Page 116 of Yours to Keep
“CJ… I need you to understand something. Marge was heavily medicated. She wasn’t always aware of what was happening.”
My grip tightens around the phone. I already feel it coming before she says it.
“Adrian visited her not long after Eli left. I didn’t know until today when I went through the visitor records.”
Everything inside me goes cold.
“I was talking to one of her nurses,” she continues. “She mentioned a man had been visiting, so I asked who it was.”
I don’t move. Don’t breathe right.
“It was Adrian.”
The room tilts slightly.
“He asked about Eli.”
Ree’s voice cracks. “She wouldn’t have told him if she was herself, CJ. She loved that boy. But she was confused. The medication…”
She takes in a shaky breath. “CJ… she told him.”
A wave of cold slams through my body. The betrayal isn’t hers, but the damage is already done.
My eyes close, already knowing the answer. “Told him what?”
“That Eli went to Campbell River.”
Behind me, through the wall, I hear it. Finn and Deck laughing, life continuing as if nothing has shifted. But mine… just stopped.
“CJ?”
I swallow hard. “Okay.”
“CJ, I’m sorry.”
“I know.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. This is just another thing my Baby Boy has to deal with.
“She would never have betrayed him.”
“I know, Ree. He won’t see it like that.”
“I know. But I’m so angry with him. He fucking took advantage of her as she was dying.”
My jaw tightens. “Yeah, he did.”
I thank her for calling and hang up. For a long moment, I just stand there in the quiet, staring at nothing.
Well, that answers that.
We had wondered how Adrian had found Eli, going over every possibility, but of course it wasn’t random.
When Eli told us how he escaped, Deck and I both sat there in disbelief and admiration, listening as he explained it allwith this quiet, calculated survival instinct we hadn’t expected. Even the money: his small withdrawals taken a bit at a time during grocery runs, hidden in plain sight, using inflation as camouflage. It was simple, but it was smart.
My boy is so clever. A surge of pride passes through me even in the dark.
Campbell River: small and protected. It was meant to be safe for Eli. Marge had sent him here because she knew he needed to heal, believing it would give him distance and peace. In the end, she had unknowingly given Adrian a map straight to him.
My chest feels too tight. Because now it isn’t just about finding Adrian; it’s about what he has already done.
