“I was injured. I could have stayed, but I left to find Brielle,” he admitted. “I wanted to plead my case again. I wasn’t quite as young or as arrogant as when we first met. I thought she would hear the truth in my voice and know I had really worked to be someone different for her, someone better than who I was when we first met.”
Stefano nodded. “But you didn’t find her. Why didn’t you use the Archambaults’ investigators?”
“I wanted nothing to do with that family.” Elie tried not to allow the old feelings of loathing to show in his voice. That angry, helpless fury belonged in his youth, not to the man he’d become. Holding grudges and letting his emotions control him wouldn’t show Brielle he’d grown in character. He’d shut the door on the Archambaults and become a Ferraro as best he could, taking on as many of Stefano’s traits as possible. “I should have swallowed my pride and gone to them, but I didn’t think of it. I went back to Chicago and made my way to Emilio and asked for a job as a bodyguard.”
“Emilio immediately turned over your résumé to me and I jumped at the chance to add you to our roster once I had you investigated. I did talk to Jean-Claude and he disclosed what had happened.”
Elie didn’t comment. He was always polite when the Archambaults came to Chicago on business. Always. He conducted himself the way a Ferraro would. He would never let Stefano down, no matter his ongoing opinion of the council members.
“I reached out to Brielle one last time before I resigned myself to entering into an arranged marriage. She had disappeared, and I knew that if she followed the dictates of the council, and there was a good chance that she would, she would have already accepted a husband. She was getting to the age where they would insist she marry and produce children for them.” Again, he had to work to keep bitterness out of his voice.
“How did you reach out to her?” Stefano asked.
“I went to see her father. I was told by his housekeeper that he was unavailable. I went to see Fayette. She met me at the door, all smiles when she thought I was there to see her. When I asked her questions about Brielle, she nearly slammed the door in my face after telling me her sister had disgraced the family by running off with a non-rider from another country and no one had heard from her. I could hear she was lying, but I also knew she wouldn’t tell me anything. I left and returned to the States.”
“Were you angry with Brielle?” Stefano’s voice was very quiet.
There was silence in the room. The clock ticked. Stefano had dropped that question in very seamlessly as if it was just like any of the other questions. Why would he think Elie would be angry?
“I should have added, and are you still angry with her?”
Elie knew he should have answered immediately instead of hesitating. The knots in his belly tightened. He fucking wasn’t going to give her up. She was sitting right next to him, the scent of her filling his lungs, making him crazy. If he could take back one thing in his life, roll back one single mistake, he would go back in time, muzzle the arrogant ass he used to be, and instead of insulting and rejecting Brielle, he’d marry her on the spot.
“Yes, I was angry with her. Brielle was condemning me to live with a woman I would never really love fully, even if I came to respect and admire her. That woman would always know, deep down, I didn’t love her. My shadow crossed hers in Jean-Claude’s sitting room, and even if she hadn’t known all those times before when she was too young that she was supposed to be mine, she knew it then—right that moment, but she walked away from us without even hearing me out when I tried a million times to apologize to her.”
For the first time, he turned his head and looked at her. She blinked, those long lashes sweeping down and then up so he was looking straight into her green gaze. He wanted her to see him this time when he answered. Really see him. He wasn’t a boy anymore. He was a grown man, hardened over time by the things he’d seen and done.
“Yes, Stefano, I’m still angry with her. She could have resolved this issue years ago by simply having a conversation with me. Shadow riders hear lies. Over the years, growing up in her household, she had to have caught Fayette in countless lies. When her sister lied about being with me at the clubs, she had to have heard those lies, but she chose to believe them.” He switched his gaze to Stefano. “So, yes, I’m still angry. Does that mean I want to give up the woman I’m meant to spend my life with? No, absolutely not. I will not let her out of our marriage contract.”