Corrupted Queen - Nicole Fox Page 0,27
years.
“I have no reason to lie, Alexis.”
“Because you’re sick!” I scream. “You’re just trying to control me!”
“It’s the truth.” He tries to grab my shoulders and I wrench away.
My legs shake, threatening to give out beneath me, and I hang onto the bench for dear life as the first sob crushes my chest. I can’t breathe. I choke, dissolving toward the floor as gravity becomes too much for me to bear.
Gabriel reaches for me again, and this time I collapse into his arms. I can’t take it. My chest heaves with sobs and I bury my face into Gabriel’s shoulders as his strong arms hold me upright. His thick frame surrounds me and I melt into his comforting scent.
I don’t know how long we stand there. I only know that I cry for what feels like an eternity, and Gabriel is the only thing keeping me from crumbling into a thousand pieces on the floor.
9
Gabriel
“Dada, plane!” Harry insists, pointing to the toy airplane on the floor by his toy chest.
Before Alexis took him away, Harry’s favorite game involved me zooming an airplane over his head while he tried to catch it like King Kong. I am pleased to see that he still enjoys it.
I stretch across and grab the plane, and Harry giggles happily as I float it over his head, dipping and diving while humming engine noises. His chubby fingers reach high into the sky, sometimes so close they skim along the belly of the plane, but never quite catching it.
It has been a long day and I am happy for the distraction. I hoped to see Alexis here but found Harry with the nanny, Jessica, instead. Ever since I told her the truth about her father, Alexis has been distant. That morning, after she crumpled in my arms and sobbed until she had no tears left, Alexis insisted on watching the video again, and then once more. I couldn’t understand why she would put herself through it again, and I can only surmise that she was hoping to desensitize herself somehow.
If that was the aim, it didn’t work.
It has been several days since then, and I have barely seen her. I know I did the right thing in telling her. I shouldn’t care that the truth upset her. I shouldn’t care about her at all. Yet I can’t help but stare at the door to her room and wonder if she is okay on the other side.
“Down!” Harry says.
I bring the plane into a nosedive, landing it in his lap. He laughs and grabs it from me, teetering to his feet and staggering around the room, making it fly himself. I watch, warmth radiating through me.
I am so relieved to have Harry back. He has brought sunshine back into my life in a time when I desperately need it.
Then I hear it.
At first the sound is hard to pick out over Harry’s exaggerated plane noises, so I slide closer to Alexis’ door. Sure enough, I catch the sound of Alexis’ sobs. The wretched noise is like a knife to my heart. I wonder how many times since seeing the video she has cried alone, mourning the beautiful lies that colored her world and kept her safe from the jagged truth. Her father was a despicable man. The only regret I have for removing him from this world is that my actions set off a chain reaction that ended with Alexis finding out that her father was in no way the man she thought him to be.
I look back at Harry, who has plopped down on his rear with the toy and pays me no mind, oblivious to his mother’s distress just through the door. I get up and go to the door, debating whether I should just leave it be.
On one hand, I’m still angry at Alexis. She violated my trust and stole my son from me.
On the other, I feel her pain as if it is my own for reasons I don’t fully understand.
I knock gently on the door and then glide it open. The crying stops abruptly.
The only light in the room emanates from the window, where the last strands of daylight glow on the horizon. I spy Alexis’ huddled form on the bed, and she hastily wipes her face on the back of her arm and clears her throat.
“Yeah?” she asks in a hoarse voice.
I lick my lip. “Are you hungry?”
She looks back at me with a vacant expression. Her blue eyes, that normally sparkle