Rough Justice (Cainsville 5.5)

For two months, he'd been getting these texts from Rose, usually in the middle of the night. The first time, he'd been working downstairs while Olivia slept, and there'd been no reason to tell her he was leaving. Grace's apartment building was a five-minute walk from Olivia's house. So he'd left a note and slipped out. Then he returned, tossed out the note and decided Olivia didn't need to know about it. The situation would only upset and worry her, and for what? A one-time call in the middle of the night, a problem easily solved, with Gabriel back before she knew he'd left. No point in mentioning it.

When it happened again a week later, they'd both been asleep. The text hadn't woken her, so he slipped out, returned within a half hour, Olivia none the wiser. And there'd still been no reason to tell her--just a second random occurrence.

That "random" occurrence became a weekly routine, and by the time he realized it wasn't going to stop, he didn't know how to tell her. How to admit it had been going on for two months.

One of these times, she would realize he'd left. He needed to tell her before then. He'd been about to, a week ago, and then she got the message from Ioan that her first Hunt was coming, and Gabriel decided he couldn't add this to her stress. He'd wait until after tonight.

"I want Gabriel." Seanna's voice echoed down the hall, and Gabriel squeezed his eyes shut. Then he checked his phone, as if he might have an urgent message from Olivia, needing his help. As if he might have an excuse to flee.

Instead, he saw only Rose's text from an hour ago.

It's Seanna, again. I know Liv's off with the CA, and I thought if you were staying at her house, you might stop by. You don't need to, of course.

"I want my son!"

Gabriel gritted his teeth. He wanted to stride in there and tell Seanna to be quiet. No, he wanted to tell her to shut up. Shut the fuck up. Words he had never used in his life, even with the most difficult client.

Seanna was different.

Until a few months ago, he'd thought his mother was dead. Been glad that she was dead, and he felt no guilt admitting that. Seanna had made his early life quite difficult.

He heard Olivia's voice. "Difficult, Gabriel, is when your mom makes you study from dinner until bedtime. Seanna made your life hell. Absolute hell."

True, though he preferred "difficult." Yes, yes, my mother was a drug-addled petty criminal who neglected me until I was fifteen, when she just walked out, but I'm past all that. Really, I am.

He lifted his hand to rap on the door and saw it trembling. He squeezed a fist as anger darted through him. Anger and shame.

You will not do this to me, Seanna. You've done quite enough, and here I draw the line.

When the trembling stopped, he knocked. Three quick raps. Rose opened the door and, while she tried to hide her relief, he saw it in every line on her face.

This is why I am here. Not for her. For you.

"I'm sorry, Gabriel," she said. "I thought I could handle it this time, but she only got worse."

"It's no trouble," he said. "I was already on my way to Olivia's, and it was easy to stop by."

Rose bought the lie. Just as she bought the one he presented by walking in stone faced and calm.

A minor inconvenience, that's all.

Nothing to worry about.

"Gabriel," a voice whispered.

He looked down the hall and saw his mother. And it did not matter how many times they repeated this dance, each time he saw her, it was a blow straight to his stomach.

When Seanna abandoned him at fifteen, he didn't question her disappearance, never suspected foul play. That was the kind of mother she'd been, gone more than she was home, and every time he opened the door to find the apartment empty, he'd felt nothing but relief. When she disappeared for good, though, he'd realized that a permanently absent mother was an entirely different thing. He might be accustomed to working and stealing for his meals, but at least he'd had a home and an address for school.

When Olivia discovered Seanna had apparently died of a drug overdose all those years ago, Gabriel had again been relieved. Freed from his greatest fear--that after everything he accomplished, she'd return and blackmail him into giving her a share.

Then she had returned. The dead woman had been a setup, allowing Seanna to flee one of her endless bad decisions. She'd escaped and left Gabriel behind and saw no problem with that. He'd done well for himself, hadn't he? No harm, no foul.

He recalled the first time he saw her again, walking into the yard, lobbing insults at Gabriel, taking cheap shots at Olivia. And Olivia had laughed. With that, Gabriel had seen his mother for what she truly was. What she had become, in his adult eyes. A ridiculous and pathetic creature. He had outgrown his vulnerability, and she held no sway over him.

He defeated his bogeyman...and then Fate picked up the game board, flipped it over, and made him start again.

Olivia had discovered that Seanna had been marked as a child, taking from her that which separated humans from fae: their conscience. The Tylwyth Teg had removed the mark, which gave Seanna back her conscience. But undoing the mark would also give her back her memories, letting her know exactly what she'd done to her son. To keep her from going mad, the elders sedated her with fae potions and compulsions. At first, she had surfaced only in a state of semi-lucidity, like an elderly relative with dementia. That Gabriel could handle. But two months ago, she'd woken...and remembered she had a son.