And So I Ran - Complete

Chapter 68

He knew. One look at Elliot's haggard face, the torment in his eyes, and I knew it. My gaze flitting across my parents, siblings, and Kate, I could tell Elliot knew about what Elena had done, but that Mia and Kate didn't. I shot a panicked look at Ana and, like always, she knew just what to do.

"Grace? Mia and Kate? It's so good to see you! Come with me – I want to show you all the adorable things we picked up for the baby in Europe," she gushed, shepherding the women of the family out of the great room at Escala and up toward the room we'd picked out for blip, leaving me with my father and brother.

"I need a fucking drink," I growled, moving toward my study, Elliot, and Dad trailing in my wake. I closed the door and managed to pour us three generous scotches before Elliot all but broke down.

"Why didn't you tell me?" he asked, tears pooling in his eyes. "Christian – I would have protected you. I would have told you it wasn't right. You're my brother; I would have stopped that sick cunt a lot earlier."

"It was all over a long time ago, El," I said, finding myself in the unfamiliar situation of consoling my brother. "I'm sorry for not coming to you. You too, Dad. Looking back, it was the logical thing to do, but I was so messed up at the time, I couldn't see that."

"What did she do to you?" Elliot asked, his eyes not meeting mine. My own eyes shot to Carrick who subtlety shook his head. It appeared Elliot knew about the abuse but not the precise nature of it.

"El – it's not something I want to talk about. I've spent a long time in therapy working through it, and I just want to forget about what happened. She's gone, it's over, and now I want to focus on the good in my life. My family and my friends."

"I failed you," Elliot said so quietly I almost didn't hear it. "I should have seen it."

"Don't think that way," I said. "She was a predator. I didn't fully get it until Ana opened my eyes to her. Even then, I didn't want to believe it, because in doing so I had to accept that I was her victim. But it's over, now. That shit ended with her."

The room was silent.

"Any more on the investigation, Dad?" I checked.

It had been just over two weeks since it happened, and we'd arrived back into Seattle yesterday morning. Knowing our family would want to see us, Ana had invited them all over for Sunday dinner at Escala, and right now Gail was cooking up a storm in the kitchen.

"Nothing," he confirmed. "They have confirmed the weapon was an offcut from the building site, but there is no DNA, no video footage, and no witnesses. The police are digging through her financial records so you can expect a call in due course about that, but it's a dead end, and they know it. It's the same with the arson on her house. Nothing was detected on the CCTV in the neighborhood, so it's believed the person or persons accessed her home via the reserve behind it."

The same way Taylor and Isaac did on their fruitless mission to find the photos. After checking out the whole house, they determined anything Elena had was either off-site or in the large safe they were unable to crack. Not that it mattered, now. With Elena dead, the house burned to the ground, and the safe turned into liquefied metal, the threat of exposure was negligible.

"Has she been buried yet?" I asked my father. Last I heard she was being autopsied.

"Not yet. My understanding is they are trying to track down any family." I stopped to think. I knew her better than most, and I don't think she'd ever mentioned cousins or extended family, and I knew she was an only child. I shrugged. Not my problem.

"Elliot? I don't want Mia to know. Or Kate. Ever."

"Kate would never say anything. You know that, right?"