Charlotte could actually see the crazy in Gael's eyes. He was acting so different. He had never been forceful nor violent with her. He was always so cute, he would grab her and kiss her secretly. He would sit away and wink at her if their eyes locked. This Gael was all different, he was acting way too serious.
"I was with Tess. I'm a man honey, with needs. Tess saw to those needs. Wasn't going to take it further with you until I sorted it out with Atlas."
"Sorted it out? How? By marrying her?"
"It doesn't matter. All you needed to do was wait. I was never letting you go Charlotte. Ever. Why you thought that was the case was beyond me." She frowned not getting this.
"Atlas is never going to let his pass. We are not going to be together Gael. He will do whatever he needs to in order to stop this. I... It's a dead end. I get that now."
"Right... You get that now? I see." He nodded his head at her. She was in way over her head. Like way over her head.
"I am asking you to please take me back... I will tell Atlas it was my fault. He will let it go if we go back now."
"Enough Charlotte. Understand that I am never letting you go. Ever. That's it. You will remain right here with me."
"I don't want to be with you." She had to say it. Despite wanting nothing more in the world than to be with Gael, she needed to put a stop to this. Seeing him this way, seeing him angry, so determined to get his way... Seeing him so uncaring about how Atlas was going to react.
"Well that's too bad for you then. Unfortunately for you this is the only thing that is going to happen. You will remain with me... Whether or not you want to. It's for the best you stop with the bullshit of wanting to go home. Understand that I am now your home. Me..."
"You can't do this Gael!" She yelled out. "He is dangerous... He sent me to a fucking nunnery! Do you get that? I wasted six months of my life because of you! Six months in an Abbey where nobody spoke to me. Praying... Forever praying for my soul. Forever getting told that I was sinning. Everything I ever did was a sin... I don't want to give him the power to ever do that to me. You are the reason he fucked me up. You... You are the reason my life is the way it is. I just want to forget ever knowing you!"
She meant it. She did. For so long and she had focussed her life on Gael. Gael who just gave up on her. He wanted to act like he did nothing wrong! This was all on him. Had she not fallen for Gael she would never have been trapped the way she was. Trapped for so long.
She had returned from the Abbey to find out that Gael was with somebody else. That was what hurt her the most. Being trapped there for so long only to have Gael be with Tess. Being all happy and ready to be married... This was his fault. She was no longer going to waste a single minute wanting him, crying over him! Never!
Gael's eyes turned almost completely black when she said that. He looked dangerous. She feared his silence. She had seen him fight and knew how deadly he was. She knew how strong he was, knew how easily he hurt others without care for consequence. Atlas was very strong, Atlas and Gael were a force alright. Both deadlier than each other.
Charlotte was freaking out when he refused to say anything. What he did was get up and leave. He left the cabin... Okay... She heard the car and knew he had taken off.
Hurrying to the door she found it unlocked. Okay... They were literally in the middle of nowhere. Like nothing but trees that went on forever. Charlotte hurried inside and wore her shoes and threw on a jumper before she returned outside. She would suss it out. See where they were. Maybe there was a track to lead her out of here to a main road or something.
She had to get away. Gael was not himself. He was going to do something that could not be undone. She had a feeling that he was fighting with himself not to touch her. It was just a matter of time.
She tried to recall where the cabin was so she didn't get lost in case she needed to return. The last thing in the world she wanted was to be lost in the woods. She would not survive a minute.
Charlotte stood there and tried to remember what way she had come. Oh my god, everything looked the same. She was too afraid to keep going in case she went further into the woods.
She heard crackling sounds and the wind picked up again before it started to rain. Oh my god. She was fucked... Lightening... Of course it was.
She was looking around frantically now. She needed shelter.
She needed to focus, think Charlotte... Think... She tried to remember a tree that she had seen, it was useless. Nothing was going to get her back to the cabin. She was a fool... She had been out here for what seemed like forever. Her legs were sore, her body was freezing... Yeah, she was going to die.
"Charlotte!" Gael? Oh my god. "Charlotte!"
