Forty Eight

Book:Rich Love Published:2024-6-2

“Gabriel … what are you doing here?” she couldn’t figure out whether she was glad to see him or was she more nervous that he was in the room with Eddie holding a gun.
Eddie grabbed her and wrapped his arm around her neck and he pointed the gun to her head. “Yeah, Asshole … what are you doing here?”
He was calm, even though he too had a gun pointed to his head by one of Eddie’s men. “I believe we have an unfinished business, Eddie … I’m here to settle it … man to man,” he focused his attention to Eddie now. “Why don’t you just let her go so we can talk privately … I’m unarmed … those fine gentlemen have searched me … if you could tell him to leave us alone … I’m all yours,” he offered.
Eddie scoffed, “You’re such a cocky son of a bitch … What makes you think you can come here and tell me what to do? I have the upperhand here … you see this gun?” he waved the gun and pointed it back to Jamie’s head. “I’m not afraid to use it … I can make a hole right through her head, right here, right now and you can’t stop me,” he cocked the gun.
Jamie closed her eyes and let out a silent whimper.
Gabriel glanced at her and looked at Eddie again, “She has nothing to do with all this … it’s me you want … right, Eddie? And I’m here … so we don’t need her here anymore.”
He hesitated for a moment, Jamie was still tight in his clutch. His crazy eyes were bouncing from Gabriel to the man holding a gun to his head. It took some time for him to finally tilt his head to signal his man to leave the room. His hands were shaking now, Jamie could feel he was trembling through the shaking gun on the back of her head.
She had her hands on Eddie’s forearm that was around her neck, she gripped tightly as tight as she was shutting her eyes closed. One tiny mistake could be the end of her.
“Thank you,” Gabriel said once the man left the room. “Now what about her? You can point that gun at me now, Eddie … she can leave the room as well.”
Eddie didn’t budge, he kept the gun pressed hard to the back of Jamie’s head. He shook his head, “No … tell me, Gabriel … what’s she worth to you?”
He didn’t answer, he just looked at Eddie emotionless.
“You’ve come all the way here just to save her? What’s she worth to you?” Eddie repeated his question while shoving the gun on her back and forth.
Gabriel let out a heavy exhale, “I told you … I came here to settle things with you … I have a proposition to make if you have the patience to let me explain … I didn’t leak your video … That’s the first thing I want to tell you.”
Eddie fell silent. “Bullshit!!” he exclaimed.
“It’s the truth … I had only just found out on my way here … you’re having a problem with the Attorney General … so I did my research … Robert Blakely found your naked pictures on his daughter’s phone … along with your chats …” Gabriel explained calmly.
It agitated Eddie, his breathing was faster, “How is that going to help me?”
“Information is currency, Eddie, and I have information about Robert Blakely that you can use to trade for your case.”
Jamie opened her eyes. Gabriel’s face was unmoved, he was as calm as an undisturbed sea. She felt Eddie had loosened his tense, what Gabriel said had weight and it was the first time Eddie had ever had a tiny hope of getting out of his mess.
“Let her go … and we’ll talk privately,” Gabriel added.
Eddie fidgeted on his feet. Jamie felt his arm was relaxing then he let go of his clutch, but the gun was still pointing at her.
“Point the gun to me, Eddie and let her leave the room … and then we’ll talk,” he said.
“What kind of information?” Eddie was hesitant.
“The kind that will spare you jail sentence … or possibly even more, it all depends on your negotiation skills.”
Eddie thought about it for a moment, he slowly let go of Jamie and let her walk slowly away.
Jamie was looking at Gabriel who didn’t even glance at her. She looked at Eddie, she couldn’t make out what’s really going through their minds and she was reluctant to leave Gabriel in that room with Eddie.
The gun was now pointed to Gabriel, but he gave nothing away, he just stood there like everything is under control. His control. “Would you excuse us for a moment, Jamie? This won’t take very long,” Gabriel said without looking at her.
