Chapter 7
Chapter Seven
Susanna
When I wake up, I know my fever broke. The shakes and shivers in my body are gone and are replaced with a tiredness that speaks to what I have gone through.
I roll onto my side and open my eyes, only to find Chip glaring at me from the doorway. I scramble upright, clutching the blanket to my chest.
He scoffs. “I’ve already seen you naked.”
“Leave me alone.”
He grumbles and rolls his eyes but does as I say. I relax once he walks away but I don’t have time to relax long before Gabriel appears in the bedroom doorway.
“You look better.”
“I feel better,” I admit. “No thanks to you.”
“Actually, it has everything to do with me. I saved your life.”
“You took my life when you kidnapped me.”
He waves a dismissive hand. “Semantics. You should take a shower. You smell like dead flesh.”
“Who’s fault is that? You left me down in that basement with a dead body.”
“I did. And I’m willing to admit when I’ve made a mistake and that was a mistake because now you stink. Come on.”
“No.”
He narrows his eyes. “I will pull you from that bed. Do you want that?”
“No,” I admit.
“Good. I am offering you the chance to take a shower. Take it, Susanna. Don’t be stubborn.”
“You don’t have a moral high grand to stand on with me. You kidnapped me.”
“As you’ve reminded me countless times now. Let’s go.”
With shaky legs, I get off the bed. The blanket around my shoulders opens up to reveal my naked body to him. Gabriel’s eyes darken but he doesn’t otherwise comment.
I was never one to feel self-conscious over my body but that has all changed after Gabriel ruined my life.
I make a point of keeping the blanket over my shoulders as I follow him down the hallway. He doesn’t make me take it off and I don’t offer to do so.
But once we reach the bathroom, he looks me square in the eye and tells me to remove the blanket.
I tighten it around my shoulders. “No.”
“You’re not going to take a shower with a blanket around you. Take it off.”
I know this is a losing battle and besides, the thought of taking a shower is too good to be true. I can’t waste this chance to feel clean again.
Slowly, I let the blanket drop to the ground and Gabriel’s eyes sweep over me. I don’t hide my body. He’ll win otherwise.
With a smirk, he turns the shower on, like he knows something I don’t know.
“Do you have an opinion on my body?” I ask.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because you act like you do but you’re just not saying it. What do you want to say?”
“You have a sexy body. That’s it.”
“That’s it?”
He shrugs. “That’s it. Now, hop in.”
I scowl at him but I get in the shower anyway. The second the hot water pours over my body, I can’t stop myself from moaning. It feels too good.
“You sound sexy when you make that sound.”
I instantly shut my mouth. “Leave me alone to shower in peace.”
“Not going to happen. I can’t let you have too much fun.” And right before my very eyes, he strips his own clothes off.
“What are you doing?” I squeak, backing up until my spine hits the cold tile.
“Taking the shower with you.”
That’s when I see his full naked body. The defined muscles of his abdomen. His strong shoulders. And his very large penis. It’s slightly erect. I haven’t seen a man’s penis in person but I have seen them online so I know what an erection looks like. And he’s erect for me.
“This is sexual assault,” I say.
“Susanna, I already kidnapped you. I’m not a good man. But I won’t rape you, if that’s what you’re wondering. I just want to take a shower too.” He steps inside and shuts the door behind him, locking me into the tiny space with him.
He sighs when the water pours over him. “This is nice. I can see why you made that sound.”
I blush. I was never one for blushing so this is a first. “You’re… naked.”
“You’ve never seen a man naked before?”
“Not in person,” I admit.
His eyes darken even more as they rake over me. “So, you’re innocent. That’s cute. I like that.”
“Why do you like it?” I demand, settling my hands on my hips. “There’s nothing for you to like. I mean nothing to you.”
He grips my chin. “We both know that’s not true.”
My inhale is sharp. Being this close to a terrifying yet sexy man is a confusing thing, making me feel confusing feelings. I don’t even know how to think right now.
“I need you, Susanna. I need you for my plan. So you do mean something to me.”
I wrench my chin away. “You’re an ass.”
“And you’re a brat.”
“I’ve been kidnapped. I have the right to be a brat.”
“Ok,” he says with a laugh. It fills me with rage and before I even know what I’m doing, I bring my hand towards his face but he catches my wrist just in time. “You really think you can hit me? That you’re strong enough?”
“I might as well try. I will never give up.”
He throws my hand right back at myself. “I like that about you. You have a fighter’s spirit. So do I.”
“You’re not a fighter.”
“Yes I am. When Luca drove me out of this city. I have had to fight tooth and nail to come back. So we have one thing in common.”
I shiver. The thought of having anything in common with Gabriel is frightening. “People don’t like you, I take it.”
“When I did some digging into you, it was apparent to me that people don’t seem to like you either.”
“You don’t know me.”
