"Things are settling, things feel like they might be somewhat normal again. It is honestly unfair. I mean, there is no way your aunt knew anything about what he was doing. How many of our parents have no idea what the other is up to?" Adriana respected her mother, but it had been almost twenty years since she had worked. There was no way she could keep up with the business. "We have earned it." She put her bags in the back seat, she got in the driver's seat. "You really are a fixer. Always thinking ahead."
"that would be logical thinking, adriana, and most people on the upper east side don't do that. they saw howard and blamed nate and anne by extension. put it this way, if people were honest about everything they got up to there would be no need for gossip girl and high society brunches where they all gossip about one another" the whole ordeal had been exhausting to her. "i agree, dress shopping was tough on us" she nodded and climbed into the passenger seat "i think about these things so no one else has to"
"i know... i know. i wish i'd told you sooner, i wish i'd told you from the moment i knew. gabriela, if i could go back---," he cut himself off, shaking his head. he would what? do everything differently? what good would 'what-ifs' do her now in the face of this crushing reality. nick realised just how futile his words were and how effective hers were. they cut him down to size and he deserved to receive every blow. 'you were the babysitter' - he had never considered himself that. it wasn't a chore or a task, or a goddamn job to be with her. it was what he wanted.
her hands were pulled from his sharply, leaving him standing helplessly without her touch. the shame was clear on nick's face as he hung his head. he would do anything to convince her that he was telling the truth but there was no denying the part he played. he did know enough and he should have known better. when she spoke again, his eyes snapped up and his throat ran dry. 'i trusted you, i --- ' she didn't have to say it. nick knew it deep down, he'd known it for a long time now. it was always easy to get tangled up in the strings one claimed were not attached. nick felt tears sting his eyes from frustration and shame, and a bone deep despair as he watched them end in flames. fire meet gasoline, right?
"gabriela, please- please... just- just tell me what i can do to make this better?" nick never stumbled or stuttered, or pleaded but he was now. he realised the hopelessness of this situation but he couldn't think logically about it, about her. "i'll do anything you want, anything you need. i just- i just want to fix this. forgive me, gabriela. tell me what you want - what you need - to forgive me." he would have fallen to his knees in that moment if he had any control over his body. in the pit of his stomach, in the depths of his soul, he knew there was nothing he could do or say now that would undo what he'd done.
“if you know then why didn’t you? surely some part of you knew what you were doing was wrong” going back to avoid this happening sounded like a great idea. they could avoid all of this and stay in their bubble. but that couldn’t happen. they were forced to feel the fire against their faces as everything blew up in them. If nick wasn’t burnt to a cinder by that then gabriela’s fury would char him to a crisp. her anger wouldn’t solve anything and it wouldn’t make her feel better, but it made him feel worse and right now he needed to feel how this felt for her. he’d got through her defences like a trojan horse and wrecked havoc. it wasn’t supposed to be like this. it was supposed to be them on a united front.
she loved him. she’d spent every day denying it, especially now, but she loved him. she couldn’t bring herself to say it but the look on his face confirmed he’d clocked it. she supposed the only positive to this was he looked like he was in as much pain as she was. after the shattering revelation between them, misery still loved company. the last of her sobs wracked from her body, her heart racing while her brain tried to process everything. her normally spacious office felt too small and claustrophobic now. gabriela tried to get as much distance from nick and her uncles warning and felt herself shutting down as she backed against her desk.
she looked to her defaced office wall and frantically wiped the tears from under her eyes, attempting to gather herself. deep breaths and a few more wipes of under her eyes later, despite nick’s pleading he was met with a brick wall of his own. gabriela turned her head to look at him, the aftermath of the devastation written all over her face. she was a broken woman and with a barely mustered voice, she’d decided she didn’t want to do this anymore. she couldn’t bear it
"you're only human, gabriela. there's no shame in enjoying my company even when we're not on the same side. oh, that i am. i'm sure i'll be busier than ever but there's always time for you."
