Page 91 of Tattletale

I let out a heavy exhale. “I know ‘sugar’ is Vienne. I know you had an affair with the First Lady.” I was almost positive I was right, but the defeated look on Gabriel’s face confirms it all.

“She told you?” he asks.

“No. Just a guess.”

“Really?” Gabriel asks, eyes narrowing at me. “That was yourfirstguess? That I had an affair with the President’s wife.”

He sees right through my lie. And honestly, I don’t see the point anymore. This isn’t a monster; this is a broken man. His greatest crime was falling in love with a manipulative womanwho treated him like a prop. This mission is over. Gabriel will live.

“I’m assuming I’m the only one who knows the truth?”

He suddenly won’t look me in the eye.

“That’s great news,” I add.

“Why?” he mutters, staring at the door.

“Because for the first time since you were nineteen, you have someone you can talk to about this.”

The tension builds between us, and for a moment, I think I’ve lost him. Perhaps I went a step too far. I don’t know what kind of damage control will be—

“She was my first,” Gabriel finally says, interrupting my thoughts.

“Your first love?” I’m confused. He already told me this.

He turns his head to look at me with one brow raised. “My firsteverything. I was a driven kid. I finished high school at fourteen. By nineteen, I had my undergrad from MIT. I was particularly interested in AI and robotics, and I wanted to go right into grad school at Cal Tech. My parents were worried, so they made me a deal. I had to take one year off of school, get a job, make some friends, and then they’d pay my way through my doctorate.”

“You were that socially awkward that your parents bribed you tostopgoing to school and make friends?”

Gabriel laughs. “You could’ve put that more delicately, but yes.”

“Sorry.” I cringe, shrinking in my seat. “So, how come I’m not calling you ‘Doctor Lochland’?”

Gabriel takes in a sharp breath. “I never went back to school. I told you I spent almost every weekend with Vienne at the bed-and-breakfast. It’s because I got a job there after the first time I laid eyes on her. I was willing to clean rooms just for the chance of seeing her again. Pathetic, right?”

“No. Not for a nineteen-year-old. Did she not tell you she was married?”

“She wasn’t when we met,” Gabriel admits. “When we started, it was innocent in a way. We didn’t just fuck. We talked and laughed. Vienne and I fell in love. That summer was the beginning of everything I know to be true. She was the first person that I genuinely thought was smarter than me.”

I cock my head to the side, my forehead wrinkling. “Vienne’s a genius too?”

“Not that kind of intelligence. Just a maturity I craved, I suppose. She could argue the other side of any controversial topic. I don’t know how to explain, except that she very much accepted this world as very gray. I told her I wanted to use robotics to change the world for the better. She told me to just focus on changing the world, period. Because better for one is worse for another. When it came to humanity, she believed in movement…not growth.”

I hike up one knee, balancing my heel on the bed frame. “That sounds sort of grim.”

“Not really. Her philosophy was that everybody had a purpose. Good can’t exist without evil. The more heroes we have, the more villains that will rise to challenge them. Everyone serves an important purpose.”

That does indeed sound like some nonsense Vienne would spew. “So, what happened? Why didn’t you two end up together?”

“After one summer together, she went home for a few weeks, and I didn’t hear from her. Then, one day, she shows back up at the bed-and-breakfast, engaged to Sal. I lost it when I found out…I…” Gabriel pinches his eyes shut and shakes his head, like he’s trying to lose a memory.

“No warning?” I ask.

“None. I begged and I begged for an explanation. If her family was forcing her to get married, that was one thing. Sal was fifty-three at the time. It didn’t make sense. But all she said was she loved him and wanted to build a life with him.”

“But she kept sleeping with you.”

Gabriel tries to hide his smirk. “The sex got even better, actually. The sneaking around really does something for a woman’s libido, I’ll tell you that. We couldn’t keep our hands off of each other. You know, they had a small ceremony at the bed-and-breakfast for their wedding.”

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