She cried and looked around for him. Where was he? "Gael!" She managed to call out. And there he emerged. It was so windy and the rain was blocking her view but she saw him. He must have seen her too because he hurried over to her and grabbed her arm. He was looking her up and down as though assessing if she was okay.
It was too hard to make out anything, the wind and rain made it difficult to do much.
Gael led her back to the cabin. She had never been so relieved in her life to see this place. At this point she was soaking. She was cold, shaking and sad. Gael was just as wet. He took her leading her into the bathroom where he turned on the shower. "Take your clothes off." He said as he took his top off.
Wow... The chest on this man... Wow. She turned around quickly when he undid his jeans.
"Charlotte, you'll catch your death, take off your clothes." She was shaking dramatically at this point.
"Can you just go..." She said quietly.
"Honey, I need to warm up... So do you. Take your fucking clothes." He snapped suddenly as though really irritated. She shook her head and came to leave the bathroom.
"You go first." No chance she was going to take her clothes off. No chance she was going to see him naked... Oh my god. She recalled how badly she had to repent at church. She was not going to be adding any more sins to her list.
Gael didn't seem to have any patience left. He forced her to face him and pulled off her jumper and her top. He undid her pants and pulled them down roughly stepping on them so she was forced out of them.
The way his eyes changed... He rubbed a hand over his mouth and took a step back. She was going to die right now. This was too intense.
Her face was on fire. "Get in the fucking shower." He snapped clearly agitated.
Charlotte being so self-conscious suddenly grabbed the hanging towel and wrapped it around her body. Gael looked dangerous... The way he grabbed the towel off her and tossed it behind him. Oh my god.
"Get in the fucking shower Charlotte." He was speaking through clenched teeth. Oh my god.
She hurried into the shower making sure to keep her bra and underwear on. She was freaking out. The shower was not big at all, so when Gael joined her he was too close for comfort. She turned around quickly not wanting to see any part of his body. She didn't know if he had his jocks on or not.
Unable to help it, Charlotte was crying. She had her back to Gael now and wiped her dumb tears. He was damaging her soul. He was going to ruin her. She knew this like she knew the sun would rise tomorrow.
The fact that she could not fight him, the fact that she didn't know how to get out of this was too much. She was helpless... He was going to ruin her forever and there wasn't a goddamn thing she could do about it.
Gael was not the person for her. He was not the man for her, she could see this now. Atlas was one hundred percent right to put a stop to this. She understood that now. She understood exactly why he refused to even listen to Gael's reason for wanting to be with her.
Charlotte whimpered when Gael forced her around to face him. She was begging him not to do anything with her eyes. Begging him silently to stop this madness. She almost cried out when he pressed her onto the tiled wall. The water running over them both.
He was too close... One hand on the wall by her head as he looked down into her eyes. He moved his hand so it was around her neck and came in to kiss her. On instinct Charlotte turned her face. She no longer wanted him to touch her this way. She had screwed up epically for allowing anything to happen between them as it was. She was not going to keep repeating her mistakes.
Gael was not impressed, he grabbed her face so hard forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Don't turn from me." His mouth almost on hers as he spoke. "You do not get to turn from me."
"Please stop..." She managed to whisper. He just needed to stop. It no longer mattered that she was in love with him, it no longer mattered that he had been her crush for so long. It was not happening. This needed to stop. He was just scaring her.
"You want me to stop? You don't love me?" He asked tracing her bottom lip with his thumb as he looked into her eyes.
"Gael... Please..." She was about to have a full blown panic attack. This was so bad on so many levels... Atlas was going to know... He would know that this was happening, that Gael was going to be touching her. The thought of Atlas worrying about her, thinking about what was going on... She was going to suffer if he got his hands on her this time around.
"Kiss me."
Charlotte shook her head. She was going to fight this for real. If she kissed him then it would lead to more. She never got very far with Gael. Kiss was as far as they got, and it was always a quick kiss before anybody found them.
"No?" He asked looking at her darkly. "Okay baby." With that he walked out of the shower. She closed her eyes not wanting to see his body. Only when he left the bathroom did she finish her shower. She needed to warm up, at this point, Charlotte had no idea if she was shaking from the cold or from the fear of what could have taken place.
