"No need to give him food," Nina told her butler quite strictly, "I’m sure he is strong enough to survive."
"But ma’am. He might die!" he tried to convince Nina. She was paying him handsomely, but his heart was going out to the kid.
He was too small and too innocent.
"Don’t worry!" Nina smirked, "he is my son, and I have to make sure that I raise him right."
They were interrupted by the maid, "Ma’am. There is someone who wants to see you."
Nina gritted her teeth. Why couldn’t her staff learn to ask the name of the guest?
***
Nina stepped into the drawing room and went still, "You?"
Gabriel got up from the sofa when saw her coming inside.
"Yeah," he tried to smile but it faltered, "now we share something in common, Nina."
Nina frowned, not understanding what he meant. He walked to the painting where a horse was lying on a grassy land.
"Miles painted it," Nina stood behind him and watched the portrait carefully. Gabriel seemed stiff like a rod. She wanted to hold him from behind and lean her cheek on his back.
I wish you were sincere with me, then none of this had happened. She thought with sadness.
Gabriel folded his arms on his chest and kept standing there like he was there for the painting. Nina felt good about his presence there.
He never dared to enter this place when Shane was alive.
A servant came inside and placed the tray down on the center table that was loaded with snacks.
"The horse in this picture," Gabriel whispered still not looking at Nina.
"Yeah," Nina didn’t know much about paintings, "I... I think it’s sleeping."
Gabriel started shaking his head, "No, it isn’t," he said softly, "It’s dead."
He wanted to ask Nina about Sheila, about how she was coping with her sadness but didn’t. She must already be in trouble and now he didn’t want to bring more problems to her.
Something was clicking in his heart, telling him it was his doing. Somewhere he provoked Nina when he told her about Shane’s private life.
Nina might have a hand in this.
And maybe ...
Then maybe his wife would be alive. His Naila would be alive.
"Are you alright, Gabriel?" Nina rounded him to look at his face, shocked when she found wetness there.
"Y-you are crying?" she asked him, and he wiped his face with a chuckle.
Nina held his arm and offered him a sympathetic smile, "I’m sorry for Naila, Gabriel,"
No more murders or she might be a suspect.
She had to jerk back to reality when Gabriel picked up his long coat and turned to leave.
"Gabriel!" she gestured towards the snack tray, "you haven’t even touched the food. You are visiting me for the first time and ..." Gabriel gave her a tightlipped smile and waved his hand, "Maybe next time, Nina. Not now. I don’t feel like eating or drinking anything."
That explained why she felt, he had gotten weak.
Gabriel placed his hand inside his jeans pocket and took out something, "What is it?" Nina asked him and spread her hand.
He placed the jewelry on her palm, "I think it belongs to you."
It was Nina’s diamond ring that Shane once gave her on their second honeymoon, "Oh, God!" she chuckled and her face blushed.
She must have left it when Gabriel made love to her in some hotel room, "Thanks for getting it," she quickly wore it on her finger, "You always brought back my jewelry otherwise the hotel staff might have taken it home. Ha-ha!"
Gabriel kept looking at her with an odd expression, "Are you sure this is yours?"
Nina nodded and kept checking the diamond on her finger, "Oh, yes. Shane got it made on order from Aria’s. Their every piece is exclusive!" she said proudly, and her eyes darted back to Gabriel’s face, "Thank you. But you still need to tell me from which hotel you got this?"
Gabriel shrugged and heaved a long sigh, "I didn’t get it from any hotel. I found it on the crime scene where Shane and Naila were killed."
Nina thought someone had sucked the life out of her body. She tried to giggle, "Wh-what... you...must be kidding."
Gabriel gave her the same peculiar glance and left without uttering another word, leaving Nina speechless.
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