❝ all truth is simple... is that not doubly a lie? ❞

friedrich nietzsche

__________

Damian and I leapt to our feet simultaneously, the tea spilling from the cups on the table. I drew a sharp intake of breath, the hairs on the back of my neck rising. I strained my vocal cords, but nothing came out. This was the first time someone was pointing their gun at me. Someone whom I considered a close friend. I was petrified, and all I could do was stare at Joseph in distress. Damian, on the other hand, reacted swiftly, tugging me by my hand behind him, thus shielding me from the aim of the weapon. I craned my neck to the side with caution, gripping his left forearm in fear. 

"If you point that gun in her direction again, brother or not, I will strangle you with my bare hands."

Joseph's shoulders shook with despondent laughter at his twin's threat. He lowered the gun leisurely, catching my eyes. He actually looked hurt.

"Did you really think that I could shoot you?" he asked me. "I saved your life. I killed Gabrielle because of what she did to you. You're my friend, the only person who has never disappointed or hurt me. I would never harm you."

I stepped forward, out of Damian's shadow, with unsure steps. I scanned his features, slumped in a state of deep dejection, and dismissed his reply as if I hadn't heard him. Just talking to him made me sick, but I still had a lot of questions, and he was the only one who could answer.

"Why did Gabrielle kill Avery?" I asked him, crossing my arms over my chest and refusing to show any empathy, any sign of weakness.

He sighed.

"Gabrielle told me about the rumours in your academy, that Avery had proof of Damian killing Monica. If that was true, then that meant she actually had proof of me killing her. I didn't know what it was, but I couldn't risk the police finding out about that either way. I might have implied that we had to get rid of Avery in order to protect Damian, but Gabrielle was the one with the initiative. It was her plan. She persuaded her brother to get her Triazolam, and I slipped it in Avery's glass. Gabrielle did the rest. She did a terrible, terrible mistake though. She took Avery's earring, automatically linking her murder to Monica's. I only found out about that later, right before New Year's Eve, when she told me that she was planning to gift it to Damian as a symbol of her great love and devotion to him. Luckily, I managed to get that stupid idea out of her head."

I didn't think things could get worse than this, but they did, every time Joseph opened his mouth.

"And did Avery have proof?" Damian asked, his eyes stricken with gloom.

"Yes. Don't you worry, I destroyed it." he replied, to our dismay. 

"Why did you take Gabrielle's earring then? Didn't you think it would arouse suspicion?" I inquired.

"I didn't mean to take it. I wasn't supposed to get involved at all. When she realized that Damian would never love her because he was already in love with you, she came crying hysterically to me and prattled on about ending her life and that she'll take the blame for all the murders. She must have written that suicide letter afterwards. But then I found out that you were missing, and I knew it was Gabrielle's doing. I figured she'd taken you to our lake house; after all, she witnessed you and Damian kissing there, and in her fractured mind, that must have been a very symbolic place to die." 

"So you drowned her?" I squawked.

"I'm sorry, I truly am." Joseph added. "But if I hadn't pulled her off you that night, she would've killed you. You were already unconscious when I found you. I dragged her to the lake and she put up a fight. I don't know why she had a change of heart, but she didn't want to die anymore. I couldn't spare her, though. She knew too much, and with her frail state of mind, she could've given way under police pressure and confess everything. Right before dying, she plucked her earring herself, to let the police know she didn't commit suicide and threw it into the water. I got to it before it could sink."

I felt the muscles of my chin tremble like a small child and Damian pulled me into an embrace, kissing the crown of my head. I cried into his chest silently but unceasingly, my hands clutching his T-shirt. I inhaled deeply, revelling in his scent for a second. I wished I could stay like this for hours, for days, for years. For how long it would take the acute pain in my heart to fade. I drew back slightly from him to look his twin in the eye.

"She wasn't well, she needed help. You knew that!" I raised my voice by an octave, my blood beginning to boil in my veins. "You took advantage of her mental disorder and her love for Damian, you pressured her into killing Avery, you lied to her, you used her. Don't pretend you did all of this for a cause. You did it because you're a conceited coward, who didn't want to pay for his inhumane crime. God! She didn't want to die. She didn't want to die..." I repeated, my voice lowering to a whisper.

Joseph's fingers tightened around the grip of the handgun, and for a moment, I thought he was going to point it at me again, but he didn't. 

"Perhaps. But Damian is not that far behind." he uttered with a disturbing smile. "Go on, tell her, brother, how you only befriended Gabrielle to get closer to her. How you used Gabrielle as your personal little spy, to tell you where she goes, where she lives, what's her phone number." He noticed his brother's surprised face and chuckled derisively. "What, you think I didn't know? Gabrielle told me. She was so happy that you talked to her, even if it was always about her best friend. What was one of the first questions you asked her?" He thought for a second, and then answered himself: "Right, Gabrielle had told you that she thought you were innocent, and you instantly asked her, what does Rosabel think? That sounds like obsession to me. What a paradox. Gabrielle was obsessed with you, whilst you were obsessed with her best friend. I meant, are."

I was at a loss for words, once again. My mind went blank and the blood drained from my face as I gaped at Damian. He had let go of my waist and balled his fists tightly at his side, retorting to his brother:

"It wasn't like that. I cared about Bree. She was my friend too. But you wouldn't understand." 

