Ben

For just a moment, I stared at Lindsay in shock, unable to comprehend the meaning of her words. She couldn’t actually be saying what she had just said. “Elle ran away.”

There was sadness in her eyes, but it was her sense of urgency as she thrust the note toward me that finally forced my synapses to fire again. I took it and read the brief words and my heart dropped into my stomach, followed by a wave of nausea rolling up toward the back of my throat. “Fuck. Why would she do this?”

Lindsay, still naked, seemed as bewildered as me. “I don’t know. I thought things were getting better for her. It makes no sense.”

I nodded as I clutched the piece of paper in my hand. “Why don’t you go get dressed, and I’ll call in some people to help find her.” I turned away from Lindsay, who was scurrying back to her room as though she suddenly realized she was standing naked in the hallway, and hurried to my office down the hall. Once inside, I immediately dialed Eric’s number. As soon as he answered, I said, “Elle ran away, and I need you to find her. Bring everybody you have. Recruit people if necessary, but we have to get her back as soon as possible.”

“Of course, sir.” He sounded at the ready, which was as comforting as anything could be. “Should we check your ex-wife’s house?”

I grimaced. “Oh God. I can’t imagine she went there, but if she did, I’d have to bring her back myself. For now, I’d like to keep Ashe out of this.”

“I understand. Should I have someone drive by her house to see if there’s any sign of Elle?”

I shook my head before realizing he couldn’t see me. I was too distraught to think straight. “No, Ashe might recognize you, and she’s probably paranoid enough to be watching for cars if she does have our daughter. I can only send someone she won’t expect.”

“I’ll get right on it.”

After hanging up, I ran a hand through my hair as a heavy sigh racked me. I had to pull my tattered thoughts together.

Elle’s disappearance was completely unexpected, and I didn’t know how to proceed. I’m always in control. I usually had a plan, and what’s more I rarely deviated from it. Being helpless and uncertain had left me feeling lost.

All I knew was I had to bring Elle home, and she had to be kept safe. There was no other option I could accept. I also had to keep Ashe out of it, in case she decided to try to sue for custody again. While I didn’t think she had a chance of winning, and I really didn’t think she even wanted Elle, she knew another drawn-out battle would hurt me. She didn’t care what kind of damage a fight would do to our daughter.

I looked up as my office door opened and Lindsay crept in. She was dressed now, and she looked as lost as I felt. She came toward me, hesitating a few feet away. “What are we going to do?”

I liked how she said “we,” as though we were in this together. We most certainly were, at least when it came to Elle.

As she hovered nearby, looking uncertain, I realized she was waiting for me to reach out to embrace her. I didn’t know if I could. Giving in to that kind of impulse, no matter if I shared it, risked starting something real between us. The last thing I had time to worry about was my love life at the moment, but I couldn’t deny the fact that I needed comfort too.

When I opened my arms, she slipped into them and nestled against me as though she was made to fit. I let out a long sigh, not even realizing I was holding my breath until the moment I released it. “We’re going to find her, and she’s going to be fine,” I said.

She looked up at me, and there were tears on her cheeks. “You can’t know that for sure.”

I cupped her face in mine. “Nothing else is acceptable. We have to bring her home safely.”

“What do you want me to do?”

I felt a sense of dread creep over me at the thought, but I didn’t feel like I had an alternative when I made the suggestion. “I’d like you to go spy on Ashe’s house. I need you to see if Elle is there with her, and since I doubt she’d recognize you or be expecting you, you could slip right under her radar.”

Lindsay frowned. “Don’t you think she would’ve called you if Elle showed up at her house?”

“That’s what a responsible adult would do, but we’re talking about Ashe. I don’t even know if she’d be sober if Elle does show up. When I made the decision to divorce Ashe, it was because I came home and found her unconscious on the couch with a needle still in her arm.”

Lindsay gasped.

“It gets worse,” I said, pressing on. “She was responsible for Elle that day, and there was no one else home. Elle was with her, pressing a wet cloth to her forehead to take care of her. When I finally got the nerve to ask her about it a few days later, she reluctantly admitted that wasn’t the first time Ashe had done that—it wasn’t the first time Elle had taken care of her. Ashe had made her promise not to tell me, because she said I would leave, and she had Elle convinced I wouldn’t take her along with me.”

Lindsay’s shock turned to anger. “That horrible woman. No wonder Elle doesn’t know how to be a little girl. She was so busy being a mother to her own mother that she didn’t have a childhood.”

I nodded. “So I can’t imagine she would actually go there, but I have to rule out the possibility. Will you please go look?”

Her shoulders squared, and she nodded. “Okay. Yes. How do you want me to handle it? Should I knock on the door?”

“Not right away. Observe from a distance, and then call me before you do anything else. We’ll figure out a plan together.”

I was so proud of her. Despite the fact it was out of my comfort zone, the fact that she was willing to do something risky for Elle because I had asked made my heart leap. It was difficult to let go of her, which sent warning bells pealing through my head.

I was becoming too reliant on Lindsay, and I knew it wasn’t just the situation this morning. It had been harder than I imagined it could ever be to carry her to her room last night and leave her there. I couldn’t risk Elle waking up and finding us together, and I didn’t want Lindsay to think there was more to us than one night. Despite all that, I held her in my arms for a good few hours until finally forcing myself to take her to her room. And now her sweet, soft body was in my arms again. The body that fit mine perfectly.

My thoughts of Lindsay were quickly consumed by fears for Elle, and the need to have her home. I didn’t want to send Lindsay mixed signals, but I couldn’t suddenly become aloof at the moment. Besides, I needed her. Not just because I needed her to spy on Ashe, but because I needed her support and strength. It was humbling, and unsettling.