Chapter 42- Confessions of a Broken heart.

Louis shook his head. 'No,'

'We have to,'

'What part of no is so difficult to understand?' he asked, staring at Gabriele. The man had no morals.

'I can't do it without you,' Gabriele sighed, slumping into his seat.

'Then you won't do it at all,' Louis shrugged.

Gabriele leaned his head back against the top of his seat and closed his eyes. Louis did not care for Gabriele at all. At one time he would probably have considered him a friend, they worked together, they had needed to trust each other... now, this was all but gone. He was beginning to wonder why he had agreed to do this in the first place.

Money.

It was always about money but he knew that money was the centre of the world. People denied it, would have you believe that love and family were far more important, but Louis had grown up knowing better. He was not an unintelligent man, neither was his father, yet both of them had eventually had to use their size to better their financial situation.

The look on his mother's face when she found out that Louis was going into the same business as his father was a look he would never forget. Forever would it be locked into his mind. His father had died some years ago and though Louis had been upset, part of him had been relieved. It was not that his father was a nasty or evil man, he wasn't, he simply did what was needed to keep his family.

This had become a problem over the years, a problem with Louis' mother and a problem with his father. He took to drink, his father, and eventually it killed him. Louis had no contact with his mother and she made a pittance of a living as a waitress. She said at least it was honest. Louis did not care.

Money was important to him, more important than many things. He had told Gabriele some months ago that he would do anything for the right woman, and he truly believed that, yet part of him always wondered what he would expect of her. The business he was in meant that he met few women he wasn't trying to intimidate... this was not conducive to a successful relationship.

Lately, he had just resigned himself to being alone.

Gabriele prodded his shoulder. 'Are you listening big man?'

'No,' Louis stated, looking away.

'We've got to do this,'

'I helped you get him back to Paris, that, as far as I'm concerned, is my part of our little arrangement over,'

'How can it be?' Gabriele asked, starting to look a little agitated. 'When we don't have his money yet?'

'That's your problem,'

'Yours too,' Gabriele sighed. 'If you want to get paid,'

Louis glared at the smaller man. 'I will get paid, one way or another, Gabriele,'

He watched as Gabriele swallowed. Pathetic.

'I can't get the money without taking the girl,'

'If I didn't know better I'd say you had a bit of a thing for Miss Daae,'

Gabriele rolled his eyes. 'Not as big a thing as you,'

'I have more sense than to involve myself in any of Erik's business,'

'Its too late for that now,' Gabriele said. 'You need to help me deal with this or we'll both run out of money,'

'You mean to tell me that you haven't already?'

They stared at each other for a long moment, Gabriele eventually shrugged his shoulders.

'I need you to help me,'

'No,'

'Louis,' He was pleading now, his eyes were wide, watery, he was stuck. 'Please... we need to do this, he has to take us seriously or we will never get paid for this,'

Louis said nothing.

'You help me,' Gabriele rubbed his eyes. 'And we go our separate ways, we stay away from each other, you never have to set eyes on me again... but we can't do that until we have Erik Lambourne's funds,'

Louis thought for a moment. 'What happened to company profit?'

'We used it...'

'Doing what?'

'Funding other loans,'

Louis laughed. 'Really...'

'What are you accusing me of?' Gabriele became quickly defensive, staring at Louis, trying to make him believe that he was not a liar. Unsuccessful.

'Of being a lying cheating bastard,' Louis said simply, not angrily. 'You've spent it all... not that I'm complaining too much, I get paid up front, remember? But the others... well... they trust you don't they? They think you're keeping their money nice and safe, ready for them to take... they think you're investing it in more set-ups, making more profit from it but I'm not fooled, and soon they'll catch on,'

Gabriele's mask broke down and he covered his face with his hands. 'I need Erik's money,'

'I know that,'

'I need you to help me,'

'For such an intelligent man you really did get yourself into a situation didn't you?' Louis asked.

Gabriele simply nodded.

'Will you kill her?'

'Christine?'

Louis nodded.

'I don't know,'

'If you're going to kill her there is no way that I'm helping you,' Louis looked at Gabriele.

'I won't kill her,'

Louis hardened his stare. 'Or hurt her,'

'Louis...'

'You won't hurt her, Gabriele,' Louis said. 'If you do, I'll hurt you, do we understand each other?'

Again, Gabriele swallowed and gave a small nod. 'I didn't figure you for a man with standards, Louis,'

'There's a lot you haven't figured about me,'

Gabriele seemed to shake the comment off. 'There is more than one way to get to Christine,'

Louis lifted his eyebrows, watched as Gabriele stood and moved to the open window. Gabriele took a deep breath, as if taking in fresh air for the first time in years, and then turned back to Louis. His eyes were dark, cool, something different in them.