Once she was done she threw on a sweatsuit and dared to leave the room. She was nervous at facing Gael now. His eyes so dark as he watched her. She sat down and drew in a deep shaky breath.
"Next time you want to run, understand I will leave you there all night." He said looking at her with such intensity. "I will not come looking for you. Do you get that?"
"I was only looking around." Which wasn't a complete lie.
"Whatever your reasons...Trust me when I tell you, there are snakes and other deadly creatures out there. Not to mention wild beasts..." Oh my god. She rubbed her lips together and nodded her head.
"I'm hungry." Charlotte said after a long silence. He just sat there smoking away and looking at her darkly. She was hungry, she hadn't eaten much at breakfast and it was getting dark now. She was starving actually.
"Yeah? So make something." He gave her a why are you telling me this look. She wanted to roll her eyes but didn't want to start anything. If she learnt anything by living with Atlas for all those years it was to keep the sass to a minimum, serve and shut up. It never worked in her favour to argue. She would apply the same thing with Gael.
It was hard not to be afraid, any sound and Charlotte would jump. Gael had really put her off her game, he was naked... In the shower with her naked... He was going to do things with her... Touch her...
She knew it was only a matter of time now before he took it further. For some reason he was still holding back, she could not seem him hold back for much longer. He had this look about him. Look like his patience was definitely wearing thin.
Once the food was ready she placed the casserole onto the table and set up plates and drinks. Once again it was overly quiet. Gael seemed to be thinking hard.
"If Atlas gave you the freedom without marrying Mathew... Would you still marry him?" What? She was not expecting him to ask her that. She had no way of answering him. Too afraid to aggravate him if she said something he didn't want to hear.
"I don't know."
"Na, come on. Tell me that."
"I don't know Gael."
She was not liking this at all. "What's to think about. You said that the only reason you agreed to marry him was purely because of freedom you wanted out right? So say that Atlas gave it up and let you be... Would you still marry him?"
"What does it matter? Atlas is never going to do that. Not until I am married. So you are asking this for nothing." She said hating how he was putting her on the spot.
"Why can't you answer me?" Gael sat there leaning back on his chair. He wanted to talk about this.
"I can't answer you because I don't know. Just... Stop with the questions. Knowing is not going to make a difference nor is it going to change a single thing."
He nodded his head looking right into her eyes. "Okay, well answer me this then... How long do you suppose I hold off for?"
Charlotte felt her blood run cold at that. She swallowed hard and looked away. This was way too intense. She didn't want to be discussing this. He was making it all too real.
"Answer that one. I mean, this is a relevant enough question right? This matters right? So give me an answer to that."
"Nothing is going to happen." That was the only thing that came out of her mouth. Gael gave her a smile, one that did not reach his eyes.
"I beg to differ." He said sounding so matter of fact about it. "I can guarantee you that it will happen. It will happen sooner rather than later..."
"You are going to ruin my life Gael... Atlas... At least now nothing has happened and I can say that confidently but if you... If you take it further..."
"You still think I care about what Atlas has to say? Honey, he fucked with me... I stayed away, I did... His bright idea about marrying you off... He did nothing but fuck with me. He knows me better than that. He would know one hundred percent that there was no way under the sun that I was going to let this go."
"He is only trying to protect me... What's wrong with that?"
"Protect you? You didn't want protecting from me Charlotte. You wanted the exact same thing I wanted..."
Yes she did. She still wanted that but would not... Would never allow herself to be with Gael that way again. Not if she could help it. He was going to literally fuck her life up and he didn't seem to care.
"And then you moved on." Her bitterness and resentment coming out. She couldn't help it. She was so cut how he just went on with his life when she was locked up. He never looked for her, never came to find her... Did nothing but hook up with Tess.
"Well... End game is you and me will be together. No matter what the outcome of this will be. I will have you... And there will be no stopping this. It was a sure thing."
"You can't do that. Stop saying that. I... I will not go to hell because you want to do these things to me. I was wrong to ever want more from you. I shouldn't have let it get that far... It was all wrong."
