Gabriella
Hours pass, and I sit in the sand on an emotional roller coaster of tears and dry eyes. A Jet Ski zips across the water, and the memory of Javier proposing to me in the ocean makes me cry again.
Lena sneaks up on me and sits down. Over the last few weeks, I feel like I formed a friendship with her, and she pulls me into her arms. “You okay?”
“No,” I cry out, not able to lie anymore.
“It’s hard, I know.”
“What do you mean?”
“I came here like you.”
I freeze. “You were kidnapped, too?”
“We shouldn’t be talking about this.” She tugs at her hair.
“Lena? Please. Tell me. I’m going crazy.”
She glances around to make sure no one can hear us. “Yes. They issued a declaration on me. The man who ordered it is Skates’ right hand. We think he is dead now because he was on the yacht the FBI declared sank at sea.”
“Why don’t you leave?”
Sympathy fills her face. “You can’t leave the Twisted Hearts, Gabriella. You’re here for life. Besides, if I left, I would have nowhere to live, and I don’t know what skills I have anymore to even get a job.”
“What about your family?”
“I ran away from home when I was seventeen. My father was an abusive drunk, and my mother died when I was ten. I met Max when I was waitressing and didn’t know he was a Twisted Heart. When I found out, I tried to leave him, and the declaration was issued.”
“How long have you been here?”
She shrugs. “Years. I’m not sure, to be honest.”
“There has to be a way—”
“No, Gabriella. You need to stop thinking like this. The Twisted Hearts are everywhere. Triker would never let you go and live.”
“So, I’m supposed to give myself to him and not fight?”
She puts her hand on mine. “Listen to me. I don’t want to see anything happen to you. I’ve seen numerous women who were declared fight back. You will live your days locked in a room without any access to people or fresh air. Anyone you love will die. Triker and everyone else in the Twisted Hearts, they don’t threaten and not follow through.”
I dig my toes into the waves rolling over my feet, wishing I was back on Anna Maria Island with Javier and my family.
“You can still have a good life,” she says quietly.
“With Triker?”
“Yes. Triker will be better than a room by yourself and everyone you love dead.”
“I have a fiancé. March 26th was my wedding day. I should be married to the person I love right now.”
She hugs me tighter. “Don’t tell Triker.”
“He already knows. He gave me an ultimatum to forget him, or he will hunt him down and kill him.”
“Triker will do it.”
“My fiancé is an FBI agent.”
“It doesn’t matter. How long has the FBI been after Triker? Months if not years? They were after Skates for years and never got close. The sooner you let your old life go, the better. Otherwise, Triker will kill him.”
I put my head on my arms, which are resting on my knees.
“It could be worse. You’ll be the First Lady of the Twisted Hearts. Triker will be devoted to you. Anything you could ever want, you will have.”
“I want my fiancé and to see my family,” I cry out.
“If you don’t forget about them, they will die. It’s your sacrifice for their lives. I’m sorry, but I have to go before they question me too deeply. Make sure you are clear on your choice before you come into the house.” She pats my hand and leaves.
More time passes. Triker comes and sits down. “It’s time to come in. Your skin is getting red.”
“What do you care?” I gripe.
“You don’t get it, Gabriella, do you?” he calmly asks.
I don’t say anything.
“Besides the Twisted Hearts, you’re all I care about. You’re my priority.”
I scoff. “You don’t know the first thing about caring about someone.”
“Is that what you think?”
“You don’t even know me.”
“Yes, I do.”
Every bit of rage I’ve been holding in over the last few months comes out. “No, you don’t. You set eyes on me and decided that you could own me. You thought it would be fun to take me away from my family since you were in prison with Beckett. You have a vendetta against the FBI, so kidnapping and taking me away from my fiancé was another way for you to slap them in the face.”
“Finally, you’re honest with me.”
I glare at him. “I hate you.”
“No, you don’t. You want to hate me, but you can’t.”
I turn away.
“Since we’re sharing the truth, let me tell you mine.”
I pick up a handful of sand and watch it fall through my fingers.
“Look at me.”
I sigh and obey.
“The night of the party, when I first saw you—”
“When you were screwing two druggies in my parents’ bed?” I angrily bark at him.
“Yeah.”
Anger flares through my bones.
“I just got out of prison. Stacy dragged me there. I’m sorry we met like that.”
“No, you aren’t.”
“Yes, I am,” he sternly says.
“You were there to do something to Beckett.”
“No, I wasn’t. I didn’t know Beckett would be there. He stitched me up in prison, and if he hadn’t, I would have died. I don’t have anything against him, and it was a coincidence we were at your house.”
“I don’t believe you.”
“It’s the truth.”
Could it really be the truth?
It doesn’t matter. Coincidence or not, Triker’s an evil monster.
He puts his arm around me. “I saw you that night, and you’re all I’ve thought about. Then I saw you at the restaurant and outside the store.”
“When you pushed me against the wall and held me by the throat?” I glare at him.
He closes his eyes. “I’m sorry.”
“No, you aren’t,” I bark at him.
“I am. And you’re right I enjoy the fact your fiancé is with the FBI. This does makes them appear bad, but it doesn’t matter who you were with or what they do for a living. I knew when I saw you that you were meant to be mine.”
“You don’t own me,” I hurl at him.
He licks his lips. “What do you need to give yourself to me, Gabriella? Tell me.”
He’s never going to give me up.
I swallow hard and wish the sparkles in the turquoise water could magically save me.
He scoots closer. His hand is on my outer thigh, and I should be repulsed by it, but I’m not. In many ways, I’ve become used to his touch and body, even though I haven’t given myself to him, and it’s scarily comforting. I used to be petrified of him but no longer am.
The scent of him flares in my nostrils, and since he stopped wearing the cologne I disliked, it doesn’t repel me.
