I don’t answer.
“I know you’re angry. I know you need space. I should’ve told you everything the day you arrived. And I should’ve trusted that you could handle the truth. But I was afraid you’d run—which you did. And I was afraid I’d lose you, that I’d fail not only you, but also your family.”
I say nothing.
“I’m not asking you to forgive me tonight. I’m just asking you to believe that everything I’ve done, every manipulation, every lie, was to protect you, and because I couldn’t stand the thought of a world without you in it.”
There’s a rawness in his voice that I can’t ignore.
“Take all the time you need. I’ll be here when you’re ready.”
His footsteps fade and are soon gone.
I stay there on the floor, my back against the door.
He manipulated me, lied to me, used me, and saved me. It’s all true, and all of it is real.
But I don’t know what to do with it. So I just sit there in the dark, listening to the rain, and cry.
CHAPTER 28
THEA
Iwake up with swollen eyes and an aching chest. I roll over, watching the streaks of rain trickle down the windows. A quick check of my phone lets me know it’s a little after 3 a.m.
The room feels dark, cold, and empty. I’d lain there for hours before falling asleep, crying and staring at the ceiling, then crying again, trying to make sense of what Gabriel told me, what he admitted.
He manipulated me, but he saved me. He has feelings for me.
It’s impossible to let it all settle in my mind. I should hate him. I want to hate him. But lying there alone in the dark, I realize how much I miss him.
I throw off the covers. I’m still in my black dress from the council meeting. I never changed, just locked myself in my room and cried until exhaustion dragged me to the bed.
I should take off the dress, shower, change into something cozy, and try to sleep. I’m sure I look like a total mess. But instead, I walk to the door, unlock it, and step out into the hallway. It feelsas if someone else is moving me as I make my way to the third floor to Gabriel’s bedroom.
Once I’m there, I knock softly. But there’s no answer.
Part of me wants to hurry back to my room, to take his lack of response to my knock as a sign that this is a bad idea.
But I don’t.
Instead, I grab the knob and turn it, finding it unlocked. I push the door open and step inside.
The room is dark, aside from the city lights filtering in through the floor-to-ceiling windows. Gabriel is in bed, one arm thrown over his face, his chest rising and falling in the slow rhythm of sleep.
He looks younger, vulnerable, like the hard edges and roughness that defined him during the day have been softened by exhaustion.
Today had been hard.
I stand there for a long moment, watching him. He rolls over, the sheet pulled down enough on his hip to let me see that he’s sleeping naked. I feel a familiar warm clench in my core.
His name slips past my lips without me even thinking about it.
“Gabriel.”
He stirs. His arm drops and his eyes open, finding me in the dimly lit room. I might’ve thought he’d be the kind of man who didn’t take kindly to being woken up, the kind of man who might instinctively reach for the gun I know he keeps in his nightstand.
But he’s placid, serene even.