Cazzo. Was someone in there?
I ran to the kitchen and grabbed a knife, Tiara still barking at Adam’s room. I barged in, blade ready, looking for the intruder.
“What the… What are you doing with the knife?” It was Gabriella squinting at me. She was still in her work clothes in a tiny blue bed, her hair disheveled, her eyes red and puffy, a wooden box lying next to her.
“I heard something.” I lowered the knife, sighing. “I’ve been waiting for you for hours, worried sick, and you’ve been here all along?”
“I was tired and fell asleep. Can you please go?”
“Go where?”
“Anywhere but here.”
The coldness in her voice hurt me, but I wouldn’t just leave. I went in and sat on the floor across from her, Tiara joining me. She rolled her eyes, but I ignored it. “I was hoping to do this while you were licking chocolate off my body, but can we talk?”
She narrowed her eyes at me, puzzled for a second, but then she gave me a dismissive wave. “There’s nothing to talk about. It’s over.”
My heart thrashed. “What is over?”
“You and I, Fabio. I don’t want to continue our relationship anymore.”
Words stuck in my throat for a few moments as a terrible headache suddenly pressed my skull. “You can’t break up with someone like you’re passing a memo. I’m not your employee right now. I’m your boyfriend. You can’t break up with me without talking, telling me why, giving me a chance to fix whatever shit you think I did. You can’tbreak upwithme.”
She stared at me for a second. “Fine. I heard you say you loved me last night. That means you’re expecting more from this relationship than I expected or signed up for. It’s not fair to you. Good luck finding love somewhere else.”
I gulped, unable to understand why she put up her walls back between us. “That’s bullshit.” That was Lady Brighton talking, not Gabi. Not my Gabriella. “You’re upset. I get it. It has something to do with asking you to come to Chicago to meet Carmen or you won’t be in Adam’s room, torturing yourself.”
Her chin lifted, and she hid her gaze in the ceiling. She always did that when she was going to cry but trying to stop the tears.
“Look, I’m not gonna pretend I understand how you feel about Adam and what happened to him, but I understand my request triggered you into feeling something awful. I’m so sorry. But you can’t just leave me… I do love you, Gabriella. I’ve been very much in love with you for a long time. I think maybe from the first time I saw you. But I don’t expect you to say it in return any time soon. I’ve waited this long, and I’ll wait for as long as it takes to—”
“To what? To say it back? To meet your family? To make our fake engagement real? To be a mother to your daughter?” Her voice broke in the end, and her tears disobeyed her.
“Yes. At least, that’s what I hope for. You’re an amazing person. I’m sure Carmen will love you, and we both would be honored if you became a mother to her. Someone like you so caring and kind and beautiful must have been a great mother—”
“Enough!” Her hands trembled, and her chest heaved. Suddenly, she rose and scampered out, sobbing.
I jumped and ran after her. Then I took her in my arms. “Hey, easy. It’s okay.”
“No, it’s not. It’s not okay. It’ll never be okay.”
“Amore, what happened to Adam isn’t your fault. You gotta stop blaming yourself.”
“But it is.” She crumbled on the floor. “It is my fault.”
“No. You weren’t the one behind the wheel.”
“I was,” she cried. “I was. I was!”
CHAPTER 45
Gabrielle
It wasn’t Jack driving that night. It was me. I killed my husband and my son.
Jack had invited us to a surprise dinner. One of many he would have had when he’d decided to sign a new book that he’d thought was going to be the next Gone Girl or invested in a house he’d firmly believed he could have flipped and sold for twice its cost or like on that night when he’d thought starting a new press could have solved all of our financial problems and Brighton’s.
I’d always hated surprises because of him. One dinner of those meant a disaster I’d have to fix later.
