Fallen Angel (The London Ruthless Series Book 2)

by Sadie Kincaid

  ‘Why would she paint those things?’ I asked.

  Gabriel shook his head. ‘I don’t know.’

  ‘Homewrecker? Did you and her … again?’

  He glared at me. ‘No! Of course we didn’t.’

  ‘Then why would she do that? Does she think that you and her are together or something? Why would she think that, Gabe? Did you make her promises? Lead her on?’ I heard my voice getting higher with each question and knew that I was firing questions at him faster than he could answer, but the fact that Jennifer had written those horrible things had me completely rattled.

  Why would she do such a thing?

  ‘Well?’ I demanded.

  He leaned forward in his chair and took hold of my hands. ‘Sam! I don’t know why she’s done this, but I swear to you I have done nothing to make her think that there is anything between us. Even before I found out the truth about the baby, I didn’t give her even the tiniest hint that she would ever be anything to me. I love you. You know that. She knows that. That can be the only reason she’s done this. Because she’s hurt. She’s angry and she’s jealous and she just wants to cause more shit between us.’

  I stared up at him and wanted to believe him.

  ‘For fuck’s sake, Sam,’ he snapped as he tried to keep a lid on his already frayed temper. ‘I know that I kept something from you, and I know that I hurt you, but I have never lied to you. There is no-one but you. How can you doubt that?’

  I was saved from answering by a knock at the door. A few seconds later, Nick popped his head in. ‘The police want to speak to you,’ he said apologetically.

  I’d forgotten Beth had contacted the police. But they’d responded quickly to a bit of graffiti.

  ‘Of course,’ I said. ‘Show them in.’

  Nick opened the door wider and two police officers, one male and one female, walked into the room.

  ‘Miss Donovan,’ the woman said. ‘I’m Constable Mallory and this is Constable Edwards. We’re here about the graffiti.’

  I nodded. ‘Of course. Have a seat.’

  They both sat and down and Constable Edwards took out his notepad. ‘Have you checked the CCTV?’ he asked, nodding his head towards the monitor.

  ‘Yes. We know who’s responsible. And we don’t want to press charges,’ I said. I had no desire to drag the whole thing out further with a possible court case. ‘But perhaps you could have a word with her and warn her off? If she does anything like this again, I’ll pursue a restraining order.’

  ‘Oh?’ Constable Mallory asked with one raised eyebrow. ‘Who is this her you’re referring to?’

  ‘My ex-wife,’ Gabriel answered.

  ‘This is my boyfriend, Gabriel,’ I said.

  The two officers nodded. ‘Has she done something like this before?’ Constable Edwards asked.

  ‘No,’ I replied. ‘Not to me anyway.’

  ‘Any reason why she’d do this now?’

  ‘She’s pregnant,’ I started to say and was about to explain the situation when I caught the look of disdain on Constable Mallory’s face. She rolled her eyes and looked at my own bump, and I felt my cheeks flush pink – both in embarrassment and anger.

  ‘So your wife is also pregnant?’ she said to Gabriel.

  ‘No, I haven’t had a wife for some time. My ex-wife is also pregnant with someone else’s baby,’ he snarled at her and she at least had the good grace to look contrite.

  We answered some further questions and the two police officers left and promised they would speak to Jennifer as soon as they could.

  Gabriel showed them out and then closed the door behind them before walking back over to me. He sat beside me and put an arm around my shoulder. I leaned against him and he kissed the top of my head.

  ‘I’m sorry, baby,’ he breathed against my hair. ‘Are you okay?’

  ‘I’ll be fine. And your ex-wife writing some nasty stuff on my windows kind of pales in comparison to what my crazy ex-husband’s brother did to you, doesn’t it?’

  ‘That’s really not the point,’ he said. ‘I could fucking kill her.’

  ‘Just let the police deal with her. Hopefully, she’ll get the message and we can forget about her,’ I said as I sat up and checked my watch. ‘Anyway, I need to get a move on, I have a meeting to prep for.’

  I stood up and Gabriel stood with me, fastening the buttons on his jacket as he did. We stood awkwardly and it felt like our world was off kilter once again.