"Whatever helps you sleep at night. Just so you know, her blood is on your hands too." 

Tensed silence wafted in the air. Damian's gaze fell to the floor. I watched him intently, but he didn't look at me, as if he was ashamed. Why didn't he defend himself? Why didn't I defend him?

Gabrielle's blood was on all of our hands.

I was so, so tired; I felt like my legs would give up soon and I'd collapse on the floor. I sniffed, wiping my wet, burning cheeks and staining my fingers with black mascara. 

"Joe-" I started, but then quickly corrected myself: "...Joseph, I beg of you, surrender yourself to the police. Monica's, Avery's and Gabrielle's family deserve closure. They won't find solace until they know what happened. You can't undo what you've done, but you can make things right. Please. This ought to stop."

"Some things are better left unknown." he countered. 

"What would mother say if she knew about this? What have you become?" There was no anger in Damian's voice anymore; it was replaced by utter sorrow, as if he had just lost someone really close to him. And he did, he lost his brother, once and for all. That spark in his dark eyes, of mystery and nonconformist, went dormant. He looked like a defeated soldier who had just lost the battle with destiny.

Something snagged inside Joseph, because for a moment, he became the seventeen-year-old boy who had his heart broken by a girl who didn't love him, who had a dysfunctional family, whose mind was tormented by demons of the past, whose agony was too great to be compressed in his ribcage. The fallen angel, holding tar-black feathers of his own lost wings, realizing what he had done.   

"Please. You have to surrender yourself to the police. For the grieving families. For your family, and most importantly, for yourself. Only you can save your soul." I told him gently, giving him a pleading look. 

"Save my soul from what, damnation?" he inquired derisively. "I'm already damned. There is no soul left to save. Maybe if I'd have met you sooner..." he said, staring in the horizon, through us. He didn't finish his sentence.  

"If you don't tell the police, I will." I argued with a resolute expression.

He didn't react for a while, and I thought he hadn't heard me, until he raised his gun again, this time, in Damian's direction. His finger curled around the trigger and he gave a grim smile. Damian didn't even flinch. An odd resignation was etched on his face, his gaze stoic and deadly, whilst Joseph scrutinized him with his usual serenity, trying to read him. Despite their seeming calmness, I knew they were two volcanoes about to erupt.  

"I don't think you understood correctly, Rosabel. I would never harm you, but that doesn't mean I wouldn't hurt Damian. Do you not remember our negotiation? Your silence in exchange for his life." 

Seeing him point the gun at Damian was even more terrifying than seeing him point it at me. Thrills of nervousness and fear rushed throughout my body at light speed, making me shudder. My heart bludgeoned my ribs painfully.

"No, you wouldn't...he's...he's your brother. He's your family." I uttered, my teeth chattering as if I were freezing to death. 

"He hates me. He always had. I hardly call that a brother."

"That's not true." Damian protested. "We grew apart because our parents always tried to fix me, especially mom, like there was something wrong with me, and I began to believe that myself. I heard the same words, again and again, every day: Why can't you be like Joseph?  I tried so hard to make them proud of me, but no matter what I did, it was never enough, because you always did more. I was tired of being compared to you and I was envious, because you were always, at least in their eyes, perfect and right. You did what they said, you talked the way they wanted, you behaved as they wanted. You never had a childhood? Well, guess what, I spent mine thinking that I was a failure who didn't deserve to be loved. That I was never enough."

To my horror, he walked straight to his twin. Joseph straightened his back and gripped the gun tighter.

"Stay back." he warned him.

"I never hated you. There was only one person I truly hated, and that was myself. God, I can't believe I ever wanted to be you." Damian didn't listen to him and advanced, until his chest hit the barrel of the handgun. "I won't let you blackmail and manipulate her like that. You want to shoot me for being a shitty brother? Fine. But not in front of her. Let Rosabel go and kill me, for all I care."

"No!" I shouted loudly, startling both of them. "I won't tell anyone. I swear. And neither will Damian. Just put the gun away, please." 

Joseph watched me dubiously, so I continued:

"You can trust me. I won't tell a soul. I'll...I'll do whatever you want. Please." I was ready to fall on my knees and beg him; I didn't care what I had to do in order to save the person I loved.

Damian took advantage of his brother being distracted and punched him all of a sudden, the gun flying across the kitchen and landing on the floor with a clutter. 

The ice that kept my limbs pinioned finally shattered, and I bolted to the entryway. I delved into the pocket of Damian's coat and grabbed his phone frantically, almost dropping it because of the high levels of adrenaline and stress. I dialled the police and exhaled in relief when they answered almost instantly:

"999, what is your emergency?"

I didn't even know how, but I managed to explain shortly what was going on and tell them the address of the Belfort house.

"The police is on their way. Please stay with me, miss. What is your name?"

I was about to hang up and run back to the kitchen, but a shot resounded in the house.

And then another one.

__________

Author's Note: I can't believe it, but we're actually approaching...the end of this book! There are a few more chapters left and that's it! c; 

I hope you enjoyed this chapter! The next one is very, very....you'll have to fill the blank yourself once you read it :)