Chapter 86

My eyes slowly blinked open and I gradually worked through my blurred vision. For a moment, I wasn’t sure where I was. The last thing I remembered, I was kneeling on the floor of the bathroom in the guest room and vomiting my brains out.

Based on the dark-colored walls and familiar four-poster bed frame, I knew I had to be back in the master bedroom.

I tried to move my body but I could barely lift my head off of the pillow. All of my energy was drained and all I could do was lay there.

The more I let my head clear, the more I became aware of my surroundings. I was quick to find out that I wasn’t completely alone. There was a set of low muttered voices that echoed through the room.

Lorenzo was speaking to an unfamiliar woman at the far end of the bedroom. Her hair was pinned up into a tight bun atop her head and wore a long, white medical coat. I noticed the clipboard tucked under her arm and tried to secretly observe them from afar.

From what I could see, Lorenzo looked concerned and terribly uncertain about whatever it was the woman was telling him.

“So, what can you tell me?” he asked.

The doctor shook her head.“It’s hard to determine exactly what’s going on when she’s not fully conscious yet...Her levels are elevated, probably from all the stress she’s been under lately,” the doctor concluded.

“Will rest and hydration be enough, or should I consider other options?” he asked.

“You mentioned before that she passed out?” Lorenzo nodded his head. “Then, for now, it’s smart to just let her continue resting until her body can naturally catch up with itself. What can you tell me regarding her eating habits?”

Thank God I wasn’t involved in the conversation because I would have been ashamed to have admitted the truth. Lately, my eating habits have been poor. More so than usual.

It wasn’t as though I ate a lot, to begin with...But lately, because of my sore behavior, I’d been eating significantly less.

“She hasn’t been eating a lot these past few days,” he said shamefully. “Again, I blame myself. We haven’t been on the best of terms lately. It’s my fault.”

Something about hearing Lorenzo’s voice filled with so much remorse sent a shock of pain to my heart. Even though we weren’t on the best terms at the moment, I never wanted to hear my mate sounding so broken.

“Well then, in that case, I’m going to leave you with a few vitamin supplements that should help boost her levels back to where they need to be.”

Lorenzo quietly escorted the doctor toward the door and waved her off. I was partially surprised, but also silently pleased to know that he was choosing to stay back with me.

He leaned back against the wall and buried his face in his hands, letting out a long defeated breath.

My throat was horribly dry and felt like it was filled with cotton. I was in desperate need of water. Still, I tried to speak.

“T-Talk,” I said hoarsely.

Lorenzo shot his head up and glared at me with wide eyes and rushed to my side with just a few long strides. He grabbed the glass of water that had been waiting on the nightstand and placed it to my lips.

I took several tentative sips and relished the smooth, cool liquid flowing down my throat. Once I’d finished the glass, I tried to push myself up but was stopped by a firm hand being pressed into my shoulder.

“Eleanor, please. You need to rest,” he claimed.

“Tell me what you tried to say to me before,” I pressed.

Lorenzo looked conflicted. The doctor told him that I was meant to be resting, but I could tell from the eager look in his eyes that he didn’t want to waste the opportunity.

“It started back when we first got those articles and news clippings from Sterling. You know how either one of us couldn’t understand why he would send those things?” I nodded my head as he continued. “Well, for a while I did nothing but read over them until I got frustrated enough to call Cruz myself. I accused him of cheating us and he openly admitted to having kept that second piece to himself.”

“He told me he’d send me the rest, knowing that we would regret it.” A cold tremor broke through my body. “Once I listened to the disk, I started to believe that your father may have played a bigger role in this case than anyone would have imagined.”

I nodded. “Otherwise, why would Blue Moon have gone out of their way to get rid of him?” I questioned tightly.

“Exactly. So, I chose to do some digging on Carter Braxton and found out quite a bit. Apparently, he was meeting with your father on numerous occasions. It seemed like the two were trying to strike up some kind of deal.”

My brows pulled together. “What kind of deal?”

“Carter was willing to hand over some very valuable information, probably in the hopes of lightening his sentence,” Lorenzo said. “The guard at the prison mentioned something about a list.”

I let out a startled gasp. My jaw went slack with shock. Oh my God.

It felt so long ago that I was freaking kidnapped and held hostage—all for the sake of that goddamn list. The list that I knew nothing about.

“Lorenzo, what the hell is on that list? What makes it so damn valuable?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know. But whatever it is, it was clearly enough for Cruz to have both Braxton and your father killed for it.”

A short pause went by. Lorenzo reached for my hand and gave it a light squeeze. “Eleanor, I am so sorry for having kept all of this from you. “You need to understand. A big part of me did it out of fear,” he explains. I never knew that Blue Moon would have such an immediate connection to your father’s death. All I knew was that I needed to keep you safe against them. Because of this unknown list, I know they’ve already tried to come after you once. I wasn’t going to give them another chance.”

“Did you genuinely think I was just going to waltz over into Blue Moon’s territory and confront Cruz head-on?” I asked.

“...Possibly.”

“Jesus, Lorenzo.”

“You have every right to be mad at me, but I just can’t stand the thought of being away from you any longer.”

I laid my hand over his. “Then stay,” I said. “Stay with me.”

He climbed into bed next to me and held me close. “What are we going to do about that list?” I asked.

“I don’t know. But we’ve got to find a way to get to it before Cruz. And we’re going to do it together.”