  Damn Jennifer! I could happily kill her myself.

  ‘I’ll see you later then,’ Gabriel said and gave me a kiss on the cheek.

  ‘See you later,’ I said and watched him walk out of the room.

  Chapter 38

  Gabriel

  I climbed into my car and took a deep breath to try and calm my hammering heart. Just when things with me and Samantha were getting back on track, Jennifer goes and pulls a stunt like this.

  What the hell was she thinking? As if she hadn’t caused me enough fucking misery these past weeks. I could hardly believe she’d written those things about Samantha. She clearly didn’t appreciate irony if she believed that it was Samantha who was the homewrecking whore.

  I took out my phone and rang Scott Thomas. He answered on the second ring.

  ‘Hiya, Boss.’

  ‘Hi Scott. I’m going to need you and a few lads at my Oak Road flat.’

  ‘The place where your ex-wife is staying?’

  ‘Yeah. Give me an hour and then I’ll text you the details of what I need you to do.’

  ‘Okay, Boss,’ he said.

  I ended the call and started the engine. It was time to pay Jennifer a visit and remind her exactly who she was fucking with.

  Thirty minutes later, I was standing outside the door of my Oak Road apartment waiting for the door to be answered. I had a key and I’d use it if I needed to, but I’d prefer to give her the opportunity to open the door herself. She did a few seconds later and took a step back when she saw me. Her face paled as she stared at me.

  She opened her mouth to speak, but I pushed my way into the flat, barging past her and into the sitting room. Seeing her handbag on the sofa, I picked it up and handed it to her. ‘Let’s go,’ I snapped.

  ‘What? Where?’ she asked, her mouth hanging open in shock and horror.

  ‘Just fucking move, or I swear to God, I’ll carry you out of here,’ I said.

  She blinked at me, no doubt weighing up whether I would follow through with my threat. She knew me well enough to know that I would, and she started to walk out of the flat.

  I followed her, locking the door behind me and leaving the key under the mat for Scott. We walked silently down the stairs and out of the building. I pressed the key fob to unlock my car and opened the door for her. She looked up at me, her eyes full of fear. A part of me wanted her to suffer, but the other part of me remembered that she was pregnant, and while she was a bitch, her baby was completely innocent.

  ‘I’m not going to hurt you,’ I sighed. ‘Just get in the fucking car.’

  I saw the relief wash over her face and she climbed into the passenger seat.

  We drove along in silence for a few minutes while I tried to get my anger under control. My hands gripped the steering wheel and she sat tapping her foot on the floor. I could see her handbag jostling up and down on her lap out of the corner of my eye.

  ‘What the fuck were you thinking going to Samantha’s office and scrawling that shit all over her windows?’ I snapped.

  ‘I didn’t ..’ she started.

  ‘You’re on fucking CCTV, Jennifer. Is lying just your fucking default mode?’ She started to cry and I rolled my eyes. ‘Oh, give it a rest. The tears don’t fucking wash with me any more.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I don’t know what came over me. I went for a walk because I couldn’t sleep, and I was walking past, and I just …’ she sobbed.

  ‘You just happened to be walking past with a can of spray paint?’ I snarled.

  ‘Actually,
I was. I bought it yesterday. I was going to spray some wooden picture frames and it was in my handbag.’

  ‘The police were called. They’ll be wanting a word with you, it worked out quite well that you’re still registered as living with your sister. And fortunately for you, Samantha didn’t want to press charges. Unlike you, she’s not a vindictive bitch!’ I snarled.

  She continued crying and I kept driving.

  ‘Please tell Samantha I’m sorry,’ she sniffed as she rummaged around in her handbag. I pulled a tissue from my inside pocket and handed it to her. I had taken to carrying them around in recent months, since I always seemed to be making someone cry.

  ‘Thank you,’ she said as she took it from me and dabbed her eyes.

  ‘Why did you do it?’ I asked, feeling slightly calmer.

  ‘I don’t know,’ she shook her head.

  ‘Yes you do. For once, can you stop lying and give me the truth? Don’t you think I deserve that after all the shit you’ve pulled?’

