Page 73 of The Price of Power
A bark of humorless laughter echoed through the confines of the car.
“But I did kill my uncle,” he said. “I gave the order that made it happen.”
True.
“But not for personal gain,” I countered. “Not because you wanted to be the head of the family. You did it to give your father the justice he deserved.”
Even as the weight began to ease off my shoulders, I could see Gabriel’s beginning to tense up.
“Don’t tell me what you think I want to hear,” he said.
“I’m not. I’m just telling you what I feel inside,” I told him honestly. “I made a mistake when I judged you so harshly. That’s on me…and I’m sorry for it.”
For a long moment, he didn’t say a word. His eyes didn’t flicker away from the bright red tail lights burning in front of us. He didn’t even blink.
Then, suddenly, as we came to the next intersection, he turned the car hard to the right. I was forced to prop my hands against the dash as the car lunged violently into a dark alley. The headlights illuminated trash cans and cardboard boxes as he slammed the brakes at the end.
Shaking, I struggled to catch my breath as I glanced around the narrow space with wide eyes. “What’s going on? Are you okay?”
Gabriel didn’t answer me. Instead, he turned in his seat to face me head-on.
“Why are you telling me all this?”
I wasn’t sure what to say. I’d never had anyone confront me over an apology before.
“Because I mean it.” It was the truth, after all.
But apparently, it wasn’t the answer that he was after.
Reaching out, he cupped his palm around the back of my neck, holding me fast and making it so I couldn’t turn away from his gaze even if I wanted to.
But I didn’t want to.
In that moment, I realized that I could sit here, staring into his eyes until the end of time, and be perfectly content.
“Telling me you’re sorry won’t change anything.” His voice was so intense, so desperate, that it almost hurt to hear him speak. “It won’t make me forgive your brother his debt.”
“I know,” I said with a nod.
At this point, I understood all that. While I wasn’t happy about it, I’d come to terms with the fact that I was nothing more than a pawn in this ridiculous game between Gabriel and Theo. My moves and my influence were limited.
All I could do was follow Mrs. Tarolli’s example and love them both regardless.
“Then why bother saying it all?” Gabriel’s grip on me tightened as he pulled me in closer.
Still unsure why a simple ‘I’m sorry’ had riled him up so much, I shrugged. “Because I care about you,” I said. “And that’s what people who care about each other do. They admit when they’re wrong and try to make amends.”
“Say that again,” he commanded.
“I was wrong and?—“
“Not that part,” he cut me off. “The first thing you said.”
My eyes flashed side to side momentarily as I tried to figure out what he was asking for. “That I care about you?”
“Is that true?”
“Of course, it’s true,” I said, still not understanding why that was so significant or why he’d had to turn off the road to ask me. “I wouldn’t have said it if I didn’t mean it.”