“If we hadn’t met the way we did...if you didn’t have anyone in your life...if I wasn’t a Twisted Heart...would you still want to hate me? Would you not go out with me if I asked you?”
I swallow hard, my heart races faster, and I hate myself so much at this moment. I want to tell him that I would never touch him. That regardless of the details, I would never be attracted to him and would never go out with him.
But I can’t. Triker has a rock-hard body and is a good-looking man. In a different situation, like the one he proposed, I would have gone out with him and not thought twice.
I say nothing, scared of what will come out of my mouth. But my lack of words tells Triker more than if I spoke.
“I wish that were our reality,” he quietly says.
I finally say, “If you cared about me at all, you’d let me leave peacefully.”
“I’m the head of the Twisted Hearts. We live by code and rule. If I hadn’t ordered a declaration, I could let you go, and I would because I realize I went about this wrong with you. But I did order a declaration. So, we only have two choices now. There aren’t any others.”
“You can do whatever you want. You’re the head of the Twisted Hearts.”
“No, Gabriella. I still have to abide by the law, or I’ll be overthrown.”
“The Twisted Hearts’ law,” I say with disgust.
“Yes. Don’t ever let anyone else hear you say Twisted Hearts like that. I can’t protect you if you are disrespectful to the organization.”
More tears fall down my cheek.
He leans closer to me. “Do you want to know our two choices?”
I close my eyes wanting this nightmare to be over. But I know it’s just beginning.
He pulls me into his chest and kisses the top of my head. “The first option isn’t what I would choose, but it’s your choice.”
I shudder from fear, and he puts both arms around me. “You resist the lifestyle and get locked up. Once you’re locked up, there is no coming out. I’ve been locked up in prison. This will be worse. I don’t want that for you.”
“And you kill everyone I love,” I cry.
“I have to, Gabriella. It’s code.”
I sob into his chest.
He caresses my back. “Shh. It doesn’t have to be like that. You can choose the other option.”
When my cries slow, I push away from him. “Sleep with you,” I say in disgust.
“No. Not just sleep with me. Become my First Lady. I’ll give you everything. We can be happy together, I promise you.”
“What about my family and Javier?”
“You have my word nothing will happen to them. I will even put a protection order on all of them.”
“Will you let me see them?”
“No. I’m sorry, but you can’t. You have to forget about your old life.”
“You swear you won’t touch them?”
“No one will. You have my oath.”
“I’ll never love you. If I do this, I want you to know I’ll fake it in public, but I will never give my heart to you, knowing what you’ve done.”
His face hardens. “Never is a long time.”
“Never. I never will.”
“Okay. You don’t have to love me. But you will give yourself to me. When you are ready.”
“I’m not on the pill. Your goons didn’t let me pack a bag when they kidnapped me.”
“You will need to have my children.”
My gut flips. “I can’t handle that right now. I want the pill.”
He hesitates but finally says, “I can get a prescription for you. We will revisit this issue in a year.”
A year. I’m still going to be his prisoner in a year.
“Condoms. I’ll only have sex with you if you wear condoms.”
“No. I’ll have a test and show you I’m clean but no condoms.”
Pill but no condoms. At least you got one thing.
“No other women. If I find out about any other women, I will never sleep with you again.”
“Only you and me. You have my word.”
Only you and me. My stomach flips again, sick at the thought of this conversation.
He strokes my thigh. “I have an event in a few nights. I want you with me.”
I dig a shell into the sand.
“Gabriella—”
“Fine. I’ll go and be perfect.”
He cups my cheek. “You don’t have to worry about being perfect.”
“Don’t I? Isn’t that why I had hours of training?”
“No. You just have to convince everyone you’re happy to be with me.”
“Then why did I have to spend hours with Lena learning all that?”
“It’s a good foundation. But I also wanted you to have a friend. I know you’re lonely.”
“Gee, whose fault is that?” I hurl at him.
“Two things you need to remember, Gabriella.”
“What’s that?”
“You can only talk to me like this when no one else is around.”
“And why are you allowing me to?”
“Because I want a real relationship with you.”
Real relationship? How can that even be possible?
I glare at him.
“Tell me you understand you can’t talk to me like this in front of others. If you do, I will have to punish you publicly, and I don’t want that.”
I don’t even want to know what that would include.
“Fine. I understand. What’s the second thing?”
“When you’re tired of being alone, I’m ready to make sure you never are again. Now, show me how you’re going to kiss me when we’re at the event.”
I glare at him.
In slow motion, he reaches for me and pulls my lips right next to his. “Show me.”
Just do it and get it over with.
I grasp the back of his head and kiss him once, closed lipped. He holds my head firm, so when I pull back I can’t go very far, and locks eyes with me.
Just do it and get it over with.
I kiss him again, this time, parting my lips. Our tongues meet and circle each other, and he lifts me onto his lap. When I try to pull out of the kiss, he stops me at first but then releases me.
“Time to get out of the sun. You’re burning,” he murmurs.
I jump off his lap, full of guilt and confusion.
He stands and escorts me to the house, an arm around my waist. I spend the rest of the day in my room until dinnertime.
When I get back from dinner, the birth control pills are on my pillow. Several days later, when I enter my room to change and get ready for the event, a high-end club dress and shoes are on my bed. Next to it is an envelope. When I open it, I read all the results of Triker’s STD tests that state he is clean.
My gut drops, knowing that my birth control pills only need a week to take effect, and the window to give myself to Triker is getting smaller.
Javier’s face pops into my mind, and I push it away, knowing if I allow myself to think about him, I’m going to lose it, and I’ll never be able to make it through the evening.
I remind myself everything I’m doing is so my family stays safe. Beckett went to prison for us for ten years.
I can only hope I figure a way out of this situation where no one in my family or Javier gets killed.