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There was a pause. "Were you cheating on me, Giselle?"
"Cheating?" she asked, looking around frantically, wishing to find strength in words so she could explain this to him. "There is no us!"
He stared at her, his eyes red. "There will always be an us, Giselle. People don't just stop loving each other. People shouldn't just give up after a small bump on the road. Let's find a solution to this."
She took a deep breath and let it out shakily. "I understand. I wanted to give you another chance. I did," she spoke softly and raised her hands in surrender, but the next words came harsher than she'd intended, "But my father isn't abumpin the road!"
He panted, then gulped. "I understand." He took a step toward her. "But I don't think we can change the past. I didn't know..."
Her jaw clenched. "You didn't know that it was your gang who got my father killed? And it's not even about that! I will live my entire life with this guilt that..." She choked on a sob.
He waited. His hand twitched by his side as if it was taking all his strength to stand still. Behind him, Chris stirred, and a weight lifted off her shoulders.
She continued, "My father is dead because of me! It's your fault! If I hadn't met you, if I hadn't loved you with everything I had, my father would still be alive. You know it! It was your gang, your people, your problems! Why did I have to suffer?" She gestured between herself and Chris. "Why didwehave to suffer? I lost my only family because I wanted to start a new one with you... Serves me right for loving a man like you."
Xavier stumbled back a step as if her words had physically hurt him. "You regret loving me."
She wanted to scream and tell him that it wasn't him she regretted loving, it was the consequences that followed. She wanted him to know that she'd still give anything to see a smile on his face, but she couldn't give him herself. She wished he'd understand that she could no longer look at him without the guilt and devastation of her father's death weighing her down.
"Giselle." He walked forward till he cupped her face in his hands. His tears fell as he choked on his words, "I have never loved anyone the way I've loved you. You're my entire world, my family, my friend, the reason I'm alive... I don't have anyone except you, Giselle."
She inhaled a sharp breath and let out a sob. Torn between her desire to make it all okay for him and the realization that it'll never be normal after this, she closed her eyes, letting her tears fall.
"Please, say something, I'm dying." He leaned in, towering over her. "I don't know what I'll do without you... This world is dark if you're not in it... Please, just come back to me."
She stayed silent, shaking her head.
He let out a growl and slapped the wall beside her head, making her squeal in shock as he roared, "It wasn't my fault! They tricked me! I didn't know it was your father! They told me I had to kill this random man, and then I'd be free to go. I did this foryou!"
The confession hit her like lightning, shaking her entire existence.
It was him.
Xavier had killed her father.
All the while, he manipulated her into believing that he didn't know that it was his gang, it was actually him.
All this time, it was him.
White flashes blinded her—her final moments with Abbott, Xavier coming to break her the news, his bloodied shirt, his lies, her father's corpse, her last words to him...
"I hate you..."
Her chest tightened, and she whispered, "Please, let me go."
"No, please..."
"You killed my father... It was you..."
There was a small pause. "It wasn't my fault!"
"Let me go!" she screamed, oxygen thinning in her air.
He pulled back a few inches. She looked at his panicked face. "It wasn't—"
"It was you! All this time, I thought you only lied to me about your gang, but in reality, you were the one who held the gun. I can't look at you! I don't wanna be in the same room with you!"
"It wasn't my fault," he whispered.
