Chapter 16
Chapter Sixteen
The Obsidian’s lobby bar is packed—the after-work crowd gathered on leather chairs, their cocktail glasses catching the amber light. It’s the kind of scene I’d normally enjoy. Tonight, it just feels like yet another gauntlet I have to jump to get to Gabriel.
As Leo and I approach, Anissa’s behind the front desk with an array of Tarot cards spread face down in front of her. When she sees me, her lips twitch. Not a smile—but close. “You came back.”
“And I’ll keep coming.” I’m hoping for a reaction from her, but all she does is slide her gaze to Leo. “You’re, Leo,” she says, her voice shaking a little. “I’m Anissa. It’s really good to meet you.”
Leo’s brow furrows. “And you know me how? ”
“Well, one, you’re a Grimm, so there’s that. But mostly because he keeps pictures in his desk. All of you. His brothers, I mean.” She glances at me. “I clean his place sometimes.”
Leo goes rigid beside me, and I’m certain he’s seeing the same thing I am—Gabriel alone in the dark, pulling out photos of the family he’d abandoned. Grieving them while they grieved him.
“And no one knows this, except you?” Leo says. “Because you snoop?”
She lifts a shoulder, totally unrepentant. “He’s downstairs,” she continues. “He’s been different the last few days.” Her eyes flick to me. “Something rattled him.”
I tell myself that’s good. But what I feel is something closer to grief.
“We need to see him,” Leo says firmly.
Anissa reaches for the phone, then pauses, looking at me.
“That painting he just hung in his apartment—it’s you, isn’t it?”
My stomach tightens. “You spend a lot of time in his apartment?” The words come out more clipped than I intend.
Anissa grins. “I just told you I clean it. Plus, it doesn’t have a kitchen. Just a mini-fridge and a microwave, and a coffee maker. I bring his meals sometimes.” She shrugs. “And he keeps the door open a lot. Says he likes to hear what’s happening in the club.”
“The fighting,” I say quietly.
“The fighting.” Her smile fades. “He’s pretty fucked up, you know.”
“Yeah,” I say. “I’ve figured that out.”
Leo leans on the counter. “You seem to know pretty much everything about my brother.”
She laughs. “Don’t worry, I’m not fucking him.” She leans forward, her eyes shifting to me. “From what I know, he hasn’t been with anyone in years.”
I draw in a sharp breath, then look away, hoping I look casual, but knowing that I don’t. She nods at the cards spread out before her. “Pick one.”
“What?” I say. “Me?”
She shrugs. “Why not?”
Why not indeed. But I reach past Leo and flip the card two spaces from the end.
“Two of cups,” she says, then looks at me with a sweet little smile. “Yeah, that’s a good one.”
I just nod, pretending that I know what the card means—and feeling strangely optimistic now, too.
She sends a quick text, then nods toward the elevator. “Head on down to SB2. My dad will meet you.”
In the elevator, the descent feels endless. Leo stares straight ahead. “Photographs,” he whispers. “The bastard kept photographs.”
I don’t know what to say. So I just stand beside him, lost in my hopes and fears.
When the doors open, Travis is waiting, and his attention lands on Leo. “He knows you’re coming?”
“No, and I don’t care if he wants to see me or not.”
Travis studies him for a long moment before his gaze shifts to me.
“You came back.”
“Why does everyone keep saying that like it’s a surprise?”
“Because it is.” He uncrosses his arms. “Most people run from Gabriel. Especially people who’ve gotten on his bad side. Whether deserved or not.” I see a hint of a smile and hope that means I’m now on Travis’s good side.
We walk a bit together, then pause when his phone chimes. He glances at the text, then frowns before looking at me. “You remember the way?”
I nod.
“All right, then. Don’t go wandering.”
“You’re not coming with us?”
He lifts his phone. “Duty calls.” Then he turns and heads in the opposite direction as I lead Leo through the maze of corridors echoing with the distant thuds of fists on flesh and leather. Gabriel’s empire, and it was built on pain.
“I’m surprised he let us walk alone,” I say, mostly to drown out those pervasive thuds.
Leo just looks up.
Cameras. Duh.
When we arrive, the door is wide open, but Gabe’s at his easel and doesn’t seem to see or hear us.
