Chapter Twelve
HUDSON
AS SOON AS I HEARD Nico call Gaby Rosa, I knew he was hooked. Seeing the interaction between them, I could already tell there was an attraction on both parts. This gave me hope for my plan; I just needed to get Gaby on board with the whole thing.
One thing was still in the back of my mind, though. Why had Vincent allowed her to go to the auction? Could it be that Gaby was no longer with him? Or was there some other more devious reason that Vincent had come up with? Either way, I was going to ask her and find out this evening.
I guided Gaby into the house and closed the door behind me. I watched as she took in her surroundings, almost in awe of what she was seeing. If she felt this way about the guesthouse, what would she think of Trent’s house up the road? It was far grander than this. However, this suited my needs whenever I was in town.
I gestured for Gaby to follow me into the kitchen, assuming that everything would be set up in there for me. I was shocked to see Kristen standing in the kitchen plating everything up for us.
“Kristen, what are you doing? I told Trent to order everything in. I didn’t expect you to be here getting it ready. I am quite capable, you know.” I walked over to her and gave her a kiss on the cheek.
“I know, but you have a guest. I couldn’t allow you to ignore her while you were getting things ready. Sit down and let me serve your main course, and then I will leave you both alone. I promise.”
I knew there was no point in arguing with her. It would only make things worse, and I didn’t want her to stress out, especially with her being pregnant. I helped Gaby down into a seat at the fully laid table and then took a seat opposite her. In a matter of moments, Kristen was there serving our meal. I couldn’t let her go before introducing her to Gaby, which I suspected was her main reason for being here.
“Before you leave, Kristen, can I introduce you to Gabriella-Rose, or Gaby? Gaby, this is Kristen, my sister-in-law.”
I could almost see the look of relief go over Gaby’s face. I guessed having a pregnant woman in my house would have been a slight shock, and possibly given the totally wrong impression. That was one reason why I hadn’t really wanted her to be here.
“Lovely to meet you, Kristen.”
“You too, Gaby. Well, I will leave you both to your evening. Is Nico with Trent?”
I gave her a smile. “I suspect so. Waiting for one of your wonderful meals, no doubt. Would you like me to walk you back to the house?”
Kristen quickly shook her head before walking out of the room. I suspected Nico was already waiting outside for her anyway once Trent had told him that she was here. Hearing her speak to him as she walked out the door confirmed my suspicions. I looked up at Gaby, who was waiting for me to start our meal.
“Please start eating. We can’t let it get cold, or Kristen would kill us. I’m sure she has cooked all this, even though I didn’t want to trouble her.”
We both started to eat in silence, but the question of why she was doing this was still going around in my head. She pulled me from my thoughts when she spoke.
“This meal is amazing. I can understand why Nico would want to eat Kristen’s food.”
I started to laugh as I spoke. “It’s the only reason why he will come back to Detroit. He prefers the life he has in New York. If I’m honest, so do I. There wasn’t much left for me after…”
I stopped myself from finishing that sentence. I didn’t want her to know the reason I had left the city and headed to New York. I realized I had made a mistake as soon as Gaby started to speak.
“I’m guessing you were about to say that there wasn’t much left for you after I got together with Vincent. Believe me, I wish I had made a better decision back then. Perhaps we both could have been happy.”
I looked toward Gaby and saw the pain and hurt in her eyes. Whatever I had been feeling these past few years was nothing compared to the pain I was seeing in her eyes right at this moment. I knew that she had opened up the conversation enough for me to be able to ask her the one question I wanted her to answer.
“Can I ask you something, Gaby?”
She smiled at me and nodded her head in agreement.
“Not that I’m complaining, but why did you go into the auction?”
I watched as she looked down at her plate, a lone tear falling down her face. She took a deep breath before she replied to me.
“It was all Vincent’s idea. He owed Mikhail Orlov money and he saw the five hundred thousand dollars as his way out of it. Along with having money to keep his drug habit going. Mikhail put my name forward to be part of the auction. I thought it might be him who had purchased me, actually. At first, I didn’t want a part of it, but then I realized that this might be my way out of the abusive relationship I had gotten myself into.”
