Ultimate Courage

by Piper J. Drake

  “Anything I do, anywhere I go, should be because I had all the information available to me and I made the decision. So far, what you’re proposing to me isn’t much different from what I left behind with Joseph.”

  Okay, with Joseph, he’d simply told her what to do. Alex seemed to be offering her multiple choices, but it was only marginally better. Frustration welled up and jockeyed for foremost position in her brain with the sheer anger she had at the idea of someone presuming to talk over her head.

  Alex remained calm, listened. “I’m only asking you to wait a little while. Some of it is more about what decisions need to be made between me, Cruz, and Forte. I promise you we’re standing with you as friends, trying to give you options. You still get to choose.”

  She considered his words, pressing her lips together. Intentions could make a big difference. And in a short amount of time, the amount of help and advice they’d been willing to give her had been without pressure. It was worth trust. Some. If she dared.

  “You’ll share everything with me once you’ve got all the facts you’re looking for?” she asked, finally.

  “Yes.”

  She sighed and opened the car door. As she stepped out, she called over her shoulder to Souze in the back seat. “C’mon, Souze. We’re going for a walk.”

  Walking off the nervous energy was better than sitting at the front desk wondering what they were talking about in any case. She’d wait and hear what he had to say when he was ready, then she’d decide if he was telling her the whole truth.

  And then…then she’d have to choose whether to believe in him and his intentions or leave.

  Chapter Eighteen

  Rojas strode out of the main building in the direction he’d sent Elisa and Souze. Even if he felt he’d done the right thing in checking in with Forte and Cruz first, he still hated sending her away. He should let her know what had transpired so far and what steps they could take next.

  So while Cruz was running the queries on the agency that’d hired the private investigator and Forte was putting together a big breakfast, Rojas was going to find Elisa and try to repair whatever damage he’d done by excluding her.

  It didn’t take long to find them. The grounds were fairly quiet on a Sunday morning with no classes going on, so he heard Elisa before he had them in his line of sight. She was talking to Souze and it occurred to him that maybe he shouldn’t interrupt the conversation.

  He slowed his pace, sticking to the wooded area along the walking trail until he got close enough to hear her more clearly.

  “We all make stupid decisions.” Elisa sat next to Souze on a grassy patch next to the trail. “So even when we start to try to make smart ones, we’re not really sure they’re the right decisions while we’re making them.”

  Rojas paused. Elisa didn’t seem to have a lot of people she felt comfortable talking to. She’d mentioned calling her mother occasionally but those calls seemed more obligatory than heart-to-hearts, especially since her mother hadn’t supported her leaving her ex. A dog could be an incredibly helpful ear. And Rojas had a feeling she’d be talking about things he needed to hear if he was going to be able to protect her long enough for her to tell him these things on purpose.

  Elisa sighed and drew her knees up to her chest. “I was too confident, too sure of myself when I started work at Corbin Systems. I’d spent a few years at entry level at a smaller company and landed the job at Corbin Systems with no trouble at all. I was going to be a project manager in their program management organization. I was going to have a high-powered corporate career leading project teams in the implementation of cutting-edge projects. I had every certification to back up the skills I had listed on my resumé, and I was absolutely sure my career would only skyrocket from there.”

  Impressive. Souze had his ears forward, the way he usually did with her, listening and looking appropriately interested. Rojas continued to listen, too, straining to hear every word and nuance. Every detail that could give him a better idea of how she came to be here and how she’d been found every time she’d stopped running before.

  Aside from the immediate danger to her, a part of him was hungry to learn more about her. Elisa. The person tugging at him in ways he hadn’t thought possible anymore.

  “So of course, when the CEO’s son started paying attention to me, I was flattered.” Hard not to be. But now her voice had turned bitter with a healthy dose of self-loathing. She wrapped her arms around her legs. “I held out for a few weeks, insisting I didn’t date where I worked.”

  It would’ve only made her a more interesting target. Predators like the man chasing her down now enjoyed the chase. The stronger, the more bright the personality, the more fun it was to hunt them down and drive them crazy in the process. Rojas had seen it. Sure, it’d been overseas, but some things transcended culture, race, or religion. Some things were just about human nature.

  Unfortunately, in this case it was the awful predatory side of what humans could do to each other.

  “He was so good about being discreet around the office. And he was so extravagantly thoughtful about catching my interest. I couldn’t help but enjoy the attention.” She rested her chin on her knees and Souze lay down close to her in response, curling around her.

  Did she realize she was slowly curling into fetal position? It was a natural reaction, a defense against what she was feeling. And it took everything in him to stay where he was and let Souze provide the comfort of his presence to her as she relived her nightmare from the pleasant beginning.

  “Dating him seemed normal. I mean, he had his quirks. He demanded he pay for meals because he was insisting we go to restaurants outside of my budget, and since he was the one who’d been dying to try the place, it was only right for him to pay.” Elisa tucked her chin and bumped her forehead against her knees several times. “I was stupid to let him build up the leverage from the beginning.”

  Souze lifted his head and nudged her wrist with his nose. She raised her head to look at the big dog and reached out to bury one hand in the thick fur around his shoulders.