Leo shrugs, then knocks on the doorjamb.
When Gabe still doesn’t look up, he steps inside, gesturing for me to do the same.
The slight shift in position gives me a view of what he’s working on—and it’s not much.
Just a blank canvas with one long, red brush stroke.
I remember what Anissa said—that he only sketches now, but doesn’t paint.
Something’s changed, and as I feel a twist in. my stomach, I can’t help but think that the change is me.
A glass of something that’s probably whiskey sits on the nearby desk, apparently untouched.
As for Gabe himself, he’s looking past the canvas to the painting that now hangs on the far wall—my face rendered in shadow and longing, trapped behind bars.
Caged.
“That wasn’t yours to take,” I say, my voice low, as if I’m in a church. “You gave it to me.”
He turns, and for just a second, I see something flash across his face, too fast for me to even tell if it’s relief or fury or something in between. “I gave it to a woman I loved. Not to a bitch who betrayed me.”
His gaze slips over me to land on Leo. “Little brother.” His voice is cool, but it cracks at the edges. “What the hell are you doing here?”
“No.” Leo’s fury explodes out of him. “You don’t get to do that. You texted me. Said you were alive, that you were coming to the apartment. Then nothing—just dodging my calls while you played your revenge games.”
“I knew you’d take her side.”
“Side? There are no sides, you dolt.” Leo’s voice is level. Cold. “There’s just the truth, and you’re too much of a coward to hear it.”
“Truth?” His eyes flick to me. “I was stabbed in the back by truth.”
“I thought you were dead, damn you. I gave a eulogy.” Leo’s voice breaks, and his hands are fisted at his sides.
I tried to figure out how to live in a world without my brother.
And you’ve been alive all along. Alive. Keeping our photographs with you while you let us drown in grief, you goddamn bastard. ”
Gabriel flinches, but when he speaks, his voice is flat. “Your brother died in Aspen. The man who crawled away from that cabin isn’t him. Isn’t anyone.”
His eyes flick to me, cold and empty. “I’m on a mission now. That’s all. And I won’t stop until I’ve destroyed everyone who stole my life from me.”
“Bullshit.” In two long strides, Leo gets right in his face. “You’re hiding behind revenge because you’re too afraid to face the possibility that you were wrong about her.”
“No.” Gabriel’s voice is low, as if he’s working hard to keep everything about this moment dialed in. “Hart sends his regards. And that bitch,” he adds with a nod toward me, “she...” He trails off.
“What?” I say, taking a step toward him. “What did she do?”
“Looked me in the eyes and destroyed me,” he says. “The bullets she fired after were just an epilogue.”
“Dammit, Gabe, I didn’t.” Unwelcome tears clog my throat. “And damn you to hell for not knowing that in your heart.”
He scoffs and shakes his head. “I loved you so much. So damn much. I would have given my life for you. I never expected you to take it. Surprise, he says, holding his hands up and wiggling his fingers. “Turns out my heart was wrong about a lot of things.”
I just stand there shaking my head, wondering what freakish dimension I’ve crossed into.
Before Aspen, I could never have imagined a scenario where Gabe would hurt me.
And I can’t believe he could have imagined me hurting him.
So what really happened that night? And why is he so sure—and so wrong—about me?
“Get the hell out,” he says, looking between me and Leo before his gaze lands hard on mine. “I already told you what happened. Why I know what I know. None of it should be a surprise, should it?”
I frown. That word again.
“You’re not an idiot,” Leo says. “You and I both know a motivated PI could have found your cabin. And any jerk can take a pop at you and say it’s courtesy of the Pope, much less Bella.”
“It’s not just that,” he says, shooting me a glance so full of hate I almost vomit.
“Then what?”
His eyes narrow. “She knows.”
“No,” I shout. “She doesn’t. Dammit, Gabe.
She’s been dead for five years, too.” He’s gone blurry, and I furiously rub the tears from my eyes.
“You have no evidence I did anything. You can’t, because I didn’t.
So there can’t be evidence. “You have the word of men who tried to murder you. That’s it. That’s all you have.”
“I saw the truth in your eyes, princess. Just like I do now.”
“Bullshit. I told you I investigated. I told you I never stopped looking for answers. Did you even check? Did you even try to verify what I said? Or did what we once had mean so damn little to you?”
