He smirks. “You really will behave now?”
I nod, keeping all the emotion off my face.
“Stop thinking about him. He’s nothing. Think of me.”
“I am,” I say. Even though it’s a lie.
I will never stop thinking about Brody. I’ll never stop dreaming about him. Gabe can control a lot of things, but he can’t control my thoughts or desires.
Gabe parks the car outside of our condo and then says, “Come.”
I do, like a dog following a command. He leads me up to our condo. I pray that his damn phone rings with some important client who needs to be killed or secured or whatever the hell it is that he does. It doesn’t ring though. We get up to the condo, and he shuts the door behind us, locking it. I know what he’s going to want. I’m not sure I can give it to him. I want to protect my friends, but I also won’t let him lay a hand on me. Not without a fight.
“Fix me a drink. A scotch,” he says.
I walk to the kitchen and pour two glasses of scotch—one for him and one for me. I walk back to him and hand him one. He smirks when he sees the second glass. He clinks our glasses together and then drinks down my entire glass.
“Now, strip for me,” he says, his eyes staring into my eyes.
I go to do what he said, but I can’t. My hand stops just short of lifting the shirt over my head.
“If you hesitate, I will put all your friends’ names in a bowl and pull one out. The name I do dies. And we will repeat that process until you either listen to me or they’re all gone. Understand?”
“No.”
He hits me hard across the face, knocking me down to the floor. I can’t think. Everything hurts. My head is pounding. The dizziness overtakes all of my thoughts. I feel something hard jut into my back.
Gun. I have a gun. I reach into the back of my pants, pull out the gun, and aim it at his heart.
He laughs and rips the gun from my hand before I can react. He tosses it aside like it’s nothing before I even had a chance to get a shot off. He grabs my hair and pulls me up.
“You think you’re smarter than me, don’t you? Better, stronger? But you aren’t. You’re just a stupid little bitch with a beautiful cunt that I want.” He slobbers up my neck and my face when I try to push him off, but he’s right. He’s much stronger than I am. If he wants something, he’ll just take it.
“I’m going to have my way with you over and over again. And then I’m going to do what I said; I’m going to put all your friends’ and family’s names in and pull one out, and that person will die today. And then I’ll keep repeating until they’re all gone, and when they’re all gone, that’s when I’ll kill you.”
I should be afraid, but instead, it just pisses me off. I kick him as hard as I can in the balls and run. He grabs my ankle, and I fall to the floor before I can take two steps away. I won’t let him do this to me or to my friends.
We both look up as the door to the condo is pushed open. Three guys tumble in, all holding guns aimed in our general direction. But they aren’t just any men. These are my men. Brody, Noah, and Levi.
I should be relieved to see them here. But I know how bad of a shot they are, and I know that, if they miss once, Gabe will kill them all.
“Run,” I plead with them.
Noah looks at me like I’m the saddest thing he’s ever seen while Levi and Brody both stay fixed on Gabe.
“Let her go,” Brody says.
Gabe laughs. “No, she’s mine. But I will enjoy killing the three of you in front of her. It will break her, and then she will be mine completely.”
Brody looks down at me for just a second. I know what he’s about to do. I cover my head as he shoots. I hear Gabe move behind me, pulling me toward him to use me as a shield as he reaches for his own gun. I grab on to his arm, reaching for the gun behind him with all my might, trying to keep it away from shooting Brody. I hold him off only for a second.
But then dozens of men start pouring into the condo, all with bulletproof vests and helmets. They rush over to Gabe, pulling him to his feet and disarm him.
“Gabe Cole, you are under arrest for attempted murder of Skye, Brody, Noah, Levi, and many, many more.”
In complete shock, I watch as they drag Gabe out. I don’t believe that this is really happening.
I turn to one of the officers. “Is this really happening? Am I safe now?”