Chapter 60
“Your room is so impersonal,” I comment, looking around. It was modern and designed carefully, but bland. There were a few frames here and there, but it looked like a vampire or a serial killer had tried to personalise a showpiece by adding the ghost of a human touch.
“We can make any change to it that you like,” Gabriel replied while nuzzling his neck to my forehead sleepily, and it made me tickle.
The S*x we just had should’ve made my buzz go away, but instead, it just made me feel high. I’d never had drunk S*x before, and it was… wow. Everything was heightened, and I still wasn’t tired. Gabriel wasn’t a big on cuddles but he had caged me in his arms so I’m guessing that had more to do with the fact that I wouldn’t run away and do something stupid if he falls asleep next to me, because while I had been sleeping just fine every day, my husband had been pulling many all nighters.
He was tired. And I was like his toddler on sugar rush that was keeping him up by rambling about every thought that ever came to me. Admittedly, he was pretending to listen to me rather patiently, instead of just dozing off.
“I think your house is impersonal.” I poked his nose, and he grudgingly opened his eyes.
“Please.” He scoffed, “My house is beautiful.”
“Yeah, beautiful like a showpiece. Like you’ve taken a page out of Vogue magazine and brought it to reality. I tell him, “There’s nothing that makes it seem like it belongs to you. Except your mom’s paintings, I think that’s a nice touch.”
“First of all, I would never make my house from what they show in Vogue. That’s too mainstream.” He moves a little away from me, as if realising that I won’t let him sleep till I sleep, and that’s not happening anytime soon. I frown, missing his touch on me almost immediately. “Secondly, these paintings I’ve put up are horrendous.”
My hand covers my mouth dramatically. “Did you just call your mom’s paintings horrendous?”
“They are.”
“Do you also think my paintings are horrendous?” My eyes narrow at him..
“Baby, I think you’re Picasso’s rebirth.”
“I like Van Gool
“I like Van Gogh more.”
“Because he was crazy like you?”
My mouth hangs open. He laughs at his own joke while I hit him on his chest, and easily holding my hands apart, he pulls me close again, entrapping me in his arms.
“Anything you do is a masterpiece,” he promises sincerely.
I sigh, letting a little smile slip by. “Why do you like me so much?”
*Because you’re pretty,” He k*sses my nose again. “Because you’re kind.” He k*sses my left eye. “Because you’re very
Chapter 60
724 1:56
Π
generous.” He k*sses my right eye. “Because you’re a good baker.” He k*sses my left cheek. “Because you’re a good painter.” He k*sses my right cheek. “Because you’re such a good addition to my office.” He k*sses my forehead. “And, because you’re my wife.” He k*sses my lips and the feathery feeling of so many quick k*sses makes me ticklish enough to laugh.
“As much as I loved this answer,” I played with the buttons of his shirt, “I meant you hated me at first. What made you change your mind?”
“Mm. I guess I had S*x with you and I’ve been obsessed ever since,” he joked, and I giggle again.
“By the way, I asked about your ring.” He adds as if he just remembered, “I mean, the one that you bought for me.”
“You did?”
“Yeah. They said they messed up some engraving. They’ll deliver it in a couple weeks.” “They told
told you I asked them to engrave something?” I frown. “So much for a surprise.”
“Only that,” he promises. “Not what the engraving is.”
“Hm.”
“You want to sleep now?”
I shake my head.
“Why not, Freckles?”
“You like my Freckles?” I look up at him.
“I love them.” He wipes a thumb on the faint freckles scattered around the bridge of my nose and top of my cheeks. “It’s the first thing I noticed about you when I saw you in your room, and all I could think is why did you cover it during the wedding? They’re pretty.”
“Well, I guess the make up artists your family hired for me didn’t think my freckles fit in your million dollar society.”
“Nonsense.” His thumb trailed down my chin, “They were just jealous they didn’t have it.”
I smile a little, but it fades away soon as a looming thought settles in. “I feel scared, Gabriel.”
“Of what, sweetheart?”
continue playing with his shirt buttons. “Sometimes when I’m out in public without you, I feel watched. Maybe I’m just paranoid, but I feel it all the time, and I feel scared.”
“It’s just your b*dyguard watching you, Freckles.”
“Maybe.” I nod. “When I was taken, they drugged me and they.. they didn’t know I was awake so I pretended to be asleep. I…
had to pretend to be okay with their touch so they don’t drug me again. So I could be aware of what they’re doing to me.”
could feel him stiffen with every word I said. “They touched you… inappropriately?”
-σ MM M
Chapter 60
“A little.” I nod, “But it was only words mostly, of what they would do to me.”
72% 113/
His breathing turns haphazard. “The man who was with you, he ran before I got to you. We captured his partner, the one who came to collect the money. Freckles, I have broken every bone in his b*dy that there is to break. He has screamed a hundred times more than you, and he will live the left of his life in that pain because he dared to put his filthy hands on you. I promise.”
“He was the good one, I think.” I say, carefully. “He kept telling the other guy to not touch me and stay away from me. The one who stayed with me though, seemed like he had a personal vendetta against you. He kept saying how you and your family ruined him and this is his revenge. At least I think. Everything is just a blur.”
“Don’t think about it,” he says, k*ssing my forehead, his hold on me tightening. “The best detectives in town are trying to find the other guy and I will not stop till I have his head on a platter in front of you, okay?”
I nod, pulling the smile back to my lips, even as fake as it was. “That’s not all I’m scared of.”
“Then what is it, baby?”
“Every time I’ve been happy, I’ve lost it.” I told him, “First, my Grandma. Then, my parents. Then, Grandpa got cancer. And when I was just learning to be happy here, Lily happened.”
“Freckles, I am so sorry about what happened to you in the past,” He says, “But now you’re with me and I will do everything in my power to make sure you are always happy. Always, okay?”
“You won’t go back to Lily?” I ask in a small voice, risking how insecure I sounded, forwarding my pinking finger like a little girl.
“I won’t.” He promises me nonetheless, linking his finger with mine and pulling it to his lips to k*ss my knuckles. “Cross my
heart.”
SEND GIFT
