Cliff hesitated, worry etched across his face. “Mr. Murphy…”


    “It’s Mr. Riley,” Rowan corrected him coolly, his expression unreadable. “Are you afraid I’ll take her off to some remote mountain cabin and never bring her back?”


    Cliff choked on his words, thrown off by Rowan’s candor. He remembered what the professor had told him once–about Rowan and Elissa, about everything that happened back then.


    Before that incident, Rowan had always been a good brother.


    Thinking of this, Cliff finally relented. “I’ll leave her in your care, Mr. Murphy.”


    Rowan nodded, then bent down and effortlessly swept Elissa up into his arms, carrying her to the car. The sudden sensation of being lifted jolted. her into brief awareness. Disoriented, she scrambled upright on the leather seat, her vision hazy.


    “Cliff…” she murmured, voice thick with confusion.


    The car slid smoothly onto the road, streetlights flickering past as their glow filtered through the trees, casting shifting shadows across Rowan’s chiseled features–making him look even colder, more distant.


    “You and Cliff seem pretty close, don’t you?”


    Rowan’s voice was so familiar, it soothed the tremor in Elissa’s chest and made her lower her guard. She slumped against the headrest, answering. without pretense, “Yeah, I guess so.”


    “Cliff… he’s always been good to me.”


    Rowan watched her, eyes lingering on the delicate curve of her cheek. His. tone softened, coaxing, “And Rowan? He wasn’t good to little Nine?”


    “Rowan?” The old nickname sounded strange on his lips–it had been


    years since anyone had used it. The alcohol had loosened something in


    09 <b>491 </b>


    her, and Elissa mumbled, her nose tingling, fighting back tears even in her


    drunken state.


    She tried to smile, but it came out crooked. “He… didn’t want me


    anymore.”


    Even drunk, she remembered how, seven years ago, he’d sent her back to her grandmother’s house without a word. The memory was too deeply rooted to forget.


    He’d been the first person she’d ever trusted outside her own parents. To her, he was family, her salvation. To him, she’d been nothing.


    “He didn’t,” Rowan said quietly, his expression shadowed. He started to say more, but Elissa’s eyes were already drifting shut again.


    He caught himself and asked quickly, “You’re still living at Greenwood Manor, aren’t you?”


    “That’s old news. I moved.” Her words were soft, unguarded. She leaned in and whispered, “Juniper Road… Vistapeak Gardens, Building 2, twenty–first floor.”


    The car shuddered gently over a speed bump, and her head lolled, threatening to tip forward–until arge hand caught her just in time.


    She sighed in relief, eyes fluttering closed again.


    Rowan’s hand cradled her cheek. For a moment, he started to pull away, to let her rest against his shoulder instead. But something made him. stop; he left his hand where it was.


    Rowan’s reply was icy. And that’s something to be happy about?”


    At the entrance to the underground garage, the lights were blinding. Elissa shielded her eyes, and when she finally blinked them open again,


    the car had already rolled to a stop in front of her building.


    She blinked hard, taking in her surroundings. As she realized she was home, her muddled thoughts slowly began to clear. Disjointed snatches of conversation crashed through her mind, memories she couldn’t quite piece together.


    That voice…


    Her body tensed. She turned her head and saw the sharp line of a man’s jaw, the strong bridge of his nose, and those fathomless dark eyes.


    “If you loved him so much,” Rowan said, his voice low, “why are you and Frank living apart?”