It was a party fit for a King. They’ve been decorating the entire venue since morning. The list of menus was unpronounceable, there were long tables packed with the highest quality delicacies, an endless pour of champagne, and the best wine. The room decoration was extravagant, something like a Hollywood party. The flowers, the lights, souvenirs, tables, and chairs. She never saw Gabriel as someone who would hold those kinds of parties but his status required him to do so every once in a while. His birthday would be a good reason. The press will be there too, it was an event the public would take notice of. She was informed that a hairdresser and a make-up artist will come up to her room at 3 PM. The party starts at 7 PM, the guests will start arriving at 6. She cut her day short to go back to her room to get ready. “Do you do this often?” she asked Stella, the hairdresser. “What do you mean?” “Do you do Gabriel’s guest’s hair often? It seems like you’ve been working for him for
When she opened the door, they held their breaths. They relish how stunning they both looked.Gabriel stepped inside, “You look radiant.” There was a twinkle in his eyes, they saw only her.She smiled shyly, “Thank you … so do you … happy birthday by the way.”She kissed him on the cheek but he turned and captured her lips. She shied away from his gaze. He smelled like something from a designer’s perfume refinery, his beard was trimmed, his hair slicked back, and his suits … he couldn’t look more handsome in another suit.“Have the guests arrived? Shall we go downstairs?” she asked. She was nervous being alone in that room with him. She was feeling things she wasn’t supposed to.He took a box from his pocket, “Yes … just one more thing.” He opened the box and there was a diamond necklace and bracelet inside. He put it on her as she studied the glittery stones. “I thought this would go with your outfit.”“Thank you … I love the dress, it fits perfectly … Are these diamonds?” she touc
He said he left something in his room and asked Jamie to company him upstairs. He was quiet, his expression was unreadable. He leaned his back in the elevator and studied her from the back. She could almost feel his eyes gazing up and down her back. The silent elevator ride felt like forever before it finally dinged. They walked up to his room without saying anything. She was nervous, he was awfully quiet. When they entered the room, he locked the door and double-locked it. She turned to him, he’s got one hand in his pocket. “Did you mean what you said?” his voice was low and suspicious. “About what?” He came close to her, so close she could feel his breath on her face. “You would fuck the first person you find who would get it off you?” His eyes darkened. She cringed, he heard it, “I was just goofing around with Perry.” “With my baby inside you?” his gaze was as sharp as a knife. “No … I was joking,” she was turned on by how close he was. He charged with a kiss, it felt angry
She woke up in his bed, stark naked and pregnant. She pulled up the blanket. He was awoken by the movement. He helped her pull up the blanket, and wrapped his arm around her from the back. “Can we stay in today?” he asked, his eyes still closed. “I want to stay in and be with you today.” She smiled, even though he couldn’t see it. “Okay.” They fell back asleep. The next thing she knew, the sunlight had lit up the whole room. His scruffy beard grazed upon her arm, and his warm lips touched her skin. “Good morning,” she said. He bit his lower lip with a smile. “You’re smiling,” she touched his face. He rarely smiled, but he was smiling at her and his eyes were bright against the sunlight. “I’m happy,” he said. It swelled her heart. “I think it’s time we start doing this, don’t you think?” “Do what?” she asked. “Be together … we’re going to have a child soon.” She smiled, “Maybe we can try.” Their eyes locked. “I’ll make you fall in love with me,” he said. “What makes yo
By the 20th week of pregnancy, everyone in The Peninsula knew she was carrying Gabriel Love’s baby. Even though it was never officially announced, the way Gabriel treated her like his queen was obvious to them, Jamie was the one. The Tattler Magazine published a whole spread of Gabriel’s birthday party where he posed with his ‘pregnant date’. The article covered his little-known background and a long review of his businesses and dynasty with a mention of his ‘pregnant date’ a few times. It was the only personal information anyone knew of him at the time. He spent every afternoon walking along the shore hand in hand with Jamie. They act like lovesick puppies with Melvin always ten steps behind. He showered her with gifts, from the simplest like her favorite books to the most extravagant like jewelry, designer maternity clothes, and shoes, even to fancy trips he wanted to take her to before she was unable to board an airplane. “I asked Harold to turn one of the vacant rooms into a n
