Chapter 12
Chapter Twelve
Susanna
Gabriel returns to me once more. The unexpected part of it is that he looks shaken up in a way I’ve never seen. It’s not anger like when he killed Chip. It’s more like… fear.
I grip the bars of the cage as he enters the room. “What’s going on?”
“Why do you ask that?”
“Because you look like something is going on.”
He gives me a pointed look. “You’re my prisoner. You don’t have the right to ask me that.”
“We both know I’m more than a prisoner now.” Especially after he… went down on me. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it. My body longs for his touch even as my mind tries to push him from my thoughts.
“Luca offered me a deal. Your surrogate father was there too.”
I gasp. “Alek?” Luca may not fight for me but Alek surely will. He’s always loved me like a daughter even when I was the worst to him.
“Yes. You sound surprised.”
“I just wasn’t sure who was looking for me. If anyone even knew I was gone.” If anyone even missed me. “What happened?”
“Like I said: they offered me a deal. I return you and I get to have peace. No more fighting.”
“That sounds perfect.”
He scoffs. “Except, it’s not. They’ll kill me the second I return you. I mentioned that to them. So they offered something else…”
“What?”
“They offered I marry someone of their choosing to keep the peace. But I still had to give you up.”
“Did you take the deal?” For some reason, the thought of Gabriel marrying someone else makes my heart ache more than it should.
“No. I’m not going to give you up. Either I get to keep you or no deal. And they said no. I have to return you. So they left and now here I am.”
I slump onto my knees. Gabriel could have let me go but he denied me that. A pure hot anger courses through me. And yet… He doesn’t want to let me go. A thrill runs over me. He wants me and he’s willing to fight for me.
No one has ever fought for me before.
And before I can even react, my eyes well up with tears and they spill down my face. Gabriel’s eyes widen and I turn away from him so he can’t look. It’s the first time I’ve cried in front of him. I promised I never would and yet, here I am.
“You’re crying,” he states.
“No, I’m not,” I mutter, wiping my tears away and still they continue to pour out of me.
“Why are you crying? I thought you would yell and scream at me that I didn’t let you go. You hate me after all.” He pauses. “Unless, you don’t.”
“Shut up,” I snap.
I can hear him approach the cage and after a moment, he opens it. “Susanna.”
“Leave me alone.” I try to get my tears to stop but they just won’t.
“Susanna.” His hand touches my arm but I wrench away from him.
“Leave me alone,” I hiss.
“Not until you tell me why you’re crying.”
“Like you care.”
“I don’t care. But I am curious. You purposefully didn’t cry when I held a knife to your neck. So why are you crying now?”
“I don’t have to tell you anything.”
“Susanna.” His voice his hard, speaking to no disagreements. “I won’t leave you alone until you tell me.”
With a sigh, I turn to face him and glare at him through my tears. “Because I wasn’t sure if anyone was coming for me. But you told me that Alek was there. Which means he’s fighting for me. It made me cry, ok?”
Also the fact that Gabriel is fighting for me to stay with him but I can’t tell him that. I can’t tell him how much that means to me. A part of me still hates him while another part of me likes him. It doesn’t make any sense but it’s all there.
“It means that much to you that someone is coming to save you? You truly believed no one would?”
“Why do you sound so surprised?”
“Because when I did research into you, I saw that you have a mother. A sister. Alek. I assumed you would know that one of them was coming for you. Why did you think they wouldn’t? Is it that darkness I was talking about? The one that’s inside of you?”
“There is no darkness inside of me,” I snap.
“But there is, Susanna. We both know it. It’s why you’re drawn to me. You can’t deny it.”
“Shut up.” My tears have finally stopped but it only leaves me feeling drained, like I have nothing else inside of me.
He wipes the rest of the tears from my cheeks. “I have to say that you’re beautiful when you cry.” Gabriel presses a tender kiss to my lips and I let it linger before I pull back.
“That’s a sick thing to say,” I whisper against his lips.
“I’m a sick man. You know this. You finally cried for me. All it took was letting you know that you have people that love you. Interesting. Do you really think you’re that unlovable?”
I inhale sharply. “I don’t think I’m unlovable.”
“Then why the tears?”
“I… I just haven’t been the best in the past,” I admit. “You know this. You told me you knew that I tried to ruin my own sister’s wedding.”
“But that doesn’t make you evil or unlovable. Have you done something worse that you’re not telling me about?”
My mind flashes back to four years ago when I was sixteen. When I pushed Alek’s wife, Katya, into a pool and she almost drowned. I was filled with so much jealousy over Alek choosing Katya to be his wife that I was so angry. I’ve never been that angry since then but it still haunts me to this day.
