Chapter 19 - GUNTHER PULLED AWAY BECAUSE HE THOUGHT KAYLA WAS AFRAID TO LEAVE
Gunther stopped asking Kayla to stay overnight.
He did it gently.
That made it worse.
“Big morning tomorrow.”
“You should get sleep.”
“I’ll have Victor—”
He stopped.
“No.”
“I’ll call you a car if you want.”
Kayla noticed by the third time.
By the fifth, she became angry.
“Do you want me here?”
Gunther looked up from the kitchen counter.
“Yes.”
“Then why do you keep sending me home?”
“I’m not sending you anywhere.”
“You know what I mean.”
Gunther closed the refrigerator.
He had spent ten days thinking about Elias’s words.
About Kayla admitting he scared her.
He could not ask directly without revealing he had overheard a private conversation.
So he did what he had once done best.
He made decisions around incomplete information.
Again.
“I don’t want you to feel obligated.”
Kayla stared.
“To sleep here?”
“To stay with me.”
Silence.
“What happened?”
“Nothing.”
“Gunther.”
He looked away.
That was answer enough.
“Did someone say something?”
“No.”
Technically true.
He had overheard.
Kayla’s face hardened.
“You’re doing it again.”
“What?”
“Deciding what I need before asking me.”
He closed his eyes.
“Yes.”
“So ask.”
Gunther looked at her.
“Are you afraid of me?”
Kayla froze.
There.
Raw.
No defense.
“No.”
He studied her.
She saw disbelief.
Then understood.
“You heard Elias.”
Gunther’s silence confirmed.
“Oh my God.”
“I didn’t mean to.”
“How much?”
“Enough.”
“No.”
She stepped closer.
“How much?”
He repeated the lines.
Kayla stared.
Then laughed.
Not humor.
“Of course.”
“What?”
“You heard exactly enough to create the worst possible interpretation.”
Gunther’s jaw tightened.
“I heard you say I scare you.”
“You do.”
There.
Again.
He became still.
Kayla continued.
“Your history scares me.”
“Your instincts scare me.”
“The power imbalance scares me.”
“The fact that one call from you can change someone’s life scares me.”
Gunther looked down.
“But you do not scare me when I say no.”
He looked up.
“That is the difference.”
Kayla stepped closer.
“I was afraid of you when I worked in your house.”
“Yes.”
“I am not afraid to leave you.”
He stopped breathing.
“If I wanted to leave, I would.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
She held his gaze.
Gunther nodded.
“Yes.”
Kayla’s voice softened.
“That is why I stay.”
He stared.
She touched his face.
“You don’t get to protect me from loving you.”
A sad smile crossed his mouth.
“That sounds unhealthy.”
“Probably.”
She laughed.
Then serious again.
“And you don’t get to assume loving you means I approve of everything you’ve ever done.”
“I know.”
“Good.”
They kissed.
Not resolution.
Clarification.
Later, Kayla asked, “Why didn’t you ask me immediately?”
Gunther considered lying.
Didn’t.
“Because part of me thought if I gave you distance, you might realize you wanted it.”
“That was almost noble.”
“Almost?”
“You still chose the experiment without consent.”
He sighed.
“Of course.”
Progress remained annoying.
The next day, the blackmail investigation finally identified the shell-company owner.
A woman named Marianne Vale.
Former paralegal.
Former employee of Caleb’s defense team.
Former fiancée of Thomas Baines.
And when police searched her apartment, they found folders.
Victor.
Jacqueline.
Gunther.
Kayla.
Elias.
Sam.
And one photograph that made Kayla sit down.
It showed Victor Romano kissing Jacqueline outside a hotel.
Fourteen months earlier.
Not four months.
Jacqueline had lied.
May you like
Victor had lied.
And suddenly Kayla wondered what else the supposedly “new” relationship had been hiding.
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