I lifted my head from the file I'd been pretending to study as Eleni entered the station. She looked around nervously before her eyes went to where I was sitting, and she gave me a hesitant smile. I closed and dropped the file, and Fred gave me a smile that looked entirely fake. I could also see the fear in his eyes.

"Are you done looking at it? Was there something you didn't find or something you were looking for?"

I started shaking my head but changed it to a nod. "As a matter of fact, I was just going through the things that were found in his house at the time of his death. No matter how much I want to ignore it, his house looked too cluttered for someone who had deliberately jumped."

Fred smiled. "Oh, that. We also pondered why, but the psychiatrist we spoke with said that he must have been worn out or frustrated with carrying out those routine tasks, particularly when he had made the decision to leave, based on a note discovered on his office table." I was staring at him, and he cleared his throat. "That's what the psychiatrist said." He replied, and I nodded.

"Probably." I gestured for Eleni to come closer to me, which she did with fear in her eyes. When I saw how terrified she was, I stood up and moved closer to her. "What's the problem? You look ready to faint." Her face had become so pale.

She breathed out, and I narrowed my eyes. Her breath was coming in fast gasps. I grabbed her hands and took her outside the station and waited quietly as she squatted, trying to get herself together.

When she raised her head to look at me, tears were brimming in her eyes.

I bent to look at her at eye level. "Are you okay? Is there something you didn't tell me?"

She sniffed, and I looked towards the station. I didn't have a napkin on me. She nodded. "Will they listen to me? Around the first time he injured me, I went to a station and told my parents about it, but the police called him, and he took me back. When he took me, he told me if I reported him again, he'd kill me and my mother and make us both watch as we both died."

I cursed. "When you told your parents, what did they say?" I asked, curious. So far, from what she had said about her parents, her parents were the perfect jerks.

"They could not do anything. My mother begged me to endure it if I didn't want to watch her die." She replied and stood up, and I stood up after her. She looked at the station and turned to me. "This was a mistake. Let's go back. I'll find another solution, but if he ever comes near me, I'll kill myself before I allow him to take me again."

I shook my head. "Eleni, we're not in Greece. Plus, I promised that I will protect me. Don't you trust my word?"

She smiled sadly. "The last time I trusted a man's word, I nearly died. As it is, I don't have anything I'm doing right now. There's nothing left for me to do, and even if I try to think of you and Danielle as my friends, if I go, you two will just miss me for a while." She sniffed. "After all, you have each other." She finished and started towards the car that had brought her.

I grabbed her hands. "Don't think about anybody else. You are not meant to live for anybody. Not your parents, me, or Danielle. Think about yourself. Is there really nothing you want to do? Are you just deciding to give up on the world? On yourself?" I still hated the word 'suicide.' Even though I knew Ethan hadn't done it, the thought of someone going through a lot and thinking of that had become a heavy burden for me.

At times like this, I could only imagine Ethan's parents' grief. At least, I knew he had been murdered, but they had been living the past years in grief and regret, I was sure. Wondering how they could have missed the fact that he was going through a lot to the point he had ended it himself. I knew even more than me, Danielle was going to feel a lot worse if Eleni gave up.

She shook her head, the tears running down her white face. "Honestly. There hasn't really been anything I wanted to do. Life has never been helpful to me. Most people assume that because my parents have material wealth, it means I never lacked anything, but that's not true, and you can relate to that. I don't have anything to live for, and if I'm taken back to Greece, I know he'll kill my mother in front of me. It's better for her to lose me; she won't feel the loss as much as I will if he kills her. I will not be able to live with myself." She finished emphatically.

I nodded and let her go to the car. I told the driver to excuse us, and I climbed into the driver's seat. When the car didn't start moving immediately, she looked at the seat and glared when she saw it was me. "What are you doing?" She asked.

I turned to her. "If you've not lived a life that you liked, do you think it's fair to yourself to not even allow a season of enjoyment? You're out of your parents' house, live with people that genuinely care for you, and I've promised that you're going to be free from your ex-husband. Don't you owe it to yourself to enjoy life for yourself, rather than just leaving with sadness and regret?"

She stared at me. "Was that the same thing you told yourself to get over your brother's death? I'm afraid I'm not as confident as you are. Besides, you are still very young, and you have all these things to boast about. Not like me, I have no chance to do what makes me happy." She said the last sentence in a whisper, so I knew she hadn't meant for me to hear it. Well, hear it I did, and I wasn't going to ignore it.

"Alright. I'll take you home now, but not before I say this. You obviously have something that can make you happy." She turned surprised eyes on me, and I shrugged, a smile pulling on my lips. "I heard what you said. You don't have to tell me what it is, but I can promise you that whatever it is and whatever you need to achieve your dream, all you have to do is ask me, and I'll give it to you.

She narrowed her eyes. "Why are you so nice to me? I don't want to just willingly accept your pity. I don't like feeling like a charity case."

I frowned. "Where did you hear that word?" Despite the fact that her English had improved, I hadn't forgotten that it wasn't her first language.

She shrugged. "I learned the word in one of my classes. You didn't answer the question." She reminded me.

"I don't pity you. When we met, you weren't like the other women who were falling over me." Even though it was embarrassing to admit it myself, women were always fawning over me wherever I went. When I'd met Eleni, even though we had been really close to being drunk, there had been no attractiveness on her part. That had made a difference for me.

She laughed. "I'm a married woman. There was no chance for me even if I had liked you."

I scoffed. "That hadn't stopped others. And you're no longer a married woman. After we apply for a restraining order, I'll send the divorce papers to him." She continued looking at me without saying anything. "I don't pity you. I consider you a good friend, and trust me, I don't have many of those."

She sighed and nodded. "Alright. I'll apply for the restraining order if that's what you want, but what if they don't take me seriously, and they say they cannot apply for it? Or what if he messages me again?"

I shook my head. "Don't worry about that for now. Don't apply for it because I'm pressuring you to. I want you to want to apply for this." She was looking at me confused. "Apply it for yourself. Not because you want to please me or anyone else."

"Is this like the living thing?" She asked, and I nodded.

"Exactly. From now on, it will please me if you do things with you while considering yourself as the only one that matters. Don't think about what anybody else may want or not want. The same applies to what you want to do."

She thought about it for a while before nodding. Her face was no longer as pale. "Alright. I'll choose to trust you. We can go inside now."

I studied her. "Are you sure?"

She nodded with a smile. "Yes. Thank you."

I nodded, and we both came down from the car and headed back to the station.

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