“Are you sure?” Jamie’s voice trembled.
“Yes … Melvin is right outside, he’ll take you to the car,” he replied.
She glanced back at Eddie who had pinned his eyes on Gabriel with his gun pointed straight to his chest. She took heavy steps toward the door, her heart was telling her to stay in the room but her head led her out.
He was right. Melvin was right outside with two of Eddie’s men standing guard beside him. There was a relieved look on his face when she emerged from the room. Gabriel had instructed him to take her to the car as soon as she was out, but she leaned her back on the door, “I’m not leaving without him,” she said firmly.
**********
Gabriel walked towards Eddie with steady and calculated steps. Their eyes locked. Gabriel’s confidence shook Eddie to his core but he wouldn’t let it show. After all, he was the one holding the gun, even though he never fired one before in his life.
He kept walking until the tip of the gun touched his chest, “Do we really need this gun between us? Have you lost the ability to have civilized conversation between two men of business?”
Eddie swallowed hard. He weighed his options. He hated the fact that his future will solely depend on what Gabriel has to offer. The man who has everything, even the heart of his ex-wife. Without a single word, he could see it in her eyes, she was in love with this man at the end of his gun.
He lowered his gun, put aside his painfully agonizing envy against this man who was staring him down. A smug, cocky, powerful man who has every right to be as confident as he seemed to be because Gabriel Love was literally untouchable. He had searched everywhere with every means possible to find a single speck of dirt on him but couldn’t find anything.
Gabriel slipped his hand slowly and took the gun off of Eddie’s hand, uncocked it and threw it to the armchair next to them. “That’s better … now we can finally make sense to each other … man to man … fair and square,” his eyes turned dark.
Before Eddie could figure out what he meant by that, Gabriel’s hand was choking his neck so hard he could hardly breathe. He was pushed against the wall with a strength he never expected to come in full force that his feet were dangling above the floor. He tried to pull away Gabriel’s grip around his neck to no avail. His face turned red, the choke had blocked his arway, his lungs were struggling to get some oxygen.
“Now listen to me … and listen well …” his voice was calm. “I can give you everything you need to get you out of your fucked up mess if only you had asked me nicely,” he squeezed around Eddie’s neck until his fingers turned white. “There are certain ways I like to do things Eddie … and this is the least of my favorite … if you ever come near my family again, I will make you disappear and no one will be looking for you … do you understand me?”
Eddie was losing his consciousness from the choke, but he heard him, he tried his best to give him a nod so he would let go of his grip. With the look of Gabriel’s cold hard stare, he had no doubt he was going to fall through with his threat.
When Gabriel let go of his neck, he fell to the floor and let out a horrible sound. He was gasping for breath, his face was white as he held his neck with both hands, his eyes were teary. Eddie thrashed on the floor in agony of catching his breath.
Gabriel tidied up his suit, “When you come to The Q on Monday, make sure you are at your best behavior … I will have the information you need ready by then.” He put his hands in his pocket, “Ten o’clock … don’t be late, my offer expires at 10. 01 AM.” He turned around and walked towards the door, leaving Eddie who was still struggling on the floor.
He’s never been so humiliated before in his life, to lay on the floor of his own home gasping for air and having to grovel over at Gabriel for his help. He’d lost more money than he ever lost before but along with it, he has lost his dignity. He will not go bankrupt after this and be forced to live a life of a common man. Even if he can escape jail, he won’t be able to escape the reality that he will probably lose all his wealth and status for what he had done.
In the flashes of thoughts that ran through his mind as he gained back control of his breathing, he realized his ultimate fate, it was over for him. He would rather die than to face his fate. He crawled slowly to the armchair where Gabriel had thrown the gun.
“I’d rather die than owe you my life,” he said with a hoarse voice.
Gabriel turned to look at him before he could reach the door.
“And you’re going to die with me … you arrogant bastard!” Eddie said and cocked the gun then aimed it at Gabriel.