'We'll take Raoul De Changy as well,'

'That's right,' Louis said. 'Bring the whole aristocracy down on us why don't you?'

Gabriele, for the first time, laughed. 'Aristocracy does not worry you,'

'True,'

'If we threaten Raoul, Christine will do anything,'

Louis thought about it for a moment and then nodded his agreement. 'But we don't hurt Christine,'

'So, you're in, then? Gabriele asked, looking hopeful.

'I'm in,'

It was a rainy day, the first time he saw her since he had been back home. He had been to the rooftop to get some fresh air, to dredge up painful memories, perhaps to torture himself. The rain had soaked through his white shirt, his hair was damp and falling over his forehead, sending droplets of rain into his eyes.

He was in the rafters again, getting ready to lower himself to his trap door, when he heard her voice. Unmistakable, unchanged, unhindered... beautiful voice. Holding the rope next to him, to steady himself, he stared down waiting for her to come around the corner. He knew that he should jump back, get deeper into the shadows, but he was frozen to the spot. That part of him that wanted to run away from her, stay away from her, scurried to the back of his mind and he waited for her.

When she walked around the corner she was with Meg Giry, both looking well, but Christine was utterly radiant. His eyes were fixed on her, he could not move, could barely breath. Meg said something and Christine laughed. He felt the dagger in his heart.

Painful and pleasant all at the same time.

He watched Christine push Meg playfully, he watched them giggle, he watched the way her eyes sparkled as she laughed, watched the light dance in them. The sound of her laughter was the heaven that was not his, the heaven that often had felt so close yet only just out of his reach. A lifetime of painful memories flooded back to him, all in seconds, as he watched the happiness she exuded.

Meg was swept up in their play fight, running along the corridor, arms flailing, but Christine was laughing too hard to chase her. She leaned against the wall, her shoulders moving with each wave of laughter, even from his distances he could see tears rolling down her cheeks. He wondered what it was like to laugh so much, so heartily, that tears attacked your eyes.

Looking at his hand he realised that his knuckles had turned white from gripping the rope so tightly. His body had tautened from the tension he felt watching her, from the agony of the confusion he felt flooding his veins.

His wet shirt clung to his chest but sagged from his waist, he was finding it very difficult to breath... every gasp of air hurt him deep in the heart.

Meg walked back, finally, mercifully, the laughter stopped and they hugged each other. Christine's slender arms, soft hands, slipped around her friend and held her close. They stood like that for a long moment and, though he wanted to, he could not avert his eyes. His heart could not allow them their private moment because he simply could not look away, could not take his eyes from her.

Not for the first time his mind leapt back to holding her, dancing with her, touching her... how soft she felt in his arms, how she allowed herself to beled by him and how she put her trust in him. He had put his trust in her.

This was the payback he received.

Yet when he looked at her he could not summon the anger he had first felt, he could not bring it to his mind for while she was in front of him she was still attainable, somehow, in his mind, it was as if she could still be his. He shook his head, sending the water from his hair splashing down on the floor.

Christine saw it and looked around her.

Erik had just enough faculty about him to jump back into the shadows but still his eyes remained focused on her soft face. He watched as she frowned.

She said, 'Did you hear something?'

Meg looked at her, and then around, 'No,'

'Oh,'

'What's wrong?' Meg asked, still looking.

'Nothing, I just thought that I heard something,' Christine replied. 'I saw some water drip down onto the floor over there,'

Meg moved over and Erik slid behind a wall. 'I see it, maybe we have a leak, it's raining quite heavily,'

Christine frowned again and cautiously walked closer, looking up and then down, then all around her until she was satisfied that there was no one there. Erik felt a little relief but there was a part of him that wanted her to know that he was there. She shrugged her shoulders and hooked her arm through Meg's.

'Lets go,' she said and Meg nodded.

Erik stepped back out of the shadows, his fingers curled around the frayed rope, his heart was beating wildly. Had she known he was there?

He watched as her hips swayed into the distance and she disappeared back around the corner. His heart would not calm, his body was shaking, his arms hurt... everything hurt.

The sight of her... so close...

How he hated what she did to him, hated the way her laugh could make him such a wreck, hated the sound of her voice, hated the way her eyes shimmered when she smiled, hated the curls that touched her beautiful face, hated the ground she stood on... because it could touch her feet... how he hated her...

How he loved her.