“No, it’s not a dream. I’m really here. I’m really here.” I wrap my arms around him, feeling how frail he is. “Have you lost weight? Have you been eating?”
“I’ve kept to this bed. Life is not worth living when I don’t have you in it. Aurora, I lost you.”
“But I’m here now and we have to leave. Right now.”
“And go where? Where will we go that Gabriel will never find us?”
“I don’t know. It doesn’t matter. Surely once we’re out of the country, he won’t care. But we have to leave before he finds us here. He wants to marry me, Dad.”
His already stiff body turns stiffer. “What?”
“He wants to marry me. If he does that, I’ll be bound to him forever. We’ll never see each other again. I can’t do that. I need you in my life. So let’s go. Now. Any little money we have left. We leave Italy. We get out and start somewhere new.”
Before he can give me an answer, a loud bang comes from the front room. Heavy footsteps sound on the floor until Gabriel appears in the doorway.
“I knew I’d find you here,” he growls. Grabbing my arms, he tears me away from my dad. “I warned you, Aurora. I told you I’d kill your dad if you ran.” He pulls a gun out of his jacket and aims it at my dad’s head.
“No!” I scream, running in front of the barrel. “If you shoot him, you’ll have to shoot me too. I will not let you kill my dad. I… I will marry you. Right now. I will marry you right now if you don’t kill my father. I will not put up a fight. I will be yours… forever.” The words taste sour on my tongue.
Gabriel tilts his head to the side, gazing at me. “You’re a surprise, Aurora. Always so selfless when it comes to your father. How are you capable of it? Your bravery. Most people would never get between me and a gun and my target. And yet, you do it without any hesitation.”
“To save my father’s life, I would do anything. But you have to promise to let me see him.”
He scoffs. “Why would I do that? I don’t give a fuck about your father’s life. I only care about you.”
“You don’t care about me. Doing this to another person is not care. It’s not love.”
“Whoever spoke of love? Love is a weakness. Love only gets people hurt. You are mine, Aurora, but it’s not out of love. It’s possession. You are mine because I say so.”
I shake my head. “What must it be like to have all the power in the world and still feel like you need to control others? How sad and pathetic is that. I hate you, Gabriel. But I also pity you. In my short time at your home, I can tell you’re lonely. You hate yourself. Why else would you cover up all the mirrors?”
“You don’t know anything about me.”
“Yet, we’ll be married. Isn’t it time I learn?”
He smirks. “You’re brave, Aurora. I like that. You’re not afraid to stand up to me. I’ll admit, it’s refreshing. But you’re not going to talk your way out of this. We will be married.”
“Fine,” I spit out. “But don’t kill my father. Provide him with food so he’ll live. As long as I know he’s all right, I’ll do anything you say.”
“Anything?”
I know I’m going to regret this but to save my father, I’ll do anything. “Yes. Anything.”
He lowers his gun and puts it away. I let out a sigh of relief. “Deal. I won’t kill your father and I’ll be kind enough to provide him with food. But you will never see him again. You will be my bride.”
“I’ll never see him again?” I ask with a hitch in my throat. Tears threaten to spill out.
“You will never fully be mine if he’s still in your life. So yes, you’ll never see him again.”
“I will never fully be yours either way. You have to know that.”
Gabriel doesn’t respond to my comment. “Let’s go. We have a wedding to attend.”
“A wedding. Today?”
“I want us married and I want it to happen sooner rather than later. My men might try to hurt you again. It’s the only way. Now, let’s go.”
“Let me say goodbye to my father. You never let me say goodbye last time.”
