She nods slowly, watching me work her hand, her fingers, curling them and stretching them out. I’m sure nothing is broken, though it’s likely painful.
“Before we go on, Eleanor,” I let her go, “I am trying to help you. Ace has his ways, I didn’t think he’d be so harsh to begin with, but I knew he would at least get you to a position where you could defend yourself. You don’t need me, and I want to make sure that applies to all aspects of your life. I want you safe, and mark my words, Eleanor, I will do whatever it takes to get you there, even if I have to erase what you were to make you who you should be.
“I would like Abel – Ace to continue training you because he’s the best person for it. He can teach you to down not kill whereas me and Micha, all we know is to kill. I don’t want you to have that stain. I’d like you to stay safe while keeping your soul intact.”
She sighs and brings her hand back to her chest as I pull out a first aid kit, and get a bandage to secure it.
I drag it back to me, uncurling her fingers as I wrap it around tight. “I am doing this for you. I told you I wouldn’t leave, and I won’t, but I can’t be there all the time, I need you to protect yourself and at the moment, I am sorry to say, you can’t protect yourself.”
“Why?” She spits.
“Because it isn’t in your nature, in the way you were raised. Your life is sheltered and calm, this life is exposed and chaotic.”
“Your fault.”
“Yes, but regardless, if it wasn’t me then who, because eventually the two lines will meet, and unfortunately, Eleanor, you would lose and then what? You dead in a ditch? Broken beyond repair? I am trying to stop that!”
For a minute she stops breathing as her eyes meet mine, dark against light, good against evil and then something unexpected happens.
She kisses me.
She kisses me.
I don’t deny her. I let her take and take and taste and taste. I’ve been dying for it since the moment I saw her.
“Let me help you,” I whisper. “Please.”
We stare at each other for a long moment and then she nods, just once and I let out a breath. I finish bandaging her hand, securing the wrap with a knot.
“What actually happened today?” I ask her.
She sucks her bottom lip into her mouth, “It was just really busy, I didn’t have time to do anything other than be at Tobias’ beck and call, but there was something,” she pauses as if wondering whether or not to say it.
“Go on,” I press, guiding her out the room and towards the kitchen. She needs to eat.
“There were these men, I’ve met them before, just once, but I hadn’t seen or heard of them before that.”
“What are their names?”
“Clayton and Derek, they’re business partners and there’s another one with them, but I haven’t heard anyone say his name, and he stays quiet most of the time.”
“New clients?”
She sits at the table as I go about throwing some food together, shoving some noodles into water and stir-frying vegetables and chicken.
“Not according to the system, but they know Tobias well and have, I don’t know, a kind of sway over him.”
I think about that and all the information I have on Tobias and the Syndicate. I was hunting for the last two heads not at all mentioned in any reports. Eleanor had done exactly what I’d asked her to do, sniff out people that appear unusual. This Clayton and Derek could be who I was looking for, but who was the third man?
I needed those cameras up, the bugs working again, so I could see and hear what the fuck was going on inside that building.
When the food is done, I plate up Eleanor a serving and slide it before her. “Eat.”
“I’m not really hun–”
“Eat, love,” I order softly, plating myself a serving and leaving the rest in the wok for the guys. They’ll come sniffing soon enough.
I sit opposite her, shoveling the food into my mouth, she eats slower, tentatively, moving most of it around her plate more than actually putting anything in her mouth.
It was my fault she was in this mood. Why she was subdued. What Ace had done was necessary, but he went too hard to start with. He forgets not everyone is built like we are.
And she was right, I had put her in this mess, made her a part of something beyond her capabilities, but there was no going back. I could let it go, let her go but I wasn’t prepared to do that now.
Two sets of footsteps sound just a minute before Micha and Ace stroll into the kitchen, both of them sweating and in gym gear, clearly having just come from sparring. Eleanor doesn’t look up at the two men, and instead of letting Ace get food and sit, I grab him and haul him from the kitchen.
“You were too hard on her,” I growl quietly.
“It’s necessary,” he crosses his arms.
“She’s not like you, Ace, she needs to be eased not shoved.”
“We don’t have time to ease her in, you want her here then this is what needs to happen, or would you prefer she go out completely defenseless and get herself killed, because that’s what’ll happen. She is led by emotion, and she has the ability to home in on it, but it needs to be like this if you want to keep her breathing.”
“Scaring her half to death wasn’t the plan.”
“We both know what I did in there is nothing compared to what the Syndicate would do to her if they found out she was working for you. What do you think Tobias will do to her if she’s found out?”
He was right. Damn it.
“Just…be careful. Don’t break her.”
Ace chuckles, “Don’t worry, I won’t break your little toy, King, though, when you get bored,” he starts to walk away, giving me his back, “send her my way would you.”
Fucking arsehole.