His steps carried him to the living room with the inicial intention of returning to his designs.
'You still love her, don't you?'. Her words fell like a slab on him, making him turn around on his heels so that he could face her.
'Still?', his tone was gradually rising in anger. 'What do you mean by that, Angie?'.
She let out an ironic laugh. 'Who do you take me for, Erik? Did you really believe that I was not clever enough to figure things out? Too stupid to notice the way you look at her, to see your real feelings for her and that you cannot leave her in the past?', he stared in astonishment. 'Yes, that evening I found something amongst your belongings...', her voice turned challenging. 'I found a wonderful portrait. It was her, wasn't it? Christine', she came close to him with a small smile gracing her lips. 'Now tell me that it is not true that you love her... Tell me!'.
She was being consummed by rage, frustration and sorrow. She would know the truth in a definite, clear and concise way. It was now or never.
But at the same time that Angie's rage grew within her, Erik's blood was boiling inside of his body with an unexplainable force.
He grabbed both her arms with all his strength. His face scarce milimetres from hers.
'I don't know!', he shook her, her gaze still fixed on his, as any other of the intense moments they had shared before. 'Was that what you wanted to hear! Maybe that might calm down your stupid and childish fit of territoriality!'. She could feel his uneven breathing on her face and the bruises already forming in her arms due to the pressure.
But she was not surprised by that anymore. Neither his fits of rage nor his harsh words coming out as growls nor his violence were new to her. Not in the least.
She exploded. 'And have you ever considered if I have feelings and I'm affected by all of this too!', she shouted and freed herself from his grasp. 'It's clear you have not', she gradually calmed down. 'The world does not revolve around you, just take that into account from now on'.
She left the house with a firey look in her eyes. She would not cry. Not in front of him.
The door slammed close with a deafening bang. Erik breathed in deeply and sat down on the armchair, totally exhausted. He had never seen her act in such a way, not even when she had been furious with him. But, what reasons did she have to be so angry now? Besides, she only reminded him of the first impertinence she committed. If she had not broken the rules he had set, he would not have had to resort to manipulation. It had been her fault, after all.
'Ladies, I'd like to share this information with you, but if you are clever and want to remain alive, I'd suggest that you would not tell anything about this with our mates. All right?'.
Emma nodded, a bit confused, while her partner eyed him closely. 'Okay, but Édmond, what's happened?'.
He half-smiled. 'Please, don't be so impatient. Give me some time and I'll assure you I'll have more than interesting information in my power'.
'Such as...?', Marie intervened, curious.
'Such as the exact location of Christine', he laughed when he caught the puzzled look on their faces. 'I'll keep in touch with you. Be seeing you, Mesdames'.
As always, he retired quietly, even though he was in better spirits than the first time he visited the residence. He would not change his friendship to that girl, at least for the moment.
She closed the door behind her, alter giving a last fearful look outside. Since those people had taken her daughter away, she barely came out anymore, neither to work nor to do any other thing. Those were hard times and they'd have to protect in the best way they could.
A white envelope on the entrance door came to her as a surprise. After the initial shock, she smiled to herself hopefully…
She knew perfectly well who it was from.
The streetlamp lit the pavement, offering a beautiful view from the apartment's window. In a sitting position, Angie was embracing her legs and looking through the window to nowhere in special. She was just trying to abandon all thought and forget the reason of her outburst.
Yes, she had to recognize that perhaps some of the things she had practically spitted out to his face were rough. Too rough, maybe… but she did not regret any of it because she still felt that the truth lied in those words, beneath the anger.
He was selfish, or at least was behaving like one. Not caring for her feelings, for how much she could be affected by such a scene. She simply could not stand that he looked at her with so much love and affection right under her nose, even if the girl was oblivious and he was unaware of his actions!
The worst of all was that he did not seem to mind in the least. He did not even have the thoughtfulness of acknowledging her presence.
She looked away and saw the discarded blue dress still upon her bed. That dress brought so many good memories that made fury bubble up inside her.
Memories of kisses in the park, of strolls, of caresses… and of the last kiss they shared before the disaster.
'Damned you, Erik…'.
Those were the last words she pronunced before she threw the glass on her bedside table and began to tear her beautiful dress with the largest crystal shard.
She started bleeding…
It did not matter. Nothing mattered anymore. She did not need the precious memories that simple cloth conjured up.
She returned to her bed, curled up in a ball and shed all the tears she had been holding back.