"always so confident that i would want to spend time with you. one might think you're vying for my attention, robbie. i appreciate that you'd find time in your busy schedule just for me. how sweet of you"
nick smirked endlessly at her words, wondering just how he'd managed to end up in this arguably perfect situation. he chuckled as she prodded at him, a devious thought or two coming to mind. "i don't pout-," he pouted- "okay, how about this? on the count of three, we both say a name that would make the list. deal?"
he looked like the cat that got the cream by the way he was smirking at her. one could only imagine what was running through that brain of his. gabriela fought a laugh at the pout he provided while he protested his pouting. on anyone else she would've rolled her eyes, it was oddly endearing on him "okay why not...one...two...three..."
there really would come a time when they could enjoy an evening without bailing early. not that nick was complaining, they always had somewhere far more enjoyable to be. besides, judging by the deadly daggers the manager was throwing their way... they were about to be shown the door anyway. "you wanna get out of here?"
the day they made it to closing time in a bar would be a day of celebration. however, the confetti was on hold for now and the bar tender looked ready to spray them with the water tap. "hmm let me think. stay in a dingy bar or leave with you..." gabriela smiled in their kiss and took his hand "let's go before the manager kicks us out" picking up her bag, she led him towards the door where the cold wind would take them to wherever they wanted to hide from the world.
after her ‘conversation’ with lili, gabriela had to get out of the gallery. she felt her chest was tight and the breath was leaving her lungs quicker than it was arriving, she had to get far away from lili, atticus and nick. she would drive upstate to her place outside of the city to lick her wounds away from their prying eyes.
gabriela looked to see jamie deep in conversation with roman ravenwood and she wasn’t going to interrupt the lifelong friends. she would send jamie a message when she got home that she dipped out and didn’t want to disturb her evening. grabbing her clutch bag from the table, she left the doors of the gallery to see her driver pull the car around to meet her. gabriela greeted him and climbed into the back seat, instructing that plans were changing and she’d be going upstate. with a nod of his head, he put the car in drive and took off down the road on route to their destination.
the drive was going smoothly enough, but she had noticed a car was driving too close for comfort to her own. her driver had clearly noticed before her and avoided saying anything to worry her, his eyes darting between the road and the wind mirrors. objects may be closer than they appear. this one was looming over them. the speed increased slightly, they had tried to shake the car but it was no use. moments later gabriela would jolt forward, her seatbelt burning at her skin and her head cracking against the window after the impact sent her car off the road sending the vehicle crashing into a nearby tree
she groggily came to with a pounding head and the feel of something on her face. slowly she reached up to let her fingertips brush the liquid to be met with crimson her hand. she groaned at the feeling of her body screaming at her when she moved to unbuckle her seatbelt and climb to check on her driver “olsen? are you okay?” she asked, but the front seat was empty and the door was wide open. he had been yanked from the car and before she had a moment to think, she was ripped from the back of the car to come face to face with howard archibald.
“my darling niece, come give your old uncle a hug” she felt her stomach turn and the bile rise. pulling her into a bruising hug, she could feel his arms tighten around her like a boa constrictor, squeezing the breath from her already burning lungs. she could feel the bones from her broken ribs crunching inside her from the pressure. a scream tore from her lips at the pain, something that her uncle clearly relished in when she felt his grip tighten enough to hear the sound again. once satisfied he dumped her to the ground in a heap, leaving her groaning in pain. “i’m going to give you an option like you gave me those years ago…” he spoke, venom dripping from his voice as he crouched down. the smell of cheap booze prominent on his breath “…family or freedom?” he didn’t need to say more than that. it was clear as day to her. she either went with him or she walked free and her family would take her place.
“fa-family” she gasped through gritted teeth. she’d always protect family. “they always were your weak spot” he hummed, happy with the answer. with the energy she had left, she spat a mouthful of blood in his face before his fist collided with her face and everything went blurry. the last thing she remembered was being hoisted from the ground and tossed into the back seat of a car before her vision eventually went black.
