Protecting Ellis (Loved by the SEAL #1)

Chapter 19

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Ellis decided to head to the shop to finish packing the final items. After an hour of working, she was tired and wanted to sit. It was the perfect time to deal with her emails. Then she remembered she had a load of emails from her parents. Her stomach twisted with dread as she stared at the folder that held their emails. A part of her wanted to ignore them. Their last exchange had been very disappointing. She hoped they were over their issues so they could get back to trying to be decent to each other.

She’d spent years trying with them, and a part of her wished she could walk away and never have to deal with her dad trying to control her. But she was a people pleaser where they were concerned. She knew if she cut off her father, she would have no contact with her mother. It sucked. She should stand up for herself more.

The first email from her dad was the morning after she’d last seen them. Dean demanded that she stop being a fool and get back with Bennet. The second email Dean said they were going to call the venue where she and Bennet had planned to get married and make sure they still had a date.

Ellis rolled her eyes, thinking about shooting back a reply, but it had been a while since they’d sent that email. In the next email her dad was pissed that she hadn’t replied. The next email was even more unhinged.

Her stomach twisted up in knots. She needed to get them to realize they couldn’t act this way. She would have to cut them off. Thinking back over the last few weeks, she kind of had cut them out. After the attack and them driving here in their failed attempt to force her to go home with them, she hadn’t spoken to them once.

She picked up her phone, thinking she should call. It would be easier to send them an email, telling them to stop trying to control her. She wished she could explain that she would love to have a relationship with them, but she wouldn’t be bullied into marrying a jerk who cheated on her.

Not contacting them would be easier, but she needed to give her parents a chance to change. She had to tell them to stop threatening her about Bennet, or she was cutting them off.

She dialed their number, her heart racing. She wanted to hang up and pretend like she hadn’t called, but they would see that she had. Caller ID was great, unless you wanted to remain anonymous.

Dean answered on the third ring. “Your mother is in the hospital. Heart attack.”

“What?” His words didn’t make sense. “Where?”

“Come to the house. We’ll go from here.”

Dean ended the call without giving her a chance to ask more questions. Worry exploded, and she grabbed her laptop, shoving it into her bag. She made sure the alarm was on and left out the front door, wishing Trip wasn’t tied up.

She would call on the way to LA, leaving a message for him. The drive would take about two and a half hours, maybe three if traffic was bad. Trip had said they would be tied up until midnight. She wished she could get a message through to him, but she understood that he couldn’t be interrupted. What they were doing was important. She could handle going to the hospital to see her mother on her own.

She hoped her mother would be okay. Her dad didn’t answer the phone, and neither did Trip, which didn’t surprise her since he’d told her he wouldn’t have access to his phone for hours. With about thirty minutes left on her drive, she called Ginger and got her voicemail.

Later, once she checked on her mom, she would get hold of someone. She pulled into the driveway, her stomach clenching. She hadn’t been home in a while, not since leaving Bennet. Before, when they’d been planning the wedding, she’d visited her parents at least once every month. But after ending the engagement, things became so strained that she couldn’t take her dad’s anger.

Rushing in felt wrong, so she rang the bell, a weird feeling sliding through her belly. The door opened, but it wasn’t her father. The hair on the back of her neck rose, and she turned to leave, but her path was blocked by two big men.

She glanced back and saw her dad in the entryway, his arms crossed over his chest. Real fear rose, and she knew she wouldn’t get out of this without a fight.

Dean moved around the man who’d answered the door, his fingers stroking his chin like he was some evil villain. Nervous laughter bubbled up as her stomach dropped. Maybe from nerves or maybe because the situation was more than ridiculous, but she couldn’t stop laughing.

“You’re laughing now, but you will do what you should have done in the first place.”

She shook her head, not understanding the reference. “What?”

“You’re marrying Bennet.”

She scoffed. “No, I’m not.”

Dean turned, his eyes wide and his teeth clenched. Anger seethed from him. “You will marry Bennet.”

“I won’t stay married to him.”

Now, it was her dad’s turn to laugh. “You don’t have to live past the first few days. All we need is for the marriage to be validated. If you die on the honeymoon, we don’t care.”

“What are you even talking about?”

Dean looked at the two men standing behind her. “Get her inside.”

Ellis tried to fight, but she was like a leaf trying to rage against a strong wind. They won, and she was deposited in a chair in Dean’s office. She tried to get up, but they had straps on her wrists and something around her chest that held her in place.

It was like an evil villain had taken over her father—no, not taken over. Dean had always had something lurking underneath that seemed evil. Maybe it hadn’t been underneath anything. Maybe she’d just given excuse after excuse for her dad’s behavior.

“Where is Mom?”

Dean turned, looking at her like she was stupid. “Getting the flowers arranged.”

His answer made even less sense than anything else had. “I don’t understand.”

He rolled his eyes and shook his head. “You always were dense. You and that stupid camera. What a waste. Bennet’s inheritance doesn’t come in unless he gets married.”

“Then he should marry someone else.”

The anger in her father’s eyes made her recoil. “He has to marry you.”

His words didn’t make sense. “Why?”

“Because I need the money.”

She shook her head. “You aren’t making sense.”

He stalked forward, spittle flying from the corners of his mouth. A deranged look filled his eyes. “I owe them money. Millions. The way I pay them back is to deliver you to the church. If you don’t marry Bennet before the end of the month, half the money goes away. His fucking grandfather’s stupid stipulation that he marry a woman who has her own career and can pay her own way is fucking ridiculous.”

The mention of money had frozen her. Of course, it was all about money. Dean had done something stupid, and now she would be used to pay off his debt. It had always been a setup. Dean had used her to get Bennet’s money. Then, when whatever market he’d invested in had crashed, he’d made a deal with Bennet’s family.

God, she was a fool. How could she have fallen for this? Why hadn’t she seen Bennet for the fraud he was from the first moment she’d met him. The man hadn’t been interested in her. How did her dad think this would ever work?

“I won’t marry him.”

The slap across her face made her breath stall in her lungs. She gasped, trying to recover. “You will marry him. If you don’t, I’ll cut off one of your fingers until you agree.”

She shrugged. “Fine.”

Dean’s face turned even deeper red. “That won’t sway you. Fine, I’ll cut off your mother’s fingers. I’ll torture her until you break. You will marry Bennet.”

Ellis didn’t know how she would get out of this. Trip didn’t know where she was. Sure, she’d left messages, but she hadn’t sent him her parents’ address. How would he find her?