  She was quiet for a few seconds. ‘I was jealous,’ she finally admitted. ‘I am jealous. Samantha has everything I want. She has this perfect life, while it feels like I struggle for everything.’

  I bit the inside of my cheek to stop myself from correcting her. The truth was that it was Samantha who’d had to struggle in life. Jennifer had always had everything handed to her and she’d never had to work for anything. She was entitled and spoiled and over the years, it seemed those traits had only got worse.

  ‘You had the perfect life once,’ I couldn’t help but remind her. ‘And you threw it away so you could screw your personal trainer.’

  She started sobbing again. ‘I know. I’m so sorry, Gabriel. If I could take that back, I would. It’s the biggest regret of my life.’

  ‘Even more than sleeping with your sister’s husband?’ I asked and I saw the colour flush across her cheeks.

  ‘Yes,’ she sniffed. ‘I wish I could go back and change it.’

  ‘Well, to be honest, Jennifer, I don’t,’ I said.

  She turned and stared at me. ‘What?’

  ‘I wouldn’t change it. I forgave you for the affair a long time ago. I know that I played my part. I wasn’t around as much as I should have been. But I think we both know we would have never worked out in the long term.’

  ‘We would. We loved each other. Didn’t we?’

  I turned to her. ‘Of course we did. But …’

  ‘But what?’

  ‘I loved you Jennifer, but we weren’t exactly compatible. We had nothing in common.’

  ‘Well, sometimes, opposites attract,’ she offered. ‘So you and Samantha are compatible, are you?’

  ‘Yes, actually. And besides that, she brings out the best in me.’

  ‘Oh, God, no,’ she rolled her eyes so hard I thought they might get stuck in the back of her head.

  ‘What?’ I snapped.

  ‘Next you’ll be telling me she makes you want to be a better man,’ she sniped as she stuck her fingers down her throat and made an exaggerated vomiting noise.

  ‘Well, she fucking does. But I can’t imagine being with you makes anyone want to be better, Jennifer, because compared to you, most people are pretty fucking decent.’

  She turned and glared at me. ‘You think you’re better than me? You think she’s better than me?’ she hissed.

  ‘Yes! You’re sitting here pregnant by your sister’s husband. You claim you loved me but when we were married, you had an affair for six months behind my back. You’ve been to my girlfriend’s place of work and sprayed disgusting lies about her all over her building.’

  ‘Whatever,’ she sniffed as she turned away from me and stared out of the window. ‘Where are we going anyway?’

  ‘To somewhere where you’ll no longer be my responsibility,’ I said.

  She turned to me then, her eyes wide and her face pale, her mood doing another complete one-eighty turn. ‘You’re not going to kill me, are you?’ she asked.

  ‘For fuck’s sake. Of course I’m not. Fucking hell, Jennifer,’ I shook my head.

  ‘Okay. Remember, I know who you are, Gabriel,’ she said.

  ‘Clearly not, if you think I’d kill you. Jesus Christ!’

  We drove on until we turned into a tree lined street. ‘I can’t go back here,’ she said anxiously as she realised where we were.

  ‘Oh yes, you fucking can,’ I replied as I pulled up outside her sister’s house. ‘Out of the fucking car.’

  She unclipped her seatbelt and I got out and opened the door for her.

  I walked up the path and rang the doorbell while Jennifer loitered behind me. A moment later, her sister’s husband, Steve answered.

  I smiled at him. ‘I’m glad it’s you. I’ve got something that belongs to you,’ I said as I took hold of Jennifer’s hand and pulled her towards me.

  Steve started stuttering and stammering. ‘She can’t be here …’ he started.

  ‘Really?’ I snarled. ‘She’s fucking seven months pregnant with your baby, you spineless piece of shit. If she can’t be here, then you’d better dig into those deep pockets of yours and find her somewhere else to be.’

  Steve leaned forward. ‘I can’t. Emily will kill me,’ he whispered. ‘We’re trying to work on our marriage.’

