Page 68 of Blue in the Deep Blue Sea

“What exactly?” she asked.

“You came to my house so many times when we were kids. Your mum always brought you with her. I don’t know how you didn’t realize there was something going on between them.”

She was quiet for a long moment.

“I knew,” she said honestly.

My hands began to shake.

The truth was, I’d known too, and I hadn’t told her. She’d probably thought the same thing.

“I saw them together a few times, and some things didn’t make sense to me when I was a child. Later, I started putting the pieces together.”

“You think things would have been different if they had stayed together after… you know… my mother…?”

“No,” she said simply. “My mother is such a selfish person that she would have dragged us all to the bottom. I think that’s one of the reasons your father left her right after your mother died.”

She drew in a slow breath. “I pushed it away for a long time because she dragged me everywhere with her when I was a child, like she wanted me to see every ugly part of the world. And when I met your mother, she realized maybe she could use me to distract her, and I hated that part.”

That hurt more than anything she’d said so far. She had known them. She had understood them. But she had never understood me. Why I was so angry because of it…

I shot to my feet.

“So you knew?” My jaw locked. “You knew all this time that your mum was fucking my dad while you were out in the garden drawing with my mum?”

“No,” she said, reaching for the words, but I cut her off.

“Save your fucking excuses, Gabriella.”

I turned and stormed out of the cave, leaving her behind.

She scrambled after me.

“Don’t leave me.”

“You deserve it.” The words shot from my mouth.

“You deserve to be alone.” My hands flew to my temples as pressure built inside my skull. “Do you know how much it hurts? Knowing you knew all along, and you kept coming to see my mum while your mother was sleeping with my dad behind our backs?”

Each word came out sharper than the last.

“You’re just like her. You’re just like your mother.”

Her eyes filled with tears.

“That’s not true, Oliver.”

She took another step.

“Don’t come any closer.” I pointed at her, my hand shaking. “You and your mother are the main reason my mother is dead. Maybe Gianni too, since he’s the spitting image of our father.” I laughed bitterly. “But you probably knew that as well.”

“Excuse me?” she whispered. “Gianni is… whose son?”

“Yes.” A hollow laugh escaped me. “Imagine that. He’s my brother too. It’s a wonder you’re not as well. Then we could all have been one big happy family. Seems your father screwed up their plan.”

“I hate you.”

She turned away, tears spilling freely.