CHAPTER 38

Gabriel’s heart skipped a beat the moment they spotted Angelo’s red Ferrari in the parking lot of Le Boutique. It was one of those posh bed-and-breakfast affairs gracing the Tagaytay landscape of late. And of course, people normally checked-in to one of its rooms to avail of the bed (he didn’t want to think of that) and breakfast (he didn’t want to think of that, either–it connotes ‘breakfast-in-bed’ to him). His breakfast was slowly inching up his throat as he pictured Angelo and Louisa together in there. Silently, he prayed his youngest brother wasn’t. But the odds were against him. When Miguel parked alongside Angelo’s car, Gabriel was sweating blood.

“Angelo’s inside for sure, Gab. His car’s still here. It’s probably better if you stayed here while I go in and find him,” Miguel said.

Gabriel shook his head, a dark frown clouding his forehead. “No, I’m going with you,” he said.

“Are you sure you can control your temper? I don’t want you making a scene in there,” Miguel said.

“Have you forgotten that I’m the aggrieved party here, Migz?”

“Obviously, I haven’t. And that’s why I don’t think it’s such a great idea for you to go in there. I’m not sure you would be able to control yourself if you found them together.”

Gabriel snorted in reply.

“That’s it! If you can’t promise to rein in your temper, you’re either staying here while I go in or we leave now –and don’t give me that look, Gabriel. You may be older, but I can overrule you right now.”

Seeing Gabriel’s belligerent stare, Miguel added, “And you don’t scare me.”

“Alright! Enough! I promise to behave. I won’t even raise my voice, okay?”

“Swear?” Miguel said, his right hand raised before Gabriel, his lips twitching as he tried to stifle a laugh.

“Enough, already!” Gabriel chuckled, “I swear, okay?” he said, punching Miguel’s palm.

“Great! Let’s go in and find the black sheep, then,” Miguel smirked at his older brother as they both got out of the car. Then, he opened the trunk and grabbed the boxes of pie they bought along the way.

“These would come in handy, I promise,” Miguel said at Gabriel’s raised brows. Gabriel shrugged and followed Miguel up the steps to the hotel’s front door.

Walking up to the front desk, Miguel dumped the boxes on the counter. The receptionist turned to him and gave him a rather tentative smile while she eyed the boxes in front of her.

“Don’t ask! I’m just the courier. Our brother is rather fond of these pies and he told me, rather rudely, if you ask me, to bring these here this early. He even woke me up last night to remind me!” Miguel told the receptionist, his eyes rolling in feigned annoyance.

“Uhm, sir, are you meeting your brother here?” the girl asked, gesturing to the counter.

“Of course not, silly girl. I’m supposed to bring these to his room, but the ass forgot to tell me his room number, imagine that? And now he’s not answering his phone!”

“We can send it up to him if you’ll tell me his name.”

“No, no! I also need to see him because there’s an emergency in his office and since he’s not answering his phone I’d rather that you just be a dear and tell me his room number, I’ll just saunter in there and dump these in his lap,” Miguel said as he gave the beleaguered receptionist his most charismatic smile.

All through this exchange, Gabriel watched his brother with genuine fascination. He’d never seen this side of Miguel and it was intriguing and a bit frightening to behold. How could he have not noticed how manipulative Miguel could be, too? It only showed how little he knew of his brothers, which really should not surprise him since he’d not been with them for more than a decade. Phone calls and even video calls could never really be considered ‘bonding’, after all. He really shouldn’t be surprised by Angelo’s behavior, either. Just as he was pondering his lack of a real relationship with his siblings, Miguel turned and crooked a finger at him.

“You got his room number?” Gabriel asked, incredulous at his brother’s success. Hotel receptionists were usually very protective of their guests and would not allow visitors to barge in on them unannounced.

“Piece of cake. The Montoya charm always works. Besides, she only had to take one look at you to believe my claim that we’re Angelo’s brothers, which we really are, by the way,” Miguel said, turning at the corridor that led to Angelo’s room.

Soon enough they were standing in front of ‘Love’. Miguel stepped before Gabriel, his brows knotted in a dark frown.

“There’s something you should know, Gab,” he said.

Gabriel’s heart stuttered. He had a feeling he wouldn’t like what Miguel was about to say.

“Angelo checked in last night with a woman.”

“Was it Louisa?” Gabriel managed to say, his throat as dry as sandpaper.

“I’m not sure. I didn’t want the girl to become suspicious by asking too many questions.”

“But you think it’s her?”

Miguel stared at him then sighed, “I don’t think this is such a good idea, Gabriel. Maybe we should just call him and ask him to meet us outside.”

But Gabriel was no longer listening to Miguel. He moved past his brother then proceeded to pound on the door. He noticed the ‘I Love’ sign at the top and it fueled his now fuming temper. He barely noticed Miguel’s arm restraining him nor did he hear the voice that replied to his incessant knocking. All he could think of was getting through the barrier separating him from his fiancée and his loathsome brother.

When the door was opened, he pushed it with all his might, unmindful of the damage his action would cause to the person on the other side. The first thing he saw was Louisa, sitting in the middle of a large bed; her hair mussed from sleep and flowing down her shoulders, her eyes flared in surprise (or perhaps fear, he preferred to think), her luscious pink lips parted in a stifled scream. His blood turned to ice as he thought of what could have transpired on that bed.

“Hello, sweetheart. Fancy meeting you here,” he sneered at her as he stepped inside the room, unaware of the figure coming up off the floor.

