Confusion washed over Kane’s face. “I don’t understand.”
“My parents have no idea if I’m dead or alive right now,” I explained. “I didn’t tell them what I was planning, and they have no way of contacting me. They don’t know that I’ve got another cell phone.”
“Why wouldn’t you tell them?” he asked.
Shaking my head, knowing just how ruthless of a man Patrick was, I returned, “I didn’t want him to be able to use them against me. I wanted them to be oblivious so that they’d never be of any interest to him.”
A strange look washed over his face, and for quite some time, Kane didn’t speak. He merely stared at me, that look, and a bit of disbelief, written all over his expression.
“You’re an incredible woman,” he declared.
“What?”
“I’ve never met anyone like you, Ellery. In situations that call for the support of family or friends, you took it all on your shoulders instead. You’ve decided it’s more important to ensure they remain safe and unharmed, even if it means that you’ve got nobody to lean on. Yes, you have me now, and it seems like Hanna’s in your corner, too, but you didn’t know you’d find either one of us when you came here. You just did what you had to do to try to save yourself all while protecting your family in the process,” he replied.
