Caged By Him

Chapter 93

I spent months thinking about how I'm going to be a widow at twenty one with two babies. That my kids were never going to get to meet their father or grow up with him around and no one understands.

"Please, I don't want to talk about this." I mumble, trying to shut down the conversation before it steers in the direction I'm suspecting.

Elijah ignores my last comment and continues. "You need to understand that what Tristan does, it's not easy." He states, as if I don't know that. As if I haven't been living it first hand. "A lot of people's livelihoods depend on him. A lot of people need him."

"I needed him too." I reply, scowling at him. Ever since what unraveled a few days ago, I felt more alone than I ever was before because no one is in my corner. Everyone that was close to me was more approximate to Tristan so I only had myself to vent to.

"I've come to terms with his title years ago. His job, his enemies... Just everything. But I thought he would at least not let me believe he's dead for months."

"Aurora, he would never hurt you." Elijah firmly confirms. "Trust me. In all the years I've known Tristan, he's done some pretty messed up shit but he's never cared for anyone before he met you." He tries reassuring me but I somehow have trouble believing him.

Getting irritated, I grab Eric from his seat and hold him against me as he nozzles his little face into my neck. "I'll go get him ready." I inform him, bowing my head and walking away.

"He did it for you, alright?" He bluntly blurts out, making me turn around and face him.

"He- What?" I ask, taken back by his last sentence and desperately hoping he'd elaborate without my asking so.

"Fuck." He sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. "I'm not even supposed to tell you and this damn well isn't my place. He would kill me if I found out. But I'm sick and tired of seeing him beating himself up about this when he'd just gotten back." He replies in a somewhat annoyed, aggressive tone.

"He was trying to protect you. He didn't tell you anything because it had to be believable for it to work. Faking his death was the only way we could've succeeded ." He ambiguously explains, leaving out the key events. I'm not surprised. There's a code to follow and I assume that merely from the snippets he'd just told me, he could get in a lot of trouble... Luckily, he and Tristan are basically brothers.

"Why didn't he tell me any of this?" I ask, thinking to myself. If what he's saying is true, then why did Tristan let me dig into him and say all those harsh words the afternoon that he'd gotten back.

"How could he?" He shrugs. "You didn't want to talk to him so he kept it to himself." He informs me. "He didn't want to make you feel guilty or responsible for him being hurt. He said he'd rather be the person you direct all your anger at if it'll help you feel better."

"Look, it's none of my business but he's been through hell and back these past months." He continues. "He's finally here and now you're avoiding him. It's throwing him off and everyone can see it." He tells me, referring to how our fight had impacted Tristan's behavior.

"You should be asking yourself if it would've been any easier if he came clean and you expected him to survive but he never came back." He continues to try reasoning with me. "If he gave you false hope then ended up getting shot in the fucking head for real."

I widen my eyes at the bluntness of the last sentence. "I have to go, Elijah." I tell him, struggling to digest what just occurred.

I take Eric upstairs, feed him then dress him appropriately for the cold weather. I don't want him to be sick again when he had just gotten better. I grab his bag and place everything Tristan might need for him during the day.