Chapter 24

~ Gabrielle ~

Six Years Earlier

Tugging on my jacket, I turned when my ballet instructor said my name.

“Gabrielle, honey, your mother called. She’s going to be a few minutes late,” Mrs. Greiger said.

“Oh.” I swallowed the disappointment that I’d have to wait despite being tired and wanting to get home to a warm shower. “Okay, thanks.”

I sat in a metal folding chair in the small waiting area, watching the cars as they passed on the street in front of the building. It was dark and cold outside, and I was thankful I didn’t have to stand out in it. But Ms. Greiger would be eager to lock up after everyone had cleared out, so I hoped my mother showed up sooner rather than later. I peered out the windows, willing my mom’s car to pull up to the curb.

Ten minutes passed, and she still hadn’t arrived while the last of my classmates left. Ms. Greiger walked around the studio, turning off the lights, and came to a stop next to me.

“Not here yet, huh?”

“No.” I glanced at her. “I can wait outside so you can leave. I’m sure she’ll be here soon.”

“Oh, no, honey. It’s fine. We’ll wait,” she said, but the tired lines on her face were unmistakable.

I stood and walked to the door. “Really, it’s fine. I’m sure you want to get out of here after a long day, and I don’t want to keep you any longer. I’ll be okay.”

She hesitated, but the desire to get home must have won out. Following me outside, she locked up behind us before eyeing me. “Are you sure, honey?”

“Yes. Please go home, Ms. Greiger. I’ll be fine.” I smiled. “My mom is probably coming now.”

She still didn’t look at ease, but continued to move toward the parking lot around the back of the building. “Okay. You stay safe and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“I will. See you tomorrow.”

She rushed down the dark sidewalk, tugging her jacket closed to block the frigid air, and turned the corner out of sight, leaving me alone and exposed. An icy breeze blowing across my face and neck, mixed with fresh panic of vulnerability, made me shiver. I huddled further into my coat and shoved my hands in my pocket, staring up the street with longing.

I bounced from foot to foot, trying to keep warm, and moved closer to the building, hoping to find shelter from the brisk wind. A constant stream of cars buzzed past, but not one slowed with my mom at the wheel. A few minutes later, I noticed noises behind me, and glancing over, my stomach took a violent pitch.

The temperature of the surrounding air plunged as a bone-deep chill of terror raced through me. Eerie silence surrounded me when a sudden break in traffic had the streets empty, without a soul in sight. Paralyzed with fear, I stood frozen, unable to move as the group approached.

“Well, well.” Terrell stepped up with a wide grin. “If it isn’t the woman I been looking my whole life for.”

He stopped in front of me while four others formed a circle, placing me in the center. My gaze jumped from one leering face to another before coming back to Terrell’s pleasant-looking expression. It was almost easy to believe he meant me no harm and wanted to be my friend, but I knew that wasn’t the case.

My breaths came in short pants as my lungs clamped up, refusing to allow even a puff of air to pass.

“What do you want?” Fright clogged my throat and turned my voice into a breathless squeak.

“It’s all you, babe. You hot as shit.”

The gleam of maleficent want in his eyes was unmistakable, and I took a hesitant step back, but stopped when I banged into the solid wall of a chest behind me. “Please, leave me alone.”

“Now, why would I do that?”

“Please.” Tears rolled down my cheeks. “Please.”

He stepped forward and leered over me as he fingered the track of moisture on my cheek. “Now, come on, baby. There ain’t nothing to cry about.”

I tried to turn away from his contact, but the move only pushed me into another body. Even in the cold air, I smelled their mixed odor of sweat, alcohol, and something else; a sweet aroma I couldn’t identify. The scents collided and weighed on me, making me want to gag, but I forced myself to breathe through my mouth and ignore the bile rising in my throat. My heart threatened to burst out of my chest, but I recognized I had to fight or else I would never make it out of this mess alive. Somewhere in the back of my head, in the midst of the terror, I wondered where the hell my mother was.

Terrell tugged on my bun, causing my hair to fall around my face, and ran a few strands through his fingers as if they were threads of gold. “Beautiful.”

At that moment, the adrenaline of flight rushed through me, giving me a strength I didn’t know I had. I ducked and shoved my shoulder into the stomach of the body standing behind me. When he stumbled with a whoosh in surprise, his hand clutching his gut, I attempted to rush past Terrell and the others as they paused in shock. There were too many of them, however, all of them reaching, clawing, and grabbing, to pull me into the alley between the buildings.

I screamed as I hit the sidewalk, but the noise of traffic passing by, out of sight from the alleyway, drowned it out. My head bounced off the hard cement, and bright, colorful stars exploded behind my eyelids. I staggered, dazed by the pain, before resuming my fight against them, thrashing against the hands clutching at me, twisting and contorting, but I was tiring and blackness hovered at the edges.