“Tell me,” he demands in his dark voice. “What have you done, Susanna?”
“I don’t have to tell you all my secrets.”
“And yet, you’ve let me put my mouth on your pussy. I think we’re past formalities here. You can let me in.”
“Just so you can hurt me with it? No.”
“Who says I want to hurt you with it?”
“You’re my kidnapper,” I snap. “Of course you want to hurt me with it.”
“But I don’t have to be your kidnapper.”
I gasp. “Are you saying you’ll let me go?”
“Just so you can return to your home? Were you happy there?”
I hesitate because he’s not wrong. I wasn’t exactly happy at my home. It’s partially why I acted out so much. I haven’t been happy since my dad died when I was a kid. It left a hole inside my heart.
But with Gabriel, I haven’t felt as angry. I have felt more… excited than I have in a long time.
“Exactly,” he says like he knows everything about me. “But I can offer you something more. You don’t have to be my prisoner but I don’t want to let you go.”
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying… become my wife.”
All the air leaves my body and I grow lightheaded for a moment. “Become your wife?”
“You would be mine. I could take you out of this cage. I would trust you more not to run.”
“But a marriage contract wouldn’t stop me from running.”
“No. But it could guarantee peace. You would be safe with me. And I would be safe from Luca.”
“Or you just want to hurt him more by marrying me.”
He tilts his head to the side and nods. “There’s that too.” The dark glint in his eyes says that he’s not innocent at all. That marrying me isn’t purely for my benefit. It’s for his as well. “But think about it, Susanna. You could be my wife. We have a connection. You can’t deny it.”
He’s right. I can’t deny it. I want to be close to Gabriel. I want him to kiss me again. I want him to show me pleasure again. I want to be my own woman away from my family. Away from my immature past. I want to forge my own future.
But if I choose to be with Gabriel, that will mean breaking my sister’s heart. Gabriel and Luca are at war with each other. Can I really do this?
“Are you giving me a choice?” I ask. “Or are you going to make me marry you?”
“Say yes to me. I won’t force you.”
“Really?”
“I want to marry you because it’s a smart move. And yes, it will piss Luca off. But I also want to make you mine.”
His possessive words run over me. I know Gabriel means what he says. He has no reason to lie to me. I know how evil of a man he is.
But does he want me to be his because he’s selfish or does he want me for me?
“Do you like me?” I ask.
His eyes widen. It’s a rare moment when I can catch Gabriel off guard. “I wouldn’t have tasted your pussy if I didn’t.”
I flush. “Fine. But what I mean is, do you like me for me? My personality? Or do you just find me attractive? Do you just want to claim me as yours and once you’ve done that, dump me to the wayside?”
“If you were my wife, I wouldn’t let you go.”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
He sighs, running his hand over his head. “I do like you, Susanna. It doesn’t make sense to me. You were supposed to only be a pawn in my game but you’ve become more. I do like you. And it’s not just to claim your innocence. You speak to me. You excite me. I want that in a wife.”
“Did you ever plan to get married one day?”
“No. So, I’ll be honest with you. I want to marry you to hurt Luca. I’m pissed that he thought he could dictate the terms of our deal. But I do want you. I do like you. Hell, I killed Chip for you.”
“Really?”
He leans in close to my lips. “I couldn’t stand the way he was touching you. Speaking to you like that. It’s why I killed him. I think of you as mine now. And I always protect my woman. But the question is: do you want to become my woman?”
I swallow hard. I want to be lost in Gabriel. I want to have status. Money. Fame. I want a man worthy of me.
I never thought I would find it in the man who kidnapped me.
“How much money do you have?” I ask.
“You can see this house. How much money do you think I have?”
“A lot. More than Luca?”
A slow smirk crosses his features. “Is this what it’s about? You want to beat your sister? Be better than her?”
“No.” Maybe. Yes. I have no idea. “But if I’m going to marry you, then I need to know that I’ll be powerful. That’s what I want. It’s what I’ve always wanted.”
He takes my face in his hands and I can’t help but lean into his touch. “You’ll be powerful at my side. I can promise you that. All you have to do is say yes to me. And then you’ll be let out of this cage. You’ll stand at my side. Be my wife.”
“Just so you can watch the world burn.”
“Yes. But you’ll have power, Susanna. If that’s what you want. I’ll give it to you.”
It’s all I’ve ever wanted since my dad died. When I felt powerless.
So I know in this moment what I want, even if I’ll regret it for the rest of my life.
I give Gabriel my answer. “Yes. I’ll marry you.”