“What’s happening to me? Is the baby okay?” she repeated the same question as they reeled her on a gurney. They arrived only 15 minutes later at the hospital, she was bleeding all the way there. Doctor Collins was by her side along with the nurses who pushed the gurney to the emergency room. “We don’t know yet, Jamie, we will take a look and you will have to stay calm.” “But there’s so much blood, it can’t be good … oh my God, is my baby okay?” she started to cry. Doctor Collins stroked her hair, “It’s okay honey, take deep breaths, we’ll have a look at your baby.” When they arrived at the ER, Gabriel and Perry were asked to wait outside. “Blood pressure … let’s check the vitals.” Everyone was busy around her. She couldn’t focus on anything other than the fact she was bleeding. “I can’t feel the baby,” she cried. “I can’t feel the baby,” she was panicking. They smeared cold gel around her stomach and Dr. Collins began her examinations. She looked concerned as she moved the sc
It felt like all the lights in her world had been turned off, everything was dark. The baby blues hit hard. She curled up on her bed at the hotel for days. Everything hurts. Her soul ached and nothing can make her feel better. Her breasts were leaking milk, her whole body swollen, the wound from the C-section was painful but there was no baby. The worst thing was there was no explanation to why it had happened, one minute it was there, healthy and fine, the next it was gone. One minute they were planning to welcome a new person into their lives, the next was a funeral. She didn’t want to be there. She didn’t want to bury a tiny casket with her child in it. What was once growing inside her body was going to rot in the ground. Gabriel and Perry took care of the arrangement and said their goodbyes to tiny baby Kendall Patricia Love, the name they put on the tombstone. “Can you stay here for awhile? She needs the both of us here … and to tell you the truth, it’s hard for me too …” Ga
Two weeks after her miscarriage, she packed her suitcase. She put in all her maternity clothes she bought in Bhorma, she was taking them home to keep in her closet. She couldn’t bear to look at them anymore, at least for a while. She leftt most of her summer outfit in the hotel’s wardrobe, she will be back in a month or so. She looked into the mirror after she showered, and really looked for the first time. Her breasts, they weren’t round anymore. Her belly was getting back into its normal size, but not quite yet. The small incision from the C-section was visible, it was almost completely healed. Stretch marks, like footprints of what had been in her swollen belly. Soon enough, her body will get back to the way it used to look, except for the stretch marks. She put on her robe, tied the knot and walked out from the bathroom. Gabriel was standing over her suitcases, he came in from the internal elevator. She wasn’t sure what he was doing there. “You’re leaving tomorrow?” his hands w
She started to understand why Gabriel was the way he was. All those confidentiality agreements, how he kept his private life tight shut from the public, why he was so paranoid about people knowing details about his life. From a single picture of his ‘pregnant date’ on a magazine spread, someone had already plotted to kidnap the unborn child. It was dangerous to be that rich. No wonder he was so isolated from the world and lost his trust in people. It took almost a month for his wound to heal and then they were back in Bhorma. She wanted to be with her turtles, collecting eggs, caring for her hatchlings, and releasing batch after batch of her babies. Most of all, she was ready to visit her baby’s grave. She left flowers on her tomb and wondered how different things would’ve been if her baby was with her at the time of her kidnapping. Bhorma became her second home because that’s where her baby was. “Do you remember what you said to me before you fainted in the car?” She brought up
He woke up to find himself in the waiting room. He was tired from the adrenaline rush and fell asleep while he waited. Gerrick Finlay approached him, Gabriel’s lawyer had been the busiest man in the city after the incident. He briefed Perry on the urgency to keep all information under wraps. The case has been taken over by the police and everyone involved will be signed under a confidentiality agreement. Perry didn’t care about any of that, he just wanted to know what was going on with Jamie and Gabriel. “They’re okay … Gabriel had undergone surgery, he survived the critical phase … the bullet had been taken out of his body and given to the police for ballistic evidence … he’s still under anesthesia in the ICU and Jamie …” Gerrick smiled, “She insisted to stay in there with him … we had to get a special clearance for her to be there … she’s fine too.” Perry let out an exhale, “Thank you … I’ll just wait for her here.”********** Jamie sat on the chair beside his bed. The doctor ha
A shot was fired. It startled everyone outside. Melvin’s first reaction was to punch one of the guards in the face and took over his gun. The other man pulled his gun from the back of his pants but Melvin was too fast for him. He shot the second man in the leg and arm and took his gun too. A second gunshot was fired. Jamie went into the room, she got down on the floor to avoid a stray bullet. She looked for Gabriel, he was not far from the door, he was on the floor. She saw Eddie still with a gun in his hand, he too was on the floor near the armchair where she had sat. “Eddie! Did you shoot him?” was the first thing that came out of her mouth. “Gabriel!” she shouted in panic. His shirt and jacket were stained with quite a significant amount of blood, but he was conscious. He sat up and checked on his wound. His left abdomen was bleeding. “Are you fucking crazy? What the hell did you do?” she screamed at Eddie. “Come on we have to get you to the hospital,” she looped her arm around
