"Oh, it was a summer trip. You wouldn't know."
"And they all died?" His brows were merged again.
She nodded.
"How?"
"Uh, I don't know."
"Were they murdered?"
She looked at him in horror. Did he know?
"When?" he asked, his jaw tight.
"I don't know."
"Because," he said, "I have that cemetery memorized. There aren't any graves there that belong to a bunch of men who weren't from Aquaville."
She scooted back a little. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"See, Giselle. That's the thing. You know exactly what I'm talking about. Was Chris friends with them?"
She gulped.
He tilted his head and stared at her. "You visited my sister's rapists?" She stayed silent. "How did he escape?"
Afraid and panicked, she said, "Chris wasn't involved."
"Are you sure?" His voice was barely audible.
She breathed hard. "Yes. Yes, he was— he—"
"Why do you look so guilty?"
Her lower lip trembled. Xavier's eyes had turned red, and his features hardened. Giselle couldn't recognize the man in front of her anymore. It was as if madness had taken over him. His hands shook and his pupils darted back and forth between her left and right eyes.
And then he smiled.
"Here," he said, pulling a paper out of the pocket of his black jacket as he stood up.
"What's this?" she asked, extending a shaky hand to take it.
"Just something I wrote for you in the hospital," he said, his eyes moving slowly from her forehead to her chin. He gulped. "I'm sorry."
"Xavier?" she whispered, her body weighing her down.
He stared at her. "Goodbye, my love." He smiled and walked toward the bodyguard, without glancing back.
She let out a shuddering breath and opened the paper. She read.
'When a demon fell in love with her
His shadows turned to light
She let her pure sunshine hover
His black seeped into white