Fallen (Seven Deadly Sins #2)(55)
Author: Erin McCarthy

Picking the bottle up, she saw there was a decorative tag attached to the neck with a ribbon. It was a quote.

In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgivenessof sins.

Sara didn’t know what it meant, or what the point was supposed to be, but it kicked the fear up another notch. It didn’t look like something the liquor manufacturer had intended to be there. And someone had intentionally set the bottle out for her. Fumbling with the key and the bottle, she managed to get the door open, herself inside, and the door locked behind her.

Only to scream when she saw a man sitting on the couch typing on his BlackBerry, legs crossed casually.

“Whoa,” he said, glancing over at her. “You have bigger pipes than I would have given you credit for given that you look like you have TB. In person you’re even more waifish than the pictures Gabriel had of you.”

Sara gripped her purse, trying to dig inside it for her cell phone. “Who are you?”

“I’m Alex, Gabriel’s friend. We go way back. I’m surprised he hasn’t mentioned me.”

She shook her head, not sure if she should turn and run, or if she should believe him. He must have used a key to get into the apartment, which had to indicate he was Gabriel’s friend, whether Gabriel had ever mentioned him to her or not. She and Gabriel didn’t know each other that well, frankly. He probably had lots of friends she knew nothing about.

“You must be Sara.”

Not sure what to say, she just nodded. “Yes.” The assumption would be then that Gabriel had mentioned her to Alex, which further legitimized his claim of being a friend. But she was still suspicious and a little freaked out.

He stood up, tucking his BlackBerry into the pocket of his dress pants. He was dressed like he was headed into the office, his blue button-up shirt crisp and ironed. Alex had short, dark hair and the kind of smile that, while perfectly charming, almost looked condescending. Walking toward her, he stuck his hand out. “Gabriel told me about you. Nice to meet you.”

“You, too.” She shook his hand automatically.

“Where is Gabriel, by the way? I was hoping to talk to him.”

“Uh, he’s at the hospital. There was an incident outside our apartment last night.” Sara suddenly realized she had referred to Gabriel’s apartment as belonging to her as well, and felt heat start to creep up her cheeks. This was Gabriel’s friend and she didn’t want to sound presumptuous. She also didn’t want to explain Rochelle’s weird obsession with Gabriel.

“An incident?”

“A girl tried to kill herself and Gabriel is visiting her.”

Alex rolled his eyes. “He’s at it again, is he?”

“What do you mean?” Sara wanted a drink of water and some aspirin desperately. She felt like she was having a hard time processing information, like her brain had slowed to a snail’s pace, and her head was throbbing.

“Gabriel. He gets too emotionally involved with these girls.”

Sara raised an eyebrow. “Well, she did try to kill herself. He’s just being compassionate.”

Alex gave her a wry look. “I call it being stupid. You don’t know how many times I’ve seen him do this.”

“Do what?”

“Take in a broken woman thinking he’s going to nurse her back to good mental health. Like a bird with a damaged wing.”

Like Sara, maybe? Not a flattering thought.

“It’s a big waste of his time. You can’t fix another person.” That was very true. She could vouch for that with her own mother.

“I don’t think he’s trying to fix this girl. He just felt bad for her. It was a very random thing.” She didn’t know what else to say. She really wanted Alex to leave so she could take off her shoes and curl up on the bed with her kitten. Go to sleep finally.

“Well, I’ll take off then, since he’s not home. I need to go see my daughter. She’s having boy trouble, as usual. But if you could tell Gabriel I stopped by, I’d appreciate it.”

“Sure. It was nice meeting you. Sorry, I’m a little out of it from lack of sleep.” Sara wondered how old Alex was that he had a daughter dabbling with dating already. She would have put him at no older than thirty-five, but then again, she herself had been nineteen when her own mother was thirty-five.

“I understand. It was nice meeting you, too.” He smiled.

Sara remembered the bottle of absinthe in her hand. Alex must have brought it as a gift. “Oh, did you want me to give this to Gabriel?”

But Alex just shook his head and studied the bottle. “I didn’t bring that. It was sitting on the doorstep when I got here.”

“Oh.” She wished he had. The alternative was too disturbing.

“And Sara, just a little warning. There will be others.”

“Other what?” Gripping the green bottle and her purse, she just blinked at him, her mouth and face hot, palms sweaty. She really needed to lie down.

“Other girls. Women. They can’t resist Gabriel. They all want to coax a smile from him, and they all want to be the one who is special, who manages to get a reaction from him. None of them can though, and they become obsessed with him.”

There had been others, besides Rochelle? With that kind of intense reaction? That was a disturbing thought. Yet she could understand it. She herself had been drawn to Gabriel from the beginning, intrigued by his solitary life, his lonely eyes, his physical beauty. Didn’t she want to think she was special, that he let her in, and her alone?

Alex added, “Don’t let that happen to you, because it really is pathetic.”

She felt a stab of humiliation. Of course it was. As was what she had done on the couch in front of him the night before.

Alex reached out and flicked the label of the absinthe bottle. “I didn’t know Gabriel was back on this shit. Interesting.” He pulled the attached card out to read it. “ ‘In Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.’ That’s not a very sexy label for alcohol. It doesn’t make me want to drink a drop. And it’s wrong. Sins are never forgiven, and never forgotten.”

Giving her a smile and a wave, he headed toward the door. “Have a good one, Sara.”

Then he was gone and Sara was left wondering what the hell had just happened.

And with the knowledge that she knew much less about Gabriel than she had thought she did.

Chapter Fourteen

From the Court Records of

the Willful Murder Trial of Anne Donovan,