"i'm just sorry," she answered despite it not meaning much now. lili was sorry, of course she was. she never wanted to put gabriela in danger, she never wanted to cross the line into her personal life either. lili didn't want to be involved in the first place. she gave nick a hard time for leading with his heart, but she was no better. she never had been. when she'd left her life at the fire house behind, it was supposed to be different. babysitting brats she didn't give a damn about was a way to fill the time, to distract her from everything she had been running from. lili was too close to this now. she was too close to her. so, she took her punishment on the chin, letting gabriela continue uninterrupted and unanswered.
when gabriela finished her sentence, she briefly closed her eyes. this had blown up in their faces so spectacularly, she couldn't imagine a way back. that wasn't the point though. whether gabriela hated her guts or not, she was in danger. lili looked back at her again and swallowed back any more apologies. nick had been a mistake. maybe this whole damn operation had been a mistake. there was something she saw in gabriela now though, in her fury and her gut-wrenching worry for her family. she would do anything for them. and that was dangerous. not only did she now have the knowledge of what was happening, she was alone in it. she would isolate herself from them (at least, she'd try) and that would only make it worse. angry, alone and responsible... it was a recipe for disaster.
"i think you'll take it seriously. i think you'll take it all on your shoulders and you'll do whatever it takes to keep the people you care about safe. i think you're at risk of doing something you'll regret, gabriela." lili knew she wasn't going to win this one and she didn't have to. gabriela could hate her, it wouldn't stop lilo keeping track of her. "hate me, hate atticus. hate nick. but don't be a hero."
sorry wasn’t going to cut it no matter how much the word was offered to her. the rug had been yanked out from under her feet and the floor wasn’t there, it felt like she was free falling into the abyss. she felt like she couldn’t trust anything that had happened with any of them. Was it all for the plan? was any of it legitimate? gabriela had let personal relationships into her life and they were sinking their teeth her in the jugular right now. the sting of the betrayal worse than the pain.
if gabriela was a fighting woman, with the rage she was feeling, she would’ve wiped the floor with the three of them. alas she was classier than that and she refused to lower herself to that kind of behaviour regardless of how much they all deserved a punch square in the face. she was doing everything she could not to lose her temper further and cause a scene. “even now you’re still in planning mode.” the looked to lili in disbelief “i think you don’t get to have a theory or opinion on anything in my life right now. you’ve done enough of that.”
deep down she knew there was a part of lili that was right. she’d never dare admit that now but she would throw herself to the wolves to keep the people she cared about safe - especially nate and elena. there was no question about it. “this isn’t about being a hero. that’s clearly down to you three, you’ve all got your suits and capes on enough for the rest of us.”
lili let gabriela speak without interrupting her, she was under no illusions about what they had decided to do. it was a betrayal and it was a risk, there was no denying that. they could have told her from the beginning and anything could have happened. lili couldn't waste time on what-ifs, she'd already lost years to that.
whether she thought of gabriela as a client or something more, she had to accept her reaction. she had to stomach her venom. "i'm sorry for how it played out, gabriela. i truly am. this is your life and the bottom line is that your life is still in danger. yes, i'm sure howard has a list of names that have wronged him - my own included - but there's one he's going after hard. there's one he wants more than the rest. they weren't left completely unattended, i didn't forget about them. but this was about you, protecting you. it still is."
lili looked away when she mentioned their failed plotting and worst of all, nick. "i wish it didn't have to get this far but howard won't get away with this. i--- nick wasn't involved with our...plotting, he was just involved with you. where you went, he went. it was already happening so we- we looped him in." for the convenience, she neglected to say. nick had been sold on protecting her, of course he was. he let his feelings get in the way. "gabriela, i know you can't forgive this but i need you to take it seriously. you know now and you have to be careful."
while she was furious and lay that all out on the table, she wasn’t sure if there was a care about it. after all, according to lili, nick and atticus, they had all did it in her best interest. if they still saw it as that, maybe they didn’t care if she was angry about it.
“are you? or are you more sorry that it all came out?” she retorted, her voice still laced with annoyance. “i’ve never kept anything from any of you and i expected the same respect, i guess that’s on me. my bad” she snarked, holding her hands up. yes they were work colleagues but they were also her close friends. “i’m aware of that now, no thanks to any of you.” to say that gabriela was exasperated at this whole ordeal would be the understatement of the century. “but they were left somewhat unattended. you three ran around using archibald’s like pawns on a chessboard. what if something happened to them? to nate? to elena? what was your damn plan then, huh?” if they were at risk all to protect her then she didn’t want it. she would go to howard herself before she’d let her cousins be put in the firing line.