“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 at her head. “Yeah, Asshole … what are you doing here?” He was calm, even though he too had a gun pointed at 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 on 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 upper hand 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, rig
She looked at the barrel of the gun in horror, she laid back on the chair and raised both hands in front of her. There was no way of telling what he was going to do next. If he was going to shoot her, all she could do was stall him while she figured out a way to escape her situation. “Eddie … please, calm down, can you just tell me what’s going on? I promise I will try my best to help you,” she said calmly. “You had your chance to help me when I first came to you, Jamie! But did you? Huh?” he stood up still pointing the gun at her. “I’m sorry … I’m sorry … I couldn’t help you then, there was no way I could’ve helped you then, I didn’t know anything about the tapes … but I will try and help you now … if you tell me what the problem is,” she crouched on the armchair looking away from the gun that was so close to her face. Eddie started to pace back and forth, swinging his gun every which way. “He promised not to leak my video … he lied!” he screamed at her. Oh my God, she muttered
Jamie looked over her shoulder, the black car was there. After what Gabriel said, the car that gave her a sense of protection now felt like a threat. Her heart raced. “Are you sure they’re not your men?” “Men? There are multiple people inside? You can see them?” She started to pick up her pace as the car moved forward following her footsteps. “No … the windows are pitch black.” She glanced back at the car, “I think they know something’s up,” she said and ran faster. Her mind told her to run as fast as she could to a public area, but the commercial area is 5 minutes away. Then she heard a car door slam, and another, and another. Her earphones fell off from her running, she didn’t have time to put them back on. “They’re chasing me, Gabriel …” She tried to take a glimpse of the men who were running after her, but she didn’t recognize any of them. Three men in black suits and sunglasses were right on her tail. She looked around, there was no one else but her. Her constant looking
“Do you think he really has a torture chamber in his basement? To be fair, I’ve never really explored his house, and it’s huge,” Jamie asked Perry when she was back home. Perry laughed it off, “Pfft … come one, Gabriel? My guess would be a dungeon where he keeps his Pegasus or a cave at best, you know … where he stores all his high tech shit for doomsday prepper.” They laughed. “But honestly, Perry … I don’t really know him that well, the times we spent together were amazing, but he never really opened up to me … it felt like he’s incapable of doing that, he didn’t stop me from leaving, even though I wanted him to, maybe he didn’t want me to stay … not really?” Perry leaned closer to her on the sofa, “It seems like he knows you better than you know him … you’re taking this break to figure yourself out and you should … I think Gabriel is a very intimidating figure because of who he is, it made you feel that distance, but everytime I see the two of you together, all I can see are tw
Two weeks after her miscarriage, she packed her suitcase. She put in all her maternity clothes she bought in Bhorma, she was taking them home to keep in her closet. She couldn’t bear to look at them anymore, at least for a while. She leftt most of her summer outfit in the hotel’s wardrobe, she will be back in a month or so. She looked into the mirror after she showered, and really looked for the first time. Her breasts, they weren’t round anymore. Her belly was getting back into its normal size, but not quite yet. The small incision from the C-section was visible, it was almost completely healed. Stretch marks, like footprints of what had been in her swollen belly. Soon enough, her body will get back to the way it used to look, except for the stretch marks. She put on her robe, tied the knot and walked out from the bathroom. Gabriel was standing over her suitcases, he came in from the internal elevator. She wasn’t sure what he was doing there. “You’re leaving tomorrow?” his hands w
It felt like all the lights in her world had been turned off, everything was dark. The baby blues hit hard. She curled up on her bed at the hotel for days. Everything hurts. Her soul ached and nothing can make her feel better. Her breasts were leaking milk, her whole body swollen, the wound from the C-section was painful but there was no baby. The worst thing was there was no explanation to why it had happened, one minute it was there, healthy and fine, the next it was gone. One minute they were planning to welcome a new person into their lives, the next was a funeral. She didn’t want to be there. She didn’t want to bury a tiny casket with her child in it. What was once growing inside her body was going to rot in the ground. Gabriel and Perry took care of the arrangement and said their goodbyes to tiny baby Kendall Patricia Love, the name they put on the tombstone. “Can you stay here for awhile? She needs the both of us here … and to tell you the truth, it’s hard for me too …” Ga