Page 40 of Scarlet Embrace

*****

The next few days, Elena remained by my side, apart from when she had to go over to the courtroom. I had tried to tell her that anyone would understand if she took a break, but she told me that she wanted to be right next to me. Father had insisted that I remain in the hospital despite how much I wanted to go back home. Diana LaRosa had paid me a visit, and she made it clear that neither she nor Marcus was responsible for the attack. I believed she wasn’t responsible, but I didn’t think the same of Marcus. Anyway, I was finally discharged on the fourth day, and Elena was escorting me home.

“You know you really don’t have to be here,” I told her.

“Do you hate the sight of me that much?” She asked as a matter of fact.

I was taken aback by her question, and I shook my head. I explained to her that I didn’t want to stress her more than it was required.

“Let me be the one to decide when I’m stressed and not you,” she told me.

The ride to the mansion was quite silent, which I was grateful for. I could see the grim expression on Thomas's face, and that was because he blamed himself for the shooting. I had told him many times that he wasn’t the one to blame, but he wasn’t going to listen.

“I need to warn you, but Linda decided she was going to throw a party for you,” Elena told me.

“Why. Why the hell will she do that?” I asked with a heavy sigh.

Elena shrugged and told me she was glad that I survived, and I scoffed. “You really should learn to treat your siblings well, you know. They help make life a little bit better,” Elena told me.

My relationship with Hannah’s children has always been strained, and I like to keep things that way, though in the past few weeks, I have begun to change my opinion about Linda, and Elena was mainly responsible for her. Something about this woman just disrupts the balance and order I have in my life.

“Thomas,” I started looking at my friend and bodyguard. “You don’t have to blame yourself for what happened.”

“It was my fault that you were shot,” he replied.

“Nope. You weren’t the one holding the gun. In fact, if not for you, someone else had gotten me to the hospital in time. If there was anyone to blame, it was the man who had sent the shooter. If it wasn’t the LaRosa, then there was only one person it could be. “Just look into what I told you about. Most likely, he suspects we are getting close and wants to silence us.”

Just like she warned, there were a number of people waiting for me. Father, Hannah, Daniel, Rufus, Logan, and a few members of the organization. I would have loved to be alone, but Elena had threatened I would regret it if I wasn’t on my best behavior.

“Now, tell me you didn’t have a good time,” Elena said as she helped me to my room.

“Well, it was fun,” I said with a shrug.

“Just admit it,” she said as I pointed to my room.

Walking up the stairs alone was something I could have managed, but when Elena offered to help me up, I accepted her help immediately. Today, she smelled like vanilla and lemon, and I found it quite enchanting. This woman was driving me crazy, and the closer she was to me, the crazier she drove me.

She let out a soft gasp when she opened my door, no doubt from the sheer magnificence of the room. “This is like a grand suite,” Elena said as she helped me to the bed.

“Nah. You should see Hannah’s room,” I told her as I sat on the bed.

I watched as she walked over to my collection of robots and airplanes. “You also collect airplanes. I guess boys will be boys,” she said.

“You know someone else that collects?” I asked, trying to hide my jealousy.

“Yeah. My brother Joel. He’s quite fond of them.”

“Ohhh. I see,” I said with relief. While I had met her sister, I had yet to meet Joel, the only male of the Rodriguez family.

“This room is nice,” Elena said as she looked around.

“Come and sit, Elena,” I patted the spot right next to me.

“Is something wrong?” Elena asked as she walked over to me.

Something in my tone must have alerted her that I wanted to talk about something important. She sat down beside me without much hesitation.

“The past few weeks, we’ve been playing quite the charade,” I started.