“for convenience…” she finished lili’s sentence to drive home that she had figured out everything about their plan now. convenience. that turned her stomach. it all sounded so detached, like she was something to watch and move when required. “he was involved enough, don’t cover for him. he knew what was happening and he did what he did anyway.” he made sure he was involved alright. that was another level of betrayal in itself between her and nick. “do you not think I’d take this seriously? the bloody personalised note on my office walls would say otherwise, lili. i could’ve been prepared for this. i could’ve take nate and elena and got out of the city for a while. i could’ve had things in place but none of you decided to use your collective brain cells and cognitive thinking skills to consider that, so please don’t stand there and have the audacity to tell me of all people to take this seriously.”
"i won't argue with that," she smiled. lili had always thought gabriela was the smartest person in the room and she doubted anyone would disagree. atticus always kept it together, that had been her experience since signing on with bass industries. they saw each other now more than ever about howard archibald. lili didn't think it was her place but... yeah, he needed a minute. "i know, i'm just not sure he knows that." she should have anticipated gabriela's reaction, looking down before facing her again. "it's okay, really. i wasn't hurt, you know? i didn't want to worry you, you have enough on your plate already."
"smart and correct answer" she smiled. since lili's time of joining bass industries, gabriela knew that atticus and lili had been working closely. if anyone was going to see a change in atticus it would likely be lili. "he'll know it but he won't listen to it." atticus had a habit of ignoring his own need for rest. no matter how much she or anyone else nagged him, he wouldn't listen. atticus bass only does what atticus bass wants. "it doesn't matter what i have on my plate. i obviously want to make sure you're okay. you're security for everyone else but who's looking after you?"
"I think a bit better, I try not to get too involved. You know me, when I see a problem, I want to fix it. I can't get that involved in his work. I have enough going on at Donovan's. Family sucks, don't they?" Adriana smiled at Gabriela. She was sure it was a lot to have your uncle be a pariah on the Upper East Side. She definitely needed a girl's night. "I mostly want to drink my lunch honestly. I do not need to go back to the office, and I need it. I know a good place, no chance we will run into anyone that wants us to do something." She had paid for her dress and was ready to go. "We can take my car."
"smart thinking, save yourself the grief and drama of it all. how's things over at donovan's anyway? oh don't i know it. i just feel for nate and anne, they're getting the brunt of it all. i can't help but feel protective over them, it's not their fault howard has lost the plot" she smiled back to her friend. she was lucky to have good people in her life and who was ever going to be better than her girls? no one "no one bothering us is music to my ears. we've earned the afternoon off. your car sounds good" gabriela held the door open for her friend before they made her way to adriana's car. "i'll arrange my driver to pick us up when were ready to go home and i can drop you off on the way"
the fury in her voice as she shouted atticus' name hammered another nail into nick's coffin. it hadn't been his intention to keep anything from her. in truth, he'd thought the whole unfortunate escapade would fall through - that howard's plans would come to nothing. that it had been a false alarm after all. nick hadn't taken it seriously. it hadn't felt like they'd been conspiring, nick and atticus and lili, but they had. they had plotted and planned all in the name of her safety. they had decided it was best not to worry her, to keep her in the dark until a credible threat could be pinpointed. the threat looked pretty fucking credible now, nick thought.
'don't'. nick swallowed back his pleading words as she held her hand up, feeling the string that had once tied them sever. nick couldn't look away from her even though the slice of cowardice in him wanted to. never had he regretted a decision so swiftly as he did in this moment. he had truly betrayed and destroyed her trust. it had been for a good reason, hadn't it? nick slowly realised that wasn't true. it hadn't. not if it meant facing the look on her face now.
"i wasn't playing anything-," he started, already hearing how puny his words were in the face of her fury. "i didn't even know that howard was planning anything against you until after the winter ball. atticus and lili were the ones who were investigating into his attacks. they were the ones who realised you were a target and i---," he cut himself off before he could say anything else. he was what? a hapless pawn? no, he had agreed to it just the same. "gabriela, please... i had no idea that this was going to happen. i had hoped that it wouldn't get this far, that it would blow over. me being with you has nothing to do with howard archibald." would he have told her though? he should have told her.
gabriela walked away and nick ran a frustrated hand through his hair. this hadn't been how he'd wanted tonight to go. this hadn't been how he'd wanted her to find out. when she sobbed, his selfish little heart gave way. nick crossed the room in a few quick strides, taking her hands in his. "gabriela, i'm sorry."
