Page 197 of Taming Seraphine

I glance down at Seraphine to gauge her reaction, but her eyes are closed and her lips are pursed. Gabriel pauses until she exhales an annoyed breath and meets his gaze.

“Dad said he was doing everything he could to keep his family together. He said he needed me to be strong and donate my liver so he could continue defending us from the Montesanos.”

“Mom knew all along that it was bullshit,” Seraphine says, her voice bitter.

Gabriel nods. “Before she left, she told me she had no choice. Dad held her hostage and forced her to keep up his lie.”

“What do you think?” she asks.

“Mom and Dad got along just fine after he recovered from the first transplant.” He shrugs. “When Dad needed my liver again, I kept asking her to leave with me, but she kept telling me it wasn’t safe.”

“Wow,” she whispers.

Gabriel swallows. “You’ve got to believe me, Sera. If I’d known you weren’t dead—” He breaks off, his voice choked with emotion. “If I’d known for one second that you were alive, I would have done everything in my power to find you.”

“I know,” she murmurs. “Dad told me Mom was dead, and he threatened to kill you if I didn’t do what he said.”

“What did he...”

She closes her eyes again and inhales several ragged breaths. I can’t even begin to imagine her inner turmoil. One of the reasons she wanted to tame her killer instincts was to hide them from Gabriel.

“He turned me into an assassin,” she says.

“What?” Gabriel whispers.

“He and his other sons made me kill Enzo Montesano.”

My jaw tightens at the reminder of the circumstances of Uncle Enzo’s death. “Everyone who knows this secret is dead,” I snarl. “You must never repeat it, not even to Seraphine.”

Gabriel shoots me a glance. “Who is this guy?”

“The one who saved me.” She squeezes my hand. “Leroi has been my protector since he found me in Dad’s basement.”

His features drop, and he stares between Seraphine and me with wild eyes. I can already imagine him putting pieces together to create a picture of the truth.

“What are you saying?” he rasps.

“Dad kept me in a basement, and his sons only let me out to kill his enemies.”

Gabriel turns his attention back to me. “And you’re the one who killed Dad?”

I nod.

“Thank you,” he says, his words choked with sobs. “Thank you for saving my sister. Thank you for killing that bastard. You freed us both.”

Seraphine releases my hand and rises off the sofa. I resist the urge to hold her back. Gabriel isn’t in any trouble. This isn’t the same as our other interrogations. He’s just as much of a victim of Capello.

Gabriel stands, his thin chest rising and falling with each breath. He gazes down at Seraphine through tears. “I’m sorry, Sera. I’m sorry for everything that happened to you. I should have known you were alive. I should have looked.”

She places a hand over his heart. “I’m sorry, too. I should have known Dad’s threats were pointless. I could have tried to break free and rescued you.”

My chest tightens. I don’t like how they’re both taking responsibility for not seeing through Capello’s actions when they were both victims of his sick machinations.

“Neither of you are to blame,” I say. “You were kids, trying to survive a psychopath.”

Seraphine rests her head on Gabriel’s chest, and he wraps his arms around her shoulders. They cling to each other, whispering words of comfort, reconnection, and love.

I stand back and turn away, both to afford them some privacy and in awe of their sibling bond. My former family was once the same: a mother, two children, and a violent maniac.