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I paused when I saw Lexi, Levi and Austin enter the gallery, along with Molly, Rome, Cass and JD My heart fell at how sad and forlorn the two Carillo brothers looked I could see that the pain of their confrontation with Axel yesterday eighing heavily on their hearts

Focusing back on the crowd, I continued "Elpidio began his journey with Carrara o In that ti our hearts with his soul shattering depictions of despair, grief, guilt; indeed every facet of raw eht you will see works that have yet to be published in azines, and you will also see recent sculptures that will…" tears filledbullets, "that will challenge the e a deep breath, I added, "Tonight, you will also be able to read what inspired the creation of his flawless sculptures Elpidio is notoriously reclusive, and as such, won’t be ht," the crowd murmured in disappointment, "but he has shared with me his inspirations for the pieces which I’ette as standing by the large red velvet curtains that would draw back to reveal the show Turning back to the crowd, I said, "It is ette drew the curtains, revealing the bright white of the show and I erly filtered into the space

Forcing , I watched Austin, Levi, Lexi, Molly, Rome, Cass and JD approach me

Molly walked over and wrapped ht back the lump in my throat at the heartfelt comfort fro everything in ive in to deep sadness

Axel should be here He should be seeing how many people have turned up to view his show He should be seeing his family’s reaction

"I’off I could see in his expression that he’d always expected hiratulated me on the success of the show, but I only had eyes for Levi and Austin Austin saatching them and asked, "Why did you want us to be here so bad, Al?" His voice was still raspy and he looked so tired My heart clenched when I thought of howAxel out e damn mess

"It’s about Axel, Aust," I said and walk forward putthe atat the entrance way, I turned to the at the back, and said, "You were right, Austin, Axel didn’t come to Seattle to work at the fish market as part of his parole" Levi tensed, as did Austin, then I added, "But he also wasn’t selling drugs either" I dropped h "You see, Axel is exceptional… he’s so talented and a, yet never felt he could tell you He felt he didn’t deserve any praise or acclaih"

"Praise for what?" Austin pushed Levi nodded in agreement,

"Praise for his work"

"What work? Al, what the fuck are you talking about?" Austin said curtly Rather than tell hiestured to the stunning shoith my hand

"This work, Austin… Axel… Axel is Elpidio…"

I scanned the shocked faces of my friends and watched as they took in the exquisiteness of the marble sculptures

Lexi stepped forward, her hand over her mouth and said, "Axel… Axel created all these… Axel is… Elpidio…?" Her green eyes brimmed with tears and she whipped her head to Austin "My God, Austin… Axel did all this… and we all thought… oh God!" she cried

"You didn’t lie," Molly said I aze

"No, I fell in love with Elpidio… it just so happened that he was Axel Carillo too; both the hero and the villain"

Molly’s expression filled with syallery

"Co forward, we ca up at the stars I heard Austin suck in a sharp breath

"Stelle," I said, revealing the title

Austin took a step forward, gazing down at theon their backs, sht throat "That’s us," he looked to Levi as pale and rooted to the floor Levi was completely dumbfounded by it all "Lev, that’s you as a baby"