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“Is that all?” she asked, leaning back into his chair. “This is comfy.”
“It is. It’s one hell of a chair. How are you feeling?”
“I’m in the process of making myself some soup. I was sick an hour ago. Felipe does keep coming in and checking on me. The poor man. I’m sure I’ve scarred him for life.”
Gabe chuckled. “I’ll be home in a couple of hours. Take care.”
“Bye.” She hung up the phone and leaned back. This was the one room she rarely came in, even when Gabe was home. She tried to stay out of his business side of things.
For the past couple of days, she’d suffered a horrendous sickness. The first thing they did was take a test. Gabe hadn’t been happy with the negative result, and so, they’d gone to the doctor’s. Blood work had confirmed she wasn’t pregnant, she but did in fact have a viral infection.
Staring at Gabe’s desk, she ran her hands across the surface.
She wondered how many decisions had been made in that very spot. How many lives had been destroyed.
Curiosity getting the better of her for a change, she opened several drawers. On the last, she was about to close it, seeing nothing of any importance. Her name on the tab stopped her.
She kept the drawer open and just stared at it.
Then, when she could stand it no longer, she pulled out the file and placed it on top of the other. Something had fallen out of the bottom and she bent down to pick it up, freezing as she caught sight of him.
She hadn’t seen his image in over seven years. The moment she graduated, she’d gotten the hell out of there. Took her money and what few possessions she had, and left.
On the lead-up to graduation, he’d been trying to negotiate for longer. He’d enjoyed having a personal fuck toy, and he’d wanted to keep her close. He offered her an apartment, an allowance, anything. She told him they’d talk after graduation. Instead, she’d packed up and left.
Gabe had this file. She opened it up and saw more of her life laid out before her.
The birth certificate the foster home had given her. School records. There was even a police record. This was everything he had on her.
She covered her mouth, closed the document, and threw up in the trash can beside the table. Once she was done, she picked up the bucket and the file, and left the room. Perspiration dotted her brow.
She cleaned out the bucket and took it back to beside the desk.
For the rest of the afternoon, she sat on the sofa with the file on the table in front of her. She shouldn’t have been looking. This was what happened when you look for things you should never try to find.
Tears filled her eyes.
Gabe had known. When she’d been spilling her soul to him, he’d known all along. This was all a game to him. He wanted her to open up, and now that she had, what did he want?
Liza had said to never allow the man to make you vulnerable, to see a weakness. She’d broken her friend’s rule.
The sound of the door opening made her tense.
“Babe?” Gabe said.
She stayed perfectly still, waiting for him to arrive. He entered the living room, which was directly down from the hallway.
“Laura?” he asked.
“I didn’t mean to snoop,” she said. She kept her arms folded and stared straight ahead. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him coming closer.
“But you did,” he said.
“I was just opening drawers.” She turned to look at him. “You have an entire file on me. You have … you knew everything.”
“I didn’t,” he said.
“Don’t lie. Please, don’t lie,” she said.
“I’m not lying. I had an inkling of what was going on, but I didn’t know the truth.”
She got to her feet and paced. Even sick and weak, the anger filled her body, giving her at least some energy. “How could you?”
“You know who I am.”
“Yes, but I’m nothing. There was nothing to know. Why did you have to go hunting into my shitty past?”
“You wouldn’t give it to me willingly. I needed to know everything about you, and I’m not a patient man.”
She shook her head. “You don’t need this anymore. Why did you keep it?” She looked at him and shook her head. “No. No. You didn’t.”
Gabe said nothing.
She went to the file and pulled out his picture. “Tell me you didn’t.”
“Are you in love with him?” Gabe asked.
“What?”
“You heard me.”
“I told you that information in confidence. I didn’t expect you to kill him. I don’t want to be the one responsible for his death.” She screamed the last part. “He had a family who cared.”
“You weren’t the only one. Did you know that?”
This made her stop. “What?”
“They fostered again. About six months after you left. A fourteen-year-old girl. She killed herself. Then they did so again. This girl ran away as far as she could.”
