Page 71 of Shattered Echoes

This is all my fault, I think.

I sit there, my hands twisting together in my lap, fingers knotted they hurt. My heart races, pounding against my ribs like a trapped bird. The tension in the room is so thick, I can cut through it with a knife. I can't look away from Leo. Every pass he makes feels like it's dragging out the inevitable confrontation.

Gabriela’s presence beside me is a slight comfort in the storm of Leo’s rage. She’s a sweet, kind woman, whose eyes are soft with concern.

“Would you like some juice, Colette?” she asks, holding out a glass. Her voice is soft and angelic, but it registers over the roaring in my ears.

I manage a distracted, “Um, thank you.” My voice trembles. I take the glass from her, but my eyes never leave Leo. He continues his furious pacing, each glance a dagger.

Yell at me, just get it over with, I want to say.

Gabriela follows my gaze, then sighs, a sound full of empathy and frustration. She knows there’s little she can do to ease this tension, but her presence is grounding.

The minutes after I called Leo were a blur. My hands shook as I dialed his number, panic tightening my throat. The moment I told him Antonio was missing, everything became a whirlwind. Leo and Gabriela arrived almost immediately, descending on the mansion by helicopter. It was a blur of movement and sharp, urgent voices, all coalescing into this tense standoff in the living room.

Through the window, I see Henry pacing just as frantically as Leo, his phone glued to his ear. His expression is a mirror of desperation and determination, eyes scanning the grounds as he talks to every contact he can think of. Each call ends with a shake of his head as his frustration grows with every passing minute.

“You haven’t seen him at all? Thank you, Sheriff. Please call me if you find anything,” he says.

Henry’s voice is sharp, almost pleading as he speaks into the phone. He ends the call and looks up into the evening sky, his free hand running through his hair in agitation. The desperation is palpable, leaving a terrible taste in my mouth.

“I haven't been able to get any word on Antonio,” he says, his voice strained. He runs a hand through his hair, the action betraying his mounting desperation.

Leo stops pacing for a moment, his eyes narrowing. “I’ve got my best men working on it,” he snaps, the confidence in his voice doing little to mask the underlying panic.

“If they haven’t called yet, Henry, what makes you think anyone else will have any better news?” He resumes his pacing, each step heavier than the last. His frustration is clear.

He just wants to help!

I say nothing, though. I just sit on the couch, feeling smaller with each passing second. Leo’s anger is a living thing, choking the life out of me.

“What were you thinking, Colette? Why would you let him have a phone?”

the inevitable comes.

I flinch at the venom in his voice. “I didn’t know he was going to use it to do a Google search! I just left him on a call with Henry,” I say, my voice trembling. “And if you ask me, hiding the truth didn’t seem like the best option. I believe we should have told him in a controlled environment and helped him through it.”

Leo’s eyes narrow further. “Controlled environment? You let him have a phone! You know what kind of state he’s in, and you gave him a phone? How is that controlled?”

Shit!

I struggle to hold his gaze, guilt and defensiveness warring within me. “I didn’t know it would be this bad,” I say, my voice above a whisper. “I didn’t know all the rules.”

Henry steps forward, placing himself between me and Leo. “She didn’t know, Leo. You can’t blame her for this. I didn’t explain everything to her.”

Leo’s anger shifts to Henry, his eyes flashing. “You knew the rules, Henry! We talked about this before I even let you have Antonio’s new number. Why didn’t you tell her? Why didn’t you keep her away from him?”

Keep him away from me? What am I? Leprosy?

Henry’s face hardens, his own temper rising. “I thought it would be fine. I didn’t think she needed to be kept away from him. They’re adults, Leo. You can’t control everything.”

Leo’s frustration reaches a boiling point. “This isn’t about control! It’s about protecting Antonio. If anything happens to him because of your negligence, I’ll never forgive either of you.”

I can feel my heart pounding faster, my chest tightening. The room is closing in and Leo’s words echo in my head, each accusation like a knife. I left Antonio with the phone. I made that mistake.

Fuck!

Leo’s eyes continue to glow with rage, but he takes a deep breath, trying to rein in his anger, and everyone goes quiet.

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