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The girls waited quietly, and spoke together in whispers in the room. Mrs. Sorenson was asleep. Gabriel assumed they talked about how to best approach her.
He held his broken phone in his hands, feeling the cracks that Sang had made into the screen. It almost looked like a tree. He didn’t want to replace it. She could break all his things.
He looked down, tapping at his phone. It was open to the voicemail box. He hit play on the last message, listening again to the mistaken butt dial and the other guys talking in the background.
Kota sighed. “Gabriel’s going to be busier than ever.”
“We should probably give him a year off,” Nathan said. “A vacation.”
Gabriel smirked and turned it off at that point. He suspected this might have been set up, but it wasn’t like he could confront them about it…or that he would tell them about it. Even if it was fake, he appreciated the effort. He’d been really mad over the last day, angry with them over things that weren’t their faults. It wasn’t fair of him and he blamed it on being tired and stressed out.
He’d make up for being so moody to them later. He especially needed to apologize to Victor.
And maybe talk to him about this new plan with Sang. If they were to stay together, they’d have to ensure to win her over. Victor was right, they’d have to make time to take her to the spa and do other things with her.
He glanced in again at Sang, standing by with Marie as they waited for signs of Mrs. Sorenson to wake up and notice them. Sang shifted from foot to foot, scratching at her arm, touching her cheek.
Gabriel sighed. She was nervous. Maybe this wasn’t a good idea.
He couldn’t lose her now. It hurt too much to even think about leaving her, or to think she’d ever leave.
Lily had been right. Mr. Blackbourne was right. Liam and the others were right. Somehow, they’d worked so hard at becoming a family, at being together, that they didn’t think of the dynamics that could come up as a result of having a girl on the team. That she was a beautiful girl and there was so much to love about her.
She needed someone to love her.
He needed it, too. Looking in on her on the other side of the one-way mirror, she couldn’t see him, but he hoped she knew he was there.
He reached a finger up, tracing a small heart along the glass, around her face.
A door opened in the observation room behind where he stood. Gabriel dropped his hand quickly. Dr. Green came in; Gabriel could see his reflection in the window. He didn’t turn to greet him. He couldn’t peel his eyes away from Sang. He didn’t trust to not watch her now. Not when Mr. McCoy and even Mr. Morris were still out there looking for her. They were away for now, on the other side of the city chasing Kota and North in different directions with the new girl, waiting for Mr. McCoy to blow his top and talk.
This was part of the war they fought now. It would take a while before it was over. It wasn’t exactly what they signed up for.
It wasn’t what Sang signed up for.
Dr. Green sidled up next to Gabriel.
They watched quietly as Sang stood back, letting Marie greet her mother. Mrs. Sorenson looked surprised to see them. Her arm had an IV needle in it. Her finger had a heart pulse monitor clip stuck to it, and a machine was nearby, with a screen showing readouts.
Marie called to her quietly. Mrs. Sorenson’s eyes focused on Marie and then scanned the room. She spotted Sang and frowned. She opened her mouth but then looked beyond Sang. The door was open. Mrs. Sorenson put on a thick smile and loudly proclaimed to have missed Marie and asked for a hug.
Even Marie seemed to hesitate at this request. Marie was wearing a light sweater and jeans, and had pulled her hair back into a ponytail. She didn’t look much like her half-sister. She moved forward quietly to give her mother an awkward hug.
Mrs. Sorenson didn’t ask the same of Sang.
“She’s barely acknowledged her,” Gabriel said. He gripped at the handrail tighter. “She won’t even say hello.”
“Marie knows what to say,” Dr. Green said. “She was willing to participate. She’s a bit happier now that she has the house to herself. These little favors are easy for her now.’
“Yeah,” Gabriel said, “but Sang doesn’t need to be in there. Shit, the woman can’t even say hi to her. After everything she’s been through... Is she just going to sit there and act like Sang’s invisible?”
“Hey,” Dr. Green said. He put an arm around Gabriel’s shoulder. “I know it isn’t easy. Sang probably needed to see her stepmother at least once more anyway, without her screaming and acting crazy. There’s some closure going on in there. Look at her.”
Gabriel lifted his head. Sang was standing off to the side, away from the bed. Her bright green eyes were fixed on her mother and half-sister. Her hair was twisted in a clip away from her face, showing her determined expression.
