Page 109 of Titan

“Gil, just tell me what the other thing is. I can take it.”

He looked down at the floor.

“It’s about who helped them get to you.”

Who helped them?

“What do you mean?”

“Someone let H into your building, plus they delivered the last letter through your front door personally. Zayn and I found out who it was, and we dealt with… him.”

I froze. It had occurred to me someone must have helped H get in, but I hadn’t stopped to consider who. No one at the club had it in for me, did they?

“You dealt with him?”

Gil didn’t look up. He kept his eyes fixed on the floor as if he knew this would break me in half.

“It was your friend, Gael. It seems he was also taken by the Raven and escaped, but they got to him. They wanted him to give them access to you, so they would leave him alone. He had no remorse for it. He told us he would have done it again.”

My world dropped out from underneath me. I’d trusted Gael. He was the first person I’d been intimate with since the abuse. And for him to do this to me? To be okay with giving me back to them when he knew what it was like in that place? That was fucked up. He’d told me what he’d been through, but never mentioned the organisation that had taken him. I’d never put two and two together either.

“He… he… oh my god.”

My heart hurt and tears sprung to my eyes. How could he? I understood why he didn’t want to go back, but it didn’t mean he had to throw me under the bus. It was just fucking cruel.

“Theia.”

I blinked, tears blurring my vision as they spilt down my cheeks. I could just about make out Gil coming closer and him wrapping his arms around me.

“Shhh, it’s okay.”

He pressed my face into his shoulder as a sob erupted from my mouth. My hands clutched at his clothes, wanting him closer. Needing him because inside I was falling apart. I don’t think devastated could quite cut it for what I was feeling. There’d been three men I trusted at the club.Three. And the one I thought cared for me the most hadn’t thought twice about helping send me back to that place.

“He… he… he…”

“I know. He betrayed you.”

Gil stroked my back before shifting off the coffee table and taking a seat next to me on the sofa. He pulled me into his lap, cradling me against his chest. I cried for what seemed like an eternity, purging all of my feelings of betrayal, heartbreak, and pain on Gil’s chest. He held me the whole time, murmuring in my ear about how he’d be right there for me, and I could shed as many tears as I needed to.

What the fuck would I do without this man?

He’d given me so much. And he was still giving just by being there for me, even though I was a mess. He’d told me before that I was his train wreck. I don’t know why it meant so much to me, but it did.

“Gil,” I whispered into his wet shirt.

“Mmm?”

“What did you do to him? To Gael?”

He stroked my hair back from my face as I looked up at him.

“I want you to remember he not only betrayed you but Zayn too. Desecration is meant to be a safe space for all of you, and he betrayed that by giving you up.”

“I know.”

I had a feeling I already knew the answer to my question, but I needed to hear from Gil.

“Zayn questioned him, but he left Gael’s fate up to me since you and I are together. What he did to you is unforgivable. I told you I would kill anyone who’d hurt you. That’s what he got. He’ll never hurt you again.”

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