Chapter 46
Gabriella
“It’s nice to see you out of bed,” Doctor Ashleigh said as she entered the clubhouse a little while later.
I had finished my meal with Rachel and then jumped in a quick shower. I was just building up the courage to ask Rachel to go to the garage with me when the doctor walked through the clubhouse doors.
“Hey,” I said with a small smile. “What are you doing here?”
“I heard Doc was running low on supplies, so I’m here to rescue him,” she said, holding up her medical bag.
“Oh. Dante’s not here at the minute.”
I didn’t know if Dante would be the one to deal with this, but considering he was the leader, it was the first thing I thought of to say.
“I know,” she said with a smile. “I saw them all riding near my office earlier. Vienna oh so generously rang every doorbell in the building and caused a security nightmare when they all unlocked at the same time.”
I chuckled softly at that.
“How are you doing, Gabriella?” she asked, placing the bag on the table and looking at me with concern.
“I’m okay.”
“Good. Now I’m going to ask you again, and this time you’re going to give me an honest reply and not your generic coping reply, understood?”
I looked at her, seeing a blank face with one eyebrow raised.
“I’m getting there, I promise,” I said, not wanting to argue with her.
She was a mental health doctor, for fuck’s sake. She’d see right through my lies, and I didn’t want her in my head any more than she already was.
“Rachel is going to try to get me an apprentice spot at the garage.”
“Is that what you want, or is that what Rachel thinks you want?”
Now that I did laugh at.
“It’s what I want. I love working with my hands, and I love cars and bikes even more. It will be nice to feel useful and not just the woman Vienna brought here.”
“You are useful, Gabriella. Here, I have something that may help you,” she said, reaching into her bag and rustling around.
She pulled out a bag, only for her face to pale.
“What is that?” I asked, my body stiffening.
“I… I don’t know. I packed this last night when Doc called asking for the supplies. It—it hasn’t been touched since. I took it to my car and then went to bed.”
“Open it,” I said, even though the last thing I wanted her to do was to actually open it.
In fact, I wanted to get as far away from that foul smelling bag as possible, but I already knew the contents would be aimed at me.
Doctor Ashleigh reached into the bag and pulled the contents onto the table.
“It’s just… rocks?” she said, looking confused.
I picked one up to inspect it, only for it to fall from my fingers when I noticed the blood on the other side.
“What else is in there?” I asked, swallowing heavily.
Ashleigh noticed the blood, and her lips twisted. She turned the bag upside down and emptied it that way, rather than putting her hand in any further.
Rocks, strands of my hair, and, of course, a note to go with it all.
“Shall I?” Ashleigh asked, her voice shaky as she gestured to the note.
I nodded.
She picked it up with the tips of her fingers and began to read.
“Hello, princess. Glad to see you’re finally getting that therapy you so desperately needed.
How flattered I am that your calls are mostly about me.
Seems we both miss each other equally. I can’t fucking wait for you to come home, we’re going to have so much fun together.
But since you care so much about improving your mental state first, I thought I’d help. ”
Ashleigh paused then, before saying, “He’s hacked into my phone?”
“It looks that way.”
“Oh, hey, Ashleigh, I didn’t know you were coming today,” Rachel said, coming into the kitchen. “What’s up with you two? And what’s all this shit?”
“Nico has left a message.”
Rachel plucked the note from her fingers and then swore under her breath.
“I’m going to ring Dante.”
She handed the note to me, and before I could stop myself, I was picking it up and reading.
Hello, princess. Glad to see you’re finally getting that therapy you so desperately needed.
How flattered I am that your calls are mostly about me.
Seems we both miss each other equally. I can’t fucking wait for you to come home, we’re going to have so much fun together.
But since you care so much about improving your mental state first, I thought I’d help.
You’re working on your grounding techniques, right? Using your senses?
Here’s something you can see—a nice Polaroid of our time together.
Something you can touch—fuck, princess, I miss touching your skin.
The feeling of your warm blood on my skin.
I want you to feel it, too. I want you to know what it means to me.
There’s a slice of skin from my thigh inside the plastic wallet.
I bet you touch yourself with it when you realise how good it feels. Fuck, I miss you.
Sick.
The man was fucking sick.
Something you can hear—your cries soothe me to sleep, princess. When I wrap the strands of your mother’s hair around my cock, jerking myself off, it’s your cries I hear. It’s your begging that gets me off. Plug the USB in. Remember us together. It’s only going to be better when we’re reunited.
Smell—you always did have the best scent.
Especially when you wore that perfume I bought you.
You left it behind, princess. But not to worry.
I’ve sent it back to you. New and improved.
Not a single drop of my obsession for you has gone to waste.
Cover yourself in me, princess. Cover yourself in my desire.
And finally… Taste—fuck, I miss tasting you.
Your tears. Your blood. Your sweet pussy as it reluctantly weeps for me.
God, I miss you fighting it. I miss making you cry whilst I forced you to cum on my cock.
I’m hard again just thinking about it. Do you dream of tasting me as much as I taste you?
You always were so good at swallowing me.
I’ve left you a taster. Drink it, and come back to me.
Don’t make me ask again, Gabriella.
And don’t make me fucking come and collect you.
My patience is running out.
“They’re on their way back,” Rachel said, returning to the kitchen. “Are you okay?”
I looked down at the letter, the contents of the bag on the table, and sighed. “Do you know what? Yeah. Yeah, I am.”
“Really?” she asked, looking as though she didn’t believe me for a second.
“Yeah. Because this,” I said, waving at everything. “This shows a man unravelling. Unhinged and unstable. And unstable men don’t think clearly. He’ll make a mistake.”
“And when he does, Vienna will find him.”
“Exactly,” I said with a small, shaky smile.
“So, in the meantime, let’s go see about that apprentice, huh?”
I stood up on shaky legs and brushed my hair off my shoulders. I wasn’t okay. I was far from okay. But I refused to let that monster set me back again.