“And then he stormed out of the room, he said he was going to take care of it … God! What the fuck do you think he means by that?” she was immediately on the phone with Perry.
Perry thought for a moment, “I really don’t know … although, I didn’t expect him to actually think of marrying you, it seemed like a stand up thing to do that he wants to take responsibility for it.”
“He wants to take control of it, don’t get any ideas just yet, the way he threatened me … he wants the baby at all cost, he’s more worried of what trouble he might get into if he has an illegitimate child, he’s worried that I would extort him because of it, the easiest way to handle the problem is to marry me … and God knows what would happen to me after that?” she was sceptical.
Perry was silent again, “You get that vibe out of him and yet you slept with him just last night?”
“Well … no … he wasn’t like that before … I don’t know, he’s unpredictable … I can’t read him, you know? One day he seemed so nice and warm, the next cold and distant, and I was in a different place last night … he caught me off guard and he has this way with me that I just … I don’t know.”
“Okay … calm down, let’s not overthink this … it seems like the two of you have the hots for each other … but this pregnancy is making it tricky, you don’t know him well enough to see whether his intention is pure and neither does he … and I understand the concerns from both sides … maybe we should just let it unfolds by itself, I know you don’t have any bad intentions towards him and maybe … just maybe … and we have to take this as a consideration … maybe he doesn’t either, maybe he really does like you … well enough to call the security guards to protect you and well enough to consider marrying you for the baby.”
Could it be that simple? When it feels so complicated?
He threatened her, ‘the baby is mine’ like she didn’t have a say in it.
Now what? What about her ongoing project at The Peninsula? Does this change anything?
Her phone rang, an unknown number, she was hesitant at first but then she picked it up.
“Ms. Knox? I hope you are well … this is Blake Wolf from Lancaster Medical Center,” it’s Gabriel’s personal physician.
“Oh … hello doctor, I didn’t save your number, is this your personal phone?”
“Yes it is, you can save it for future communication … as I promised, I would call you myself to inform you of the kidney test result.”
“Of course, it’s been two weeks, I almost forgot about it.”
The doctor chuckled, “Yes, I know I said I was going to call you last week but … we had to do another test just to make sure.”
She felt uneasy about his response. Why would they do another test?
“Because your kidney is a match, Ms. Knox … it’s really good news for Mr. Love, however it is your personal choice whether you would like this result to be known or not … we are simply informing you of the result and we have done the test twice … so there’s no question about it.”
**********
She was discharged the next day, she didn’t even get to see the bill. The hospital said it was all taken care of and she was escorted by the nurses to the lobby where Gabriel’s car and driver had waited for her. There was no Gabriel in sight.
A whole entourage of hotel staff welcomed her and gave her the royal treatment as they would for Gabriel. They couldn’t possibly know she was pregnant, Gabriel said it himself. No one could ever know about it. But obviously, Gabriel had told them to provide her with the best services including the all-day room service that was delivered to her room every couple of hours.
“Mr. Love said you were ordered to have a bed rest in your room by the doctor, so we bring the food to you … the kitchen is available for you to order anything you’d like, not limited to our menus … of course if there’s anything else you need, we are available 24 hours for you,” Peter said.
“Well … I do need to check on the conservation some time later.”
Peter smiled, “I’m afraid we can’t allow you to do that anytime soon, Ms. Knox, we have specific orders from Mr. Love that you are not to leave your suite until further instructions.”
She raised her eyebrows, “Are you saying I’m confined in my room until Mr. Love says otherwise?”
“Well … not confined, Ms. Knox, we will bring you whatever you need, there’s a 24-hour entertainment on our movie services, music, food, spa and massages … anything at all.”
She exhaled in frustration, “And where is Mr. Love?”
“He flew to Lancaster last night for an urgent business matter, I believe he would like you to stay in until he’s back.”
Great! Now he’s imprisoning me in my suite! She thought.
Not that she could complain, everyone was being extra nice to her and she was literally treated like a princess. But he was limiting her movements, he ordered people to keep an eye on her, he was restricting her from doing the things he doesn’t want her to do. And it always started that way, and she was experienced enough to know he was grooming her to be submissive. He was grooming her to obey his rules.
And they weren’t even married yet.