Chapter 14 The Truth Between Us
Pierce woke to someone glaring at him.
His side was on fire, his head pounding like someone was using his skull for target practice. But none of that compared to the look on Elena's face.
She stood over him, arms crossed tight across her chest, her whole body rigid with barely contained anger. Her eyes were red-rimmed, like she'd been crying, but they were bone-dry now. Hard as stones.
"Pierce Diego." Her voice was flat. "That's your real name."
He pushed himself up slowly, every movement sending lightning through his side. The stitches pulled, and he had to bite back a groan. "Yes."
"You're a mafia boss."
"Yes." He said quietly.
Elena's jaw tightened. She was shaking, he realized. Her whole body trembling with barely contained rage, or fear, he couldn't tell which.
"You lied to me." Her voice was getting louder, sharper. "You let me tie you up with my sports bras. Let me feed you terrible pasta. Let me cry in front of you about my parents. And the whole time you were...you just lied to me."
"I didn't lie to you."
"SERIOUSLY?!" She shouted.
Pierce winced, and not from the wound. He'd never heard her yell like that. Never seen her this furious.
"I didn't," he said, keeping his voice calm. "I just didn't correct you when you assumed things."
"That's LYING, Pierce!" Her voice rose. "Or should I call you Mr. Diego? Boss? What do your victims call you before you kill them?"
"Elena..."
"Shut up." She held up a hand, and he saw it was shaking too. "You sat there and listened to me talk about my parents. About how I can't sleep because I see them dying over and over. And you knew. The whole time, you knew you were one of them."
"I'm not the one who killed your parents."
"How do you know that?" Elena's eyes were bright with unshed tears. "How do you know it wasn't your men? Your crew? Your war?"
"I didn't know about your parents," he said finally. "Not until you told me."
"And when I did tell you? When I cried about it in front of you?" Her voice rose. "You had so many chances to tell me the truth. To be honest. But you chose to lie."
"I was protecting you!" His voice rose.
"From what?" She spread her arms wide, gesturing at the apartment, at herself, at the mess they were in. "From the truth? From knowing that I was harboring a criminal?"
She laughed bitterly. "Do you know what could happen to me? I harbored a fugitive. Twice. I treated your wounds, let you stay in my apartment, helped you hide from the police. I could go to jail, Pierce. I could lose my medical license. Everything I've worked for, everything I've built since my parents died, gone. Because of you."
"I'm sorry," he said, and meant it.
"Sorry doesn't fix this." Elena wrapped her arms around herself, suddenly looking small and exhausted. "I trusted you."
Pierce's chest tightened. "Elena..."
"No." She dropped her hands, and her eyes were red but fierce. "No. You need to leave. The second you can walk, you need to get out of my apartment and never come back."
"I can't do that."
"Yes, you can." Her voice was cold. "You did it two weeks ago. You can do it again."
"That was before Rodrigo's men found you."
Elena went very still. "What?"
"Rodrigo knows about you." Pierce tried to stand, made it halfway before his side protested violently. He gritted his teeth and pushed through it. "My brother knows you helped me. That you...that you matter to me. You're leverage now."
"I don't matter to you." But her voice shook.
"Yes, you do." Pierce met her eyes. "And he knows it. Which means if I leave now, you're dead."
The color drained from Elena's face. "What?"
"He'll use you to get to me. He'll hurt you, Elena. And he won't stop until he gets what he wants." Pierce took a step toward her, and she immediately stepped back. The rejection stung, but he kept talking. "I leave, you die. It's that simple."
"Then I'll go to the police..."
"And tell them what?" He cut her off, his voice harder than he intended. "That a mafia boss said his brother might come after you? They'll either laugh you out of the station or arrest you for harboring me. Either way, Rodrigo gets to you. And once he does..."
He didn't finish. Didn't need to.
Elena was shaking her head, her breathing getting faster. "No. No, this isn't...I didn't ask for this."
"I know." He said quietly.
"I don't want you here." Her voice was barely above a whisper.
"I know that too."
"I hate you." The words came out choked, desperate. "I hate you for doing this to me."
Each word landed like a knife, but Pierce didn't shake. "I know."
"Then leave!" Her voice broke into a sob. "If you know all of that, if you know how much I hate you, then just leave me alone!"
"I can't." His voice was rough, strained. "Because hating me won't keep you safe. And whether you believe it or not, whether you want it or not, I'm not letting anything happen to you."
"You don't get to decide that!" She was crying openly now, tears streaming down her face. "You don't get to ruin my life and then act like you're protecting me!"
"I'm trying to fix what I broke!"
"You can't fix this!" Elena shouted. "You can't fix me trusting you! You can't fix me caring about you!"
They stared at each other, both breathing hard, the air between them crackling with everything unsaid.
"This is messed up," Elena whispered finally.
"Yes." He said calmly. "It is."
"I want you gone." Her voice was steady, though her heart was pounding.
"I'm not leaving."
"I could call the police right now." But her hand didn't move toward her phone. "Turn you in. Let them deal with you."
"You could." Pierce held her gaze. "But you won't."
"How do you know?"
"Because you save lives, Elena." He said, his voice certain. "You don't destroy them. It's who you are."
Something in her face crumpled. "Maybe I should start."
"But you won't." His voice was certain. "Because even hating me, even knowing what I am, you're still too good to do it."
Elena let out a sound that was half laugh, half sob. "I hate that you're right."
"I know."
"Stop saying that!"
They stood there in her destroyed living room, broken glass on the floor, blood on the carpet, the TV still playing news coverage of his crimes on mute, and Pierce saw the exact moment she realized she was trapped.
Saw the defeat flash across her face, saw her shoulders slump, saw the fight drain out of her like water through her fingers.
"I am so sorry," Pierce said finally. "Am really sorry. For all of it."
Elena looked at him, and for a moment he saw something other than hate in her eyes. Something that looked almost like grief.
"You need to sleep," she said finally, her voice empty. "You lost a lot of blood."
"Elena..."
"Stop." She held up a hand. "Just... stop. Not right now."
She turned and walked to her bedroom, her movements rigid.
The door closed behind her with a soft click.
Pierce stood there in her living room, listening to the silence, and felt something in his chest break clean through.
He'd done this. Brought danger to her door. Shattered whatever fragile trust they'd built. Trapped her in a nightmare she didn't ask for.
And the worst part? He'd do it all again.
Because the alternative, Rodrigo getting to her, hurting her, using her to get to him, was unthinkable.
Even if it meant she'd hate him forever.
Even if it meant destroying the one good thing he'd found in his entire miserable life.