Page 41 of Tristian (The Doherty Mafia)
I never should’ve left Elsie today. Not when I knew she felt especially vulnerable.
I shouldn’t have prioritized Christie and I vowed I’d never do it again. If I could find Elsie now, I’d never let her go.
I checked my phone every few minutes, hoping there’d be some message or a phone call from somebody. With any leads.
If Aldo got his hands on her today, he wasn’t going to make it easy to find her. He’d make her pay for all the ways in which she betrayed him. I hated the thought of that.
When Killian and Colin showed up at the bar, I knew they’d texted with Nolan. How else would they’ve found us at this random spot?
“What do you guys want?” I growled at them.
I wasn’t going to forgive them easily for not being enthusiastic about finding Elsie.
“We wanted to check in on you, see if you’ve made any progress,” Colin said. Killian still looked like his usual broody self.
“Do you actually give a shit?” I snapped.
Colin glanced at Killian, and I sensed the two of them had talked.
“We went to see Brendan. Specifically, we went to see his kid. Davey. We wanted to know if he’d give us any insight on Elsie,” Killian replied.
I shifted in my chair. It had piqued my interest now. Why hadn’t I thought of talking to the kid? Elsie had spent a significant amount of time with him. He had trusted her.
“He only has good things to say about her. He said how kind and caring she was. That he felt safe with her,” Colin continued.
I clenched my jaws tightly, picturing Elsie right there. With her dark straight hair flowing around her shoulders, her big beautiful smile. Her body shuddering in my arms. I wanted to hold her again. I didn’t want her to be hurt again.
“We want to help you find her. She deserves to be kept safe for how she helped the family. Davey wants that too,” Killian added.
My mind whirred with ideas. The more I thought about it, the more confident I was we’d missed something crucial.
“We need to speak to Davey,” I said.
“Are you even listening to us? We spoke to him this evening. He confirmed what we thought of Elsie,” Colin said.
“Not about Elsie. We need to speak to him about Aldo. Maybe he knows more than we realize. He’s just a kid, he doesn’t know what’s important information that he should be sharing with us. We need to ask him the right questions,” I replied.
Twenty-Three
Elsie
I shouldn’t have wasted my time daydreaming about Tristian. What was the point? Aldo would never let me go.
But I couldn’t help myself. It was love at first sight, and in a way, I was glad I met him.
I remembered it clearly, the moment he first came into my line of vision.
His brother, Brendan, and Davey’s mom came charging into the abandoned farmhouse where I was hiding out with Davey in the dark. We heard their voices and Davey went running out towards them.
They shone their flashlights around and it was only after I was sure it was safe to come out that I stepped into the halo of their lights.
I didn’t see Tristian at first. He was at the back, behind Brendan and the woman who were both hugging and kissing Davey. It was an emotional moment. A union between parents and a little child who never deserved what had happened to him.
At that moment, I was glad Davey was reunited with his parents who’d keep him safe. Nothing else mattered as much, not even my safety. My parents’ death had changed something in me. I didn’t care what happened to me, as long as Davey made it out of there, safe.
I had tears in my eyes as I watched them, and then I saw Tristian. He stepped away from the others and came towards me. His silhouette was lit up in the flashlights and my first reaction to his physical presence was fear. He was very tall. Very muscular. The kind of man who’d crush me between his thumbs if he wanted to.
Then my vision adjusted and I saw his face.
He was the most handsome man I ever laid eyes on. Chiseled features, a light stubble and very bright green eyes. Just like Davey’s. There was no mistaking they were related.
“Are you okay?” he’d asked me.
I nearly fell into his arms with relief. I couldn’t believe we’d made it out alive to the other side. That Aldo’s men hadn’t apprehended us already. I nodded vigorously at him, quaking at the idea of being touched by him.
I’d never wanted a man as desperately as I wanted him.
The striking clash between his intimidating physical appearance with the softness in his voice, the look of concern on his face—fired up something in my loins I didn’t realize could be awoken so quickly.
