Gabriel looked like a wreck. He felt like a wreck too.
His eyes were bloodshot and his body was sore. He wasn’t taking Carlisia’s absence very well.
He had a five o clock after shave and his clothes were dirty and bloody the same way they had been when he went to pack the day he was raided by Carson. He looked older than most men his age.
There was a knock on his door and Gabriel hummed gruffly in response and the door opened.
A member of the pack walked in. He was very muscular, heavily tattooed and bald with an eyebrow piercing but Gabriel failed to remember his name.
“Sir, the search party has found your mother’s body just outside the perimeter..” The guy said emotionless and Gabriel closed his eyes.
Three days ago, when Carlisia was taken from him, he had got a notice that the pack where he had sent his mother and Annabella at Ireland had been ambushed by Carson’s men. He had no hope either his mother or Annabella would even be alive so the news didn’t strike him too much. He was never close to his mother anyway and it was the seed that his pure blood parents planted for which he was paying today.
She deserved to die.
Besides she never cared for him or Annabella, always demanding not even caring once even slightly abusive. He had seen bruises on Anna and therefore kept her away from her most of the times.
But he did care about Annabella. He treated her like a baby, spoiled her too but not enough to make her a brat. In a way he had brought her up and felt a strong connection with her. She was his sister after all.
“What about Anna?” Gabriel asked.
“We found her underneath the wreckage. She’s fine, a few bruises but okay. But she’s very much shaken, she keeps asking for the Luna.” The guy said and Gabriel’s heart broke when the guy mentioned Carlisia.
“I’ll deal with her. Rejoin the search party.”Gabriel said sternly and the guy bowed in response before closing the door shut.
Gabriel sighed and slouched in the chair while massaging his temples.
He needed Carlisia to be with him, where she belonged. It didn’t help that both of the left on a bad note and that wasn’t her fault either.
She deserved those answers but he was too self centered to give her those and now God knows what Carson was feeding her brain with.
He heard Annabella scream and flinched at the pitch of the sound BEFORE SIGHING AND GETTING UP.
His sister was his responsibility.
He took a deep breath and left the office with stiff strides. As he approached Annabella’s room the sobbing and screaming got louder.
She was mumbling something while sobbing but as her speech wasn’t as refined he could barely understand what she was saying.
The second he was close to the door he slammed it opened and his sister’s cries stopped abruptly.
He examined the room.
Everything was the way it was, pink. The only difference was that his sister had a huge bruise on her forehead and there was an elderly lady in the room.
Annabella was sitting on the lap of an elderly member of the pack who was trying to calm her down but failing miserably.
“Thank you for your help but you may leave.” Gabriel said looking at the kind lady who smiled at him and bowed before leaving. Gabriel locked the door behind her than looked at Anna who was sniffing and tears flowed down her cheeks.
“Now why is my princess crying?” Gabriel asked as and sat on Anna’s bed her and Anna jumped on to his lap like a squirrel and hugged him then began sobbing again.
Gabriel picked her up and walked around the room while she cried into him while holding onto him.
“Hey, itsokay. Its okay.” Gabriel said gently trying to calm Anna down.
“I want Carwisia.” Annabella said crying and Gabriel stroked her back gently.
“She’s going to come soon. But she won’t be happy when she sees you crying right?” Gabriel said and Annabella sniffled.
“But the bwig guy swaid that she is gwone.” Annabella said and tears began to fill her eyes.
Even Gabriel was breaking by the minute but he gave out a fake laugh.
“Well he was joking.”Gabriel said and Annabella seemed to believe him.
“So Carwy will cwome?” Anna asked and Gabriel nodded.
“She will come.” He said assuring and he was going to make that possible till his dying breath.
“But right now I am going to send a lady and I want you to fill your tummy and go to sleep.” Gabriel said.
“But what about mommy.” Annabella asked and Gabriel just looked at her for a moment.
“Mommy is not coming home.” Gabriel replied.
“Why?”Anna asked and Gabriel thought over it.
“Mommy is an angel now. She is with dad.” Gabriel said and Anna looked at him before she clapped her hands.
“Mommy will be with the unicorns.” She said happy and Gabriel smiled at her and kissed her forehead.
“Yeah.” He said, mentally praying that Carlisia wasn’t going to be joining her.
“Now eat your dinner and go to sleep.” Gabriel said and Anna nodded.
Gabriel left the room and asked the lady to feed Anna and tuck her in. He made his way back to his office and firmly closed the door and sat on his chair behind the desk, pondering where Carson could be.
“Where could Carson keep her?” Gabriel thought as he tried to think of a place. They had to be near for Carson to attack so frequently.
Maybe he was at the place where it all began? What if he was at the manor?
It was a slim chance but he needed to find her and he needed to find her now, before everything goes out of hand, not that anything was in his hand but he could not waste any second.
He should send a party there. He got up to do that when suddenly his phone buzzed.
It was a message but what shocked him was that it was Carlisia’s number.
He quickly opened the message and saw the picture.
At first he couldn’t see the picture properly because so much details and the close up but when his eyes began to make out the picture he began more and more tortured every second.
The picture was of Carlisia who was beaten and bruised.
There was a huge bruise on the side of her face with blood dripping down her neck and hand. She was laying on a bed and her ankles and wrists had some sort of restrain marks.
She looked pale and like corpse.
Underneath the picture was a message.
‘Game On’
