Then there was the other thing that kept getting in the way… The thing his subconscious was violently trying to reject. He was falling into a deep abyss of the thing he detested more than anything - love. But what did he know about love? He had never experienced it deeply or long enough to know how to give or receive it properly. He sure as hell never received it from his mother, and the only woman he had loved, Chapter One, turned out to be a serial murderer.
No, it wasn’t love that he was feeling. It was something more potent and devastating than mere love. It was something else – something that didn’t have a name and couldn’t be categorized or labeled. Whatever it was, it was intertwined with the power struggle between them and, Christ, how he craved that struggle; yearned for it; lived for it.
It was a struggle he vowed to win at all costs by winning her heart back, even if it meant the death of his co-conspirator - Mr. Black.
21: Uncertainty
Elsa waited for the fallout as she and Victor walked back to his car. He was seething and the tension between them was unbearable. He wouldn’t look at her, which was probably for the best. Having already seen hurt and anger in Nate’s eyes was more than enough for one evening; she didn’t need to see it from Victor, too.
Just as he revved the engine, his phone rang. A man’s voice on the other end sounded excited. Or upset. She couldn’t tell, but by the dismayed look on Victor’s face, what was being said was important. His jaw creaked from clenching his teeth and his eyes darted to her. More rapid mumbling on the phone made Elsa lean in to try and make out what the voice was saying, but Victor threw the car door open and jumped out. The door no sooner shut when she heard his raised voice. The only words she could hear was a name: Anthony Bruce.
Her stomach did a flip flop. The name brought back bad memories of her time before with Victor and how he had almost mailed his journal notes about her to the serial killer. She watched him as he paced in front of the car’s bright headlights in the freezing weather, the wind blowing his hair into his eyes, and his gestures animated. Abruptly he stopped and stared at her through the windshield, his eyes fixing on her and a look of concern washing over his pale face.
He nodded, mouthed something, and then climbed back into the car.
“What’s the matter?” she dared to ask.
A shake of his head let her know that whatever was wrong was better left unsaid. They drove in silence until they arrived at 2500 East Grace Street.
“Don’t leave,” he stated when she climbed out.
She bent down into the open door, stunned. “You’re not coming in.”
“I can’t. I need to deal with something. I expect you to be here when I get back. If I get back. I may be at work all night.”
“I work tomorrow,” she huffed.
“There are clothes for you in my closet, but I want you here tonight. Anyway,” he glared at her. “It’s not like you have someone to go home to, is it?”
She swallowed loudly and blinked several times as she stared at him.
His eyes narrowed down to slits. “We’ll discuss the current state of our affairs later. Now get inside.”
A shiver ran down Elsa’s spine at the staunch look on his face and the stern tone of his voice. She turned and walked to the door with her tail between her legs. A glance over her shoulder revealed his dark eyes watching her. Only when she stepped inside the house and closed the door did she hear his vehicle drive away. She could only imagine what lay in store for her for having led Victor on for so long.
***
Victor’s mind was racing as was his pulse. His thoughts were still on Elsa and her lie, but he needed to focus. There was an unexpected development at work that needed his full attention. That one phone call and his world around him seemed to be spinning off its axis. First, Elsa’s revelation that her engagement was off and now, this. When it rained shit in his life, it poured.
As he parked his vehicle and rushed into the police headquarters, he mentally patted himself on the back for having insisted on fast-tracking Elsa’s attacker’s case. He had been demanding answers all week and pushing the detectives in charge to find out why the man whose name was Daniel Franco had chosen to attack her. They had tried to convince him that it was random, but his instincts were telling him otherwise. It turned out he was right.
Just as he entered the building, a young officer approached him.
“You think we got him?” his bright eyes scanned Victor’s face for some kind of approval.
The detective’s demeanor halted him cold in his tracks. It was as if he was looking at a younger version of himself. He had been that man once – enthusiastic and optimistic. There was still a fragile flame of hope residing within him back then. It seemed like a lifetime ago, but in reality it had been… How long? Victor quickly did the math in his head.
Ten years.
For ten fucking years Mr. Black had been a force in his life. For a decade he had been ruining people’s lives under the guise of helping them. Wordless, he stared at the man as his emotions began to skid out of control.
“Agent Laurenzo? Do you think it’s him?” The detective’s voice sounded a million miles away.
He quickly went into auto-mode. “I don’t know yet. What did you find?”
“It’s a long shot, I know,” he began to question himself. “I could be wrong…”
Victor cut the man off. “Don’t do that to yourself. Never do that. Go with your gut. Always. Now tell me what you found.”
The officer nodded in agreement and appeared to take his words to heart. “I had his house searched again after you called the last time. I went there myself to assist and found several odd items, including some correspondence…”
“Show me.”
The detective led him back to a room filled with boxes, bags and envelopes of evidence. He took one look at the letters laid out on the table and knew it would be a long night.
Glancing over his shoulder at the man who just might have solved one of the biggest cases on the books, he reassured him. “Whatever happens here, whatever I find, I’ll make sure you get the credit you deserve.”
***
Emotionally exhausted, Elsa had immediately fallen asleep after her shower. Her dreams were filled with images of Nate’s sad eyes and Mr. Black’s angry eyes. She knew, even in her dream that he would make sure she would pay for having lied to Victor. His words kept gnawing at her, making her sleep restless. She woke several times and each time, there was an eerie sense of dread prickling under her skin. Something was off though she couldn’t put her finger on what it was. He was still harboring more secrets and she was itching to know what he was hiding from her.
She rose from bed and walked in the dark to his office. To her surprise, the cameras were off. Was it intentional or a mistake on his part? She didn’t care. All it meant was that she had free rein of his house and she planned on taking full advantage of it.
She began sifting through the desk cabinets. Nothing of interest caught her eye until she opened the largest of the drawers and found the dreaded case file. He had kept it. She stared at it as all the words contained within it flooded her memory. All his Chapters and the torment he had put them through. She reached for it but stopped as panic coursed through her veins. Her eyes darted around the room nervously. It was too easy. Maybe this was a test. She heard her own rapidly beating heart in her ears but was unable to stop herself from picking up the manuscript. Just like before, she didn’t care what the consequences would be. With the twine removed, she fingered the cover page. Eyes closed, she held her breath and lifted the page fully expecting to see her name front and center. When she opened them, her heart sank.