Chapter 20: Back to New Orleans

                                    

                                          
~Elliott POV~
"It's been over 24 hours since you last saw Fiore." Josh told Elliott. "You know that can't be good."
"Anastasia said she wouldn't hurt her." Elliott countered, but he wasn't sure how much of his own words he believed.
"Then where is she Elliott?" Asked Josh. "You think she just let her go? Back to New Orleans, back to Klaus and Grace?"
"Maybe."
"Elliott—"
"Anastasia is not as bad as you make her out to be." Elliott insisted. "She saved your life!"
"So what?" Josh snapped. "Yes, she has done some good things, nothing can take that away from her. But nothing can take away all the bad she's done either."
"She brought my mom back to life!"
"Elliott, it can't be Hayley's life versus the world." Josh said with a sombre sigh. "She used you to curse your sister, she's using you to end the world and whether you want to admit it or not, she has put Fiore in danger."
"I just...how can I turn my back on her when she's done all this good for me?" Elliott asked him, tears forming in his eyes. "Anastasia has been my everything for so long. I can't quit her."
"Do you love her?"
"Of course I do."
"Do you want her to hurt or be in pain?"
"Never."
"Then if she really did love you, why would she make you feel like this?"
Elliott's eyes were beginning to open for the first time even as Josh drew nearer to him. Josh ghosted his fingers across Elliott's cheeks.
"When you love someone, you would not put them through this." Josh told him with a longing smile. "And if Anastasia really loves you, she'll do anything to make it stop."
"You want me to test her?" Elliott replied with a humourless laugh.
"You're betting on her versus all of humanity, I think she can take one test."
Elliott nodded glumly because before even asking the question, he knew he wasn't going to get the answer he wanted. But then he locked eyes with the eternally hopeful Josh and knew he would make it through whatever was coming next.
"Why are you still so nice to me?" Elliott asked him. "Haven't you had enough of me ruining your life?"
"You could never ruin my life." Josh told him with an adoring smile. "You have the biggest heart in the universe, Elliott. You love so hard, but it means you hurt even harder. All I want to do is be worthy of the love you have to give."
"Josh, I—"
"Did you just say Josh?"
Elliott startled as Anastasia was now in the room, glaring in Josh's direction. Normally, he would have panicked and denied, but the cracks in their relationship had been exposed and Elliott was going to stand up for himself and his family.
"Yeah, I did." Elliott replied. "I can see him."
"Since when?"
"For a little while."
"...And you didn't tell me?" Anastasia said in surprise. "I thought we had no secrets, Ellie."
"If we have no secrets then where is Fiore?"
"I don't know."
"Stasia!"
"What?" She snapped with a look of disdain. "I am not her keeper. Fiore is wherever she wants to be."