“I love you,” she says quietly.

Walking back over to her, I capture her lips with mine. “I love you too,” I say against her mouth. As much as it kills me to leave, I turn and walk out before I’m tempted to stay.

While I’m so fucking happy to have seen her, and even more relieved that I stopped her from making a huge mistake, I can tell she’s keeping something from me. Call it a hunch, but I could see it in the depths of her eyes. Whatever it is, she doesn’t want me to know, and I would bet my life Cal is responsible. Seeing her this broken has me more determined than ever to make that fucker pay.

I’M WALKING TOWARD the road, sticking to the trees that line the driveway to provide me with some cover. I’m almost to the street when I hear a car pulling up. Sinking down to a squatting position, I hide, waiting to see who it is. When I get a glimpse of his face, it takes all of my inner strength and then some to not march up there and beat him to a bloody pulp. The only reason I don’t is because of Elizabeth. I don’t know if I can keep her safe if all hell broke loose right now.

Cal walks briskly to the front door, and once he’s inside I make a run for it. I need to get back to the SUV and see why he’s home.

“What the fuck were you thinking?” Tyler shouts at me when I slide back into the vehicle.

“Is the feed on?” I ask, ignoring his question since I think the answer is pretty damn obvious.

“No, I had to kill it to keep anyone from seeing your ass, remember?”

“Hurry, turn it back on,” I demand as I stare at the blank screen. After a few seconds the monitor lights up with video of Elizabeth in the bedroom I left her in, but now Cal is with her.

“What the hell is this, Elizabeth?” Cal seethes at her as he holds up the empty pill bottle.

“I don’t know what you mean.” Her voice is completely monotone.

“Let’s see.” He places his hand on his chin as if he’s in deep thought. Watching him be condescending toward her is pushing my patience. “This bottle was halfway full this morning, and now it’s empty. Where are they?”

She shrugs. “I don’t know. Maybe they spilled out somewhere and I didn’t notice.” It’s like Cal zaps all the life out of her. The small flicker I saw while I was with her is now completely extinguished, leaving only this hollow woman I don’t recognize. It’s actually scary watching her mood shift so quickly.

Cal grabs her upper arms and pulls her off the bed before drawing her close. She tries to get out of his hold, but he responds by gripping her chin forcefully with his thumb and forefinger. He forces her head back so she’s looking up at him. My blood is pumping and I clench and unclench my fists to try to rid my body of some of the pent-up anger that’s building. “Did you take all of these?” he grits out through clenched teeth. Her only response is a shake of her head. He shoves her face away from him, the sudden movement causing her to lose her balance and fall back on the bed. “I swear to God if I find out you did there will be hell to pay.”

I see it, the spark that flashes across her face, bringing back the vibrant woman I know. “What more could you possibly do? You’ve killed everything that’s ever meant anything to me.” She looks down, her body starting to tremble as she holds in her sobs. My heart seizes in my chest knowing she’s hurting. I know it’s not my fault, but I would give anything to take it all away. My only comfort is that she knows I’m alive now.

Cal arches an eyebrow at her. “I don’t know why you’re so hung up on that. It’s not like Alex actually loved you.” He throws his head back and laughs and I have vivid visions of ripping out his fucking throat. “Hell, every man is out to get an easy piece of ass. You can’t fault the guy for taking what was so generously offered. If anything, I saved you the embarrassment of him leaving when he got bored with your pussy.”

“That motherfucker,” I say. I’m about to get out of the car to shut him the fuck up when he keeps talking.

“Do you know what this kind of stunt could do to my campaign? I can see it now: Senator Fitzgerald’s unstable wife attempts suicide. You think people will elect me with you living in the White House acting like this? No.” He stops, placing both his fists on the bed on either side of her and leans in to her face. “The next time you think you want to end your meaningless, pathetic life, let me know and I’ll have someone take care of it for you. The American people will be much more sympathetic to a widower caused by a murder versus a suicide.”

“That’s it,” I say through clenched teeth as I reach for the door handle. Tyler grabs me by the back of my shirt collar, stopping my movement. I struggle against him, determined to get out of this car.

“There’s no way in hell you are going back in there. I get it, but you can’t risk the entire investigation by beating the shit out of him.” A low growl rumbles up from my throat in frustration as I feel a slow burn in the pit of my stomach, begging to wreak havoc. I take a few deep breaths to try to calm myself, but it really doesn’t work. The urge to punch Cal in the face repeatedly is just as strong now as it was a few seconds ago. I know Tyler is right, which is why I reluctantly sit back and look at the monitor. If I go in that house now, there’s no doubt in my mind Elizabeth will be hurt, or worse, killed. And it’ll be all my fault.

Cal isn’t in the room with her anymore. Her eyes are closed and I hate that he’s verbally abusing and tearing her down. Her soul is slowly slipping away. I saw it when I held her today, and again as she sits alone in that bedroom. I know it’s ridiculous since she can’t hear me, but I keep chanting in my head, Hang in there. I promise I’ll get you out soon. Just be strong.

She puts her hand down her shirt and pulls something out before bringing it to her lips to kiss it. When the realization hits, I feel like renewed confidence has been breathed into me. Confidence that we’re going to get through all of this shit together. In her hand is the necklace I gave her. Attached to the end is the bullet that was pulled from my arm during one of our missions that went to hell. I was sure I was going to die that day. Bullets, RPGs, and explosions kept coming at us, and most of my men died.

But I got lucky.

I used to pull strength from it, knowing things could always get worse. Hell, I’ve seen it. But I knew there was a reason—a purpose—why I made it out alive and so many others didn’t. I hope she’s drawing the same strength, the same will to keep pushing forward and survive. Watching her clutch it in her hand tells me that she’s holding on.

And dammit, I am too.

ELIZABETH

HE’S ALIVE.

Oh my God, he’s alive.

As soon as Cal leaves the bedroom, I let the emotions I was holding back take over and consume me. It’s a welcomed change where utter despair and sorrow aren’t swallowing me whole, threatening to suffocate me. I can’t count how many mornings I’d get up and pray this was all a really bad dream. That I’d wake up and see him lying in bed next to me, only to be brought back to my harsh reality. He was gone and he was never coming back.

I’ve been struggling with how to find the will to live. How do you pick up the pieces when the one person you’ve ever loved and cared about has been ripped from you in an instant? Now that I’d had a taste of what it was like to be loved and treated with respect, it was impossible to go back to the way things were and pretend to be the wife I once was. For weeks I’ve been walking around in a blind fog with no purpose, no real reason for existing.

My head starts spinning as I come to the conclusion that this is real. He was actually here touching me, talking to me, comforting me.