Page 29 of Redemption

Gawain

Ibring up my mother’s number for the hundredth time since we returned from M’s house. I’ve been sitting on a chair by my swimming pool, watching Megan swim away her thoughts for over an hour, but I’ve not been able to press the call button yet. I’m too scared of the answers I’ll get. We didn’t find anything of any use in the house, and I agreed with Arthur it can finally be claimed and resold. He’s just as concerned as I am that his sister’s picture was in the house. With my father being in charge of the smuggling ring, what happened to Megan is too close to home. M one initial, one name, a name I don’t want to face: Mordred. Why else would there be a picture of my mother in the room? I finally dial.

“Hello,” my mum answers, and I can tell she’s been crying. “G-Gawain,” she stutters into the phone.

“Hi, Mum,” I finally reply.

“How are you?” she asks, and I immediately know she’s been presented with one of my father’s hands and the knowledge that I was the one who killed him.

“Good.”

“I’m glad, son”

The line falls quiet. Neither of us wanting to talk further about the man who destroyed both our lives.

“Why did Mordred leave?” I finally ask.

My mother lets out a sob. It’s long and drawn out as though her heart is breaking.

“He…he…” she struggles to speak and breaks down.

“Our father?” My hands are shaking as I ask my questions.

“Yes.”

“He did the same to Mordred as he did to me.” I’d found out a few years later my mother had known what my father would do to me on my sixteenth birthday, but she’d been powerless to stop it. It was the reason she didn’t wildly protest when I came to the Cavalieri Della Morte. I was safe here in her eyes.

“He changed that day. He wasn’t my little boy any more. I tried to focus all my attention on him to stop it, but the day he left, he turned around to me and said, ‘a woman’s body is for my pleasure until the day they die’.”

My father’s words and those spoken to Megan. It’s the proof we finally need that my little brother is M.

“I have to go, Mum. I’ll come see you Sunday.”

“Please.”

The line goes dead. I pull up my messages and click to send one to Arthur.

M is Mordred.

I don’t need to say anything else. Those three words are enough. Arthur will find him and kill him.

“Gawain.” Megan’s voice invades my tired brain. I put my phone down and look up to see her standing in front of me with a towel wrapped around her. “It’s your brother isn’t it?…M.”

“Yes.” I can’t look her in the eye. Pushing to my feet, I go to push past her. “I’ll arrange for one of the guys to come and get you and take you to Arthur’s mansion.”

She grabs my shirt and pulls me to a halt.

“Why?” Her question is full of concern.

“You don’t want to be here with me.” I shrug.

“Why?” she asks the same query again.

“He is my brother.” I feel the disgust and guilt churning in my gut.

“Yes. Your brother, not you.”

“But...”

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