42

AUDREY

NOW
“That’s how Liam brought me back. He had to… and we did. But as soon as we arrived back home, there was nothing more left of his house, and his parents were gone. People didn’t know the cause, but I know.” I nodded. The tears couldn’t stop rushing to my cheeks. “I knew because it’s my fault.”
“Why do you think it’s your fault, Audrey?” Gabriel’s expression was enigmatic. I couldn’t tell if it was rage, sadness, or pain. Probably it was because he didn’t expect me to be part of something so horrendous.
“My father. My father happened.” I swallowed my throat dry. “He was really an evil man. I didn’t know if it was him, nor could I prove that he was to blame, but who else could do that, right? It’s not enough that he had Austin Miller murdered. He probably had killed other people. I stopped looking at my father as the hero I thought he was. Every bit of pain and misery I went through was because of him because he hated me. I don’t know why he hates me.”
Gabriel shot up an eyebrow. “You probably don’t know him at all.”
“I know that he’s a killer,” I concluded. “But I didn’t believe it at first, and that led to another innocent person’s death. Liam’s death.” I wiped my tears away with the back of my hand. “Liam was accused of theft and kidnapping. They found out I was with him that day. I didn’t know how.”
“Samuel probably told them.”
“No. My big brother might not be that strong, but he was no traitor.”
“Okay.” He nodded. “And?”
“Except for the kidnapping part, which of course, isn’t true. I left home on my own accord.” I shrugged. “But I fucking believed they did commit a theft—him and his family. We were missing a series of gold bars at home, and my father was furious for weeks about it, and they recovered these gold bars with the same serial numbers in their burned-down house. It was shown in front of me, and what convinced me the most was my mother’s belongings in Liam’s room.”
Gabriel massaged the back of his neck, still wearing the same inexplicable expression. “Did it not occur to you, Audrey? He was living in New York, as you have said. Why would he steal those only to leave them in his house?”
“I knew that, but I was young and foolish, Gabriel. I was angry to see my mother’s possessions being stolen. I didn’t exactly know Liam. He could come and go whenever he delivered stuff to the mansion. How should I know? I thought what I experienced with him was only stupidity. I didn’t even know him, and I asked the guy to take my virginity. I watched him being tortured and whipped in front of me like an animal. He begged me to save him and tell them the truth, but my heart was frozen. I was angry at myself, I was afraid of my father, and I was confused—”
“What changed your mind then, Audrey?” he cut me off. A groan vibrated in his chest. “How did you know this man was innocent?”
“I knew he was. Always was.” I sighed. “I was just too clouded with my own judgment, and I wasn’t in the right frame of mind, and there was evidence too.”
Gabriel remained silent.
“He asked me to wait for him,” I went on and slightly smiled at that fragment of memory. “Before Liam was taken away by some men, he managed to speak to me. He asked me to wait at the train station for him in five days, and he’d be there. After all the betrayal, he could still trust me.”
“And you didn’t come to see him, did you?” Gabriel said. “Because you didn’t trust this boy.”
I looked at Gabriel’s face. “I did. I came for him, Gabriel, but he wasn't there.”
He stared at me for a moment, and his eyes somehow softened. Then I watched him stand up and walk over to his desk to pour himself a glass of whiskey, and then he filled the other glass to give to me.
“Drink.”
“I probably need this. Thanks,” I said.
“You’re welcome.” He slumped back in the seat in front of me and gulped his drink. “Go on.”
“That day was also the day I ran away from home. Finally, at least.” I forced a grim laugh. “I asked Samuel’s help again, and while no one was saying a word, he broke the ice when he told me Liam was found dead in the same lake Austin Miller’s body was found. That was the last time I saw my brother’s face. He let me go.”
“Hmm.” Gabriel drank his whiskey straight and then put the glass down. “Say, Audrey…” He sprang up again and bent in front of me. His pupils assessed me. “What if Liam was still alive, and he appeared in front of you?”
Every hair on my body rose at the thought. “How could you ask that?”
“Just a thought.” His eyes peered. “How could you be so sure that he’s really dead when you didn’t see it with your own eyes?”
“Then Austin Miller was probably alive too. I can’t comprehend your question—”
“What would you do, Audrey?” he questioned, cutting me off.
“He wouldn’t appear in front of me, Gabriel.” I shook my head. “He would probably hate me. He’d resent me for what I did to him.”
“Probably. But you didn’t answer my question.” He stroked my hair and tucked it behind my ears. Gabriel’s favorite gesture.
“I don’t know.” I shrugged. “I’d beg for his forgiveness? I’d run and move away?”
“That’s it, you’d run away?”
“I… I wouldn’t be able to look at his face.”
Gabriel nodded. “Okay.” He sprang up again and offered me his palm. “Come.”
“What?”
“Come. It’s late. Let’s get you to bed.”
I clasped my hand with his. “Tell me, what you’re thinking? Are you bothered that I’m unstable like this?”
“I told you, Audrey, right? This won’t change anything.” He brushed his thumb on my cheek. “And I already heard what I want to hear.”
I blinked. “And what is that?”
He murmured something in Italian in my ears.
Il perdono è guadagnato. Forgiveness is earned.
My mouth parted. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Nothing.” He smiled faintly, and then he pressed a small kiss on my lips, then he brought me to his arms and embraced me like a longtime lover.