Gabriel’s POV
She couldn’t calm down. I could see how scared she was. I didn’t think she would be able to tell us anything. But I had to find out. Was it Victor? Did she know something?
She could show us the memory. But I needed her to calm down first. She was a mess, and she was afraid of Nick and me. We needed to leave her with Annie for a while. Once she was calm enough, she could perform a spell and let us see. If she wanted to, of course.
“Aria, love, please,” Nick said. “Talk to us.”
She shook her head and continued sobbing. Annie was holding her and speaking softly to her. I couldn’t hear what she was saying, but she was probably consoling her, although I didn’t think she could be consoled that easily. She looked broken. Whatever happened to her was terrible.
“Nick,” I called him. “How about we let her calm down a bit?”
“What?” he asked angrily. “No, I am not leaving.”
“Yes, you are,” I said strictly. “Let Annie be with her for a while. You and I are going to make dinner.”
He growled and clenched his fists. He wasn’t going to move.
I walked to him and grabbed his forearm. I started dragging him out of the room. At first, he resisted but then he started following me. I closed my bedroom door, and we went downstairs.
“Why did you make me leave?” he growled as soon as we entered the kitchen.
I sighed. “She is afraid, Nick. Of us. It hurts me too to leave her, but she needs to be alone for a while.”
He ran his hand through his hair and sighed. “I know. But it is killing me.”
“Whatever happened, a man did it,” I said and grabbed a beer from the fridge. “She let Annie hold her, not us.”
“Or she let Annie hold her because she knows her, and we are just strangers to her,” he added.
I didn’t think of that. But I thought my theory was correct. Maybe because of that fucker from that bakery. I had a bad feeling about him. He told her she belonged to him. That was some fucked up shit.
“Could be,” I said and sat at the table. “But I think it has something to do with that bastard from the bakery.”
Nick’s eyes widened. “Of course! It is him. It has to be him.”
I nodded and sipped my beer. Nick’s fists clenched and he got angry.
“What do you think he did to her?” he growled.
I didn’t want to think about that. I knew, but I didn’t want it to be right. If I was, I was going to rip him apart. And put him back together so I could rip him apart again. If I was right, I wanted him to suffer.
“I have a pretty good guess,” I said. “But I want her to tell us. Because I don’t want to be right.”
“If he has touched her…” he growled, his eyes blackening.
“Nate,” I said calmly. “Go back. Don’t scare her even more. I promise we will kill the motherfucker who hurt her, but you need to be calm around her and make her feel safe, not scared.”
He growled before giving the control back to Nick. He sighed and placed his head in his hands.
“I need you to take me to Louis’s bar and buy me a few bottles of that cheap wine,” he muttered.
I laughed. “I promise I will, man.”
He grunted and sipped his beer.
My phone rang in my pocket. I took it out and saw it was Sebastian.
“Hey, man,” I answered and got up.
“Gabe,” a rough voice said. “I have the info you wanted.”
I had completely forgotten about this. I had asked him for all the info about Patricia Jones, he could get me. I thought it would take him a bit longer, but the man worked fast.
“Thanks, man,” I said. “When is my shift?”
“Tomorrow,” he answered. “The envelope will be at my desk. I will not be here. I have some business outside the city. Don’t kill anyone. Just beat them good and throw them out.”
I laughed. “You got it, boss.”
We hung up and I turned to Nick.
“We have info on Patricia Jones,” I said and sat back down at the table.
“I completely forgot about that,” Nick sighed. “So, your shift is tomorrow?”
“Yes. I will pick up the info then,” I said. “Are you coming with me?”
“Yes,” he said. “I need to drink.”
We heard footsteps coming down the stairs and Annie entered the kitchen.
Nick jumped up. “Where is she?”
“Calm down,” she told him. “She is taking a shower. She said she will come downstairs after and show us what had happened.”
I suddenly got very nervous. What will we see?
Aria’s POV
I was standing in the shower staring at the wall. The water was burning hot, but I was still not warm enough. My body was frozen, and I couldn’t warm myself up.
My grandma had erased my memories right after it happened. When I woke up from the spell, I had a feeling I was still there. I could do nothing but scream.
I didn’t know if I should be mad at my grandma or thankful to her.
She took away my choice. She took away the opportunity to deal with what happened and heal. Now I felt like too much time had passed to bring it up. I felt guilty for being afraid.
On the other hand, I knew she was just trying to protect me. Make me forget that horrible night. She was trying to make up for what she did by giving me better memories. Prettier life.
A life that was a big, ugly lie. In the end, she only made me feel worse. She gave me something beautiful, only for it to be replaced with the horrible truth.
I sighed and turned the shower off.
I wrapped myself in a towel and stared at the mirror.
