The Escape Read Online Free PDF

through her.
    She couldn’t believe they stood before her, that she could see them, touch them. Taste them. Gabrielle had long believed the last time she’d ever see them was the night Theodore had abducted her from the Club. And the last thing she knew about them would be their names, haphazardly scribbled on a makeshift tombstone.
    But that had changed yesterday when she saw Eric.
    Standing here both her men holding her, Gabrielle vowed never to part from them again. She would not lose them again.
    André’s hands slipped down her arms, back up over her shoulders. He alternately held her close and simply looked at her. Eric stood behind her, warm hands on her back. Steady. Unable to tear her gaze from André, Gabrielle reached behind her and tugged Eric closer. She needed to see them both at once. Fell them, touch them.
    “What happened that night?” André demanded.

Chapter Four
    André needed to know where she’d been these last two years. What happened that night remained a mystery no matter how many enquiries he and Eric had made. Gabrielle had simply gone. He knew Theodore had to have taken her, but they’d never found her again.
    One moment, she’d been safely ensconced in the Club—the next she’d vanished from their lives.
    The three of them had been introduced to the Hellfire Club once they’d reached their majority. Instead of indulging in all the various pleasures to be had within its hidden walls, the three of them had gravitated toward each other.
    Amidst the chaos found on the streets, and a different kind in the Club, they’d found a safe haven in each other’s arms. That night, the night she’d disappeared, their haven had been broken.
    Gabrielle hadn’t answered him immediately, but in her cobalt gaze he saw the softness and fear. In there, he saw his pain reflected.
    “You must have guessed,” she said quietly. “Theodore took me. All but dragged me from the Club that night. I couldn’t turn back, couldn’t find you. He said the Club had been betrayed, and any moment the National Police would raid it; we’d all be arrested.”
    She paused, and André heard more in her tone than her words implied. What had her miserable brother put her through these last years? What had he said to her, done to her in the ensuing years?
    “I swear to you both,” she said fiercely. “I did everything in my power to escape him. To warn you about the police raid.”
    Her hand drifted to her upper arm and drifted over the inside of her elbow. André couldn’t see it, not yet, but knew her body bore the effects of Theodore’s rage.
    “We went to Theodore’s old townhouse, but didn’t stay there long. The National Police and their spies were everywhere; we couldn’t stay anyplace for long.” She paused and André’s rage built. He knew what her next words were and hated he hadn’t been there to protect her.
    “You were imprisoned,” André guessed.
    “Not immediately,” she whispered. “But yes. Theodore moved us from house to house until we stayed at the wrong one.”
    “How long were you in prison?” Eric asked.
    André looked sharply up at his lover. Rage burned just below Eric’s normally placid blue eyes. Looking back at Gabrielle, André tried to temper his anger, but knew he failed. She’d always been able to easily read him and despite the two years they’d been separated he doubted that had changed.
    Gabrielle shook her head and smiled up at him. Memory from her time there shadowed her gaze and she shook. Whether from their meeting today or the reminder of her past, André couldn’t be certain.
    If he ever saw Theodore Bertrand again, he vowed to kill the man.
    “Just over six months,” she admitted, eyes closed.
    André wrapped his arms around her and held her. He had no words of comfort, nothing he could say that would make that better. Eric met his gaze and again André saw the same emotions reflected there. The other man shook his head and moved closer. He wrapped his arm