Prologue - Gabriel (Part 2)

“Uh… Are you sure we should be here, Gabriel? Your parents made it very clear that they didn't want anyone near the river, because of the strong current at that time of year..."

"Don't you want to go whine about it to your mommy, Steven?" Mark scoffed, but Gabriel paid neither attention, continuing to undress until he was wearing nothing but his sweatpants "We don't want to risk a little baby starting to cry, do we?"

Steven probably shouted the worst possible curse in Mark's direction, but Gabriel couldn't hear it, having already dove towards the water of the river before him, which looked as angry as he felt inside. He hoped he had scared the Vamcap girl enough that she knew better than to accompany the rest of the class on that silly ride his father had made a point of offering to the principal as one of the annual donations the Ferrars made to the school. But, no, she had to be stupid enough to come torment him there, with those big dark eyes that he couldn't forget even when he was away from her...

Hell, was this what his father had been feeling when he'd decided to cheat on his wife with Imogen Vamcap?

Anger burned inside him, as it had been burning since the beginning of that year, when he had seen his father pull up in the car on Vamcap's family property and kissed her, as if nothing in the world mattered more than her, not even the wife he had been married to for 22 years or their child. Gabriel wasn't naive enough not to know that most of his friends' parents had mistress, but... His father was different. He was his best friend, a good man, an excellent doctor, and often even too kind for his own good... Or at least, that's what Gabriel used to think.

And now, whenever he saw Edgar smirking around corners or running to take a call in another room... Gabriel's stomach lurched. Not only because he knew that his father was in love with someone like that and treated her better than he had ever treated his own wife... But also because Gabriel felt that he was dangerously close to feeling the same thing about her daughter... If he wasn't already feeling it.

Blood boiling in the worst possible way, Gabriel dove deeper into the river, feeling the rush of water lapping against his bare skin, hoping that might be enough to calm him down. After all, with all the detectives he'd put in place to follow and investigate Imogen Vamcap, it wasn't possible that something bad about her wouldn't come out eventually. It didn't matter how shitty her husband was, how well she treated her kids and employees, or even how difficult her cancer treatment was... He knew that a woman who cheated on her husband and a friend of her family had some hidden shit. And when he found out what it was, Gabriel would be able to prove to his father the extent of the mistake he had made...

And, who knows, maybe things would finally go back to the way they were before.

That reverie was lost when the current suddenly slammed into his back too hard, sending him rolling in the dark water for a moment, having to fight his way to the surface, startled by how the river now seemed to want to carry him away with that current and keep him trapped in the depths. Still, Gabriel tried not to panic when he finally managed to grab hold of the fragile trunk of a small tree that had fallen into the middle of the water, making it his buoy as he tried to fight the ever-increasing flow of water, despite everything. What he was managing to do was sink even deeper into the icy water, which was already reaching almost up to his chin.

“What happened, Gabriel?” Mark laughed, still on the bank of the river, which wasn't very far from where Gabriel was, but which, at that moment, seemed to be the other side of the world "Are you having problems there?"

“Stop laughing, you piece of shit!” Gabriel tried to scream, coughing as he felt water start to seep into his throat "Help me!"

"Oh, poor Gabriel... Guess Steven isn't the only baby around here..." Mark continued to sneer, making all the other boys laugh out loud.

“Uh… I don't know, Mark…” Steven swallowed hard, after a moment passed and he seemed to notice that Gabriel was still struggling to keep clinging to the small trunk as the current pulled him under "I don't think he's kidding..."

"Do not be stupid." Mark cut him off, and even with the splash of water around him, Gabriel could tell that his cousin was sounding as calm as ever “Gabriel knows this place like the back of his hand. If anyone can get out of that lake in a matter of seconds, it's him. Isn't that right, Gabriel?"

Although he really wanted to curse the asshole out, the only response Gabriel could manage was a muffled scream when suddenly the current ripped the log he was leaning on from its place, making a loud noise as part of the wood broke and Gabriel lost his grip, being pulled down by the force of the water, while his nose and lungs burned , filled with liquid. And, with his heart hammering against his ears, he made the most formidable effort of all to get even to the surface again, struggling to even get his face out of the water and manage to scream.

"Help!" he coughed, not knowing if the night had gotten darker or if it was just panic blinding him "Help!"

"Shit, Mark, he's really drowning!" Steven wailed, now on full alert “We have to help him! Hell, our parents are going to kill us when they find out we came to the lake and nearly drowned the Ferrars heir! Fuck!"

"And you think it's really going to do you any good if you go out there and try to get him?" Mark asked, but Gabriel could barely hear him because of how low and casual his voice sounded “Gabriel is twice your size, you little shit. If we really want to get him out of there, then we need to call for help.”

“But… If we leave him there…”

“He can do it alone.” Mark shrugged and, from where he was, Gabriel thought he saw his cousin look at him “The current isn't even that strong. He's just being dramatic. Come on, let's go back home and ask my uncles to come and pull their golden boy out of the puddle he got into. Or, better, maybe we should just knock on their bedroom door and then leave. That way we can alert them without really getting into trouble just because Gabriel wanted to come here…”

"No! You can't leave me here!" he tried to scream, although the amount of water hitting his face and sliding into his lungs wasn't allowing it to sound very clear “Hurry! Help me!"

“We know, Gabriel! We're already going to get your parents!" Mark shouted back, and, using every ounce of strength he had left in him, Gabriel looked up to see his three friends pulling away from the bank, still looking tense and worried, although their quick steps made it seem like they were much more concerned with getting away from his desperate screams than getting to the house quickly.

And, clinging to a last shred of hope as he saw that his cousin was about to turn around, Gabriel opened his mouth to scream once more for help, hoping that now they realized he could drown at any moment... Until the voice in his throat died quickly, not just from the pain of the water in his breathing passages, but mostly from what he saw clearly on Mark's face, despite the fear that coursed through his body and the darkness of the night.

His cousin was smiling. Almost as if he was deeply enjoying the expression of sheer dread on his face and the way he barely managed to stay afloat and could be swallowed to the bottom of the river at any moment.

“Wait!” It took Gabriel a moment to recover from the shock, but it was enough for the boys to run away and, with a painful panic gripping him, he found himself alone, with nothing more than the angry currents pounding his body "You can't leave me here! Please!" he kept screaming, even though he knew that at this distance from the Ferrars' huge country house, no one would be able to hear him "Please... I don't want to die..." for the first time since he was eight and his grandfather had dead, Gabriel cried, although he could barely feel them now that the water was almost completely burying him "Please..."

“Ferrars!” a scream sent a tremor through his face and, scarcely able to believe who was there, Gabriel turned to see Andrea Vamcap a few feet away from him, throwing herself against a rotten tree at the edge of the lake, until her weak trunk gave way and fell into the water, blocking most of the water's path, like a dike, although it clearly wouldn't resist the force of that current for long "Let the current carry you this far!" she ordered anxiously as she climbed onto the trunk, seeming to be trying at all costs to keep it in place “Hurry! Before that tree is taken too!”

Barely able to keep his head above the waterline, Gabriel found himself frozen in place as a movie of everything he'd done with that girl over the past year played in his mind. And, full of fear, he realized that she might as well just let him drown there... Since he deserved it.

"Come on!" she yelled, looking terrified “It's already starting to move! You have to be quick!”

Fuck, if he was going to die, then at least let it happen while he was trying to save himself.