Page 65 of Vengeful Lies

Not really safe.

All she felt was a crushing loneliness that was slowly smothering her to death.

When her phone dinged with a text, it was purely automatic to reach out and pick it up. She didn't really care who was texting her or why.

Susanna’s name was on the screen, and the text said she was downstairs and on her way up.

How did Susanna even know where she was staying?

Had one of the Charleston Holloway brothers hacked her phone to get her location, or her credit card to find out where she was staying? If they knew she was there, all they’d have to do was flash their Prey ID at the front desk and she was sure they’d get her room number.

Which meant she couldn’t avoid this meeting even though she wanted to.

Badly.

The last thing she wanted was to see anyone from Cade’s family. It was just a reminder of what could never be hers.

Still, Susanna was nice, and she felt a connection to the woman because they’d both grown up unwanted by their families.

It took almost more effort than she had, but Gabriella shoved herself off the bed and stripped out of the clothes she’d been wearing since leaving Cade’s house. Unable to summon enough energy to bother changing, she’d just thrown them back on after her shower when she first arrived at the hotel.

Knowing they must smell by now, she opened her suitcase, rummaged through it, found a pair of soft leggings and an oversized sweater, and carried them to the bathroom. Pale beneath the bruises that littered her body, her gaze was drawn to the bite mark on her left breast. It was an angry red, and the edges of the teeth-shaped wounds were puckered and puffy. There were some pussy areas to it as well, it was clearly infected, but she honestly just didn't care.

What was the point in caring?

It didn't change anything, it didn't help her in any way.

Splashing a little water on her face, she dried it on the towel, then shimmied into the clothes. They seemed to hang off her, and she wasn't surprised she’d lost weight over the last week and a half. She still had zero appetite, and now that it was just her, even pretending to be taking care of herself seemed pointless.

Just as she finished running a comb through her tangled red curls, she heard a knock on her door.

“Ms. Sadler, a group of people are here to see you. They claim you know them,” one of her bodyguards called out.

With a weary sigh, she dragged her heavy body through the bedroom, out into the small sitting area, and over to the door. Removing the chain, she opened it and offered Travis a small smile.

“Yes, thank you, I do know them, and they texted to say they were coming,” she assured him. Images of Gavin and Dave’s dead bodies flashed in her mind, and she made a determination not to get attached in any way to these bodyguards. They were her employees for the foreseeable future, not her friends.

Maybe if she’d taken that advice to heart when she took the job as Essie’s nanny, she wouldn’t be in this position right now.

“Come in,” she muttered to Susanna and moved away from the door, crossing the room and dropping down in one of the armchairs around a small table.

“We brought breakfast,” Susanna told her, holding up a brown paper bag.

“Not hungry,” she said, fighting the urge to press a hand to her stomach as it churned at the very thought of eating.

“Gabs, you have to take care of yourself,” Cole told her, and as she looked over, she started in surprise. It wasn't just Susanna and Cole who had come, it was the entire Charleston Holloway family, minus Cade and Essie, of course.

Her heart ached with how badly she missed them.

Missing Essie was fine, she loved that little girl every bit as much as she would have if she’d given birth to her. But missing Cade was stupid. He’d shattered her heart into a million pieces, how could she possibly miss him? Yet she did, and it majorly sucked.

Having all these people here was hard.

Too hard.

She’d allowed herself to believe that she was a part of their family, allowed their words that they thought of her as part of the family to make it a reality.

Only it wasn't reality.

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