Moriarty's Musician

The Game is On, Part 8

Annabelle closed her eyes as shame washed over her.

"Tell me the truth, Annabelle. How do you know that music?" Moriarty lowered her hand and turned her shoulders so she was facing him. "Open your eyes," he demanded.

Slowly, she lifted her head as she tried to hold back her tears.

He could feel his temper rising. What was she hiding? "Tell me the truth!"

Annabelle began to shake as she remembered the ghostly music. "I heard the music in my dreams."

"What do you mean, you heard it in your dreams?"

Annabelle rubbed her eyes as he continued to hold her shoulders firm. "I was dreaming of my father when I heard the music. He was telling me about you."

Moriarty's eyes narrowed. "And what did Magnussen say?"

"He told me about your background and how you were a genius in science and mathematics."

"Go on."

"He told me you had lost your job at the University because you were operating a criminal network while you were teaching." Annabelle fought back the tears. "He said you were so brilliant at what you did because you never got caught."

Moriarty's eyes took on a new coldness. "There's more. What is it?"

Annabelle shifted, a line etched between her brows. "He wanted me to find out your weakness... your pressure point. That's how he did his best blackmailing." She shook her head. "It wasn't the demons he used against his victims, but the people they cared most about... their angels."

Moriarty released her shoulders, his expression hardened. "So, that's why he hired me to take care of you?" His face twisted. "So you could get to know me and report back to him?"

Annabelle turned her face away. "Yes," she whispered, "and that's when I heard the music."

Moriarty angrily grabbed her chin, his eyes filling with rage as he stared into hers.

Annabelle shivered. How could she tell him anymore? How could she tell him the truth that she was going insane like her mother? As she gazed up into his enraged face, she saw something that caught her breath. His dark brown eyes were identical to the eyes of the beautiful woman in the photograph.

"She was your mother. She was the one playing the piano."

He dropped his hand from her chin and stepped back, his eyes changing to shock, his breath quickening. "What are you saying? Y-you heard my dead mother playing the piano?"

Tears ran down Annabelle's cheeks as she nodded. "I think so. I heard the music coming from the conservatory, and when I opened the door, it just stopped. I saw the violin and I..." she took a shaky breath, "I-I needed to play what I had just heard."

Moriarty's face was ashen as he gnashed his teeth. He loomed over her and grabbed her upper arms, pulling her into him in a vice grip. "You're lying!"

Meg was chatting excitedly with Sebastian as they came into the kitchen. They looked at the tense scene before them and both knew hell had just exploded.

Meg was the first to speak up. "James, get your hands off her!"

Moriarty dropped his hands from Annabelle and stormed over to Meg. He stuck his face in hers and growled. "What did you tell her about my mother?"

Meg squared her shoulders as she glared back. "I told her nothing!"

"Then William!"

"James, you know me and you know William. We would never betray you. I haven't told Annabelle anything and neither has he. Please calm down."

"No!" Moriarty raked his fingers through his hair and paced back and forth like a caged animal. He closed his eyes for a moment then opened them again, glaring at Annabelle. She trembled at the hate she saw in his eyes.

"Sebastian we're leaving now. Go tell Dan to get the chopper ready." Sebastian nodded and hurried off.

Moriarty turned to Meg. "If you're as loyal to me as you say you are," he pointed at Annabelle, his voice menacing, "then you will lock her in her room until I get back."

Annabelle gritted her teeth as she angrily brushed the tears from her cheeks. Like hell she was staying in that room!

Meg's mouth dropped open. "Surely, you don't mean that. Jack just told me he was to take Annabelle on a tour of the estate."

Moriarty laughed sadistically. "I've changed my mind, Mrs. O'Brien. It's my right! Do what I say or I swear when I return that bullet will have your name on it!"

"Stop it!" Annabelle screamed. She stormed over to them and set herself between Moriarty and Meg, her hands coming out to shield the older woman. She looked unblinking into his eyes, fury filling her veins. "How dare you attack an innocent woman. She has told me nothing!"

Moriarty slowly shook his head, his eyes venomous. "You're a fool, Magnussen. You'll never know my weakness! I don't have any!"

Annabelle froze. What? She tried to breathe. "James, my father is dead." She could see he was breathing hard and she knew she had just come face to face with one of his demons. "And I'm not him," she choked out. "Search your heart. You already know that. I would never use that information against you. I swear to you. Please believe me. I'm not him."

She lifted her hand to touch his shaking face but he whipped her hand from him.

"Don't touch me!"

Annabelle's throat tightened as she turned and left the kitchen.

He glanced down at Meg as she sadly shook her head. "I was right, James. Your stepfather isn't dead, but your sweet mother surely is." Meg sniffed and left the kitchen.

Moriarty pulled out a chair and sank into it as darkness infused his mind. What had he done? He slammed his fist on the table, wishing the pain of his past would stop eating away his heart. Try as he might, the memory of his stepfather's constant mental and physical abuse was more than he could bear.

He reached up and pulled his hair to try and squelch the vision of his stepfather pushing his mother down the stairs, enraged that she refused to tell him where she had sent her son. His mother saved his life by sending him away, but she sacrificed herself in the process. Moriarty squeezed his eyes together and put his head in his hands as he remembered how he had spoken to Annabelle and Meg.

"I've become my stepfather," he whispered.

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