Chapter Sixteen
Aurora
Arriving at my old house with Gabriel at my side is an odd sensation. I had wanted to see my father alone but Gabriel insisted he come with me. If Gabriel coming with me means I get my father back in my life, then I will take it.
“Be nice to him,” I say to Gabriel. “You treated my father horribly.”
“He stole from me. I was just meting out punishment.” The coldness in his eyes is still there but there’s a definitive softness I can detect more often than before.
Ever since the last barrier between us broke down, things have changed between us.
Gabriel has become a little less cold and a little more warm.
“I know you were. But he is my father and I am your wife. That has to mean something. So please be nice to him.”
“I am letting you see him, Aurora. I don’t plan on killing him if that’s what you’re worried about. Andrew doesn’t mean anything to me.”
“So then why put him through hell?”
Gabriel sighs, scratching at his cheek – his scar.
Now that I know how he got it, the way I look at him is different.
He has faced trauma and pain unlike anything even I can imagine.
He shut himself away because of it but I’m hoping I can bring his light out in him that he snuffed a long time ago.
“Because I’m not a good man. But I’ll admit…
if I knew I was going to have you in my life, I might have done things differently.
But then again, if I hadn’t put my father in my cell, I probably wouldn’t have you in my life. ”
I flush. “Well… I don’t know what to say to that. But thank you for admitting that you do wrong. Sort of. Just be nice to my dad. He’ll be nervous having you here.”
“I understand. I won’t go after him anymore, Aurora. I promise. Not anymore,” he adds in a softer tone. My mind thinks back to how I gave him my body and I blush even more. Gabriel notices with a smirk. “Once we’re back home, I can’t wait to take you again. I have more things to teach you.”
My body responds to his words but I push them aside. I’m here to see my father – not to get lost in my husband’s charm.
I knock on the door. After a moment, my father answers.
“Aurora?” He pulls me into his arms without a second thought. “You’re really here?” His eyes land on Gabriel and he tenses. “What is he doing here?”
“Gabriel says it’s all right if we see each other. He’s here though for my own safety.”
“For your safety?” Dad scoffs. “I would never hurt you.”
“Not you,” Gabriel says. “My enemies. I don’t want Aurora to be alone. She could get hurt. So that’s why I am here.”
My father looks between me and Gabriel with weariness before letting us both inside.
“We can see each other again,” I tell him, sitting on the ratty, old couch. Gabriel makes a face at the old furniture but doesn’t comment on it. “You’ll get to see that I am safe and we can talk again. Are you eating?”
He nods at the tiny table where a plate full of crumbs is left behind. “I just finished.”
“Good. I’m glad.”
“To your husband’s credit, I have been given food every day now. It shows up on my doorstep almost like magic.”
I look at Gabriel, feeling thankful that he’s been doing this for my dad, despite everything. “Thank you,” I murmur before turning back to my father. “I get to spend the day with you. Let’s talk. Catch up.”
His eyes flick to Gabriel. “It’s sort of hard when your husband is glaring at me. The man who kidnapped me. Who forced you into a marriage.”
Gabriel sighs. “I see that there’s a lot of baggage here. I get it. I treated you terribly, Andrew. But need I remind you that you stole from me?”
“To feed me and my daughter. The daughter you seem to care about now.”
“Which is why I am allowing her to see you. It’s why I won’t ever kill you, despite what you did. I will let the past go if you will.”
Dad shoots to his feet. “You forced my daughter into a marriage. You kept her from me. How am I supposed to be all right with that?”
“Dad,” I say, reaching my hand out to him.
“I’m good. I promise. Gabriel and I are making it work.
My life is not miserable anymore. I’m… happy.
” The moment I say it, I know it’s the truth.
Now that Gabriel has been honest with me and let me in, I feel more complete. Less alone. I have hope for the future.
“You are?” Dad asks with a gasp. “How?”
“Gabriel… can be cold but he hasn’t been cruel either.
I am happy, Dad. I know this isn’t ideal.
I know in a different world we wouldn’t have starved every day and you wouldn’t have needed to steal from Gabriel to save me.
But this is the life we live in and I have accepted it.
I’m happy. Truly. So let’s focus on the positives.
You have food. I am taken care of. I am not being hurt every day.
I promise you that. I just want to spend the day with you. ”
“I don’t want to spend the day with him,” he spits out, glaring at Gabriel.
I turn to my husband. “Would you mind waiting outside? Can you give me and my dad some time alone? Please? I’ll be safe here.”
