ERICA“So you are saying that I can’t talk to him?” I asked, my fingers knotted together as helpless anger burned through me. We were in Gabe’s home office, Summer was standing beside him while I sat in front of them like a child put to task. Lily, Gabe’s housekeeper and a maternal figure to him and my sister, had prepared us lunch which I had barely swallowed a few bites of as I was too anxious to have this conversation but now whatever I had eaten it all threatened to come back up at what Gabriel just said to me.“I think it would be for the best.” Gabriel said now.“You think....” I couldn’t even form the words, I was so fûcking furious. “You think that you drugging me, kidnapping me and bringing me here against my will is for the best. You think that not letting me talk to him is for the best.”With every word I spoke, my anger became obvious and I started to lose whatever calm I had. “Rica, please, calm down.”I stared at my sister and asked of Gabriel, “Was that really your dec
ERICA “Then let him come to get you.” “Are you shitting me right now?” His blue eyes flashed at my disrespectful words. “He was in the hospital, we don’t even know if he woke up or not.” My throat tightened up at the words as I gritted out, “And you want me to wait for him so he could come for me just because you don’t believe me when I say that he loves me.” “We can’t just let you go, Erica. Even if what you are saying is true and if he really loves you then he’ll come, and there are things we have to talk about. A man like him doesn’t give up his revenge for nothing, what if down the road he hates you or comes after me and my family again?” I was dumbfounded as I listened to him, and I couldn’t council the man with the brother-in-law I was trying to protect. “He gave up his revenge for me, Gabriel. And he will never hurt me. And the family you are talking about is also my family that I protected and stood by and never took his side even when he promised me the world.” “Erica, I
GABRIELThere was a time when I didn’t know right from wrong. I was too hard-headed and stubborn to sit and think about the consequences of my actions. But then I fell for my little red and I had to be a man she deserved. I tried to forget about the guilt of all my past decisions that ended badly, but past has a way of catching up with you. And mine was finally here. Looking back I wondered if I had talked to the man— Bosh Lori, my mentor who taught me everything and took me in when I came to New Orleans then perhaps he’d have listened to me and Summer would’ve been safe from the Mexicans without me killing him to make it happen. But I killed him, I was too afraid for my little red, scared to lose her and angry at the fact that her father made the deal with Mexicans with the help of Bosh. That time it had felt like I didn't have any choice and I did what I knew will guarantee Summer’s safety and the fact that I could control her father so he won't put her and her sister in that situat
ANTONIOI have never let anything control my life. Never became obsessed with something so deeply that now it was like an addiction that I needed to survive. But right now I felt like one, an addict. And all because of one person, a woman who came into my life and upended everything. I didn't want to even think her name of, I had refrained from it for my own sanity. For some reason it felt necessary to not say her name even in my own mind. Her memories already pained me enough that even bottles of scotch hasn’t helped in erasing it.“Antonio, you haven't eaten anything.”I looked up from my fifth or maybe it was sixth glass of scotch to look at Yuri. We were at his house with a home cooked meal between us. I had only half listened to his plans for the redevelopment of the warehouse and building a new one because no matter how fucking hard I tried I couldn’t push her out of my mind. I couldn't forget our last night together, the way she had clung to me and had given into my demands. Sh
ANTONIOAs the car moved through the city, Nicole took a seat beside me. Her body leaning into me as she inched closer. “Are you alright, Antonio?” She asked, her hand coming to rest on my chest.I swallowed as I looked down at her hand on me. It felt wrong. So wrong. Her presence. Her scent. Everything about was so wrong. But why? Just because I was in love with another woman, the one who left me. And here I was feeling guilty to let some other woman touch me. For how long I would've to endure this pain? And why should I be a pathetic man too much in love? I moved further on the seat, not to get away from Nicole’s touch but the action resulted in her hand dropping off, to take out the bottle of whiskey stored in the small fridge even though I was already losing sense of my present but at least it would make it easier to do what I set out to do tonight— taint her memories she left in the castle. Also, I wouldn’t remember anything of tonight if possible with all the scotch I have alre
ERICAGabriel asked me to wait for a week but I couldn’t. A day felt like an eternity, how will I manage a week. But right now, what had me anxious was the pregnancy test sitting on the counter near the washbasin. Never in my life I ever thought that there would come a time when I’d love a man, want to marry him, want to have his baby and built a family with him. But now as I stood there in the bathroom waiting for the results, I wished it was positive and I prayed for all the things I didn’t want before. I wanted to have everything I never wanted with Antonio.When I was sure that enough time had passed, I inched forward, holding my breath as I peered at the small screen of the pregnancy test. And what I saw had me crying and laughing. I never thought the amount of happiness I'd feel in this moment. “Oh my god, Antonio...” I whispered, my hand going to my stomach. “You stubborn man, you fucked a baby into me after all.”A knock came through the door and I wiped my tears but it was no
ANTONIOToday marked a tenth day since she left and all I have were the photographs I was looking at sent to me. For some reason, she was no longer staying at Gabriel’s place, now she was at his twin brother’s house. She moved there yesterday. The time stamp showed around eleven in the morning. I hadn’t received anything today so I was going through the same pictures I watched last night. The Wolfe estate was big enough that one could spend a day roaming around it and get lost in the forest that surrounded it. And hugging that forest was a recently built cottage where she was staying as per the report sent to me. This time there were pictures of her in the garden with twin girls of Raphael. With animals of all kinds. Horses. Cats. Dogs. A cow. And... was that a panther? My shoulders crowded with tension to see her so close to such a dangerous animal, last night I had been too drunk to really focus on anything except her beautiful face— and despite the fact that she betrayed me and l
ERICA“Are you really okay?” Ami asked for the hundredth time since I came to live with them yesterday.I smiled at her. But I doubted I was able to pull it off. I hadn’t slept last night and whatever fitful sleep I’d gotten, for once it didn’t bring me dreams of Antonio, but of monsters in the shadows. It happened because I came face to face with the man who had introduced me to those monsters in the first place. He was there. In Gabriel’s home. Under the same roof as me. The thought made me shiver and Ami squeezed my fingers, comforting me without knowing what affected me. I met her gaze and she asked, “Do you want to talk about it?”I felt my eyes prickling with tears. Ami knew about monstrous fathers but I couldn’t bring myself to share what my father did to me. Antonio knew because he wouldn't leave it alone. He was stubborn and arrogant and obsessive to a point that no one could stop him when he puts his mind to it, just look at me— I was in love with him, needed him like air a