Chapter 51.

**Tessa’s POV. **

Gabriel and I walked into the lounge hand-in-hand. He had just arrived when I was stepping out of the shower- with only a towel wrapped loosely around my body, I was definitely not expecting him there right then. I had tightened the towel quickly, which was actually stupid when I think about it now considering the fact that he had already seen me naked a lot of times before then.

I could remember the way his eyes raked over my body and the way his Adam’s apple bobbed up and down in his throat, the way he had to adjust himself so I could not see his raging erection and the way he sprinted into the toilet as if his pants were on fire. The thing is, if he had stayed, I might’ve considered taking care of him like I usually did and honestly, I was tempted to follow him into the toilet.

That was when I realized that I wasn’t going to hold back anymore when it came to him; I was going to give him everything, I was ready to give myself- all of myself and I little bit more, I planned on given him the world, my world and everything that came with it. I had been away from him for months and I never wanted that to repeat itself for any reason what so ever- yes, I was a clingy girlfriend but I was his clingy girlfriend and he loved me just like that.

I snapped out of my trance when I heard a familiar voice, “Tessa, it’s so good to know you’re okay, you passed out when the cops came”, Kevin said as he pulled me into a hug, I instantly hugged him back, ignoring the look Gabriel was giving us by closing my eyes.

“I missed you, Kev”, and I actually did miss him. We had not been on talking terms when I had left, so I was talking about missing him in general, not just because I hadn’t seen him in a long time. Honestly, I feel like not talking a person and still seeing them stung more than not talking to them and not seeing them at all,

“I missed you too Tessa”, he said into my neck, still holding me to the spot until Gabriel ripped him off me,

“That’s enough Kevin”, he snarled in Kevin’s face before releasing his hoody,

“Jesus, bro, I missed her just as much as you did”, was I a bad person for doubting that statement? I knew he probably did miss me but was it possible that he could miss me as much as Gabriel did? “Damn it, you act like you’re on steroids whenever it comes to Tessa, if only you could’ve pulled yourself together instead of fainting like a little bitch the other day”, Kevin had that glint in his eyes- yes, the one that screamed mischief.

“You fainted?”, worry spiked up in me as I looked at him, but he ignored my question and continued to stare daggers at his brother,

“Yes”, Kevin answered, “He legit just fainted right in the middle of yelling at us, I think he was saying that he didn’t need food but the irony was that he fainted because he didn’t have enough food in his body”, I was listening to Kevin but my eyes were still placed firmly on Gabriel who still hadn’t looked at me,

“Are you going to say anything?”, I asked him,

“There is nothing to say, this idiot already told you everything and I would fucking get him back for it, right now”, his faced turned to me briefly before he turned back to Kevin with a smirk on his face, “He is quitting music and joining the army”, if that was a distraction, it sure worked because for the next five minutes, I was chewing Kevin’s ass out and being completely dramatic by accusing him of ruining the music in my life.

While I was in the middle of my ass-chewing, a hand tapped my shoulder and I turned back- it was Alex. My eyes lit up and I pulled him into a hug instantly, I could tell he was reluctant but eventually, his arms wrapped around me awkwardly, “Thank you for coming for me”, I smiled after we pulled away,

He ran his hand through his hair- something he only did when he was nervous, so as to not destroy his swirl or something, “It was nothing”, but it was everything, knowing three born-rivals had joined forces to help me was one of the greatest things that had ever happened to me. “Plus, I never got to tell you that I was sorry for everything that happened between us. I promise you that I am going to work on myself and try my best to become a better man. Being a Casanova was definitely passed down to me from my father but I am going to try to not be like him. I think the three of us have to agree that almost everything we got from our father is bad; Gabriel’s arrogant and manipulative attitude- no offense”,

“None taken”, Gabriel shrugged and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me even closer to him,

“Kevin’s love for picking fights and acting like the world is against him”,

“Asshole”, Kevin muttered and flipped Alex his middle finger,

“But really dude, do you actually get a mini orgasm from beaten shit up?”, Alex asked further and that was when I decided that his apology had to be accepted so he could put a stop to this conversation.

“It’s fine Alex and I wish you the best of luck”, I smiled at him. He nodded his head and went to sit down on a chair beside Kevin. That was when I saw Drew start walking up to me- I didn’t know how to feel about him being here after what he did, he was the last familiar face I had seen before boarding that plane. Andrew O’Connell had asked him to betray our friendship and he did just that.

“Tessa…”, he trailed off then sighed when I turned away from him, “I am sorry for what I did to you Tessa, I know there is no explanation in the world that can justify what happened that day and no amount of apologies I can rain on you that would be enough for you to forgive me but please, I just want you to know that I hate myself for betraying your trust and it would never happen again. I could go ahead and say that Mr. O’Connell made me do it but that isn’t even a reason. I am really, really sorry”, I just nodded my head, I had forgiven him for what he had done, after all, he had risked everything to help them find me and whether he said it or not, I knew he was just a pawn in Andrew’s game- but I wasn’t going to let him know any of this yet.

About thirty minutes later, they were done laying everything that had happened done on me and honestly, I was beyond shocked, “That’s how many counts of murder?”, I couldn’t believe that I had been living in the same house as a murderer all this time. Yes, I knew Mr. O’Connell wasn’t exactly a saint- he was far from it but I wasn’t expecting him to be a self-employed assassin- holy shit! He could’ve killed me!

“Twelve official and documented murders, they’re still counting though, his men are literally leaking out information”, Drew informed before turning to me with a sad look in his eyes, “Tessa, your mother has been arrested as well”, my eyes flew open in shock, “For being an accomplice to kidnapping and murder”,

“Excuse me?”, what the hell did he just say?

“I am sorry Tessa but your mother also had a hand in some of the murders that happened under Mr. O’Connell including the Chief Security Officer-

“He’s dead?”, Alex asked, just as shocked as I was,

“Yes, Bethel Agreste killed him”,

“But I thought they were together”, I was dumbfounded, I could remember the multiple times I had walked in on her and him kissing in the living room- she looked like she genuinely liked him, so why?

“That is her job Tessa, she lures men and seduces them for a while before she sucks their accounts dry and kills them. She was working as the chief maid in disguise”, Drew pointed out, “But, the reason she killed the CSO was because he was starting to tail them- he knew way too much and yes, they were genuinely seeing each other at some point but when Mr. O’Connell ordered the kill, she went straight for it”, I didn’t know how to feel but I finally understood how the brothers felt about finding out that their dad had ended lives- I was finally in the same boat as them, my mother had also ended lives, they had both taken the breath out of people’s lungs. “I have more bad news and I swear that you are not going to like it one bit”, he directed this mostly to Gabriel and I making me wonder what could possibly be worse than this?

“Spill it”, Gabriel growled angrily, he was as curious as I was,

“Bethel and Andrew got married in secret six years ago”, FUCK!