“I know enough. I know that you’ve caused problems in the past. When I was looking into you, I asked around.
Was told some interesting things about Luca’s sister-in-law.
How she tried to ruin her own sister’s wedding.
How she tried to ruin Alek Morozov’s wedding.
You just love trying to ruin weddings, don’t you? ”
“I didn’t agree with Alek marrying Katya. And I didn’t agree with my sister marrying Luca. So yes, I tried to ruin those weddings but that is nothing in comparison to what you’ve done and you know it.”
But that’s when I remember something from four years ago now. When Alek had first married Katya, I was an angry sixteen-year-old. So I had pushed Katya into Alek’s pool. She was fine but Alek was so angry with me. The most he has ever been. My intention wasn’t to kill Katya but to scare her.
But the truth is that I do have some darkness in me. I wasn’t a good person when I was young and despite how much I’ve tried to change over the years, I’m not sure I’m exactly a good person now. I mean, I’m in the shower with my kidnaper and I don’t feel as afraid as I should.
In fact, I feel a strange sort of excitement that I’m pretty positive I shouldn’t be feeling.
“Where did your mind go?” he asks in a softer tone than I would have expected from him.
“Nowhere,” I snap.
“Understood. You don’t want to reveal everything to me. I get it. I have secrets too.”
“What kind of secrets?”
He lowers his face until his lips are so close to mine. “The kind I would have to kill you over.”
My exhale is shaky. “But I’ve already seen you murder a man right before my very eyes. What more can you keep from me? You’ve already shown me your worst.”
“There’s always worser things in this world, Susanna. Trust me.”
“That’s the thing: I don’t trust you. Not one bit. You’re an evil man. I may have my own secrets, but I’m willing to bet they pale in comparison to your secrets.”
“Possibly. But my point still stands. We’re similar. We have a darkness in us.” He settles his hands on my hips and I gasp, mostly because it feels a lot better than it should. In fact, I find myself leaning into his touch. Or at least, I don’t pull away.
“Speak for yourself.”
“You have a darkness in you, Susanna. I clocked it the second I first saw you.”
“What are you trying to do? Brainwash me into falling in love with you?”
“That would be fun, wouldn’t it? But no. I’m just talking. Pointing the obvious out. That’s all.”
“See, I don’t believe you. Not at all. So I don’t believe a word you’re saying.”
“Fair enough. So I’ll be transparent with you. I want to have some fun with you. You’re a beautiful woman, that much is obvious. It would be fun to corrupt you. Take your innocence.”
“Rape me, you mean.”
“Not rape. It would be much sweeter if you gave yourself into me. Don’t you think?” His lips are hovering above mine. “I could so easily kiss you right now. How would you respond?”
“How do you think?”
“Let’s test it then.” He brings his lips onto mine so suddenly, I don’t know how to react. But it only takes me a moment to respond to his kiss. It’s electric and sexy and powerful and all consuming.
And then I remember that Gabriel is my kidnapper, not my boyfriend.
I pull away from him and when I try to slap him again, my hand connects to his face before he can stop me. “Don’t kiss me. I didn’t give you permission to touch me.”
“For just a moment, Susanna, you gave into the kiss. I think that will haunt you for the rest of your life.”
“You don’t know what will haunt me. You don’t know anything about me.”
“You’re wrong. I know there’s a darkness in you. I know you’re itching to break out of your boring, mundane life. Why else did you keep causing problems for people when you were younger? It’s because you’re bored. And I can relate.”
“Are you saying you do all of this just because you’re bored? You kidnapped me because you’re bored?”
“Not exactly. I want Luca to hurt and you were the easier target. Going after his wife again would have been too hard. But it also helps that I like some excitement. Just like you.”
“We’re nothing alike.”
“Keep telling yourself that. But answer me this: if you had the chance to kill Chip, would you?”
“Chip?”
“Just answer the question.”
“No,” I say. “You’re trying to bait me into this. You’re trying to get me to say that I would kill him if given the chance and then you can say we’re the same when we’re not.”
“But Chip hit you. He’s been nothing but rude to you. Doesn’t that make you angry?”
“Of course it does. And sure, would I be upset if he were dead? No. I also wouldn’t be upset if you were dead. Because you both kidnapped me. But that doesn’t make me evil like you.”
“You’re right. It doesn’t. But it does make you morally grey. I will bring out the darkness in you, Susanna, and I believe you’ll love it. And that will be sweeter than just taking Luca down. Bringing you into the darkness with me.” He turns the shower off, plunging me into coldness.
Without a word, he gets out of the shower and wipes himself down before putting his clothes back on. I don’t have any clothes of my own anymore.
“This will be fun,” are the last haunting words I hear from him before he leaves me alone in the bathroom to stare at myself in the mirror. I can’t look at myself long. It hurts too much.