And she would do all of these things without being manipulated, ridiculed or beaten. Ever again.
“Grocery delivery is set up, just as I showed you, without any personal contact. I have left you a document full of instructions for the security system. It should answer any query. You are not to contact me unless it is a dire emergency.”
She nodded, not trusting her voice. She didn’t want him to go. She’d come to realize she enjoyed his company. He was charming, funny, and that bright smile was like sunlight after years in shadows.
And in Gabriel, she saw everything Jordi had let her believe about him that hadn’t been true at all. Gabriel saw things through. He had no fear. He hadriskedfor her. Well, for Alexandre.
She could trust Gabriel to protect her, just as Alexandre had always protected her. Even if he left. He had doneallthis, at great risk to himself. Regardless of the reason, he was brave. Strong. Admirable.
She would miss him. Desperately.
Gabriel studied her. Saw through her, she could tell. “I will come back to check on you in a few weeks,” he said gently.
She felt as though she might cry. Or fall down at his feet and beg him to stay. Sherefusedto do either. At least in front of him, but it didn’t stop her from being a little bit pathetic. “Do you promise?”
“You have a state-of-the-art security system in place if you are worried about safety. I will make certain no one from Alis finds you. I promise you, just as I promised your brother.”
“I’m not afraid. Not like that. I just…” She looked around the room. “It will all just be so empty. I have never really been alone before. Not like this.”
“Then enjoy it, Evelyne.” He gave her shoulder a brotherly kind of pat. “I’ll be back in a few weeks. You have my word.”
And he kept it. Every few weeks, Gabriel would appear with no notice. Usually in the dead of night. She would get a little notification on her phone, waking her up, and she would let him in the back door.
In the shadows of those nights, Evelyne felt her heart race. The sound of his voice would drift along her skin like a delicious secret. The scent of him would find itself in little spaces around her house, and even though he stayed in a bedroom on the other side of the house, she slept easier every night he was here.
The first trip he arrived with hair bleach, which she hadn’t been able to bring herself to use. She didn’t think she wasvain, but she liked her hair the way it was, and if she wasn’t leaving the house, what was the point of changing her appearance?
He hadlaughedat her, but not in a mean way. As though he was just amused by her.
“Well, keep it around, for the future.”
She spent the weeks in between his appearances trying to keep herself entertained. Gabriel had suggested she enjoy some alone time, and while she enjoyed being able to do whatever she wished around the house whenever she wished, it was still a very small life.
And she missed people. She missed Alexandre. How was Ines settling into the palace? Would they be introducing a baby soon? A baby she’d never get to meet?
Thoughts like that made her incredibly sad, or would start a spiral of thoughts… Was her father mistreating Ines? Would he mistreat a grandchild? Especially if Alexandre and Ines ended up having a girl?
Or was he so obsessed with her disappearance—something that would no doubt haunt him as a symbol of his lack of power—that eventually he’d track her down and find her?
But every time she got tothatthought, she reminded herself to breathe. If there was anyone in this world she thought could keep her safe and hidden from her father, it was Gabriel.
So in the weeks between his visits, she threw herself into whatever projects she could think of. Mostly, she worked on teaching herself to cook, via those internet videos Gabriel had suggested. She tried to not think of the palace, of Alis. Instead, she simply tried to survive.
When Gabriel appeared next, almost two full months from their escape, she had a meal all planned out. She put it together while he locked himself in one of the office rooms and talked to someone on the phone in a language she didn’t know.
She had spent weeks upon weeks watching cooking videos, and while there’d been a few fails along the way, she was starting to get the hang of it. She was proud of the meal she’d made Gabriel, and the pretty little dining room scene she’d created—complete with flower arrangement and candlelight.
She was even more proud when he strode into the dining room and stopped short, like he couldn’t quite believe what he saw.
He blinked once, then carefully swept that surprised expression away. He smiled. “Look at you. I suppose you can teach an old dog new tricks.”
She rolled her eyes at the idea of beingold. “It’s fun.” She thought of the pile of dishes in the kitchen sink that would be her responsibility and hers alone. “Sort of.”
She’d set the table family style, with plates set next to each other so he couldn’t try to sit all the way down the table like he had last time. She hated the huge, ugly, black, shiny table so she’d scrounged up an elaborate silk tablecloth. Still not to her tastes, but better thanblack.
Gabriel took his seat, and she took the one next to him. She watched him with a growing fascination. He did not treat her like he treated other women. She was pretty sure she’d seen him harmlesslyflirtwith anyone from the age of five to ninety-five. It was justhim, and the way he moved through a crowd. Charming, happy, easy.
Except with her. He kept himself a little…tense, a little…closed off. Not that he wasn’t charming, exactly, but he was…stiffer, she supposed.
