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“Who was the one that was there every day, walking her back and forth to class making sure she was safe?” Trevor continued. “Me. Who was there to comfort her after she and her father got into arguments? It was me, and there were plenty of arguments, and most of them about him. Who was the one who made sure that she got to go out and do fun things on weekends like a girl her age was supposed to do? It was me. Not him. Me. He wanted her stuck at home, waiting for him year after year, alone and lonely. I set her free.”
Sabela realized that she hadn’t been the only one who’d been playing make-believe. Trevor had created something in his mind and tried to play it out to make it real.
“When she told me that she was going to run away with him, and she was supposed to meet him at Pinkie’s Diner, I knew I had to act fast,” Trevor said. “I had to make her see that I was the one who was right for her. But I needed time to convince her.”
All of it was falling into place. Sure enough, Trevor had imagined there was more to his relationship with Blanca than was actually there.
Trevor continued. “I had to stop her from leaving. I offered to drive her to the diner that day, but really, I planned to take her out of town. I wanted to confess my feelings in the right place because I knew she had to love me, otherwise, why would she spend so much time with me? I had to get Morgan off our trail, though, so I wrote that letter and mailed it. I did a great job, by the way. I’d always been good at forging people’s handwriting. You’re not the only artist in the family, Sister.”
She ignored his bragging. “Didn’t you stop to think that Blanca might object to you just driving off with her?” Sabela asked, astonished at the depth of her brother’s delusion.
“She wouldn’t, because secretly, she’d always wanted me. I just needed to show him that.”
“And so you drove by the diner window,” Sabela whispered.
And Colin had been sitting inside the diner, watching it play out.
“Yeah,” Trevor said, “and I told Blanca a joke so she’d laugh, and so he would see her laughing … with me.”
Sabela risked a glance over at Colin. He stood ramrod straight, his expression severe. She watched his jaw muscles clench and release.
“I wasn’t paying attention because I was distracted,” Trevor said, his voice becoming like a whine. “I was thinking how much Morgan didn’t deserve Blanca. I didn’t even see the light turn red.”
Colin said Trevor gunned the car through the intersection, and Sabela noticed how Trevor omitted that part of the story. He had been acting immaturely, and a girl had paid for his foolishness with her life.
Trevor rushed onward. “It was Morgan’s fault for thinking he could do better for Blanca than me. He would have destroyed her. He had left her, and just because he started making money and sending it to her, he thought he owned her. In the end, he didn’t even know who she was anymore. He shouldn’t have tried to take her away from me.”
Sabela saw the barely banked fire raging behind Colin’s eyes. She feared he wouldn’t be able to hold himself back. She feared he might attack her brother.
She darted over to Colin and put her hands on his hard chest. He didn’t look at her, only kept staring ferociously at Trevor.
“Are you going to beat up a disabled man?” she asked, tone flat.
“He’d deserve it,” Colin said between gritted teeth. “But no, he’s just a pathetic husk of a man.”
“Fuck you,” Trevor spat. “I’m not afraid of you.”
“You should be. I may not be willing to kick your ass like you deserve,” Colin said, “but there are other ways to ruin a man.”
“Right. Like fuck with my sister, you ass —”
“You’re out of your minds,” Sabela interrupted. “Both of you!”
Neither of them deserved her time right now, but if she didn’t invest some effort into breaking up the four-year-long feud, nothing would be resolved. She plunged onward. “It was the case then, and it’s the case now. You fought over a woman without giving her the credit that she could make her own decisions.”
That shut them up. With Trevor and Colin both staring at her, Sabela squared her shoulders and continued.
“Maybe Trevor’s right. Maybe she was blinded by your money, Colin, and wouldn’t have wanted to be with you after you two were finally in the same place together. Maybe she would’ve broken your heart. Who knows? I don’t think you really knew her any more than Trevor did. Nonetheless, this crazy scheme to pay off all of our debts and seduce me for revenge is just as bad as Trevor’s scheme to make you think Blanca broke up with you.”
Silence. The two men watched her, both with expressions that said they didn’t want to hear what she was saying. But they were listening, and that’s all that Sabela cared about at the moment.