They surrounded me and one of them pounced on my knee, wrenching it to the side and sending a jagged sting up my leg. Someone else snatched and twisted my ankle, turning my foot further than it ever meant to go, and nausea lurched in my stomach from the fiery pain. With my eyes closed, I couldn’t see who came over me, but a heaviness settled on top of me and he ground against me, his foul breath assaulting my face.

When I screamed again, knuckles caught my right eye and a gruff voice told me to, “Shut the fuck up.” Someone grabbed my head, holding me in place as I struggled to release myself from his grasp.

“Hold her still,” he grunted as the weight shifted and a hand grappled to find the zipper to my pants. A hot, acrid breath panted next to my ear. “If you say anything, your boy Danny is a dead man.”

I somehow freed one of my hands and punched out, connecting with the face above me.

“Fuck!”

A fist slammed into my jaw, turning my world black.

~ Danny ~

Full of energy after the Christmas I’d spent with Gabrielle, I was happier than I could ever remember being in my whole life, motivating me to complete my demos and send them out, so that she and I could start our lives together.

Dollar and I were working in the back room, experimenting with beats, when I heard what I thought was Big T yelling my name.

I held out my hand. “Hold up, hold up. Turn it off.”

We listened and sure enough, Big T’s booming voice was calling for me.

He sounded out of breath and frantic, and we frowned at each other. Dollar stuck his head through the doorway.

“What up, T? Where’s the food?”

“Where’s D?” Big T asked.

I stepped in front of Dollar. “Right here. What’s your issue?”

“Come on, man. We’ve got to go.” He put his hands on his knees as he struggled to catch his breath.

I stepped into the hallway. “What the fuck is going on? Why are you out of breath and sweating?”

Big T squinted up at me, his chest still heaving. “It’s G, man. Let’s go.”

I stopped dead in my tracks and went rigid as a sharp, hard edge settled within me. “What about G?”

“What you talkin’ about, dawg?” Dollar asked.

“There isn’t time to explain.” He stood and took a couple steps in the opposite direction. “The ambulance headed that way—”

I flew past him, shoving him aside, and racing out the front door. I drove with tunnel vision toward the ballet studio. The one night I hadn’t picked Gabrielle up, something had happened. Where the fuck was her mother? I didn’t know what I would discover when I pulled up, but if I didn’t find my girl standing with a smile on her face, someone would pay.

Flashing lights surrounded the building in the distance. I counted three police cars, a fire truck, and an ambulance. A growing crowd gathered around the alleyway, gawking at the scene, and I elbowed my way through the mass of people.

I’d left my sweatshirt back at the makeshift studio, but I didn’t feel the cold through my thin t-shirt. In fact, I felt nothing, steeling myself for whatever greeted me on the other side of the police tape. I pushed through, and when an officer spotted me, he held out his hand.

“You can’t go any further, sir.”

I stopped, but stepped from side to side, trying to get a clear view behind the cop, hoping, praying Big T was wrong and it wasn’t Gabrielle on the ground. But once my gaze settled on the white tennis shoes and the long legs attached to them, I didn’t need to see the rest to know who lay there.

Rage and fear coursed through me, and I broke out in a clammy sweat that flashed hot. I wanted to strike out at anything standing between us, while at the same time wanting nothing more than to sink down next to her and cry my heart out.

Rage won.

I pushed against the chest of the cop in my way. “That’s my girl there!”

“Sir, please. Calm down.” The officer placed his hands on my shoulders to restrain me.

“Fuck that! Get the fuck out of my way.”

The commotion caused others to notice, and somehow over the deafening sound of the fury screaming through my head, I heard my name.

I scanned across the crowd and spotted Gabrielle’s mother. Pulling away from the cop, I rammed through the mob toward her, and when I reached her side, she threw herself against me.

“Oh, Danny! I pulled up and she was like this. We don’t know what happened to her.” She fisted her hands into my shirt. “She won’t open her eyes, Danny! She won’t open her eyes!”

I didn’t offer her any comfort as she sobbed against my chest, her tears soaking the thin fabric. My focus stayed glued on Gabrielle’s body as the paramedics worked on her. They were strapping something around her neck and hooking up tubes to her as they arranged her on the gurney. One of the EMTs stepped aside, giving me a clear view.

Dark bruises and blood covered most of her face, in stark contrast to the ghastly pallor of her skin. Her hair fell loose, its healthy hue harsh compared to everything else, and off to the side, her jacket lay shredded to pieces. She looked so fragile and brittle, as if she would break if a feather landed on her. The swelling of her right knee and left ankle was obvious to the naked eye.

Her mother was saying something, but I couldn’t hear her. Somewhere in the back of my head, I registered Dollar and Big T yelling my name, but I didn’t acknowledge them either. I stood rooted to the ground, deaf to the world as chaos moved around me. The center of my earth lay shattered in front of me, and I felt sick. But more than sick, I felt absolute terror. The rock in my gut told me who did this. This was a message. A message in bright, neon letters, and a message directed right at me.

Worse than that, I’d been wrong; I couldn’t protect her. In fact, I’d failed.