After a beat, Gabriel nods and leaves the tiny cottage. The moment he’s gone, I can tell my father feels more at ease.
“Let’s just talk,” I say to him, patting the spot beside me. “Just you and me.”
He pulls me into a hug the second he sits down. “I am happy that you’re not hurt. I just hate that he stole you from me.”
“I know. But you have to learn to let me go, Dad. We’ll get to see each other from now on. You have food. I have safety. That should matter. And I care for him.”
“How can you care for him?” he asks, pulling back. “How?”
“Gabriel opened up to me about who he really is. I don’t hate him, Dad. I feel a little ashamed about it but I don’t hate him and I can’t deny that I don’t hate him. I care for him. And it’s better this way. Don’t you want me to be happy? Don’t you want me to be well cared for?”
“Of course I do. I just didn’t want it to be at the hands of a mafia man like him.”
“I know. It’s not ideal but I have accepted my fate. I accepted it the moment I made the deal with Gabriel. I need you to accept it too. For all of us to move on. For us to be happy.”
Dad’s eyes search mine – probably looking for the truth – and once he finds it, he nods. “I want you to be happy. Of course I do. If you say you’re happy, then I’ll believe it.”
“Thank you. Don’t ever try to hurt Gabriel. I want you to be safe.”
“I promise. I’ll try to… let go of my anger. I’ll try not to hate the man who stole you from me.”
“I know. But I don’t hate him. That’s a start, isn’t it?”
He nods. “It is.”
“So let’s just spend some time together. Why don’t you tell me what you’ve been doing? Other than surviving.”
“Well.. now that I haven’t had to worry about food, I found a job.”
“That’s great.”
“It’s a start.”
I squeeze his hand and he squeezes it back. “It’s a start.”
“Thank you,” I say to Gabriel on the drive home. “For letting me see him. I would like to see him at least once a week.”
“I can do once a week.”
“Good,” I breathe out. “That means a lot.”
“I’m starting to see that the tighter I hold onto you, the more I push you away. I want you in my life, Aurora. I know that. So if letting you see your father makes you want to stay with me, then I’ll give you that.” His eyes flick to mine and back to the road. “I want to see you happy.”
“I want to see you happy too. I don’t like how much anger you’re holding onto for Giovanni. I’m worried it’s going to break you.”
He barks out a laugh. “I have been dealing with it just fine on my own for a long time.”
“Gabriel, you hide yourself away in that house. You can’t deny it. Maybe going after Giovanni isn’t the answer.”
“You’re new to the life of the mafia. Giovanni needs to die at some point. He will come after me, or worse he’ll come after you, and then I will have to fight him. I found him before but I was reckless. The next time I find him, I won’t be so reckless again. He’ll get what’s coming to him.”
“Ok,” I whisper. I know Gabriel isn’t ready to move on from Giovanni and I understand it, given the horrible things Giovanni did to him and his family. “I just wish that you would choose to be happy. I think you’d feel a lot more free.”
“I’m happy with you.”
His admission catches me off guard. “You are?”
“I am.”
I let Gabriel’s words settle in my heart where a warmth begins to spread.
I find Gabriel playing the piano in the middle of the night. He had to leave for work after my meetup with my father and I haven’t seen him since.
But I woke up to the sound of music and found him in the large ballroom, playing the piano, all alone. The notes are haunting and sweeping. The look on his face is that of pain.
I feel like I’m intruding on something I shouldn’t but I can’t get my feet to move.
“I know you’re there,” Gabriel says, still playing the piano. I startle and then walk into the room, my face on fire.
“Sorry. I heard you playing.”
“I got home late. I saw you were asleep and I didn’t want to disturb you. So I came in here.”
Tentatively, I approach the piano. “You play beautifully. When did you learn?”
“When I was a teenager. From Giovanni, in fact.” His fingers slam into the keys. “He thought a proper boy should know how to play the piano. He set me up for success and didn’t even know I was coming for him.”
“You tried to attack him, you said. What went wrong?”
“When I was twenty. I thought I could kill him but I looked into his eyes and found I couldn’t move.
It’s haunted me every day since. And then his men descended upon me and Giovanni tortured me for days.
I managed to escape and I haven’t found him since then.
Well, I did find him a few weeks ago but I missed my chance at killing him. I’ll have to try again.”
“Do you know any happy songs?”
“A few but Giovanni always insisted I play the sad ones. He thought it built character.” He scoffs. “Giovanni was made out of bullshit.”