He stalked to the bed, his eyes never leaving Louisa’s. But as he took another step, a strong hand clamped around his upper arm.

Angelo.

“Please, Gabriel. She’s not yet ready to see you,” Angelo said.

Before Gabriel could stop himself, his fist was already connecting with Angelo’s cheek. He vaguely heard Louisa shriek but he did not turn away from his brother, astonished he did not go down as expected.

Although the blow made him lose hold of Gabriel, Angelo still didn’t back away and remained standing defiantly, fueling Gabriel’s fury even more. Gabriel was about lunge at Angelo, but two hands pulled him back. The larger one was Miguel’s, grabbing his upraised hand, a few choice curses mixed in with his reminder of the promise Gabriel had made earlier. The smaller one belonged to Louisa who was also muttering under her breath.

“Gabriel! You promised!” Miguel said, grasping him by the shoulders.

Gabriel looked down at his younger brother’s eyes, recognizing the silent plea in them. Gabriel sighed and shrugged Miguel’s hand away. Louisa also let go of his arm, backing away.

“Get him out of here, Miguel, before I really hurt him,” he said, his calm voice belying the violence still simmering inside him. Miguel nodded as he quietly turned to Angelo and began pushing him non-too-gently out of the room.

Angelo struggled against Miguel’s hold but after a few whispered words from the latter Angelo finally went quietly with him. At the door, Angelo cast a last, parting glance at Louisa. Gabriel’s gut twisted at the blatant look of love he saw in his brother’s eyes. He wanted to see if Louisa would reciprocate with the same look, but he could not bring himself to turn to her, afraid of finding something he didn’t want.

After the door closed behind his two brothers, Gabriel took a deep breath and turned to his fiancée. He found her sitting in the middle of the bed, looking up at him defiantly. She held her head high, her back straight and stiff, her hands folded on her thighs. She looked like an angry mannequin sitting on top of a crumpled sea of white.

A dozen unbidden images of Louisa and Angelo entangled amongst the rumpled sheets played in his mind’s eye, tormenting him beyond reason. He mentally shook the images away. He didn’t want to lose control and cause more hurt to the woman he loved. The truth was, even if he had hurt her, he still should be angry at her. Finding one’s fiancée locked up the whole night in a hotel room with another man was not something any red-blooded person would take lightly, no matter the circumstances. As he tried to regain his calm, Louisa’s voice intruded into his thoughts.

“That was uncalled for, Gabriel. You didn’t have to hit Angelo,” Louisa said, her calmness a clear evidence of her simmering anger.

“Are you defending him?” Gabriel snapped, irritated at Louisa for taking his brother’s side despite his treachery.

“Why should I not? He’s my friend and what you did was barbaric.”

“Your friend? He’s my brother! Haven’t you even considered that the reason I hit my brother was probably because he deserved it?”

“Why?” Louisa asked, her chin tilted stubbornly at him.

Gabriel’s blood rushed to his head. How could she ask him that? Even if she had not been aware of Angelo’s participation in the disaster in his office, the fact that he took her to this place was enough to earn him a sound thrashing, which he would’ve gotten had Miguel not interfered.

“Why? Because of so many reasons I’d rather not discuss now. But mainly because he checked into this hotel room with MY fiancée! He spent the whole night in this room with MY future wife! And God only knows what the two of you were doing in here the whole night!” Gabriel spat back.

Louisa has had enough. She jumped to her feet and lunged at Gabriel, her palm connecting soundly with his cheek.

“How dare you! For your information, your brother was every bit the gentleman that you’re not!”

“Me? Not a gentleman? Tell me, Louisa, have I dishonored you yet?”

“No, you’ve always been too ‘honorable’ with me. You’ve always been able to control yourself with me, haven’t you? So why couldn’t you have exercised the same control with that woman? Was it because she was YOUR choice while I was just ‘chosen’ for you?”

Gabriel stopped pacing and turned to her with incredulous eyes.

“Is that what this is all about, Louisa? That I’ve always held back when I’m with you? That I had sex with Isabella but not you? Yes, Louisa, I had sex with her, but nothing more!”

Louisa cringed at the crudity of his words, sensing the change in him.

“Is that what you want? Do you want my baby growing inside you before any vows have been said between us? Do you really want me to dishonor you? Is that what you really want?”

Louisa swallowed hard. She’d never seen Gabriel like this before. His body was taut with restrained fury, his eyes feral and dangerous. Even the air around them had turned volatile. Suddenly, the anger simmering inside her dissipated into nothingness.

“If that’s what you’re holding against me, my dear fiancée, then I’d gladly remedy it now,” Gabriel growled, striding towards Louisa.

“Gabriel, no!” she shrieked, scrambling to the edge of the bed, intent on getting away from him. But Gabriel was faster. He reached out and threw both arms around her waist.

In a flash, she was helplessly pinned under Gabriel’s large body, his mouth mercilessly plundering hers, his hands roving all over her body, squeezing, clawing, punishing. Louisa had already become familiar with Gabriel’s amorous advances, but this was different. He wasn’t amorous at all. He was furious and he was taking his anger out on her.

His kisses were hard and bruising, his touch fevered and rough. There was not a jot of gentleness in his ardor, yet Louisa found herself responding.

Damn! Even like this, I still want him – still love him!

Louisa’s last rational thought–before she completely gave in to her heart–was that if Gabriel didn’t come back to his senses soon, she would not leave here unscathed. Because, heaven help her, she definitely didn’t have the strength to stop this madness.