The Family Sacrifice Chapter 6

Gilbert's POV

Everyone turned to stare at Yvonne.

Harper's hand dropped from Yvonne's shoulder. Joshua stepped back.

Gilbert's mind went blank.

"Yvonne," Harper said. "What is he talking about?"

"I didn't know!" Yvonne's voice cracked and tears poured down her face. "I swear I didn't know the doctor was fake! He showed me his credentials, he had an office, everything looked real!"

The officer crossed his arms. "Ms. Wells, we need you to come to the station for questioning."

"You can't be serious. I'm a victim too! I trusted him!"

"We're just asking questions," the officer said. "All of you need to come with us."

They spent hours at the police station. Gilbert sat in the waiting room while they questioned Yvonne separately through the glass window.

"I really didn't know," she kept saying. "Why would I hurt Sabrina? She was helping me. I loved her."

Gilbert wanted to believe her. He needed to believe her.

The police had nothing, no proof she knew the doctor was unlicensed, no evidence she planned any of this.

They let everyone go.

"Don't leave town," the officer said. "We'll be in touch."

Gilbert drove back to the Collins house without saying a word. Nobody spoke the entire drive.

When they got home, Joshua went straight to his study and slammed the door. Harper collapsed on the couch and stared at the wall.

Yvonne touched Gilbert's arm. "I'm so sorry. I know you loved her."

He pulled away fast. "I need to be alone."

He walked down the hallway to Sabrina's room. That tiny storage closet with the cheap wooden door they'd given her while Yvonne lived in the master bedroom upstairs.

The room looked exactly how she'd left it.

Gilbert sat on her bed and put his head in his hands.

*When did I become this person? When did I stop seeing her?*

His shoulders started shaking and these awful sounds came out of him, broken and raw. He couldn't remember the last time he'd cried like this, couldn't remember the last time anything had hurt this much.

He lifted his head and froze.

Bloody bandages.

They were in her trash can, brown stains crusted into the white fabric.

Gilbert stood up. He pulled one out with hands that wouldn't stop shaking.

"Jesus," he whispered. "What the fuck did they do to you?"

The bandages were recent. She'd been hurt and he hadn't even noticed.

He dropped it fast and more tears came, covering his face with both hands. "I did this. I pushed her into this."

The door opened.

Yvonne walked in without asking and sat down on the bed right next to him. She put her hand on his back.

"Gilbert, I know you're hurting," she said softly. "But I'm here for you. I've always been here."

Gilbert stared at her hand on his back. Those delicate fingers, that concerned expression on her face.

She looks so much like Sabrina. Those same eyes. But Yvonne's eyes always seemed more vulnerable, more in need of protection.

That's what had drawn him in at first. Yvonne was always so fragile, always needing something, always reaching for him. And he'd felt needed, wanted, important.

But was that love? Or was that just his ego?

He thought about all those times Yvonne had found excuses to be near him. Calling him when Sabrina was at work. Texting him late at night about her health problems. The way she'd lean her body against his, when they were in the same room.

And sometimes, in those moments, he'd wondered if he'd chosen the wrong cousin. If maybe he should have waited, met Yvonne first instead of Sabrina.

But then he'd go home to Sabrina and she'd smile at him, that real smile she used to have before everything went wrong, and he'd know. He'd know exactly who he loved.

It was never the fragility that made him feel alive. It was Sabrina's strength. The way she'd laugh at his stupid jokes. The way she'd argue with him about movies and books. The way she'd looked at him.

When did he forget that? When did he start confusing need with love?

"Gilbert?" Yvonne's voice pulled him back. Her hand was still on his back.

"Leave," he said quietly.

"I know you need someone right now—"

"I said leave."

"But Gilbert, we can get through this together—"

"GET OUT!" His voice exploded out of him, "GET THE FUCK OUT OF HER ROOM!"

Yvonne's face went white. She stood up fast, stumbling backward.

She ran out of the room.

Gilbert lay back on Sabrina's bed, exhausted. The mattress was thin and uncomfortable, he could feel the springs digging into his back. She slept on this every night while Yvonne had the good bed upstairs.

He stared up at the ceiling. How badly had she been hurt? When did it happen? Why didn't she tell anyone?

Because no one would have listened. Because they were all too busy caring about Yvonne.

Then he felt something buzz next to his leg.

He sat up fast. There was a phone on the bed beside him. Yvonne must have dropped it when she ran out.

The screen was lit up with a new message.

"Prepare $500,000 and wire it to account XXXX-XXXX, or else..."

That's where it cut off.

Gilbert picked up the phone with shaking hands. His heart started pounding. Or else what?

The screen went dark.

He looked at the door, then back at the phone in his hand. He should give it back to Yvonne. That would be the right thing to do.

But something stopped him.

He lay back down on Sabrina's bed and just held the phone against his chest, thinking. Why is someone blackmailing Yvonne?