  Good boy. Distract her just enough to stop her from literally beating herself up over the memories.

  “It was sneaky and gradual and cumulative. Every phase of our relationship became one where he provided for me, took care of me, and I felt so incredibly grateful to him for how much attention he showered on me.” Despite her hand on Souze, her other hand curled around her leg and the fingers were pressed in a tight grip. “When he proposed, it never occurred to me that I could say anything but yes. It was the right thing in everyone’s mind. His family, my family. And, of course, because we were engaged, I couldn’t work at Corbin Systems anymore. It wasn’t appropriate, a conflict of interest.”

  She shook her head, tears beginning to fall down her cheeks. Rojas wanted to hold her and kiss every drop of pain away. The way she tortured herself for those past choices was painful to watch.

  “The job pool had dried up all of a sudden. There weren’t any jobs within a reasonable commute. I gave up my career,” she whispered. “The plan was to keep looking for a new job, but things kept getting in the way. There was the wedding to plan and he wanted me to focus on it full time. And then there was our home to redecorate to accommodate us both. Then the wedding was postponed due to company obligations and to better fit the timing to invite key investors as wedding guests. The wedding became more of a corporate event. And every day leading up to it, he nudged and prodded me into becoming the perfect executive’s wife.”

  It wouldn’t have taken long. She was intelligent and adaptive, responsive to feedback. All her ex would’ve had to do was present her with plausible reasoning for each change. There was a certain talent in making every argument sound like a reasonable idea.

  “It happened a little at a time, and then suddenly I looked in the mirror and didn’t recognize myself anymore.” She huffed out a laugh devoid of anything close to happiness. “I was texting him for permission to spend money on anyth
ing over five dollars. I was taking pictures of anything I intended to buy for myself and showing it to him for his approval before I bought it. My clothing style had changed, even my reading choices. All because I wanted to please him, wanted him to like every aspect of what I was for him. I was doing the work of his administrative assistant because I could do it faster and better than she could. It didn’t matter that I was overqualified and not paid at all. I was helping my fiancée. It didn’t even occur to me to make it a matter of pride.”

  Of course not. She was a generous soul. It’d shone in the way she’d immediately jumped into helping Boom. There’d been no expectation there. Not from Elisa’s side. “The first time I questioned him, he just went silent.” There was a tremor in her voice. “He stared at me a long time, and just when I was about to apologize, he exploded right in my face. He screamed at me.”

  Souze shifted his position, getting closer to her, if that was possible, and curving his body around her. The dog was reacting to her distress and protecting her from the remembered onslaught.

  “After that, anything could set him off. It was like his tolerance had gone to nothing and everything I did was an unthinkable insult to him. He wouldn’t stop shouting, screaming, throwing things until the room around us was wrecked.” Elisa started rocking slightly back and forth in an unconscious effort to comfort herself, too.

  Explained her flinching at sudden movement and abrupt noises.

  “It was escalating.” All at once she stilled and looked down at Souze. Gently, she fondled the tips of the GSD’s ears. Her voice had gone utterly calm. “He was going to hit me eventually. Almost did, once or twice. And I realized I needed to leave or I’d never get my life back.”

  Thank god she’d left before the man had actually laid hands on her. No one should have to live in a violent environment, but the emotional and mental damage could’ve gone from bad to exponentially worse. Souze sat up, snuffling his hair, and Elisa sat quietly petting him for a long minute or two. Rojas ached to hold her, comfort her.

  “When I went to the police to report my concerns, they treated me like someone’s prize show dog loose from the kennel. I wasn’t a person. They wouldn’t even look me in the eye.” The bitterness was back in her voice, plus some heat.

  Her anger was a relief to hear. Anything was better than the flat, monotone calm she’d spoken with before.

  “It took forever to actually get any advice on how to get away on my own.” She adjusted her sitting position until her legs were crossed in front of her. Leaning forward, she touched her forehead with Souze’s. “It’s out there for women who need it, but the first thing it warns you about is the need to hide the fact you’re looking for it from the person you’re trying to leave. Joseph is really good at what he does. As a project manager, I figured I had decent tech savvy, but what he could do made me realize just how much I didn’t know about computers and the Internet.”

  Rojas nodded even if she couldn’t see him. There could’ve been keystroke trackers on the personal computers she was using before she left. Her ex could’ve been monitoring what websites she was visiting, her phone conversations, maybe even intercepting the streaming video from calls made on Internet-based calling software.

  “I did my best. Only looked through pamphlets and written materials at the doctor’s office. I memorized as much as I could and didn’t take anything home.” She left off petting Souze for a moment as she looked up at the sky. “I tried to be sure not to leave any clues on anything he might’ve touched. I just couldn’t be sure how far he’d gone to keep track of me, but I didn’t want to wait until he’d done something I couldn’t undo.”

  Souze apparently decided she’d had enough of a break and gently tapped her leg with a paw a few times. She huffed out a laugh and started to pet him again. “So I waited until he had an important set of business meetings, a new project launching. The special project, the one even the government couldn’t know about because he had other backers paying for it. Crunch time. Couldn’t be a business trip because he’d have just taken me with him. And I went on one of my normal approved outings to run some errands, then visit my mother.”

