Read Online Trust by Francine Pascal - Free Book Online

moved to Prague, then to Munich. Once I started working for my present employer, I moved around a lot. Copenhagen, Hamburg, Minsk, Strasbourg, Venice, Genoa.”
    There was that phrase again. “ Present employer .” He must have used it a dozen times this evening. Gaia felt an overwhelming temptation to ask him to be more specific, but she knew he must have had a good reason for not telling her. Maybe he was trying to protect her. Anyway, she didn’t have to know the name of his company. She trusted him. Yes . . . she actually trusted him. God, why hadn’t she called his number sooner?
    â€œWhat’s on your mind?” he asked softly.
    She shook her head, then forced herself to take a sip of port. Whoa . It wasn’t bitter at all, like the wine. It was syrupy sweet — deliciously so, with a pleasant smoky aftertaste. Maybe she would start drinking. A warm sensation filled her stomach, and she suddenly felt emboldened. “I was just wondering . . .” She bit her lip. “Why did you and my father have a falling-out?”
    Uncle Oliver met her eyes. That was another reason she trusted him: He never looked away. Not like Sam, or Ella — or even George. “I guess you’re old enough to know the truth,” he murmured, a hint of sadness in his voice. “It was over your mother.”
    Gaia nearly dropped her glass. Her eyes bulged. “ What? ” she gasped. She’d had no idea that Oliver even knew her mother.
    His gaze was unflinching. “Katia and I were engaged to be married,” he stated.
    Oh, my . . . Gaia slumped back in her chair. Her eyes were wide, unfocused. It was as if a giant eraser had swept out of the sky and completely blotted out her past. That happiness she’d thought she’d known with her mother and father, that brief period of bliss in their cozy house in the Berkshires . . . all of it was suddenly tainted, poisoned by a secret none of them wanted Gaia to know. So her mother wasn’t the perfect angel Gaia had always imagined her to be. Did any of this . . . Gaia swallowed, practically unable to complete the thought — did any of this have to do with her mother’s death? And if so, how?
    â€œWe met while we were both in college,” Oliver added quickly. “I fell in love instantly, of course. She was beautiful, intelligent, cultured. To me, it seemed as if my life had suddenly found meaning.”
    Gaia nodded, torn by a conflicting desire to run and hide and a desperate need to hear more. Her body pulsed with a wild energy. This was by far the closest she’d ever come to being afraid. It was as if she were driving by the scene of a horrible accident; she couldn’t stop from staring. She didn’t want to hear what Oliver had to say next. But at the same time she had no choice. . . .
    â€œWe became engaged,” said Uncle Oliver. His voice flattened into a dull monotone. His eyes flickered down to the glass in his hand. He swished the liquid once. “I brought her home to meet my family. That was where she met Tom. On the day of our wedding I stood alone at the altar, waiting for a bride who never came. That was the day my brother secretly married the woman I loved. And that was the last time I saw either of them. Except . . .”
    â€œExcept for what?” Gaia croaked, her face pale.
    â€œI saw them again the night your mother died. Unfortunately, when I arrived, she had already been murdered.” He shot her a hard stare. “By whom, I don’t know. All I know is that Tom disappeared after that, never to be seen again.”

Final Mistake
    LOKI SIPPED HIS PORT, CAREFULLY studying his niece’s face for any sign of what she might be feeling. This was a critical moment. He’d taken a risk — but it had been a calculated one, and the payoff was potentially huge. Anyway, all life was a series of risks. The trick was to place smart bets. Gaia already hated her father. And