82. Say goodbye

ERICA

“Gabe, please, calm down. Just listen to me for a second.” But he wasn’t listening. A different chopper than the one I had seen Antonio use waited for us near the tree line. And Gabriel dragged me towards it. “Just listen to me, please.” I requested him again.

He stopped abruptly and I had to catch myself before slamming into him. Looking down at me with his angry blue gaze, he demanded, “What should I listen to? What is it that you have to tell me when everything is already crystal clear?”

“It isn't what you think... Antonio wasn't torturing me—”

His eyes widened. He grabbed my shoulders like he wanted to shake some sense into me. “What has happened to you, Erica? Snap out of it!” He cupped my face, the emotions in his eyes very rarely available to see apart from when he was with my sister. Despite the way his eyes showed his emotions, his words carried the whip of his anger. “The pictures,” He ground out through clenched teeth as if it pained him to say that, “Do you even kno