CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR #2
He offered a quick nod, then pulled the door open to reveal Gerald Crowley, sitting on his leather couch, and beside him was the last person I would've expected to see.
I entered the room, keeping my gait even as I approached, but my heart hammered wildly at the sight of Analise, always the image of perfection with her long black hair and makeup done just right and her dress fitting like it had been tailored to her figure.
Because it was.
"Ah, it's good to see you, boys," Gerald greeted as he rose to his feet. "Thank you for joining me at such an early hour. I was just finishing a discussion with Mrs. Seint-Nolan when you came in."
Mrs. Seint-Nolan. The use of such a formal title—her married name—was enough to make me expel every drop of coffee I’d drunk that morning.
She smiled graciously at Gerald before turning her smile back toward me and my brothers. She eyed their masks for a moment, likely wondering how it was that we’d suddenly multiplied.
Or maybe she already knows, I considered, eyeing her with skepticism. She’s leaving the manor, no longer providing her nursing abilities …
Dean’s no longer coming with me on missions …
Shawn and Ike are their replacements.
The realization dawned on me all at once. Had this been the plan all along?
"I'll get out of your hair now," she said, moving to stand when Gerald laid a hand over her wrist to stop her from leaving.
"Well, hold on for a second," he said. "Didn't you have something you wanted to say to our mutual friend here?"
Her eyes flashed with worry, and her smile faltered for only a second as she turned from Gerald to look at me, and then she schooled her features like a pro as she nodded, holding her head high.
"Ah, yes, that's right." She cleared her throat and lifted her gaze to where she knew mine had to be. "I wanted to apologize to you."
I kept my lips shut as Gerald removed his hand from her wrist, giving her the freedom to move as she saw fit. She stood to her full height and approached me, gliding across the floor with elegance and grace.
"I never should have expressed interest in you and added distraction to your work," she went on, folding her hands neatly over her stomach as she spoke. "But …"
She hesitated, glancing over her shoulder at Gerald, as if to ask for permission, and he nodded encouragingly.
"Go on," he said gently. "You can tell him."
She swallowed and turned back toward me. "We … we both f-feel it's only right to tell you … th-the truth."
"The truth," I repeated, my voice low and gruff as I tipped my head with curiosity.
"Yes," she replied, lifting her eyes to my masked face. "The t-truth is th-that … this entire thing … i-is all my f-fault."
“What?” I turned to face Gerald and asked, "What is she talking about?"
His expression contorted into a shit-eating grin as he rose from the couch to stroll toward his desk. “I thought you’d never ask.”
Analise hung her head, the confidence in her stance slipping minutely to reveal something uncertain beneath. She grasped her hands over her stomach, her fingers fidgeting.
Her lips parted, and I listened as her breath whispered out beneath the ticking of a grandfather clock.
"I-I'm—" Her quiet stammering was so hushed that I wasn’t sure Gerald could hear as he began to speak boisterously.
"You know, when I married Virginia, I wasn't sure I was prepared to be the father I needed to be to her daughter," Gerald said as he grabbed something from the desktop.
"And I will admit, I haven't been the greatest stepfather I could be.
I've done some things I'm not proud of. But little did I know then … "
Analise lifted her gaze to my face, and I swore I could see the barely imperceptible shake of her head and a subtle movement of her lips.
What she was trying to say, I didn’t know …
or maybe I was seeing things, wishing for it, as Gerald lifted what appeared to be a remote, and a TV came to life above the fireplace.
And there, on the screen, was the still image of me in the library, the moment I'd met Analise. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was in my hand as I stood before her, suddenly aware that I wasn’t alone.
The man in that picture had no idea how much his life was going to change that night, and I wished I could climb through the screen and warn him. He could’ve made different decisions, could’ve changed the trajectory of the events that would impact every aspect of his life.
My eyes flitted toward her, the terrified woman before me, and I thought, Or maybe he wouldn’t have done a damn thing if it meant missing out on her.
I found you, Anna, I wished I could say to reassure her and alleviate the fear in her eyes. And everything is going to be okay.
Gerald pulled me away from my thoughts as he continued, "My sweet little girl became a very important asset. And I knew in this moment … in this very moment right here …" He came to stand beside her and gripped her chin in his greasy palm. She didn’t pull away, she didn’t flinch, but she squeezed her eyes shut with a pained expression written plainly on her face.
