“We both know I’m more than a prisoner now.” Especially after he… went down on me. I haven’t been able to stop thinkingabout 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.
