Chapter 122 The Truth Breaks
Melissa’s POV
I ran through the penthouse, my vision blurred with tears, my chest heaving with sobs I couldn’t control.
The elevator. I needed to get to the elevator. Away from them. Away from that image burned into my brain.
My mother and Jason together was just too much for me right now.
I slammed my hand against the elevator button repeatedly, not caring that it wouldn’t make it come faster.
“Come on, come on, come on,” I whispered frantically.
The doors finally opened. I threw myself inside and jabbed the garage level button.
The doors started to close..:
A hand shot through, stopping them.
“No!” I pressed myself against the back wall.
But the doors opened anyway. Diana stood there, hastily dressed in Jason’s shirt and her skirt, her hair was wild, and her face flushed.
“Melissa baby, please..:”
I pushed past her and ran for the stairs instead. Down. Down. Down.
My feet pounded against the concrete steps, echoing in the stairwell.
I burst through the door into the garage, my hands were already digging into my pocket for my car keys. The silver prototype Gavin had given me sat in its spot, gleaming under the fluorescent lights.
My hands were shaking so badly I could barely grip the keys.
I fumbled with them and dropped them.
“Fuck,” I gasped, bending down to pick them up.
I heard the sound of footsteps behind me.
“Melissa, stop!”
It was Jason. I grabbed the keys and lurched toward my car.
But Jason was faster. He cut me off, positioning himself between me and the driver’s door.
“Move,” I said through clenched teeth.
“Not until you listen.”
“I don’t want to listen!” My voice cracked. “I don’t want to hear whatever sick explanation you have for fucking my mother!”
“Melissa..:”
Diana’s voice came from behind me. I spun around.
She was there, breathing hard from running down the stairs, her eyes red and pleading. I was trapped between them.
“Baby, just listen,” Diana said, taking a step toward me.
I backed up until I hit the car. “Don’t call me that. Don’t you dare call me that.”
“I know you’re upset..:”
“Upset?” A hysterical laugh bubbled out of me. “Upset? I just watched my mother getting fucked by..:” I couldn’t even finish the sentence.
“I know.” Diana’s hands were raised, like she was approaching a frightened animal. “I know, and I’m sorry you had to see that, but you need to listen to me. You need to trust me.”
“Trust you?” Tears were streaming down my face. I couldn’t stop them. “Trust you? How can I trust you after..:”
“Gavin isn’t who you think he is,” Diana said.
The words hit me like cold water.
I stared at her. “What?”
“Gavin. He’s not..:” Diana’s voice broke. “Baby, he’s not the man you think he is.”
“I don’t understand.” My hands were still shaking. Everything was shaking. “I don’t understand anything. And what does that have to do with you sleeping with his son?”
Jason ran his hand through his hair frustratedly. “Look, your mom and I… we have a weird relationship. I can’t explain it properly, but the truth is..:” He paused, his jaw clenching. “Anything that will hurt my dad, I’ll do it.”
I looked at him. The lack of remorse almost made me run mad. I pushed away the small voice in my head calling me a hypocrite.
“Why?” My voice came out small. Broken. “Why are you so terrible?”
“Because..:” Jason started.
“Gavin killed your father,” Diana interrupted.
Everything stopped. The world. My heart. Time itself.
I must have heard wrong.
“What?” The word barely made it past my lips.
“Gavin killed your father,” Diana repeated, her voice stronger now. Certain. “John Hayes. The love of my life. Gavin murdered him twenty years ago.”
No.
No, that wasn’t possible.
“You’re lying.” I shook my head. “You’re lying. Gavin wouldn’t..:”
“He did.” Diana stepped closer. “And he’s the reason we were left in debt. The reason we lost everything. The reason I had to..:” Her voice cracked. “The reason I had to sell myself to him in this goddamn engagement. Because I promised myself I’ll ruin him and the stupid cult he is in.”
My legs felt weak.The garage tilted.
“No,” I whispered. “No, that’s not..:Dad was killed by..:it was a gambling debt. You said it was..:”
“It was a debt,” Diana confirmed. “But Gavin was the one who pulled the trigger.”
My hand went to my chest. I couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t breathe.
Couldn’t breathe.