"She was going to be my key to getting you exactly where I wanted you. "
He lifted the remote, and the image changed, and there was Analise with the first man I'd ever killed. David. The waiter who had ended Leonard's life.
Something disgusting and nauseating ate away at my gut, but I schooled my emotions. Tamped down the anger with a clench of my fists. This picture proved nothing. He was a waiter. She could've been asking him for a drink for herself or—
The image changed. Now, it was a zoomed-in shot of a woman’s hand, dropping something into the waiter's breast pocket. The exact place where I'd found the bottle of cyanide.
Analise was still facing me, her pleading eyes on my face when I looked down at her.
"Is this true?”
Her bottom lip trembled as her mouth fell open. "I-I—"
"Oh, don't be angry with her," Gerald interrupted.
The picture changed again and again and again. Still snapshots of every interaction I'd ever had with Analise over the last few years. Fleeting conversations. Lingering glances. The time after she’d stitched my leg up in the parlor, as her hand inched up my thigh in an attempt to seduce me.
Is that all this has ever been? A ploy, a little game to bring my guard down?
No … no! I pressed my lips together as my hardened gaze held to the TV screen. I knew damn well what I was seeing, I knew how it looked, but something wasn’t right. Something wasn’t adding up.
I know her.
This is Anna. This is good, sweet, beautiful Anna. She wouldn’t do this to anyone; she wouldn’t do this to me.
But she doesn’t know me. She doesn’t know who I am.
Still … she wouldn’t do this.
"It was always ever about getting by," Gerald said. "For you. For her. I had a plan, and she played along.”
She played along with him, but she wasn’t playing with me, I reiterated silently. That was what she wasn’t saying, what she couldn’t say.
And now, I have to play along too.
"Why?” I uttered in a voice akin to a growl, holding her gaze. “Why did you do this to me?”
But she didn’t reply. She could only hold my gaze, pleading and begging without muttering a single word.
I hear you, Analise. I just hope you can hear me too.
Instead, Gerald replied, “Not much different from you, my boy. Freedom. Self-preservation. You know the deal.”
I cocked my head, continuing to look at her and not him. “The wedding? Was this about the wedding?”
It was a guess—a weak one, I thought—and Gerald answered for her. “Sure … among other things.”
But I didn’t want to take his word for it. He was a liar. He was a thief. And I wouldn’t put it past him to lie about this—all of it—to twist my arm and break my heart.
So, I stared at Analise, and I waited for her to respond in any way she could.
And I expected she’d give me something to ignite that little flame of hope again in my chest, something other than the voice of reassurance in my head.
But she couldn’t do anything in his presence, so she nodded, confirming what Gerald had said, and although I understood it was all just about playing a game, I couldn’t deny the pain that pierced my heart.
Shawn laid a hand on my shoulder, and maybe at another point in time, his presence would’ve made me feel better. But not today.
"Time was running out though," Gerald continued with a forlorn sigh, and the image changed to one of the gazebo.
Me removing my tie and laying it over Analise's eyes.
My stomach churned at the sight while the rest of me wished I could be back there, in a moment in which, for once, everything had felt good and right. Even for only a second.
"So, while you kids were canoodling, my other men were busy."
And then he pressed a button to reveal an image of my brothers being shoved into the back of a truck with black sacks over their heads.
"You see," he said, flashing me with a triumphant grin, "I told you once that I'd get you one day. You didn't believe me, but …" His gaze jumped from Shawn to Ike, then back to me. "Gotcha."
"You had us yesterday," I argued on our behalf. "So, why the fuck are you doing this to us now?"
He offered a casual shrug. "Thought I’d be nice and give you some closure."
"Closure," I repeated, the word poison on the tip of my tongue.
I didn’t want closure. I wanted to get her far, far away from Benjamin and this place.
He nodded, then gestured toward Analise.
"You know, the opportunity to say goodbye and soften the blow to your ego. She’s leaving, my boy.
She won’t be around here much—her new husband is very demanding, I hear.
” He chuckled at the salacious insinuation, gripping her shoulder in his palm.
“I’ll give you a moment to say goodbye in whatever way you see fit.
Consider it a gift. But, hey, don't kill her, all right?
That would be … well, let's just say, it'd be problematic for all of us. "