All this information is too much. I sink to the floor, trying to wrap my head around everything.
“You’re really going to keep him locked away in here?” I whisper.
“It’s what a man like him deserves.”
A man like him… My father who would make me laugh at night with his silly bedtime stories. My father who would go without food so I could eat. A father who willingly locked himself back into a cell to try and save me.
“My father is a good man,” I state. “I know it.”
“Then you don’t know your father.”
“But I do. And I know he doesn’t deserve to be locked away in here. He’ll die otherwise.” And then I’ll be fully alone.
“That’s not my problem.”
An idea forms in my mind. I have no idea how any of this works. How the world of the mafia works. But I do know that I can’t stand back and let my father rot away in a prison cell.
“Take me instead,” I say the words before I can stop them.
“Aurora, no!” Dad cries.
The man goes quiet for a long moment before speaking. “You would take his place? Pay for his crime?”
“Yes,” I say, lifting my head up. I have to be brave. “I will do anything to help my dad. I’ve been doing it all my life.”
“Do you know what you’re asking?”
Honestly… no. But if it means saving my dad’s life. I don’t give Gabriel an answer. If I speak, I might waver and I can’t waver when it comes to saving my dad.
“You didn’t steal from me,” Gabriel says. “You don’t deserve to be locked away in here.”
“Please,” I say. “I need to save him.”
Gabriel is quiet. I would give anything to know what he’s thinking. Finally, he speaks. “Deal. I’ll let your father go in exchange for you. But you’re my prisoner now. You’ll stay here forever.”
Until I die.
“Aurora, no! Don’t do this. Don’t do this!”
“Let me see you,” I say to Gabriel, ignoring my dad’s cries.
After a beat, Gabriel steps into the light. I can’t stop myself from gasping.
He’s a large, muscular man. Tall. Brown hair and stubble on his face. Handsome… except for the horrible scar across his nose and cheek. But it’s the coldness in his eyes that are terrifying and they’re locked right on me.
“Are you still going to take his place?” Gabriel asks me.
I force myself to my feet. I’m still not fully sure what I’m doing but I do know I will save my dad’s life no matter what. And if this is the way to do it…
“Yes,” I state.
“Then deal,” he growls. “You’re mine forever.”
I have sealed my fate.
Chapter Two
Aurora
