“You’re killing my brother, Arthur, that is hardly anything to be grateful for.”
“And if I wasn’t?” He stood behind me, his nearness making me heady. “If I promised to make it all better?” He placed a light hand on my hip, and his touch was torture. I’d been around men. Men who’d hurt me, men who pretended to love me. I’d been flirted with, touched, held, but this man’s words were enough to make me ache.
“If I gave you a reason to stay, Gaia? Would you?”
“I-” The words were lost on me.
“We’re helping him clean up. Addiction therapy.” He whispered into my ear, his lips tracing the lobe. His hands moved to my waist, and he pulled me toward him. I leaned into his chest, and he ran a hand up to my breast, pinching a sore nipple. A gasp was about to leave my lips when I realized what he’d just said. I spun around. “You’re fucking kidding me?”
“I thought you’d be pleased?” He looked confused.
I shook my head. “I didn’t mean it like that. It’s just a mixture of not trusting you and wanting to believe you, Arthur.”
“Oh.” He said. I would have found the fact that he was so distinguished attractive if he hadn’t done all the awful things he had. It was like we were from two different worlds.
“Would you like to see him?” He asked. I knew it had to be some kind of trap. Surely. Why else would he help my brother?
I closed my eyes. “Is this some kind of trick?” I didn’t know if I had the strength to see Gabriel the way I’d seen him the last time. “I cannot see him like that again.”
“Gaia, I have no reason to do that. Come with me, and see for yourself.” He held out his hand, but I was not ready to take it, so I walked past him, out of the library and into the corridor. He joined me, and we walked to the elevator I knew would lead me down to the basement.
Exiting the elevator brought back all those sickening feelings from my last visit down here. The anxiety, the dread, and ultimately the disgust. He led me through a different set of doors this time, and I followed without saying a word, afraid that I’d jinx the last ounce of hope I had.
He kept casting glances at me, and the fact that I didn’t mind his appraisal irked me. Why did I like the way he looked at me? I desperately hoped that what he said about Gabe was true, but it did not change the fact that he’d taken us, involuntarily, and held me here against my will. He stopped in front of a set of frosted doors then placed his palm on a sensor.
We entered what seemed like a small wellness center, light, and airy. A woman dressed in a nurse’s uniform came forward. “Good day, Mr. Calthorpe.” She greeted. “You must be Miss Russo,” her smile was warm and genuine.
“Yana, Miss Russo is here to see her brother.”
The nurse nodded and motioned for me to follow her. I looked back at him. “You aren’t shadowing me?” I questioned, quirking my brow.
“I am not your prison warden, little bird. This is something you need to do on your own.”
I flushed at his endearment. There was something in those words that always connected to my soul. It was the way I saw myself all those years ago, a little bird, waiting for her wings, so I could fly away to a place where there was none of what I was forced to endure.
I followed Yana through another door, and I nearly cried at the sight before me. I rushed toward Gabriel who was sitting on a bed in white track pants and a white shirt. He looked up the moment he saw me and stood as I hurled myself into his arms. “Gaia.” He whispered.
“Oh, Gabe,” I could not stop the onslaught of tears. “I thought-”
“I thought they’d hurt you.” He said, his voice breaking.
“I thought the same thing.” I held on to him tightly, moving back to scan him. Apart from sunken eyes and sullen skin, he was here, my Gabe. Sober.
He let go of me and sat on the bed, staring at his hands.
“How have you been? He, Arthur, said they were helping you clean up.”
He nodded. “It hurts though,” he said with a small smile. “Sometimes it’s so bad I want it all to end. I’d been that way for a very long time and trying to flush it out of my system has been hell.”
I kneeled before him, my hands on his knees. “I know, but you can do it. And when it’s over, you and I are going to get the fuck out of here.” I searched his eyes to ensure he understood me.
“They won’t let us go until dad comes for us.” He said softly.
“You know he won’t come for us, Gabe, he never cared about us.”
“Then we give in Gaia, we stop fighting.”
I bowed my head. A part of me knew that he was right, but the fighter in me would not give in. I stood. “I’ll come to see you again tomorrow.”
