Chapter 49: Codename: Blackheart Chapter Forty-Nine

~FLASHBACK A YEAR AGO~

“Anyone ever tell you what a wonderful couple you two make?” John gushes.

“You would be the first, but thank you,” I say with a bright smile.

“Honestly feels like we’ve been together forever,” Elijah coos as he kisses my temple again. I’ve lost track of how many times he’s done that now. Before John can throw more compliments at our fake relationship, my phone rings. I reach out and take my phone off the coffee table.

“Excuse me, I have to take this,” I say as I get up and make my way to the balcony while Elijah watches on curiously. I close the sliding door behind me and answer the call.

“It’s Victor,” I hear the voice greet.

“I can’t take on another job at the moment, I’m still working on this one.”

“I wish that’s why I was calling,” he says, his voice sounding ominous, yet filled with guilt.

“Then why are you calling?”

“A letter arrived for you today… it’s from The Tournament,” he says anxiously.

I sigh and lean against the rail. Fuck my luck. I glance back at Elijah, or Alec as he’d have me believe, and curse the utterly shit timing for this to be happening.

“Well, this puts a spanner in the works,” I huff.

“You can’t turn down the invitation,” Victor warns.

“I know that, but I can’t very well drop this entire job, especially when it involves people trying to kill me,” I say in aggravation, “I have to return home and speak to my parents. I’ll have to get someone in my family to watch this guy for me and keep tabs on him…” Then it hits me. “I’m going to have to take him back home with me.”

“How the hell do you plan to do that?” he asks incredulously.

I look back at Elijah and John laughing and chatting together as a sly smirk comes across my face. “By letting him think it’s his idea. Victor, tomorrow morning, I want you to come to the apartment and bring the invitation with you. I want you to act like we haven’t had this conversation, can you do that?”

“Absolutely. Whatever you need,” he says confidently.

“Excellent, I’ll see you tomorrow,” I say as I hang up.

~END OF FLASHBACK~

I sip my drink watching Elijah as he slumps back against his chair looking flabbergasted. Nice to know I still have that effect on people.

“You had everything figured out to the last detail...” he breathes out. “You knew about me, Hadleigh, Peyton, and you even factored in The Tournament,” he says in disbelief.

“I told you, I’m good at what I do.”

“I can see that,” he says as he downs his whiskey.

“Why are you here, Elijah? And don’t say it’s because you wanted to apologise, you could have just written a letter. You wanted to see me face to face. Why?” I ask, getting to the point.

He takes a deep breath and puts his glass down, “You’re right, as usual. I wanted to see you because I need answers.”

“To?”

“For a year, I have wondered over and over and over again why you let me live. You could have killed me, but you didn’t.

“Pretty certain I shot you,” I point out.

“But you didn’t kill me. You could have shot me in the head or the heart, instead, you shot me in the leg. Why did you let me live?” he asks, leaning forward with curiosity burning in his eyes.

I shrug, “I missed.”

“Bullshit,” he scoffs, “I had just watched you shoot two men perfectly in the head, but me you shoot in the leg. You let me live.”

“I only had vision in one eye and was quite literally at death’s door. I missed, simple as that,” I say nonchalantly and watch his face fall.

“So, that’s it? I just got lucky?”

“I guess I’m not that successful at killing the Grigoras children on the first try.”

Elijah takes a breath and sits back, slowly mulling that over. “Okay. I asked for an answer, and you gave it. I guess there’s nothing more to say,” he says, getting to his feet, “Thank you for giving me the opportunity to see and speak to you. I’m glad you’re doing better. Seeing you like this… it puts me at ease,” he says with a kind smile.

I watch as he walks to the door, each step feeling like time is moving in slow motion. I sigh and decide, fuck it.

“Aconite,” I say as his hand reaches for the door handle.

Elijah looks back at me in confusion, “Huh?”

“The reason I spared your life. Aconite,” I say calmly.

His thick brows furrow deeper as he walks back over and sits down, “You spared me because you were poisoned?” he asks, looking thoroughly confused.

“Aconite isn’t a poison people commonly use. It’s only common for my mother. Hadleigh would have never thought of it, which means poisoning me with aconite was your idea. It’s also why you ended up at The Tournament. My parents said you begged them to get you an invite, I can only assume that was Hadleigh’s idea.”

He nods slowly, “She knew you’d be trapped with no way out.”

“She was right.”

“I’m still confused. You saved me because I helped try to kill you?”

“You picked a poison you knew you had access to. You’d had a long talk to my mother about aconite poisoning. You knew a small enough dose would take hours to kill me and you knew my mother carried an antidote cocktail. An antidote that conveniently went missing. You see, I sent a silent message to my mother letting her know I’d been poisoned, but when she went to retrieve her cocktail it was gone. She wouldn’t have forgotten it, she never goes anywhere without it, and since you mysteriously vanished, it was safe to assume you took it. Then there’s the fact that after the explosion someone came and poured a liquid down my throat and injected something into my neck. Just so happens that’s the combination of my mother’s cocktail. A shot of activated charcoal and dehydrated borax to fight the gastrointestinal symptoms, and an injection of atropine and flecainide to help with bradycardia and ventricular arrhythmia,” I say as I lean forward.

Elijah stares at me intently and I can tell he’s stopped breathing as he hangs onto my every word.

“I didn’t spare you because you poisoned me, I spared you because you saved me. You picked a poison you could treat, and you gave me that treatment. Had I not received it, I would have been dead before Hadleigh got to have her fun with me,” I say as I lean back.

He gulps and takes a slow breath, “I don’t know what to say.”

“You came here to apologise, and yet you weren’t going to admit that you tried to save my life. Why?” I ask intently.

“It doesn’t make up for what I did, and I wasn’t about to sit here and make excuses after the hell you went through. Just knowing you’re still alive was enough for me,” he says with deep emotions swimming in his eyes.

“And for the dumb shit you pulled, I put a bullet in your leg, but since you tried to save my life, the only way you could think of, I figured I owed you yours in return.”

He lets out a deep breath and scrubs his hands over his face, “Could we… could we maybe start over? Without the lies and the plots and the bullets. I’d like a chance to get to know you better, and I want you to know the real me. But I understand if you don’t want that.”

I deliberate on that for a moment, dragging this out and watching him tug at the collar of his shirt. Nice to know I can still freak him out.

“I suppose we can start over,” I shrug.

He smiles wide before quickly composing himself. He extends his hand to me, “I’m Elijah Bressett, it’s an honour to meet you.”

I smile in amusement, shaking my head, and reach out placing my hand in his. “Alina Istrati, it’s a pleasure to make your acquaintance.”

His eyes blow wide as she stares at me in shock, “Did… did you just give me your real name?”

I smirk and lean forward, still holding his hand, “That I did, and if you tell anyone, I’ll kill you.”

He smiles wide with the happiest, goofiest smile spreading across his handsome face, his ocean-blue eyes twinkling with excitement, “I’m sure you would.”