Gabrielle raised her hands to her mouth as she stood frozen near the door. Sebastian rested his hands on her waist. He needed to get her out of there. It was too much for her.
“You fucking bitch.” The angry words were hurled from a corner of the room. Sebastian jerked his head toward the sound and frowned.
“Call her a bitch one more time, and it’s the last thing you’ll ever do,” Sebastian warned, his hand hovering close to the Glock tucked in the waistband of his pants. He took a few steps toward the man sitting in a recliner, obscured by the shadows. Sebastian did a double take, and glanced back at the unconscious man in the hospital bed. “Who the fuck are you?”
“Ask Gabrielle,” the man spat the words.
Gabrielle rested a shaking hand on his arm, tugging him back toward her. Her nails dug into Sebastian’s arm as dread flooded her face. Apprehension strangled her words as she responded, “That’s Marvin. Damian’s twin brother.”
Chapter14
“He has a fucking identical twin brother,” Sebastian muttered under his breath. How had this information slipped past him? Marvin wore a white lab coat with St. Killian Hospital and logo etched on one side. Sebastian narrowed his eyes and read the information on the badge pinned to the pocket. Hester was a doctor in the Psychiatric Center.
Marvin rose from the recliner. “I shouldn’t be surprised that the prison guards are on the King Family payroll. Haven’t you caused my brother enough pain? Why would you come here and torture him?”
“Torture him!” Gabrielle shrieked, pushing past Sebastian. “That freak brother of yours released photos of me online this week. Photos he took without me knowing. Without my consent. All to stop me from testifying against him at the parole hearing. That’s real torture.”
Sebastian wrapped his arms around Gabrielle, twisting her away from the man whose face was identical to the one who’d kidnapped and tormented her a decade ago. Even in her rage, he could see how Marvin’s presence had rattled her. Sebastian positioned himself between Gabrielle and Damian’s identical twin.
“You couldn’t stay away. There was no way my brother was getting parole. I only asked for that hearing to show the world how much progress he’d been making,” Marvin said. A pained expression clouded the man’s face, a mixture of anger and defeat. “He was responding to therapy.”
“Therapy? You arranged for some shrink to try to fix him?”
“I’m the shrink, and yes, I was making headway helping my brother to work through his obsession and psychosis about you. But with one single video, you erased years of progress.” Marvin walked over to Damian’s bed. “Now look at him. We don’t know if he’ll survive the heart attack and the stroke.”
“Maybe he shouldn’t attack prison guards if he doesn’t want to get hurt,” Gabrielle retorted.
“And maybe I should alert the police that you bribed a guard to get in to see my brother. I wonder what your millions of followers would think about that? Show them the real Gabrielle and not the fake version you’ve been flaunting in all those ridiculous videos,” Marvin said.
“Go ahead. I came here for one reason: to tell your brother that he won’t ever hurt me again,” Gabrielle said. She glanced at Sebastian, and the spark was in her eyes. The fighter within her was back. “From the looks of things, I might get the last words between us. Damian doesn’t look like he’s going to survive. I won’t shed any tears if he dies. Good riddance.”
Marvin charged Gabrielle. “My brother is hanging on for his fucking life and you say, ‘good riddance.’ I hate you for what you did to him. He needed psychological help. Not a fucking prison cell. You bitch!”
Sebastian rushed at Marvin, stopped his forward momentum, and crashed him into the wall. His hand gripped the man’s neck as he thrashed and tried to break free. “Didn’t I tell you if you insulted Gabrielle again, it would be the last thing you do? I’m a man of my word.” Sebastian pushed harder into the man’s throat, cutting off his airway. Marvin gasped and groped for air, swinging wildly, trying to break free. Futile efforts that couldn’t stop Sebastian. He had no qualms with ending this fucker’s life right here and right now. Another call to Adonis and any evidence of the incident would be erased.
The sound of his name broke his intense focus. Gabrielle grabbed him, trying in vain to pull him back with no success.
“Don’t, Sebastian. Please, don’t do this. Not for me,” Gabrielle pleaded. “Let him go.”
He took a deep breath and then released his chokehold from Marvin. The man slid to the floor, glaring up at him. Thank goodness he knew better than to utter another word.
Gabrielle’s arm slid around his waist. “Come on. Let’s get out of here. This was a mistake.” She tugged him against her body.
He turned and looked down at her gorgeous face. “You sure?”
“Yes. He’s not worth it. I thought I needed this, but I don’t.”
Sebastian trailed a hand across her skin, stroking her chin. She leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. “Alright. Let’s go—”
Alarms blared in the room as white and blue lights flashed overhead. Gabrielle stumbled back against him as they turned to see Damian thrashing in the bed. His eyes were open wide and locked onto Gabrielle. A pen dangled in Damian’s hand on top of jagged letters drawn on a notepad resting on his lap.
Gabrielle screamed as Marvin scrambled from the floor and started CPR on his brother. In seconds, nurses and doctors crammed into the tight space, working to save that miserable bastard’s life.
Sebastian had a tight hold on Gabrielle as they retreated to the corner watching in awe. Seconds turned to minutes until the steady sound of the flatline pierced the air. Marvin stumbled away from the bed and glared at Gabrielle.
“That’s it,” one of the doctors said. “Official time of death is two forty-two a.m.”
“Come on, let me take you home,” Sebastian whispered in Gabrielle’s ear. She hadn’t taken her eyes off Damian the whole time. He had a feeling he was going to need to carry her from the spot. He wasn’t sure if she could hear him or process what was happening. She was in shock.
