The Elites

Don't Let It Break Your Heart

"Life gets hard and it gets messed up
When you give so much, but it's not enough
When the high's too high, and the low's too low
When you love someone and they let you go
Don't you let it kill you
Even when it hurts like hell"

"Don't Let It Break Your Heart" – Louis Tomlinson

"So, why exactly am I here?" Scarlet asks me and she sits down across from me. I can't blame her for being confused, we aren't friends and we've hardly spoken.

"I know you and Eleanor went to Seattle when you were in sophomore year" I announce, causing Scarlet to raise a perfectly plucked red eyebrow. I don't know how to explain this to Scarlet so I'm foolishly hoping she'll just answer my questions without having questions of her own.

"And?" Scarlet asks, sounding annoyed. "Why do you care?" I don't want to spill everything to Scarlet, but I might have to. It's possible Eleanor could have lied to Scarlet and made up a reason for going to Seattle, but I get the impression Eleanor was actually honest with Scarlet.

"Why did Eleanor want to go to Seattle?" I ask, Eleanor choosing Seattle couldn't be random, why would she go to Seattle when she could easily afford to fly to New York or even London? "Who was she watching?" I pass over one of the pictures of Eleanor and Scarlet sitting at the restaurant table behind my parents.

"Were you stalking Eleanor or something?" Scarlet demands, glaring at me. Oh god, is Scarlet thinking that I was stalking Eleanor or something?

"I'm trying to put pieces together, but nothing is making any sense, so I need your help. I can't keep Hope safe and get justice for Eleanor by myself" I say, telling Scarlet the truth. Scarlet must know about my dad, which means Eleanor knew. Why would they fly to Seattle to watch my dad? It doesn't make any sense, why didn't Eleanor just tell her parents?

"Eleanor knew what your father was planning, she wanted to protect Hope, so she asked me to come with her as insurance" Scarlet replies, sounding very casual about all this. How is she so calm? Two people that were involved are dead and there's a chance that their deaths are connected!

"Insurance?" I ask, feeling a sinking feeling develop inside of me. I have a feeling I know what Scarlet means; I just really don't want to be right.

"So, he wouldn't hurt El when she met up with him" Scarlet replies, looking down. "I begged her not meet him, but she wouldn't listen to me, so I went with her to Seattle to make sure she stayed safe." Scarlet's voice cracks a little and she takes a deep breath.

My dad met up with Eleanor; but he obviously let her walk away. Whether it was because he realized it was wrong to kidnap someone, or because he knew Scarlet would tell the police exactly what happened isn't clear. I don't understand any of this, why did the kidnapper wait so long? Hope and Eleanor could have been abducted in sophomore year, my dad had been dead for more than a year when Eleanor and Hope went missing.

"I don't know if this is linked to the kidnapping, why would they wait so long and not ask for money?" I ask, there was no ransom, the kidnapper never made any demands and Hope survived, I don't know if my dad's fellow crime mates had anything to do with this.

"Do I look like a detective?" Scarlet asks, shrugging her shoulders. I roll my eyes, her sarcastic, unhelpful comments are probably the reason her and Eleanor got on so well. "I can't believe your dad was willing to kidnap people."

"I can't defend his actions" I say quietly, wishing again that I had never skipped school. God, what I would give to be unaware of all this, at least for a little longer. "Do you think Andrew Flynn is capable of murder?"

"Yes" Scarlet says without hesitation, causing my heart to sink. She truly believes Hope's dad could kill, which means he could have given the order for my parents to be killed in a car crash. If this is true, then I could end up getting Andrew arrested, would Hope ever forgive me for putting her dad behind bars? I can't see a happy ending coming out of this tragedy, it's all too twisted. "Susan and Andrew are dangerous."

"What has Eleanor told you?" I ask, how many dark secrets does the Flynn family have? How did Eleanor find out all their secrets? Why would she tell Scarlet and not Hope? "Why wouldn't she tell Hope anything?"

"Eleanor thought it could cause Hope to have a rage attack" Scarlet replies, looking at me. "She confided in me because she was scared of hurting Hope and worsening her mental illness." I guess it makes sense that Eleanor would want to protect Hope. I think a lot of things Eleanor did were a strange attempt at protecting Hope.

"Hope's not as fragile as you think" I reply, Hope's therapy sessions have been helping her a lot and I've hardly ever seen her freak out and get uncontrollably angry. Maybe she couldn't have handled knowing all this back when it happened, but she can handle it now. "Hope is a lot stronger than what you give her credit for."

"I don't think she's weak, I just know Eleanor wouldn't want messing up Hope's life even more, I love Hope but Eleanor is my best friend, she'll be my best friend forever, it doesn't matter that she's gone" Scarlet replies defensively, I get where she's coming home. Nobody can replace Eleanor's position as Scarlet's bestie just as no one can replace my mom or dad.

"I get it, you have no idea how much I get it" I say, I grab Hope's birth certificate out of my pocket and hand it to Scarlet. "Did Eleanor know about this?"

"This is fake" Scarlet states. "The date on the stamp is two months before Hope was adopted." How could that have happened? Andrew and Susan got their hands on a birth certificate before they adopted Hope.

"We need her adoption record; do you know where it's kept?" I ask, Eleanor seemed to know everything so maybe she mentioned something to Scarlet. I still have no idea how Eleanor knew everything, even the fact that my dad had planned to kidnap her, but I'm not going to ask. It's not important anymore, Eleanor will never uncover another secret again.

"Yeah, I can get it" Scarlet answers, handing me back the birth certificate. "I'm not getting involved, though. I'll get you the file and I won't mention any of this to Hope but that's it." I nod in agreement, knowing I can't really force Scarlet into helping me. I can't blame Scarlet, I have no idea how dangerous getting involved into this will be.

"Thank you" I say, things are so much easier now that Scarlet has cleared a few things up. There is still so much to find out, but at least I know where I look now. I can talk to the adoption agency about Hope and I can try to find out who my dad was working with and see if any of them were in the area when Hope and Eleanor were abducted.

"You can trust Hunter with this" Scarlet says as she stands up. "This is a lot to take on alone, I think you need your bestie more than ever." Maybe I should tell Hunter, I know she'll keep it a secret and agree to help me. Hunter is smart, we might be able to figure this out together.

I dial Hunter's number. "Hey, we need to talk, can you come over?" I say when she picks up on the first ring.