He doesn’t answer. But I see it—or I think I do. The tiniest crack in the armor he’s spent five years building.
“Come on, bro,” Leo says. “Think. They set you up. And now you’re trying to destroy the woman who loves you.”
“Loved.” The correction is automatic. Bitter. “Past tense.”
“No.” I step closer. Close enough to see every line that grief has carved into his face. “Present tense. Despite everything. Despite all of your bullshit, I still love you, Gabriel. I never stopped. Believe me, I wish I could.”
His breath catches. Just barely. But I see it.
“And I think you still love me,” I continue. “Because if you don’t—if you’ve really killed that part of yourself—you wouldn’t have kissed me. You wouldn’t have stolen Caged.” I take another step. “You wouldn’t be shaking right now.”
“Get the fuck away from me.”
“No.” I reach out. Touch his arm, then watch in horror as he flinches back as if I’ve burned him. “I’m not going to hurt you,” I say, trying to keep the confusion out of my voice. “I just want to see you. The real you. The one who painted me like I was something precious.”
I swallow, then let my voice drop to a whisper. “He’s still in there. I have to believe he’s still in there. Because if he’s not—”
My voice breaks. I let it. “If he’s not, then I’ve spent five years mourning a man who never existed. And I don’t know how to survive that.”
Gabriel closes his eyes.
For a long moment, no one speaks. No one moves. The only sound is the distant thump of leather against flesh from the ring. Pretty damn apropos.
Then he opens his eyes. And the walls slam back into place.
“Get out.”
“Dammit, Gabe,” Leo starts.
“I said get out.” He steps back from both of us, his face gone cold and hard. “I’m not your brother anymore, Leo.”
His eyes find mine, and there’s nothing there. Nothing I can reach. He reaches out to stroke my cheek, and I have to force myself not to melt on the spot. “Surprise, bitch. You should have finished me when you had the chance, because I don’t do things by half-measures.”
“So that’s it?” Leo’s voice is rough. “You’re just going to keep destroying yourself? Keep punishing her for something she didn’t do?”
“I don’t remember you being so gullible, little brother.” Gabriel’s smile is thin and cruel.
“Gabriel, please.” I hate the way my voice breaks. Hate the tears burning in my eyes.
“Leave.” He turns his back on us, facing Caged. Apropos, I suppose. Right now, I feel as trapped as that woman in the painting.
Leo’s hand closes on my arm. Gentle but firm.
“Come on,” he says quietly. “We’re done here.”
I want to fight. Want to scream. Want to grab Gabriel by the shoulders and shake him until he sees me—really sees me.
But Leo’s already guiding me toward the door, and I know he’s right. Gabriel’s shut us out. Completely.
We’re almost to the door when I stop and turn to him.
“I’m not giving up on you,” I say to his back. “I don’t care how long it takes. I don’t care how hard you push me away. I’m going to prove the truth, and when I do, you’re going to have to live with what you’ve done.”
He doesn’t turn around.
He doesn’t say a word.
And I surrender to defeat as Leo pulls me through the door.
The walk back through the corridors feels endless. The sounds of the fight club seem louder now, more brutal. Or maybe that’s just how everything feels when your heart’s been ripped out.
We ride the elevator in silence, then step out into the lobby, and move in silence past the bar crowd and the soft jazz, until we reach the doors and exit into the cool evening air.
“That was a disaster,” I say.
“No.” Leo’s voice is quiet. “It wasn’t.”
I stare at him. “Are you bonkers? He threw us out.”
“Give it time.” Leo’s jaw is tight, but there’s something in his eyes—not hope exactly, but something close. “Trust me.”
The car is waiting. We slide in, and the city blurs past the windows. Something soft builds inside me. It’s not hope. Not really.
But Leo saw something in there. And right now, that’s all I have.
“So what do we do?” I ask.
“We give him time.” Leo stares out the window. “And we find proof. Something he can’t ignore. Something that forces him to see the truth whether he wants to or not.”
“And if we can’t?”
He’s quiet for a long moment.
“Then I’ll drag him back to the family kicking and screaming,” he says finally. “Because I didn’t spend five years grieving my brother just to lose him again to his own stubbornness.”
“Good,” I say. “I’ll help you drag him.”