Page 86 of Wrecked By You

What if I never saw her again?

No, I refused to even consider the possibility. I had the resources to search every inch of this fucking country, every inch of the entire world if I had to, and I’d use every single cent I owned to find her and Chloe. They belonged with me. Not him. Not a man she’d run from. I’d seen the relief in her eyes right before her anger had hit when I’d told her the phone call had been from the private detective. She’d assumed it’d been from her husband, and it had terrified her.

As soon as I found her, I’d tell her everything. I owed her that much.

I scrubbed a hand over my face, then took in the room. I was still in the hotel suite. At least Nolen hadn’t taken me to the hospital. Getting out of those places was a fucking nightmare. I should know. I’d been stuck in that one in England for weeks, long after I’d felt well enough to leave.

“Help me out of this bed.”

Nolen put both hands on my shoulders and pressed me into the mattress. “You’re going nowhere until you’ve rested up. The doc will be back again shortly. He asked me to message him as soon as you were awake.”

“No, I—”

“Don’t push me on this, Johannes. If he’d had his way, you’d be in the hospital, but knowing how much you hate those places, I insisted that he treat you here. Besides, you’re no good to Ella in this state.”

I collapsed against the stack of pillows, my energy sapping despite the minimal movement. He had a point, and I hated that he did, but I could barely sit up, let alone go chasing after Ella.

“I have to find her, Nolen.”

“You love her.” He repeated what he’d said earlier, which I’d vehemently denied. This time, there was no point in denials. No point in lying.

“Yes, I do.”

He squeezed my shoulder. “We’ll find her.”

The doctor arrived before I could respond. He spent fifteen minutes running his tests before he pronounced a concussion and prescribed bed rest for twenty-four hours. He gave me a sheet of paper with a list of things to look out for, and strict instructions to call him if any of them materialized.

Nolen reappeared after the doctor left. In all the worry about Ella, I’d forgotten to ask him what had happened to those men. I remembered throwing myself at one of them and he’d fallen and taken the other one with him.

“What’s the verdict?” he asked.

“I’ll live. Cuts, bruises, a concussion. Back on my feet in twenty-four hours. Nolen, what happened to the men who attacked me?”

He grimaced. “Yeah, about that. I wanted to wait until the doc had seen you first.”

“And he has. What gives?”

“The police want to talk to you.” He grimaced again. “There’s nothing to worry about. It’s a straightforward case of self-defense. But”—he shrugged—“procedure, you know.”

“But what’s happened to them? Surely the police can put the squeeze on them and find out where Ella is.”

A third grimace. “’Fraid not, cous. One’s dead, and the other one’s on a ventilator with a bleed on the brain. Might not recover.”

I closed my eyes.Fuck.“I threw myself at one, and he fell and hit his head on the table. He took the other one down with him. It was an accident.”

“Damn fucking straight it was.Theyattackedyou, not the other way around. You defended yourself.” He perched on the edge of the mattress and gave me a pitiful look. “Must’ve…” He broke off, lowering his gaze. “Brought back memories of that night.” He looked at me again, tentative and wary. “You holding up okay?”

Before Ella, I’d have snarled at him and spat out a sarcastic retort. Used aggression as a form of defense. But she’d changed everything for me. My love for her had changed everything.

“I froze. For a few seconds, I was right back in that hotel room in London. But then I thought,No fucking way. I wasn’t going to let this happen to me again. I refused to be a victim, to lie down and die. I remember little else, just receiving and throwing punches, and then the crash into the coffee table and crawling to the phone to call for help.”

Shock widened Nolen’s eyes. He hadn’t expected me to be that open. I’d trained my family well. If they asked about that night, or Sadie, or how I was doing, or whether I’d finally decided to accept professional help, I’d hit back with cruel words intended to shut them up, to make them leave me alone. And it had worked. They’d stopped asking, and I’d withdrawn further into myself, morphing into a man I didn’t recognize. Sadie had trapped me in that time, that moment.

And Ella had set me free.

“I’m so sorry, Johannes.”

“Help me find her. That’s all I ask.”

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