Her heart nearly seized in her chest. Victor was pushing his way back into her heart. What had changed? Was this part of his game? It didn’t feel like it but she was so afraid to give her heart to him again. She couldn’t just hand it over like she did before. What if he let her down? What if he hurt her again?
She reached for her phone and dialed his number, but was sent to voicemail. Sending a text seemed too impersonal to respond to such a simple, heartfelt note.
When she arrived to work, she was shocked to find her mother waiting in her office. She looked terrible. Like she hadn’t slept. Like she was scared for her daughter’s life. Elsa immediately rushed to her and wrapped her arms around her.
“You shouldn’t have come, Mom.”
“Call it an intervention,” she gripped Elsa by the shoulders.
A genuine laugh slipped past her lips. “I don’t need an intervention. I just need you to try and understand where I’m coming from. I know you’re worried…”
“Worried is an understatement, El. How could you go back to him after what he put you through?”
Elsa looked away. She couldn’t bear to see the doubt in her mother’s eyes. She didn’t even know the whole story. She hadn’t even seen the scars. And she never would. The only person other than Victor who had seen them was Nate, and she had lied to him about how she had gotten them.
“Why didn’t you call sooner after being attacked?” Her mother demanded.
“I didn’t want to frighten you. And I’m fine.”
“This is insane,” her mother began chewing her bottom lip as her eyes welled up with tears.
Elsa pulled a chair out for her mom to sit in. “I know you hate Victor, but he saved my life that night. He fought for me.”
Her mother’s gaze sharpened and a look of pure rage flashed across her attractive, aged face. “What is it that man has over you to make you so blind?”
Elsa gritted her teeth. She didn’t want to speak in anger to her mother, but it really was none of her business. She was a grown woman.
“Is the sex that amazing, El? My God. You can find another lover. You’re smart and beautiful…”
“Seriously, Mom, just stop. It’s not about that.” How could she explain to her mom that what Victor gave her was a sense of power by controlling her? She wouldn’t understand. “I found another lover and look what he turned out to be - indifferent and cold. He asked for my hand in marriage and he didn’t even love me,” she swallowed a sob.
“Of course he did.”
“No, he didn’t. He admitted it.”
Her mother sat silently contemplating her admission. “Fine. Not Nathan. But why Victor? That man…” she tried to find the words as she looked around the room for divine inspiration. “Please, Elsa. Not him. That attack… I just know it has something to do with him. It’s too much of a coincidence,” tears streamed down her cheeks.
Her mother’s sixth sense was always spot on. Elsa knelt in front of her and wiped the tears from her face, stricken with the unconditional love she was witnessing. She loved her mother so much. To see her hurting was killing her.
It wasn’t a coincidence, but she didn't have the courage to tell her mother that. “Victor is different now,” she avoided the statement altogether. “He’s trying to change.”
She ran an agitated hand through her mussed hair. “No one ever changes, they just reveal their true selves.”
The intensity of her mother’s stare pounded her until she had to look away. The words she had spoken were the very same ones Victor had said on the day he had beaten her. Maybe they were both right, but Elsa refused to believe it. People could change if they wanted to. If they worked at it. If they made a genuine effort.
Just as Elsa stood, she heard the door to her office open. The scent that filled the room made the blood drain from her face. When she turned to face Victor, she fought the nausea that climbed up her throat.
His eyes immediately fixed on her mother. “Elise,” he acknowledged her.
“Agent Laurenzo,” she heard her mother’s whispered voice over her shoulder. Though her words were softly spoken and disguised with politeness, contempt laced every syllable.
Tension enveloped the room as the two silently battled with their gazes. Victor’s lips parted several times as if he wanted to say something, but no words came.
Finally, Elsa spoke up. “My mother has been traveling all night. I’ll be staying with her at my place…” she promptly shut her mouth when she heard her mother’s horrified gasp behind her.
“Have you been staying with him?”
“She’s safer at my place,” Victor’s words were smooth, low and disarming as he defended her actions.
“I doubt that.” Elise moved around to the front of the desk in the blink of an eye and came within inches of Victor. “Let’s get this out in the open, shall we?” His body swayed as he stared at her a moment, his expression unreadable. “I don’t like you. I never have. In fact, I detest everything about you. You hurt my daughter just like I knew you would…”
Elsa hurried to them to try and stop her mother from provoking Victor. “Please, Mom. Please…”
“I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing with her, but it ends today.”
Elsa was shocked at her mother’s words and her jaw nearly hit the floor.
“I’ll tell you the same thing I told your son: that’s not your decision. It’s not mine either. It’s Elsa’s and Elsa’s alone,” his tone held an air of unequivocal authority.
Her eyes narrowed and their gazes locked. “Why can’t you just stay away from her? I’m sure there are plenty of women lining up for your kind of fucked up attention. Why can’t you…”
Elsa had never heard her mother speak so fiercely about anything. Not even her own father who had broken her mother’s heart by cheating on her.
The edge in Victor’s voice stopped Elise mid sentence. “Because I don’t want anyone else. Because…” his eyes darted quickly to Elsa as if afraid to admit what he was feeling. “I need her.”
Elise’s mouth drew back in a silent snarl. “What about what Elsa needs, you selfish son-of-a-bitch?”
The sudden tensing of his jaw showed the infuriation bubbling up in him. “I know you find it hard to believe, but I do know what she needs, so let it go, Elise. She’s with me. End of story.” The warning tone of his voice was deep and foreboding.
Her mother’s voice rose sharply and her face grew red with anger. “You don’t know a Goddamn thing except how to hurt people and take what you want!” In a flash, her hand came up, “You let her go!” and caught his cheek, leaving a red streak in its wake.
“Mom, no! Don’t do that to him!” Elsa put herself between them, horrified at what was playing out. Her heart was pounding and her knees shaking when she saw the fierce light in his eyes die out and the pained expression on his face. All she could imagine was how his own mother had treated him.
She pushed her mother back by the shoulders until she fell into the chair she had set out for her. When her mother tried to jump back up, she shrieked at her. “You have no idea what he’s been through!”
“I don’t need her to understand what I’ve been through,” he whispered wearily.
Elsa stood and moved toward him to try and console him. Instead of the pain she had sensed in him a moment ago, now there was just cool detachment as he began to withdraw. When he turned to walk out, she met him in the hall outside her office.
“I’m so sorry, Victor. God, I’m so sorry for what she did…”
He caressed her face with an unexpected tenderness. “Don’t be sorry. She loves you. I can only imagine what it feels like to have a parent care so much that they would risk being arrested for assaulting a federal agent. Not that I would ever allow that to happen,” he stopped to glance back into the office at her mother. “I deserved what she did. I deserve worse for what I’ve done to you.” His voice lowered and he let out a deep breath. “You said it yourself, Elsa: we’re all liable for our actions. I’m finally ready to accept that.” He couldn’t disguise the anguish in his eyes. “No one will ever understand what we have. I don’t expect them to,” his mouth brushed over her ear as he pulled her into an embrace. “I don’t care if they do.” His fingers laced through her hair, tugging on it gently. “I only care what you think. And that you forgive me.”