Chapter 13 - THE DEBT SHE REFUSED
Maeve called Elias that evening.
He answered on the first ring.
“Maeve.”
She hated how her name sounded in his voice.
Too familiar.
Too careful.
“Why did you pay Finn’s bills?”
“Because Margaret was using them to control you.”
“I didn’t ask you to.”
“I know.”
“I can’t repay you.”
“I don’t want repayment.”
Maeve closed her eyes.
“That is worse.”
Silence.
Elias asked, “Why?”
“Because then I owe you.”
“No.”
“That is how money works where I come from.”
“And where I come from, sometimes it solves a problem.”
“You don’t get to solve mine because you feel guilty.”
His voice hardened slightly.
“I do not feel guilty for helping your brother.”
“Then what do you feel guilty for?”
The silence answered.
Maeve leaned against the hospital corridor wall.
“You hurt me.”
“I know.”
“You knew who I was and kept going.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elias stared out the windows of his study.
He could have given the strategic answer.
He chose the dangerous one.
“Because I didn’t want you to leave.”
Maeve said nothing.
Elias continued.
“Once I knew you were not Sienna, I should have ended it.”
“But you didn’t.”
“No.”
“Because you were testing me?”
“At first.”
“And after?”
He closed his eyes briefly.
“Because the house felt different with you in it.”
Maeve’s throat tightened.
She hated that the answer mattered.
Elias’s voice dropped.
“You listened.”
“You argued.”
“You treated my employees like people.”
“You made bread with Mrs. Romano in the kitchen and convinced my uncle to attend a cardiology appointment he had avoided for four years.”
Maeve nearly smiled.
“He told you?”
“He complained about you for an hour.”
“He likes me.”
“He does.”
Elias paused.
“So do I.”
Maeve looked through the hospital glass at Finn sleeping.
“You married me under someone else’s name.”
“I know.”
“You lied about your injury.”
“I know.”
“We are a disaster.”
“Yes.”
That almost made her laugh.
She hated him a little less for admitting it.
“Elias.”
“Yes?”
“I’m not coming back.”
His jaw tightened.
“I understand.”
“I need a life that is mine.”
“You should have one.”
She looked at her bare finger.
“And I am going to repay Finn’s medical expenses.”
“No.”
“Yes.”
“You would need fifty years.”
“Then you’ll be old when I finish.”
For the first time all day, Elias smiled.
“I expect interest.”
Maeve actually laughed.
The sound hit him harder than any accusation.
Then the elevator doors opened.
A nurse rushed toward Maeve.
“Ms. Donnelly?”
Maeve straightened.
“What happened?”
“Your brother’s monitors changed.”
The phone slipped slightly in her hand.
Elias heard everything.
“Maeve?”
She ran.
The call remained connected.
For ninety seconds, Elias heard footsteps.
Voices.
A door opening.
Then a doctor saying Finn’s blood pressure was dropping.
Elias stood instinctively.
No wheelchair.
No performance.
He grabbed his coat.
Gabriel entered.
“What happened?”
“Hospital.”
They were in the car three minutes later.
When Elias arrived, Finn had stabilized.
Maeve was sitting on the corridor floor.
She looked up.
Elias walked toward her.
Walked.
Publicly.
Doctors saw him.
Nurses saw him.
Visitors saw him.
The secret prognosis was over.
Maeve stood slowly.
“You came.”
“Yes.”
“You walked in front of everyone.”
“Yes.”
“What about the test?”
Elias stopped in front of her.
“It ended when you left.”
Maeve stared at him.
For the first time since learning the truth, she saw no calculation in his face.
Only fear.
Not for his throne.
For her.
May you like
And somewhere outside the hospital, a man in a parked sedan took a photograph of Elias standing.
Twenty seconds later, that photograph was sent to Sienna Ashford.
