Chapter 15 - THE VOICE ON THE PHONEDamon took the phone.
“Elena?”
A shaky breath answered.
For nine years he had imagined what he would say if she ever called.
He had rehearsed anger.
Accusations.
Questions.
What came out was:
“Are you hurt?”
A quiet sob escaped her.
“I’m okay.”
“Where are you?”
“I can’t tell you yet.”
Damon looked at Agent Wren.
She signaled for him to keep Elena talking.
“Ruby is safe.”
Elena stopped breathing for a second.
“You found her?”
“She found me.”
Another sob.
“How?”
“The necklace.”
Elena laughed weakly through tears.
“Of course.”
Damon’s voice changed.
“She knows.”
Silence.
“All of it?”
“Enough.”
“Does she hate me?”
Damon looked toward Ruby.
She was standing ten feet away.
Watching him.
“No.”
Ruby shook her head sharply as if objecting.
Damon corrected himself.
“She’s angry.”
Elena whispered, “She should be.”
Ruby suddenly walked over.
“Give me the phone.”
Damon hesitated.
“Give it.”
He did.
Ruby pressed it to her ear.
“Mom?”
Elena broke.
“Baby.”
Ruby’s expression crumpled.
“Where are you?”
“I’m trying to come home.”
“You said you’d come back Saturday.”
“I know.”
“You lied.”
“I know.”
“You always tell me not to break promises.”
“I know.”
Ruby’s voice became small.
“I thought you were dead.”
Damon looked away.
Elena cried openly now.
“I’m sorry.”
“Are you coming back?”
“Yes.”
“When?”
Elena paused too long.
Ruby noticed.
“You don’t know.”
“No.”
Ruby’s anger returned.
“Then stop promising.”
She handed the phone back to Damon and walked away.
Damon understood exactly why Ruby had done it.
Promises had become dangerous to her.
Elena was silent.
“She’s right,” Damon said.
“I know.”
“Where are you?”
“I got away from Keane near Worcester. I’ve been moving.”
“You have the ledger?”
“Yes.”
“Wren can protect you.”
“I don’t know who Vale owns.”
Damon looked toward the FBI agent standing beside him.
“You trusted Wren enough to meet her.”
“I did.”
“What changed?”
“Vale knew the meeting place.”
Wren’s face tightened.
That information was supposed to be compartmentalized.
Someone had leaked it.
Elena continued.
“I need one thing before I surrender the ledger.”
“What?”
“Proof Ruby is safe.”
Damon almost laughed.
“She’s with me.”
“I need to see her.”
“Then come here.”
“I can’t.”
Damon’s anger finally surfaced.
“Elena, you have been deciding what everybody else can survive for nine years.”
Silence.
“You decided I was safer without knowing my daughter existed.”
“I was wrong.”
“You decided Ruby was safer running from motel to motel.”
“I know.”
“You decided you could handle Vale alone.”
“I know.”
“Stop deciding alone.”
Elena cried quietly.
Damon’s voice softened.
“Come home.”
For the first time in nine years, Elena did not argue.
“Tomorrow.”
“Where?”
She named a public park north of Portland.
“No police visible.”
Wren nodded reluctantly.
“We’ll be there.”
Before hanging up, Elena whispered:
“Damon?”
“Yeah.”
“Does Ruby look like you?”
He watched his daughter drawing furiously at the table.
“When she’s angry?”
A faint smile entered his voice.
“Unfortunately.”
Elena laughed.
It was the first familiar sound Damon had heard from her.
Then the line went dead.
The next morning, authorities secured the park discreetly.
Damon and Ruby waited near a bench.
Ten minutes.
Twenty.
Thirty.
Ruby’s face darkened.
“She’s not coming.”
Damon checked his phone.
Then a woman appeared at the far end of the path.
Brown hair.
Dark jacket.
Thin from stress.
Ruby stopped breathing.
“Mom.”
Elena saw her.
Dropped her bag.
Ruby ran.
Elena fell to her knees and caught her daughter.
They held each other desperately.
Damon stayed back.
This moment belonged to them.
Then Elena lifted her eyes.
She saw Damon.
Nine years disappeared and remained at the same time.
He stepped closer.
Neither knew what to say.
Finally Elena whispered:
“Hi.”
Damon almost smiled.
“Hi.”
Then a gunshot cracked somewhere far beyond the trees.
Federal agents moved instantly.
Damon pulled Ruby behind a stone wall.
Elena was dragged to cover.
No one was hit.
May you like
But someone had found them.
Again.
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