He’d barely gotten three hours’ sleep. He stared at the rumpled bed and figured Ella probably got one. He wanted to pack her bag, put her on a plane, and take her back to Montana and away from this mess. Not going to happen, but that was exactly what she needed. He hated finding her crying in Lela’s room in the middle of the night. He’d done everything he could to show her how much he loved her and that she’d never be alone again, but it hadn’t been enough to make her smile and ease her grief. Part of him knew she needed to work her way through it in her own time and in her own way, but it still left him feeling inadequate. He needed to do something, because seeing her like that ate away at him and broke his heart. She was a good, kind, loving, decent person who didn’t deserve any of this. He hated Phillip for what he’d done to her, to her family. Gabe made his way down the stairs, amazed at the extravagance of her home. He’d seen pictures of places like this in magazines, but never up close.
