Ultimate Courage (True Heroes #2)(54)
“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.