“You did all of that because you were trying to get back at Trevor,” Sabela said. “Now he’s here to try to get back at you. And in the middle of all of this is me. I have a brain, and I can think for myself. I’m not some mindless weapon you can use against each other, and I damned well resent you trying to make me into one.”
She looked at both of them before softening her tone. “Colin, we agreed that holding onto the past is a lesson in misery. That’s why your plan for me changed, remember?”
Colin’s face was stoic and cold. “Who said my plans changed?”
Sabela blinked in surprise. “You did. You promised me you’re not out for revenge anymore. That’s why I agreed to stay.”
“Believe what you want about my intentions,” Colin said. “As you say, you can think for yourself.”
Sabela was stunned. Colin’s just angry, she told herself. Learning the letter he’d endlessly tortured himself with was a fake … it would have to be devastating, and could explain his coldness.
Probably, Colin was simply acting out by saying things he didn’t mean.
He wasn’t the kind of person to betray a promise, was he? But then, what did she really know about him?
Her mind raced as she thought back over the last few days. He had been very careful to let her know there was an end date to their time at the chalet, and he’d never promised her anything afterwards. All of this time she thought that he was just toying with her to get a reaction out of her, or that he was too oblivious to pick up on her hints.
Colin wasn’t stupid, and he could never be oblivious.
Her heart sunk. It was damning evidence.
After investing her faith in him and offering her forgiveness, Sabela realized that she could have been played for a fool after all.
Colin Morgan didn’t want her, and he couldn’t spell it out any clearer than that. He was a liar, and he’d used her for his own nefarious purposes.
Chapter Forty-Four
COLIN STRUGGLED TO WRAP HIS mind around the fact that Blanca hadn’t written that letter. She’d never planned to leave him.
The heartache, the agony and loss of faith. All of it had been created by a forgery.
He’d spent all these years thinking that she’d betrayed him when she never had.
And all of it because of a stupid ruse designed by a desperate man who had been trying to steal Blanca away.
Everything was lost because of Trevor, even more than Colin had previously believed. His blood boiled.
“You bastard,” he growled at Trevor.
“You’re calling me a bastard? I’m not the one who tries to keep women captive,” Trevor spat.
Colin saw red. “No, you just kidnap them.”
“And you didn’t kidnap Sabela? I mean, seriously, trying to take her away? She’s too good for you. She’s too smart for you.”
The last thing Colin needed was more accusations from this little prick. “I want you out of my house right now. Leave on your own, or Bruno and I will toss you out on your ass.”
“Glad to,” Trevor said. He struggled to stand, legs buckling before he made it upright. He leaned heavily on his cane. “Come on, Sabela. It’s time for us to get out of
here.”
Sabela looked stricken. She hadn’t said a word since he had refused to justify their relationship. At last she broke her silence.
“I’m not going with you, Trevor,” she said.
“What do you mean? You figured out what Morgan was doing, and he’s not denying that he was using you to get to me right up to the minute you both walked into this room. Weren’t you listening?”
Sabela straightened her shoulders, pride in her motions. “I need some time to speak with Colin privately.”
“You don’t know what you’re saying. He’s got you turned around, like he did with Blanca.”
“Maybe you’re right,” she said with a hopeless air that pulled at Colin’s conscience. “But what I know for sure is that despite you constantly telling me you aren’t getting any better, you were able to get on a plane and make it to Switzerland all by yourself. You aren’t even using your wheelchair. You and I are going to have to have a long talk when I get home about what that means.”
If he hadn’t been so furious, Colin would have been proud of her. He saw Trevor’s face twist up in outrage.
“Get out,” Colin said again.
Trevor shot him a look of hatred. “This isn’t over.”
“Trevor, please. If you love me like you say you do, go home,” Sabela said.
Trevor shook his head, but began to shuffle toward the front door. “You’re making a mistake, Sister.”
“Maybe, but my mistakes are mine, and I take responsibility for myself,” she said.
Her intimation was clear, that her brother refused to account for his actions. Colin wondered if Trevor was astute enough to pick up on Sabela’s hint.
Before Trevor left, he shot Colin one last look of pure hate that astonished Colin. Colin had lost years of his life because of Trevor, and the man had the nerve to hate Colin.
