Page 64 of He Doesn't Deserve You

“You’re okay,” Hunter said, visibly relieved. “I thought you were shot.”

Gabriel hugged them back. “I’m fine, boys. I’m okay.”

“Where’s Emily?” Hayden asked anxiously. “Is she alright?”

“Emily’s fine,” Gabriel reassured him. “I need to go down to the police station for a while, but I’ll be back as soon as possible. In the meantime, I need you to watch your sister.”

“Dad, what’s going on? We heard gunshots,” Hunter said, his voice trembling with concern.

“There was an intruder,” Gabriel replied, trying to keep his voice steady.

“Did you shoot them? I didn’t even know you owned a gun,” Hunter said, confused.

“No, I didn’t shoot anyone,” Gabriel clarified.

“Then who did? Dad, I don’t understand what’s happening. This is the second time someone has broken into our house.”

Gabriel sighed. “I can’t explain everything right now; the police are waiting for me. I promise I’ll tell you everything when I get back. Just keep an eye on your sister, and whatever you do, don’t mention any of this to her. It will scare her. I got to go.” Gabriel said, heading down the stairs.

At the police station, Gabriel was escorted into an interrogation room. Detective Johnson gestured towards a chair and said, “Sit tight. I’ll be back in a minute.”

Detective Martin was lying on the couch, having just dozed off in front of the television, when the phone rang and woke him up. He grabbed the phone off the coffee table and answered sleepily, “Yeah.”

Detective Johnson said, “I think you might want to come to the station.”

Martin rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “What’s going on?” he asked.

“Gabriel Anderson was just brought in for questioning.”

This caught Martin’s attention. He sat up and swung his legs over the side of the couch. “By whom? That’s my case.”

“By Detective Sullivan, he responded to a shooting incident at the Anderson residence this evening. One person has been confirmed dead, and another is critically injured. I’m about to interview Gabriel and thought you might want to join me.”

Martin sprang to his feet. “I’m on my way,” he said.

Shortly after that, Detective Martin burst into the interrogation room, where Detective Johnson was questioning Gabriel. He quietly took a seat beside Detective Johnson and listened as Gabriel explained. “Yes, I’ve already told you. Lily and I were in a relationship. It wasn’t anything serious, at least not for me.”

“Just to be clear, this was a sexual relationship, correct?”

Gabriel tilted his head at the detective and said, “What do you think?”

“And how long had this relationship been going on?”

Gabriel threw his arms up, “I don’t know. About a year, I guess.”

“And did Maggie or Emily know about Lily?

Gabriel shook his head, “No.”

“Okay, and back to this evening. Why was Lily at your house?”

“I ended things with her and blocked her number. When she couldn’t reach me, she showed up at my house. She said she loved me and insisted we could finally be together now that Maggie was out of the picture and Emily was going to prison. I told her she was crazy and that we would never be together. That’s when she pulled a gun on me.”

“Do you own a gun, Mr. Anderson?”

“No.”

“Did you shoot Lily?”

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