  Rojas made a mental note to check on her mother and her other friends. Their safety could be a concern as well and it’d kill Elisa to suddenly find out they’d paid for her disappearance. He wasn’t sure what he could do, but at least he could look into it.

  Elisa sighed. “You might think my mother helped me leave, but she didn’t. She thought Joseph was wonderful. He could do no wrong. She didn’t believe there was anything crazy about our relationship. She thought it was intense but must be a result of the pressure of his career. The couple of times I tried to talk to her about it, she thought I was being ridiculous. Then she reminded me how important it was to have someone to look after me, taking care of me so I wouldn’t have to worry every day about how to make it to my next paycheck. She didn’t want me to struggle the way she did, and I get that. But she’d have sent me right back to him with a hope that he’d help me through my momentary mental issue. So on my way I took a detour, deliberately, and never went to go meet her. I never said good-bye. She’s been angry with me every time I’ve called to check in, too. She still tries to talk me into going back, so I haven’t called in at least a month. Maybe it’s been longer. I wanted to check in with her again when I felt safe, had some sort of life built for myself.”

  Her mother could be telling her ex enough for him to find her. Good intentions and whatnot. Rojas was certain Elisa had probably omitted any details of where she was to prevent exactly such an issue, but Elisa wasn’t trained not to give anything away. And mothers had a knack for finding out all the things their children wanted to keep from them.

  Only way to be sure was to go find out what her mother might be up to. He’d learned the hard way with his ex-wife and her mother. They’d worked together to hide his ex-wife’s affair from him until the divorce papers were ready.

  “I’ve decided not to call her while I’m here.” The tired sadness in Elisa’s voice tore at him. He wanted to do anything to ease it for her. Souze whined and stretched his neck forward until his muzzle rested on Elisa’s shoulder. Elisa tilted her head to nuzzle the big dog. “It’s better this way, until I can build a life for myself again, show her something she can be proud of. Show her I can be very happy away from Joseph.”

  Well, it was good she’d made the decision to adjust her pattern, too. Not calling her mother was a good step in changing up the way things had been working out so far. It also sucked. Hard.

  Elisa was hurting, and he couldn’t stand by and listen anymore. It was too much creeper and not enough real help for him, no matter how practical eavesdropping had seemed at the start of this.

  He cleared his throat.

  Souze pulled back and stood on all fours, looking straight in his direction. The big dog’s ears were forward and his eyes locked on his location immediately. It was possible Souze had known he’d been there but the GSD hadn’t alerted Elisa to his presence. Rojas wasn’t absolutely sure what to make of the behavior there.

  He stepped toward her and stopped about arm’s length away, crouching down so he didn’t loom over her but not sitting until she invited him to join her. “Hungry?”

  She considered him for a long moment. “Yes. Is there news you’re willing to share with me?”

  He winced. “Yes. We can talk about it over breakfast or after. Whichever you prefer. I’ll show you everything we’ve gathered.”

  “Really?” There was quiet surprise and a healthy amount of doubt loaded into her question. “All of it?”

  “Everything.” Best way for him to gain her trust was to hide nothing. “We’ll tell you what we make of it all, too, but it’ll all be there for you to draw your own conclusions.”

  A faint smile played on her lips. “I’d appreciate it.”

  He tried smiling, too, and found he really wanted to be around her. “It’s been a hectic couple of days. Come have breakfa
st and maybe you can experience what passes for a routine Sunday around here.”

  He straightened and held out a hand to help her up. She stared at it for a moment, then gave him her own and let him help her.

  He chuckled. “And you can meet Sophie.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Elisa was still caught up in her memories as Alex led her back to the main building. But he kept her hand in his as they walked, grounding her even as he left her to her thoughts. The contact was comforting, and yet every few steps he brushed his thumb over her knuckles or gently tightened his grip, kicking her heart into brief sprints and triggering a fluttery nervousness in her belly.

  This thing growing between them was radically different from her relationship with her ex. That had been gradual, progressing in stages the way she’d expected it to. She’d embraced the predictability, anticipating the next step without meaning to.

  But this chemistry with Alex was the opposite of predictable—from the first time they’d kissed to every intimate moment they’d shared since. She was off balance and constantly surprised, guessing and definitely excited. It was…fun.

  For the first time in forever, she was having fun and wondering what was going to happen next.

  The project manager in her was horrified.

  “Dad! Elisa! Hurry, breakfast is just about ready!” Boom stood in the doorway waving her broken arm. Once she saw them wave back, she turned in the doorway and knocked her cast against the doorjamb.

  Elisa winced. “Ouch.”

  Alex chuckled. “Actually, she needed fewer pain meds last night. She might’ve forgotten she was hurt until just then.”

  “It’s amazing how fast kids bounce back from injuries.” She shook her head.

  “Speaking of which, how’s your wrist?” Alex asked, looking down at her.

  Elisa lifted her left wrist, opening and closing her hand. “Doing fine. I’ve been wearing the brace the last couple of nights. Helped a lot.”