Chapter 15

Gabriel’s POV

[Flashback continues]

They both left my room slowly. As my father walked away, he swung the door closed, but Aarav subtly blocked it from latching fully with his foot. He glanced down at me, our eyes connecting through the narrow gap I had left between my eyelids. Placing a finger over his lips, he signaled for me to remain silent. He knew I wasn’t asleep; he knew I had been eavesdropping.

It took about five minutes for me to regain my confidence and resume my spying. Until then, I lay on the bed, straining to hear through the walls. At best, I caught fragments of muted conversation.

But now, I was back in my hiding place. And their conversation had moved away from the book to something else entirely — a framed photo. It struck me as odd that they couldn’t stick to one topic. First a book, now a framed photo. The lack of connection between these subjects on any normal day left me wondering how they were related to each other and