  I leaned in closer to him. ‘If you don’t start acting like a man and take some responsibility for this mess you’ve helped to make, then I will fucking kill you,’ I hissed. ‘And I don’t make idle threats, Steve. So step up, or I will fucking step on you. You should have thought about your marriage before you fucked your wife’s sister!’ I snarled.

  At this point, I saw Emily’s face appear at the doorway behind him. She looked drawn and tired. I felt for her, she was as much a victim in this as anyone, but she wasn’t my responsibility.

  ‘What the hell is going on?’ Emily asked.

  ‘Your sister needs support. From the father of her baby. Whether you sit back and watch the pair of them fuck you over again, is entirely up to you,’ I said.

  Then I turned to Jennifer. ‘Your stuff is being delivered here in a couple of hours. I hope that baby of yours is healthy and you both have a great life, Jennifer, I mean that. But I will never forgive you for what you did and for the pain you’ve caused Samantha. I never want to see your face again.’

  Then I walked down the path and closed the gate behind me as I listened to the three of them start squabbling between themselves.

  Chapter 39

  Samantha

  Gabriel had been edgy throughout the drive home from my office. I wondered if it was to do with what had happened earlier that morning. I had a hunch he’d been and spoken to Jennifer himself. But I didn’t dare ask him about it.

  I would do at some point, but I was too tired for another argument with him right then. I wanted us to get back to the way we used to be. I sat at the kitchen table and watched him as he took off his jacket and tie before he sat at the table opposite me.

  ‘I want to talk to you about something, but I want you to know that I’m not trying to cause an argument, Sam.’

  ‘Okay,’ I eyed him suspiciously. ‘I don’t want an argument either, despite how hot you look when you’re angry,’ I said, trying to lighten then mood.

  He half-smiled at me. ‘Can we be serious for a minute?’

  ‘Okay. I’m listening,’ I said as I sat forward in my seat. ‘What is it?’

  He looked at me with those incredible green eyes. ‘Why do you run?’ he asked softly.

  I frowned at him. I hated running. I much preferred yoga or a good spin class. It took a second before the proverbial penny dropped. That obviously wasn’t what he meant.

  He stared at me intently, waiting for my answer. He was so insightful and he knew me so well. He knew why I ran when things got hard. ‘Why do you think I run?’ I challenged him.

  ‘Because you’re scared,’ he replied. ‘But I don’t understand what you’re scared of. I know you’re not scared of me, because you w
ouldn’t let me do the things I do to you if you were. So, what are you afraid of?’

  ‘I’m scared of my feelings for you. Of how much power you have over me, Gabe.’

  ‘But why? I would never use that against you. You must know that?’

  I nodded as a tear slipped down my cheek. ‘I know. But you don’t get it.’

  He stood up and knelt before me, clasping my hands in his. ‘Then help me to, Sam Please?’

  I reached out and touched his face. He was right. If we were ever going to have a shot at making this work, he should know what makes me tick.

  ‘After my mum died, I promised myself that I would never be dependent on anyone again. And then I went to live with my dad, and he was so amazing. But I always tried to keep him at a distance because I couldn’t have dealt with losing him too. That’s why I gave him such a hard time and that just seemed to make him more protective of me. Even though I knew he loved me and was only trying to look out for me, I felt suffocated by him. I turned his life upside down and he never once complained. He gave up so much of his life for me, and I can never repay that. I felt like a burden to him and I hated it.’ I stopped talking and wiped a tear from my cheek.

  ‘You were never a burden and he never gave up anything for you. He’s your dad, Sam. That’s kind of his job. He adores you and he would do anything for you.’

  I nodded. ‘I know that, logically. But when I was a teenager, I couldn’t see the truth of it all. So I ran off to uni, didn’t I? Determined to prove that I was tough and could look after myself. And then I met Jackson, and well, look how well that turned out. I ended up with a man who controlled every aspect of my life for twelve years – because I was weak. He chose me because I was pathetic. I finally found the courage to leave him and I started to feel independent and strong again. But then you happened, and my feelings for you make me feel vulnerable and that makes me feel … weak.’

  He frowned. ‘Being vulnerable doesn’t make you weak, Sam.’

  ‘I know that. But that’s how I feel.’