I didn’t recognize the girl staring back at me. My eyes were puffy and red and my skin was pale. I looked confused and afraid.
Cassie would have made me put makeup on. She always loved makeup.
Oh, Goddess, how I missed her. I missed Jake. My Jake. He had probably moved on. I couldn’t blame him. I disappeared from their lives. They probably thought I was dead.
I felt tears welling back again and placed my hand over my mouth to muffle a sob that escaped.
Should I even mess up their lives by coming back after four years? Should I just stay here? But I missed them terribly. It felt like they were by my side yesterday.
And what about Nick? And Gabriel? And Annie? They cared for me. I knew they did. And I cared for them. But they weren’t my family. Cassie and Jake were.
And what about that monster? He found me. He said he would, and he did. I am not safe here anymore. But would I be safe there? Would I be safe from him anywhere? He told me I belonged to him, and I started to believe him.
Most importantly, what would happen to the people around me? He was crazy enough to hurt them. If anything happened to them because of me…
My stomach twisted and I ran to the toilet.
After throwing up a few times, I was finally able to stand up and rinse my mouth.
I cleaned my teeth and got dressed. I needed to go downstairs and show them what had happened.
Not that I wanted to, but I could feel how afraid and angry Nick was and if I didn’t show them, he was going to look for himself. And I didn’t want him to see other things.
Like my grandma hitting me. Telling me I was a mistake. I needed to figure out that part by myself and I didn’t want them to know about it.
Also, I didn’t want him to see that I was planning on running away. That was the only way to protect them from him. I couldn’t be around them. I was a danger to them.
So, If I didn’t want him to snoop around in my mind, I had to show him myself.
I took a few deep breaths before walking out of my room and going downstairs. I could hear them talking in the living room.
I walked in and the three of them looked up at me and smiled.
I walked slowly to the empty sofa and sat down.
Nick and Gabriel were sitting on a couch and Annie was on the other sofa, opposite me.
I gave them a small smile and they visibly relaxed. I could tell they were happy that I had calmed down a bit. Well, on the outside. Inside, I was screaming.
Gabriel and Nick moved closer to me, and I tensed up. I couldn’t have them touch me. It was too much. And I guess this explained my confused feelings towards Nick earlier. Liking his touch, but at the same time fearing it. Some part of me always knew what had happened to me.
“I am sorry, Aria,” Gabriel said. “We didn’t mean to scare you.”
“It is okay,” I said quietly. “I know you don’t want to hurt me, but my body reacts differently, and it is hard for me to control it.”
“I get it,” Gabriel said and smiled back at me.
“Can we see what happened, love?” Nick asked me.
My body warmed up at him calling me love but the fear soon returned.
I nodded and closed my eyes. I placed the memory in a small orb, isolating it from my other memories. I used my power to slowly push it out of me so they could see it, without me having to speak about it.
I opened my eyes, and a glowing orb was in front of us. It was my point of view, of course, so I saw a path I was walking on when it happened. Love and happiness could be felt coming from the orb. Everything I felt because I was thinking about Jake at the time.
The memory started playing out and I lowered my gaze. I couldn’t see that again.
I could hear his footsteps and my muffled scream when he caught me.
“Hello, little bird,” I heard him say. “I have been watching you, little bird. You are beautiful. And you are mine.”
Then more muffled screams could be heard coming from the orb. I shut my eyes tightly and focused on breathing slowly. I didn’t want another panic attack.
I could hear him dragging me and then a small scream before he shut me up again.
“Shh, little bird,” he whispered. “Don’t worry, I will not hurt you. You will enjoy this. And Victor won’t mind me playing with you before I take you to him.”
Fear and sadness were emerging from the orb. I could hear him whispering I was his and my muffled sobs and screams.
There was a loud thump, and I knew this was the moment my grandma came.
There was a lot of yelling, but I didn’t register what they were yelling about so the words were unrecognizable.
“I will be back for you,” I heard next. “You will always be mine. Don’t ever forget that little bird.”
Those were the words that broke me. I will always be his. And he proved that by finding me again.
The next things we could hear were my panicked sobs and my grandma running toward me.
“I am sorry, sweetie,” she said. “I will make it go away. I will make it better. I will make you forget. I will give you a better life. I promise.”
The memory ended and the big glowing orb disappeared.
I was shaking and I couldn’t find the courage to look up. Would they blame me? Would they tell me that I was overreacting?
Loud growling made me look up. It was Nick. He was shaking violently, looking at the empty space where my memory orb was.
I looked at Gabriel and saw the same thing. His warlock aura was visible around him. He was having trouble controlling his powers. He was clenching his fists and staring at the same space as Nick.
I averted my gaze to Annie and saw tears running down her cheeks. She was staring at Nick and Gabriel, and I could see that she didn’t know what to do to calm them down.
