Page 105 of Outback Reunion

Gabriela was quiet for a long moment. ‘What did Tahlia want this afternoon?’

‘She wants us to get back together. Shesaidshe regrets what she did and she’s willing to move here and start a family.’

‘Wow.’

‘Which is never going to happen,’ he said with conviction.

The wind whipped up around them and although the air still held the warmth of the day, he saw her shiver. ‘Maybe you should consider it.’

‘What?’ Mark laughed. Hadn’t she heard a word he’d just said? Why would he have spent the night helping her at the circus if he wanted to be with Tahlia?

‘She obviously loves you if she came all this way to ask you to take her back. We all make mistakes.’ Gabriela’s eyes dropped to the sand. ‘Maybe youshouldforgive her. She can give you what you want.’

‘No, she can’t!’ He touched his finger to Gabriela’s chin and forced her to meet his gaze again. ‘Because she’s not you. I was ready to settle down when I met her, but although it might have been the right time, she was the wrong person. You’re the only one for me.’

Tears sprung from her eyes. ‘I’m sorry, Mark, but I can’t be.’

‘I know you love me.’

Her face was already soaking wet as she shook her head. ‘I never said I didn’t. I think I loved you from the first moment I met you—but I can’t ignore my responsibilities to Lorenzo and Eve, to the circus. I owe them.’

‘I know this thing with the Saad sisters is stressful for them, but they’ll find other performers, and even if they don’t, you don’toweanyone anything. You were a child when they took you in. You don’t need to spend the rest of your life paying them back for that.’ Mark took her hand again and rested it in his lap. He never wanted to let go. He had to make her see sense. ‘And the same goes for Luna. I know the circus is her legacy, and she might not be old enough to understand just yet, but do you really think she’d want you to make your life miserable for her?’

She sniffed. ‘I’m not miserable. Not all the time. But if I am, it’s because I deserve to be.’

What?Mark wanted to scream. Dante had really done a number on her self-esteem. ‘That’s ridiculous. You’re—’

‘I killed him, Mark. Dante. It’s my fault he’s dead.’

‘Huh?’ He let go of her hand as ice flooded his body. ‘No. But... you said... you said he slipped and...’

When his voice drifted off, she nodded. ‘He did. But what I didn’t tell you was what he was doing at the time, and what I did after.’

His heart pounded in his ears as he waited, scared of what she was about to tell him.

‘It was late one night after a show. He was drunk and wanted to have sex in the shower. I didn’t. He tried to pull me in with him, and I pushed him away. He wasn’t expecting me to stand up to him and he lost his balance. He slammed his head against the sharp corner of the cabinet. I’d never seen anything like it when he crumpled to the floor. I think I stopped breathing, expecting him to get straight back up and terrified of what he might do, but he didn’t. And I just stood there, staring at him, stunned.’

‘Oh, Gabriela.’ Mark pulled her against him and wrapped his arms tightly around her. She was trembling. ‘Dante’s death wasnotyour fault. He brought that on himself by trying to force himself onto you. You pushed him in self-defence. It was an accident.’

‘Yes, but I should have called an ambulance the moment he fell. I could have run for help. But I didn’t. On purpose. Because I wanted him to die, and I thought that the longer I waited, the less likely it was that he’d wake up. I was right.’

Tears were pouring down her cheeks, soaking his t-shirt, and Mark had never hated anyone like he hated Dante. The bastard had got what he deserved but even after he was gone, his ghost still haunted Gabriela.

‘I’m glad he died,’ he told her, ‘because if he hadn’t... one day... it might have been you.’

It was on the news all the time—men murdering women they were supposed to love—and he knew there were so many more stories than were given airtime. One of those scumbags didn’t feel like much of a loss to humanity, but Gabi would be.

She sniffed and lifted her head from his shoulder. ‘One wrong doesn’t make a right. And none of it is Lorenzo and Eve’s fault. I can’t abandon them now when I didn’t have the guts to leave when Dante was still alive. If I had, maybe they’d still have their son.’

He wasn’t certain that was the case—Dante’s parents had raised a monster so they couldn’t be completely faultless—but he could tell that no matter what he said, nothing was going to assuage Gabriela of her guilt and convince her she didn’t owe Dante’s parents.

Not yet anyway.

‘Well, if you and Luna can’t leave, then I guess there’s only one thing for it.’

‘What do you mean?’

He grinned at her. ‘I’ll join the circus.’

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