Page 41 of Fighting for Ella

“We messed up,”Lucy said as Ella disappeared around a corner.

“You think?” Miguel snarled, whirling around to face the three women who should have had Ella’s back no matter what. It didn't matter if they’d learned the mole was a woman. Didn't matter if Ella was seen on camera leaving the lab with the Reactivator. Didn't matter if she hopped on a plane to Mexico. She’d earned the benefit of the doubt by being a contributing member of Athena Team and a friend to all three of them.

Why was he the only one who’d had doubts?

He didn't even know Ella, yet he’d felt like something wasn’t adding up. If he could see that, why couldn’t the people who knew her the best?

All you needed to do was look at all the pieces and you’d see that, at the very least, they were worth looking into before jumping to conclusions.

Yet nobody who claimed to care about Ella had bothered to do that, and for some reason, it made him irrationally angry.

“Ease up, little brother,” Luis warned.

Usually, Miguel would defer to his brother. They might both be in their thirties, but Luis had been more of a parent to him than a brother for the first decade of his life, so he was more than just a big brother.

But not this time.

Ella needed somebody on her side, and it looked like he was the only one who wanted the job.

“This wasn’t easy on Scarlett, Lucy, and Cassie,” Zander said quietly. Of all six who had accosted Ella outside the room she’d been interrogated in, he’d been the one to throw off the least number of antagonistic vibes. That was the only reason Miguel could keep his voice relatively calm even though he was seething on the inside.

“Wasn’t easy on Ella either,” he reminded them. “She was the one who had her family threatened. She was the one who willingly walked into danger because it was the only way to protect those she loved. She was the one who still had the wherewithal despite her fear to make sure she also protected the drug. Flat out, no lies, no sugarcoating things, Ella deserved better than what she got from you.”

“The evidence—” Tate started, but Miguel wasn’t having excuses, wasn’t interested in them, the only thing he was interested in right now was Ella.

“Don’t make excuses,” he said, cutting off the other man.

“He’s right,” Lucy agreed. “We’re the ones who messed up, not Ella. What she said was true, she never doubted anything, and we let her down when we didn't at least fight for her. We know her, she’s a sweet person, hardworking and dedicated. There’s no way she would ever betray us and we should have known that.”

Slightly mollified by the fact that at least one of them was willing to acknowledge their mistakes, Miguel nodded. “You have no idea what she went through in Mexico. What she risked to try to end this for all of you.”

Scarlett paled. “Did Raul … use the drug on her?”

“No. He tried to use it on me, but Rocco’s team showed up before he could. Raul was going to keep Ella for himself,” he informed them. While he didn't necessarily feel good about sharing this with them, it wasn’t like everything that had happened to her wasn’t already in her statement.

Cassie gasped. “He … he was going to keep her? Like a … a … pet?”

“Like as his own personal sex slave,” Miguel replied, seeing no reason to mince words. If these women who should have had faith in their friend wanted to tear her down, they should know exactly what she had been facing in her attempts to protect everyone and everything except herself.

Another gasp fell from Cassie’s lips, and Luis wrapped an arm around her pulling her close and touching a kiss to her temple. “But she’s okay, princess. He didn't get to keep her, and she killed him.”

As his brother said the words, Miguel could see the full meaning of what he’d just spoken sunk in because Luis went pale. For the first time, it looked like his brother was seeing this whole mess from someone other than the woman he was falling in love with’s point of view.

From Ella’s point of view.

It was all well and good to say she should have told someone about the threat to her family, but there was a credible threat to security and if she tipped the mole off to the fact that she had no intention of following through with the orders she’d been given her family would be killed.

There was no choice.

She’d done what she had to do, and he had no intention of standing by and allowing her to be torn to shreds over it.

If she didn't want him with her right now, and he would gladly have driven her home, been a friend, given her a shoulder to cry on if she needed it or someone she could rage at about the unfairness of it all, then he would at least stay there and defend her. It just sucked that she needed defending to people who should have known better.

“We messed up,” Luis said, echoing Lucy’s earlier words.

“You did and you hurt her a lot,” Miguel agreed, focusing on the three women. Tate and Luis had known Ella only a month, so their not believing in her was more rational. Zander had known her for a few years since he wasn’t just Lucy’s boyfriend but Scarlett’s twin brother, but he knew the man hadn't known any of his sister’s teammates very well, so again it wasn’t him not believing in her that had upset Ella.

Scarlett, Lucy, and Cassie were the ones who should have known better. They were the ones who had broken Ella’s heart.

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