Page 82 of Catalyst

“What would they have gained from making her quit?” I shake my head. “It doesn’t make sense.”

“Their goal could’ve been to hurt her,” Jeffery suggests. His ringing cell phone interrupts our conversation.

His expression morphs from indifference to surprise in a matter of minutes. When his eyes connect with mine, I attempt to prepare for the worst. But I never could have prepared to hear what he says next.

“That was the detective I sent the Byrnes case to. She just received a notification that Clifford Junior has been arrested for assault. Ellie was the victim.”

I stand from my chair and rush out of my house, with Jeffery and Matthew hot on my heels.

“They arrested him at her residence,” Jeffery informs me as I get into my car. Bile rises into my throat at the thought of Ellie being hurt by that bastard again. What did he do to her? If he touched her, I’m going to kill him myself.

Please, let her be okay.

Matthew jumps into my passenger seat, and I tear out of my driveway, breaking too many traffic laws to be safe. When we pull onto her street, I have to slam on my brakes to keep from running into the barrier. I park on the side of the street and ignore the officers yelling at me that I can’t go in there.

“Ellie!” I scream, panic threatening to overtake all rational thought.

“Adam?”

I whip my head toward the ambulance. Oh, fuck. My knees threaten to give out right there, but I manage to keep myself upright. She’s as white as a ghost, and her eyes look too big for her face. One medic is stabilizing her arm as another one dabs at a couple of scrapes on her forehead.

I wobble my way over to her at the same time the officers come up behind me to escort me away from the scene.

“Wait! He’s my boyfriend. Please, let him stay,” Ellie pleads. Her words are a balm to my nerves and give me a chance to pull myself together. The last thing she needs is to see me losing my shit over her being hurt.

The paramedic bandaging the cuts on Ellie’s head steps back when she’s done. She gives me a half smile and indicates that I can get closer now.

“Hi, my darling.” I gently swipe a loose strand of hair behind Ellie’s ear as she stares at me with her endless blue eyes. “You are so incredibly brave.”

Ellie’s face scrunches, and a sob breaks from her mouth. I immediately wrap her in my arms, doing my best to hold her tight without hurting her further. Her forehead is pressed to my chest, and I relax into the embrace, reveling in having her back in my arms.

As Ellie’s sobbing subsides a minute later, the paramedic interrupts, her voice soft and apologetic. “Honey, we need to get you to the hospital so the doctors can set your shoulder and check you out.”

Ellie looks up at me with watery eyes. “Will you come with me?”

“Of course.” I look over my shoulder to find Matthew still behind the barrier. He raises his thumb in the air, asking if Ellie is okay. I give him a thumbs-up in return and point at the ambulance. He nods his head and turns to get into my car.

The medic gets Ellie loaded into the back of the ambulance and directs me to sit on the bench by her head. She looks so fragile lying there, but she’s stronger than I ever imagined.

I wish I knew what happened. I hate not knowing what Junior did to her. But I refuse to ask because this isn’t about me. I’m here to give Ellie the support that she’s never had before. I’m going to be the person who stands by her side no matter what horrors Junior put her through.

CHAPTER39

Ellie

“They’re not goingto go away, are they?” The flashes outside of Adam’s house pierce through the blinds, serving as a constant reminder that we’re not alone. Journalists and paparazzi stand on the edge of Adam’s lawn, hoping for a picture of the two of us.

“Not until something else happens to distract them,” Adam grumbles as he sits down next to me on the couch. He squeezes my thigh and leans in to place a soft kiss on the top of my head. I rest my head against his shoulder, grateful to have him by my side again.

It’s been two days since the attack, and it feels like my whole world has been turned upside down. And to some degree, it has.

With only a few scratches and a dislocated shoulder, I was able to leave the hospital within a few hours of arriving, but that was all the time the news outlets needed to break the story. Somehow, the information got out that Junior attacked me, and when Adam’s and my relationship was discovered, the story blew up.

Adam brought me back to his house because I had no desire to go back to mine, and I haven’t left since. The first night after the attack, I fell asleep almost the instant my head hit the pillow.

But last night, when Adam snuggled up next to me in bed, I finally laid my heart bare. I told him everything about Junior and how betrayed I felt after the first time he assaulted me, how it felt to be blindsided at that meeting with Junior and Clifford Senior, and every detail of what they tried to blackmail me into doing.

Adam held me to his chest while I cried, and I told him how sorry I was for not telling him the truth. Of course, he told me I had nothing to apologize for, but I still felt better being able to lay it all out for him.

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