“She’s not flinching,” Dr. Green said. He clapped Gabriel on the back and then released him. “See? She’s not afraid. She knows she can’t hurt her anymore, so she’s willing to smile, to stand aside and listen. If she gets a chance to speak, and wants to, she will. Otherwise, she at least sees her stepmother will live and life can move on.”
“It’s got to hurt, though,” Gabriel said. He wasn’t so sure Sang was feeling confident. Sang occasionally touched her lip, or continued to shift on her feet. Maybe Dr. Green didn’t notice, but Gabriel did. In Sang’s eyes, there was fear, small, but it was there. “Her mother’s a control freak who tried to break her.”
“But she didn’t,” Dr. Green said. “Sang’s got a strong, bounce-back personality. Part of that was survival instinct. Part of it, I want to believe, is because she’s just too adorable.”
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Yeah. She’s cute.” He turned his head now and looked at Dr. Green. Gabriel didn’t like the doctor’s coat. It didn’t work with a lot of the clothes he’d picked out for him. It made him look like he was wearing a tent. With all that white, it needed a splash of color. The nurses at least got color with their scrubs. The cartoon covered ones drove him a little crazy, but he understood.
Gabriel wiped a palm across his forehead. He needed to stop thinking about clothes. He needed to focus.
“I got word from Mr. Blackbourne about McCoy,” Dr. Green said.
Gabriel leaned against the wall, his arms folded against his chest. He kept an eye on Sang as he spoke. “Yeah? Did they shoot him yet?”
Dr. Green laughed. “Not yet. Mr. Blackbourne had them get Mr. McCoy to chase them into the heart of our little fake Academy building. Mr. Morris observed them entering and remained outside. McCoy went in.”
Gabriel snapped his head around, staring at Dr. Green. “You serious? He went inside? Did we have anything set up?”
“Looked like a school to him, I think,” Dr. Green said. “At least until he asked to see the Principal, and tried to persuade her to release Sang Sorenson to him.”
“What?” Gabriel asked. “What an idiot.”
“They’ve detained him inside the school today. Kota came back out and told Mr. Morris that Mr. McCoy was inside talking with teachers and getting information. Mr. Morris went home to sleep. They’d been up all night and had to call in a substitute for Morris for his class today.”
“What now?” Gabriel asked. “We’ll hold on to him?”
“We’ve separated them,” Dr. Green said. “We’ve severed their communication and we’re going to start with filtering lies to each of them as they text each other. He’s convinced Mr. Morris that Sang’s basically a criminal. We’re not sure how much Mr. Morris believes, but McCoy had something really dirty on him. Bad enough that Morris would do whatever he said to get him off his back.” He pointed a finger gently at the window toward Sang. “Sang started a turf war. She doesn’t even know it. She’s got them riled up and fighting amongst themselves. It’s really, really good. We couldn’t even have gotten them this riled up. They’re going to spill the beans soon.”
“That’s good
,” Gabriel said. He smiled and turned his head toward Sang. Mrs. Sorenson was going on and on about the treatment she’d received by the nurses. Marie nodded. Sang stood quietly, waiting. “Do we go to school tomorrow?”
“Maybe to school,” he said. “But we’re thinking Sang might have her schedule changed. Maybe everyone’s schedule will change.”
“They can do that mid-year?” Gabriel asked.
“Happens all the time,” Dr. Green said. He smiled. “It’s like moving to a new school mid-year. You just pick up what you’ve missed...or in our case, something different.”
Gabriel groaned. He slid his fingers through his hair. “That’s more homework. More shit.”
“Maybe not,” Dr. Green said. “Not if I or Mr. Blackbourne are the teachers for the rest of the year.”
Gabriel grinned. “What? Seriously?”
“It might not happen for another week, or two,” he said. “Maybe not even until after the holidays. There’s a few things we have to work out. But Kota informed us of the complaints about homework and classes getting in the way of the mission. He’s been listening. He brought it to Mr. Blackbourne.” Dr. Green reached out and chopped Gabriel on the head. “You know what that means?”
“Aw shit,” Gabriel said. He rolled his eyes. “Oh no.” This was horrible. They’d basically told Mr. Blackbourne that they hated schoolwork and homework assignments and classes. Mr. Blackbourne would have them busting their asses until the end of the school term. Getting out of class didn’t mean they’d be taking it easy. Now they’d have to work twice as hard.
