Gabriele’s POV
“But I don’t see myself as your enemy Arianna. We are friends, are we not?” he asked and I closed my eyes as I tried hard to calm my racing mind.
Gabriele was sick in the head!
I could scream at him to leave me the hell alone. He wasn’t my friend and should never even consider himself as one. He was a killer, a kidnapper, and a human trafficker. I couldn’t be friends with him. Never!
Yet I couldn’t say all of these out loud. I was trying to find a way to infiltrate and escape not a way to get eliminated. The fact that he had promised not to rape me didn’t mean he would hesitate to kill me.
I pasted a smile on my face and looked at him.
“Maybe we are… but I want us to get closer.” I drawled.
He leaned into the chair and folded his arms across his chest to stare at me. There was an emotion dancing in his eyes and I couldn’t tell what it was but I was certain it was vicious and dangerous. He was probably thinking of how many bullets he would need to kill me or how much he could sell me if I refused to sleep with him still.
Men like him could never imagine good things about innocent women like me…
“You want us to become lovers… in a way. Right?” I asked in a small voice I managed to pull out from the anger in my head.
“I want you in my bed,” he stated so simply like having me in his bed was the most normal thing in the world.
Didn’t this guy have a conscience? I had a family and he snatched me away from them. Yet he sat there with a smug smile acting like he was doing me a favor!
Again, I brushed off my anger and tried to keep it cool. Sofia had told me that Gabriele loved obedient women. I could get a lot from him if only I pretended to be the perfect submissive and obedient slave he wanted.
“I…” I trailed searching for less hideous words to use. “I will be more comfortable if we spent more time just getting to know each other. Every other thing can follow after that,” I said with feigned excitement.
A grin covered his face and I prayed I wasn’t just about to make a deal with the devil. There was one thing to maintain a firm resolve when he was five meters away from me but once that gapped closed, all I saw was a man I couldn’t resist.
God, please help me!
“That’s fine. You just keep being this sweet girl in front of me and I might just get high on your words princess,” he whispered leaving the chair.
He got to the bed and sat down. Then he turned to me, “You should get some rest,” he added. “We have a long day tomorrow.”
I walked from where I stood and sat on the bed beside him. Being smart was physically and emotionally draining I couldn’t keep standing for too long.
“Gabriele, there is one more thing,” I rushed as I saw him pulling his legs unto the bed to sleep.
He made himself comfortable and turned to look at me. “Speak princess.”
If Gabriele wasn’t a mafia king, this would have been a lot easier. The sweet smile he flashed me reflected in my heart and I felt butterflies curdle all around me. It might have been a charm he used but it worked each time.
“Can I help out with the paper works of your legal business?” I asked.
Rather than respond, he pulled me further into the bed, so that I was laying very close to him. My breath itched higher as I gave him a warning stare. His arms caged me to him and I could feel my heart hammering against his.
But he only smiled and placed a soft kiss on my forehead.
“If that’s what you want to do, then I declare you my assistant,” he said and placed another kiss on the corner of my head this time. “Go to bed now,” he added and then closed his eyes.
My heart kept beating long into the night even when his breathing became even and I could tell he was sleeping. I couldn’t do the same.
Being in his arms felt different… it felt wrong.
How could I feel safe in the arms of the most dangerous man in the city? I could feel at peace in the arms of the man who was the mafia king. How could my heart race for a man that had gotten me as a gift and then kept me here against my will?
My head ached as I couldn’t find an answer to the train of confusion that rammed around my head over and over.
I looked up at his peaceful face and for a brief second I wondered what it would have been if he wasn’t all of these dangerous things that pushed me away from him…
My heart would have given in before I could even stop it. Gabriele was everything I could wish for in a man. Yet, I couldn’t even dream of him without the sound of guns or the strong metallic smell of blood all around me.
Why was the heart so easy to fool? Why did it always beat the wrong people?
By the time morning came, I had dark circles and a stiff neck from staying in the same position for too long. Gabriele was still snoring and I wondered if he was also a monster on the side and if he was feeding off of my restlessness.
“If you can’t resist… you can get it. It’s all yours,” he mumbled with his eyes still closed.
It was then I realized I had been glaring at him for a while trying to figure out the kind of demon he was.
I made to move away from him but he held on tightly to my upper arms and his beautiful eyes fluttered open.
“Good morning princess,” he said and I couldn’t help but feel butterflies at the sweetness of his morning voice.
It was deep and husky –the kind that made women drop their pants.
Gabriele was truly a demon.
“Good morning,” I whispered.
He narrowed his eyes at me as if his sleepy eyes could now see me properly ever since he had opened them. He pulled a strand of my hair away from my face and let his fingers caress my cheek. “You look like you didn’t sleep at all. Did I make you uncomfortable?” he asked.
“I have a stiff neck!” I blurted out before quickly adding, “But it’s fine. I am fine.”
He pulled his arms from around me and sat us up on the bed. “When a woman says she is fine multiple times, it usually means she isn’t. How bad is it?”
His voice was laced with concern and innocence I never thought a man like him could possess. I could close my eyes and pretend he was a normal businessman and not a criminal.
“I don’t know…” I whispered completely enchanted by his charms.
“Hmmm, let’s see what we can do about it,” he whispered.
He drew closer to me and brought his palms to my neck. He rubbed them gently around. He was so gentle I didn’t expect the sharp crack he gave to it a few seconds later.
“Aow!” I screamed pulling away from him. “Do you want to break my neck?” I cried out as I brought my hands to my neck, to feel if it was still there. The pain was gone.
“I was only trying to ease your pain princess,” he said with a smile dancing at the corner of his lips.
He was right. The neck-snapping had eased the pain tremendously… how did he do that?
“Thank you,” I whispered looking into his eyes.
Gabriele was an entire book I could never truly figure out. I looked deep into his eyes trying to read hidden secrets. I wanted to know what he thought when we were together. Did he plan on killing me? Or did I ever stand a chance of leaving his mansion?
Would I end up like Sara?
The door suddenly clicked open and Basilio’s head popped in.
“I am sorry to bother you Fratello, but you have a call from your business partners. It’s very important,” he said.
Gabriele tensed up beside me –more like his usual demeanor was back. The strange man that had just fixed my neck was gone and the mafia king was back.
“Didn’t they teach you to at least greet since you skipped the knocking classes?” he growled and I bit down on my bottom lip.
“Good morning Arianna,” he said flashing me a smile. “Hope he didn’t give you much trouble you look like you didn’t sleep at all,” he added completely ignoring the wicked glare Gabriele was sending to him.
“Get out!” He growled and Basilio’s amused face disappeared from the room at once.