“You were there,” Diana continued, tears streaming down her face now too. “You were five years old. You and your father were walking to get ice cream. And Gavin shot him. I was right behind you guys when it happened, baby.”
Images flashed through my mind. Although it all looked so unclear now.
My dad’s hand holding mine. Ice cream. He’d promised me ice cream. And then there was a loud sound.
My dad pushed me.Telling me to run.
Blood.So much blood.
“No,” I gasped. “No, no, no.”
My knees buckled.
Jason caught me before I hit the ground.
“Easy,” he said, but his voice sounded far away. “Melissa, easy.”
“I don’t..:” I couldn’t form words. I couldn't think. “That’s not..:Gavin wouldn’t..:”
“He did,” Diana said firmly. The world was spinning.
Everything was too bright. Too loud. Too much.
“So everything..:” My voice broke completely. “Everything between us was..:”
“It’s a lie,” Diana finished.
“No.” I shook my head violently. “No, he loves me. He said..:”
“He’s a liar, Melissa!” Diana’s voice rose. “He’s a killer and a liar and he’s been manipulating you from the start, men like Gavin never fall in love, and I’m sorry for not protecting you from him sooner. But you served as a distraction, and now we can pin him and finally end hom.”
“That’s not true.” But even as I said it, doubt crept in.
Gavin’s face flashed through my mind. The way he’d looked at me today.
I have committed a very big sin. E non posso affrontarlo ora, mia dea.
And I cannot face you now, my goddess.
Because he knew.
He knew I would find out.
About my father. About the lie our entire relationship was built on.
My hands were shaking so violently I had to press them against my thighs to make them stop.
“I think I’m going to be sick,” I mumbled.
Jason helped me sit on the ground, my back against the car.I put my head between my knees and tried to breathe.
In. Out. In. Out.
But all I could see was blood.
My father’s blood.
On Gavin’s hands.
“How long have you known?” I asked without looking up. “How long have you known he killed Dad?”
Silence.
“Mom. How long?”
“Since before the engagement,” Diana admitted quietly.
I looked up at her. “You knew? You knew and you still..:you got engaged to him anyway?”
“I didn’t have a choice!” Diana’s voice was desperate now. “I had to find a way in. Gavin he is too careful he is the devil himself. I had to get close so I could find a way to hurt him”
“So you sold yourself to our father’s murderer.”
The words hung in the air like poison.
Diana flinched. “I did what I had to do.”
“And sleeping with Jason?” I gestured between them. “What is that? Revenge?”
“Yes,” Jason said bluntly.
I looked at him.
“I hate my father,” he continued. “For what he is. What he’s done. And your mother hates him too. So we..:” He shrugged. “We found common ground.”
“You’re both insane.” I tried to stand. Jason helped me. “You’re both completely insane.”
“Melissa..:”
“Don’t.” I held up my hand. “I can’t..:I need to think. I need to..:”
My phone buzzed in my pocket.
I pulled it out with shaking hands.It was a text from Gavin:
We need to talk later today, tell me where you want us to meet. I'll meet you by 5.”
I stared at it. Then I started laughing. Hysterical, broken laughter that turned into no no sobs halfway through.
“He wants to talk,” I gasped. “He wants to talk now. After avoiding me for two days. After..:”
I couldn’t finish.
Diana reached for me. “Baby, don’t go. Don’t talk to him yet. You’re too..:”
“Too what? Too upset? Too angry? Too heartbroken?” I pulled away from her touch. “What does it matter?”
“Melissa, please..:”
“Did he really kill my father?” I looked her straight in the eye. “Look at me and tell me the truth. Did Gavin Cross murder John Hayes?”
Diana’s eyes filled with tears.
“Yes,” she whispered. “Yes, he did.”
The last piece of my heart shattered.
“Okay,” I said.
My voice sounded eerily calm now.
“Okay.”
I got into my car.
Jason stepped back. “Melissa, where are you going?”
“To talk to Gavin.” I started the engine. “He wants to talk. So we’re going to talk.”
“You shouldn’t drive like this,” Diana said frantically. “You’re in shock.”
“I’m fine.”
I wasn’t fine. I was the furthest thing from fine.
But I needed answers.
I needed to hear it from him.