everything she knew and trusted about nick, atticus and lili came crashing down around her. the shards of her broken trust slicing into her like her own personal death by a thousand cuts, and gabriela herself felt like she was clawing at the open wounds for answers. why would they do this to her? an element of safety was there but safety goes out the window when you don’t tell the person it relates to. howard archibald was an idiot, a dangerous idiot with nothing to lose. gabriela knew that and she knew what she had done to him. he knew what she had done to him. karma was a bitch and it was cashing it’s cheque against her now.
she felt like the blood was rushing to her ears while he pleaded his case to her. she felt like she couldn’t breathe. “that doesn’t change anything. whether it’s october, december or now, i should’ve been told” all that time of her having conversations with each of them. of all the times she had been wrapped up in nick in solitude having hushed conversations. the opportunities were there, none of them ever took them. “you were the babysitter…" she finished his sentence for him. "at the very least you were considered a distraction by them”
gabriela yanked her hands out of his grip like her skin had been singed, and not in the preferred way it normally burned with him. “how am I supposed to believe you now? you say you didn’t know this would happen but you knew enough!” her voice cracking with her mixed emotions. the volume dropping to barely a whisper “you knew enough”
she would love to accept him at face value that he wasn’t with her because of any of this. the glaring issue was the timeline. it was too close, too convenient, and pairing it with the stomach dropping revelation that had been admitted to her tonight, she couldn’t see past putting two and two together. “i don’t want to hear it. i trusted you, i —“ loved you. she didn’t need to say it. you don’t have a whatever it was with them spanning years since their harvard days for it not to involve matters of the heart. no matter how much she wanted to deny it now.
gabriela looked to the wall scrawled with her uncles warning that he knew what she did to him, yet somehow, what he’d managed to cause here tonight felt far crueler.
"Yeah, I have heard that. My father appreciated your work. Won't stop singing your praises." Adriana had been hearing way too much about her father's work lately, with all the drama from the winterball starting to die down. "I will tell her next time I manage to catch her attention." Adriana needed to have fun, especially after the last few months. "Yes, I think those are great ones. Now let's go buy and get some lunch. I am so hungry."
"how have things been with your fathers company since the winterball. i dread to ask since my lunatic uncle is behind it all." she sighed. howard archibald's lack of reading a room and disappearing were two traits he was never good at. "please do, it would be nice to see her" after everything going on a girls night out might be what they all needed "perfect, let's do it. i'm over dress shopping now anyway and lunch is the best option. you got anywhere in mind?" she asked as they walked to the till and she paid for her dresses "personally i'm all for somewhere with a comfy chair and a drinks menu" she laughed making her way to exit the store.
"well, you know me. i try to never make promises i can't keep. i do think you'll enjoy being on my side for once, though. we'll have fun. you still do that, right?"
"and what makes you think i'll enjoy being on your side? i'm at the top of the game and still going. i do still have fun, but that solely depends on if you're interesting enough to be deemed fun. are you still that?"
there was something so deeply satisfying in hearing her finally give into his... hard work. and there was admittedly a big bonus with it being atticus bass who was on the other end of the call. the phone hit the ground, atticus' shouts drowned out by gabriela. nick wasn't even sure when atticus had hung up the call. when he was eventually finished, he made his way back up to her. "do you think atticus might not bill us for his time if we promise to invite him next time?"
only the man currently on his knees with his head buried in between her thighs, could pull the sort of sounds from her lips that she was displaying. atticus' string of profanities going unheard and her phone forgotten about, gabriela let nick finish his talents. a lazy smile on her face following her comedown when he rose to meet her. "i think he's sending us an invoice either way, might even double charge us out of spite" she laughed, pulling him in to deeply kiss him.
"now you're just tempting fate," he grinned. nick would normally play along a while longer but there was something about the way she was looking at him... his patience had run dry. "you best read me my rights," he smirked before closing the almost non-existent gap between them with his lips.
"am i?" she blinked up at him innocently. they were professionals at the endless cat and mouse teasing and flirting they had. well read open books to one another. she was about to follow through with his request when he swept her up with their lips meeting. "if this is the way you want to exercise your right to remain silent, i'm not complaining"
