Page 51 of The Runaway
“She says someone’s trying to kill her,” Gabriel filled him in, as Avril hunched over, coughing hard. “You know her? Who is she?” He still had next to no context for her desperate claim, though for the time being, he was taking her fears seriously.
“She’s an omega from the Martin estate,” Niles said, sounding mystified.
The Martins, Gabriel remembered, were not Antoine’s favourite neighbours. While they didn’t generally go out of their way to cause trouble, there was also a lingering antagonism between the two estates, which largely centred around the Calvets’ compassionate treatment of their omegas and the Martins’ derision of their ‘negligent’ stance on discipline.
“Who’s trying to kill you?” Gabriel asked Avril, once she was able to speak again.
“Philippe,” she said. “Chloe’s dead.”
Philippe was the head of the Martin estate, and though Gabriel had yet to meet him in person, from Antoine’s reports, he seemed to be a moderate sort of man, as far as alphas went. He was willing to punish wilful disobedience with whips and fists, but at the same time, he was reasonable enough to understand that mistakes happened and that not every error was born of deliberate maliciousness.
It would have been easy to jump to conclusions about Avril’s brief statement – ‘Chloe’s dead’ – but Gabriel had seen enough of life to know when to press for details. “Who’s Chloe?” he asked as a starting point.
“She’s another omega. Philippe killed her.”
Well, that confirmed another of his assumptions. But it still wasn’t the full picture. “Was Chloe owned by Philippe? I’m sorry, I’m new here,” he said, at her dismayed look. “I don’t know who everyone in the neighbourhood is yet.”
“Maybe we should take Avril inside,” Niles suggested. “Let her calm down and then she can tell us the full story.”
As much as Gabriel wanted to know what they we going to be dealing with, Niles had a point. “Let’s go inside the house,” he said, steadying Avril by her elbow. “Can you walk?”
She nodded, starting a slow trudge towards the house. Her face was pale, her long, blonde hair falling in her eyes. “I have to speak to Antoine,” she said, as Gabriel helped her over the fence.
“I’m sure he’ll want to hear what you have to say,” Gabriel agreed easily. No matter what the story was, Antoine would need to hear it. And then they’d all have to figure out what on earth to do next.
One of the unfortunate things about living on a small estate was that nothing happened without the staff finding out about it fairly quickly, and sure enough, as they reached the yard, two or three betas who happened to be around caught sight of Avril and took an interest in the fact that both Gabriel and Niles were giving her their full attention.
“Cirroc, do you know where Antoine is?” Gabriel asked the man, as they came up to the entrance to the main house.
“He’s in the study, sir,” Cirroc replied.
“Could you call him down to the sitting room? We have something of an issue to deal with.”
“At once, sir,” Cirroc said, hurrying away. But at the same time, Carolyn was craning her neck around the side of the house, and Dante and Connor were peering out of the stable. In about five minutes flat, the entire estate would be aware of Avril’s visit, and no doubt a dozen rumours would have started up about the reason behind it.
Inside the sitting room, Gabriel settled Avril on the sofa. “I’d very much like to help you,” he told her – the truth, without making any specific promises – “but first, we’re going to need to understand exactly what happened. Antoine’s on his way over-”
“I want him to buy me,” Avril blurted out.
“Excuse me?” This day just kept getting stranger.
“I want Antoine to buy me. You took in that runaway back before winter,” Avril said. “I thought maybe… Maybe he could buy me as well? I’m a hard worker, and I don’t make trouble. Please, I… I don’t want to die.”
It was hardly a surprise that news of their purchase of Connor had spread around the neighbourhood. In close-knit communities, nothing stayed a secret for long.
“Let’s wait until Antoine arrives, and then we can talk everything through,” Gabriel said. As tempting as it was to promise to help her, this was not his estate, and he didn’t know nearly enough about the Martins to be making decisions without Antoine’s input.
Thankfully, they didn’t have to wait long. Antoine came striding into the room a few minutes later, a grim expression on his face.
“Are you all right?” he asked Avril first of all. “Are you injured?”
She shook her head. “No. I’m not hurt. I’m just…” She burst into tears, trying hard to finish what she was saying. “I’m just really scared. Philippe killed Chloe.”
“Who’s Chloe?” Gabriel asked.
“One of Philippe’s omegas,” Antoine told him. He sat down on the sofa, facing Avril, and took one of her hands in his. “When did this happen?” he asked her.
“About half an hour ago. He shot her. He just stood her up in the yard and shot her.”