I sat there and listened as Gaby explained everything to me. How things had been so good at first and how well Vincent had treated her. However, once he got in with the wrong crowd and started drinking and doing drugs, he became far more abusive to her. That he would lose it in the bedroom with her and purposely hurt her. Then it went to her normal daily life. He became so possessive of her that she had to give up her job and become his personal assistant. That she wasn’t even allowed to be known by her own name, but was called Angel by everyone.
I couldn’t believe what she had been put through. To hear how he just gave her away to however many men Mikhail wanted to allow to use her just to pay off debts astounded me. I could feel my anger toward Vincent starting to grow, but it was nothing until I heard what he did next.
“I think I realized how bad it was going to be when I found out I was pregnant during one of our reconciliation periods. Everything seemed fine for the first couple of months. I went for my first scan – alone, I will add – and saw my baby on the screen. It was one of the happiest days of my life. I waited for Vincent to come home, so I could show him the pictures. Unfortunately, what I didn’t know was he had been on a drug binge all day. That was the first day I knew what real pain was, both physically and mentally. It was the day of my first miscarriage at his hands. The first of three…”
I was ready to get up from my seat, go to find Vincent, and kill him with my own bare hands until I looked at Gaby and saw the tears pouring down her face. Instantly, I got up from my seat, knelt down in front of her, and engulfed her in my arms. I held her as she cried, rubbing her back to try to calm her and give her the reassurance that I was here for her and that no matter the consequences, I would protect her from now on.
I felt her breathing start to slow and could tell that she was starting to pull herself back together as she pulled away slightly to meet my eyes. Even with them being red and swollen, they were still gorgeous. She gave me a sad smile.
“I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have poured that all out to you. I’ve ruined the weekend, along with your shirt, which I’m sure costs thousands of dollars.”
I couldn’t believe that after everything she had just told me, the only thing she was worried about was ruining the weekend and my shirt. I placed my hands on either side of her face and lifted it slightly so she was directly facing me.
I couldn’t hold myself back anymore. I needed her to realize how much she already meant to me. I leaned forward and pressed my lips against hers. I didn’t want to deepen the kiss. I just wanted to feel her lips against mine for the moment. I pulled away and watched as she slowly opened her eyes, full of lust.
I smiled at her before I spoke. “You haven’t ruined anything that can’t be either washed or fixed. As for you saying you shouldn’t have told me all that, I’m pleased you did, because now we can work out what we are going to do about it. But that isn’t for tonight. We have the whole weekend to talk, and believe me, we will talk about this. Tonight, though, I just want to enjoy your company both out and in the bedroom, if you feel up to it?”
Immediately I saw her face change as the look of lust and a sly smile came over her face.
“I would love that, sir.”
Hearing her call me that did things that no other sub had managed to do to me. I not only wanted to dominate her in the bedroom, but for once, I wanted to feel what it was like to have someone who actually loved me as well. I knew that the whole soft and caring routine was more Nico’s thing, but I wanted to experience that as well. I was positive that, given the chance, Gaby could be that woman.
I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already nearly eleven o’clock. I knew it had been a long and probably worrying day for Gaby, and I didn’t want to push things if she felt it was too much this evening. Even though I was desperate to spend the night with her, I also knew how important it was to care for her.
“Do you want to finish our meal, or would you like to head into the playroom?”
I saw her eyes light up. This was the one thing I hadn’t mentioned about the house. I had said that it had its benefits, but not what they were.
“Suddenly, I don’t feel so hungry for food.”
I laughed slightly because I knew exactly what she meant. I was hungry, but it was a hunger to feel her body under mine. Submitting to my every whim.
I got up from the floor and held out my hand to help her up. I guided her out of the kitchen and down the corridor to the playroom. We had put this on the ground floor so there was a distinction between where we would play and where we would sleep. For me, it was important to have that separation. I wasn’t able to do that in New York as my apartment only had bedrooms on the first floor. But here, both Trent and I wanted that.
I stopped outside the door. “I will give you a few minutes to get comfortable in your surroundings and to compose yourself. When I come in, we will talk.”
With that, I opened the door and watched her go inside. I needed these few moments as much as Gaby did to relax myself for the rest of the evening. All I knew was it was the first, but would not be the last.