Page 9 of Vow of Darkness
It’s a clear threat. With a deep inhale and exhale, I sit down. So does Gabriel.
He cuts meat off the pig. It’s a violent sight. Maria returns and hands me the plate with pork on it that Gabriel just cut. As soon as she arrives, she leaves.
Gabriel and I eat in silence. This is my future: doomed to remain a prisoner forever.
Chapter Three
Aurora
Once Gabriel and I finish our meal, he walks me back to my room. Probably trying to make sure I don’t make another run for the front door. But I know what’s at stake. I won’t risk my father’s life.
“I have to know,” I say once we reach my door. I don’t want to go in there because to go in there means I am truly a prisoner. “Why make me wear this dress?”
His eyes flick down my body, darkening as they do it. Is it anger in his eyes? Or something else? “I wanted you pretty for me.”
I flush at his words, though I’m not sure why. “But why did you want that? Why does it matter? I’m your prisoner.”
“I don’t have many pretty things to look at in this place. It’s nice to have one thing now.”
I can feel my spine stiffen. “But I’m not a thing. I’m a human being.”
“You’re paying off your father’s debt to me. That makes you my plaything. Not a human. This is your life now, Aurora. You made this choice.”
“I made the choice to save my dad’s life. Not be treated like I’m not even human.”
He makes a sound low in his throat. “We all make choices in life that don’t have good outcomes.”
“Is that how you got your scar?” The words are out before I can stop them.
A look of pure fury crosses Gabriel’s face. “Don’t ask me about my scar.”
“If you’re insisting on treating me like I’m not human, then I’m going to do the same to you. I don’t care what you want. I want to know how you got that ugly scar on your face.” I know I shouldn’t provoke the man who has my life and my father’s life in the palm of his hand but I can’t help it. I refuse to let him bend me over and treat me like this.
He slams his hand into the wall on the other side of my head. I gasp and flinch. Gabriel smirks as he leans his face towards mine. There’s nowhere for me to back up. Nowhere to run. Gabriel has me caught.
“Do I scare you?” he asks in his low voice. It sends a shiver down my body. Being this close to him, almost lip to lip, is the most intimidating thing I’ve ever experienced.
“Yes,” I admit.
“You want to be tough with me, Aurora? Brave with me? Most people are not. Most people run from me. You should have run from me. You never should have come here.”
I’m starting to see that. But then I never would have found my dad. Never would have had the chance to save him. I did the right thing but it makes a heavy weight settle in my stomach.
“You work for the mafia,” I say. “What does that mean exactly?”
“Now you want to talk? You didn’t want to talk to me at dinner.” He still doesn’t pull back. I know what he’s doing: using his physical presence against me.
“Tell me.”
“You don’t get to make demands of me.”
“Neither do you,” I snap.
He huffs, still smirking. “I am your captor. Of course I get to make demands of you. You’re a feisty woman, I’ll give you that. I never knew Andrew Rossi was hiding a girl like you away. It makes sense though. Every man in the mafia would have gone after you otherwise.”
“What do you mean by that?” A cold sensation travels down my spine. It makes me back away from the wall but that only draws me closer into Gabriel. I can feel the heat from his body. The pure power he possesses.
“You’re beautiful. Young. A sense of innocence about you. Men in the mafia are drawn to that like a moth to a flame. It’s our nature to seek out good things and corrupt it.”