The church... The fucking church literally fucked with her head. She hated that she believed this so much now. She hated it that she couldn't ignore everything she had endured at the Abbey. She hated it how everything she did or ever did was concentrated. You were forced to dissect your choices and speak about them. Repent... Always bloody repenting.
She hated how everything was instilled in her head. She couldn't not seem to shake it off. She didn't want to believe it, did not want to think about how badly she sinned... She just wanted to forget her six months at the Abbey where all she did was think about her wrongdoings.
They were relentless. She was forced to speak and admit her errors. Every day... All day... If she wasn't talking about her sins she was not to talk at all. It was so quiet... The silence was deafening there.
Her head was yelling at her to carry on and make some noise but it was not happening. She found herself caught up in that world. She had to do right... That's all it came down to.
Charlotte figured out soon enough that she was never going to return home until Atlas got a full report and until she was playing nice and did everything she was told, she was never going to go home. So she did just that. Played the part a little too well and now was too afraid not to believe everything that was forced upon her.
Sinner... She was naught but a sinner... She was never going to suffer that again. She would not tempt Gael... She would do everything in her power to fight him off.
Wanting to be with him or not, did not matter. It was a sin in itself to be lusting over a man while unwed.
"You think to fight me on this Charlotte?" She was afraid of how quiet he was. "Is that the plan? Got to tell you babe, it's a stupid plan... I mean you can always try and fight me, see how it goes..."
Unable to hear anymore, Charlotte picked her plate up and took it to the sink. This conversation needed to stop like right now.
***
Charlotte placed the plates in the sink when she felt Gael behind her. He was standing so close... She drew in a deep breath not knowing where to go. He turned her around so she was forced to look into his dark blue eyes. He lifted her chin up and kissed her nose.
"If we get married... Will that make it okay?" What? Did he just say that? "Let's do this... I'll marry you... That way you won't be sinning... Let's do this..."
"What?" She was confused. He was talking about getting married?
"Let's get married. Will that fix it then?" He said moving his thumb back and forth onto her chin.
"Gael... No..." Charlotte moved away from him needing space. Only thing was Gael did not want to give her any space. He grabbed her arm and forced her to get back to him.
"What the fuck do you want then!" He yelled in her face. "Ha? You say it's wrong... Fine, let's get fucking married babe."
"I don't want to marry you." Charlotte had to keep her voice quiet. She did not want to keep this going. She just needed him to move. Like just move away from her already...
"Right, so that's it... You don't get to stop this." He said nodding his head. It was as though he had made up his mind about something. Charlotte did not like the way his eyes changed. He was going to touch her... Now... This was going to happen now. Oh my god.
"I don't want you to touch me!" She snapped nudging her arm out of his grip. She moved away from him and looked around. She needed to leave. "Just stop..."
"Charlotte... Don't fight me." He was looking at her intensely. "I love you... I love you and I don't want to hurt you."
"So don't hurt me. Just stop..."
"I can't fucking stop!" He yelled out so loud. "I can't fucking stop!" Oh my god. Charlotte was not getting out of this intact. She knew for a fact that it was over for her. Gael was going to do whatever he wanted to do and she did not have a choice.
"You will be forcing me. Do you get that? You will be forcing me. I don't want this. No... I don't want this Gael. Please... Please don't do this to me..." She started sobbing now. Nothing left.
Charlotte had believed she had it bad with Atlas... This was by far worse. Atlas was hard and firm yes but Gael... Gael was of a different make. He was just unbending.
He rubbed a hand over his mouth as he eyed her out. He was thinking. You could see how bad he was struggling with this.
"I can't hold off forever Charlotte." He said shaking his head. He went to the kitchen and grabbed himself a beer before he sat down on the sofa. Charlotte braved up enough to join him making sure to sit opposite to him on the single armchair. His blue eyes boring into her soul. "I am not going to force you." What? "But... But you will not be leaving this place until I have you... So work that one out."
"What?"
"You heard me."
"That's not fair..."
"Don't give a fuck. You want it this way."
"Gael..."
"Enough Charlotte. Like I'm starting to get the feeling that you feel more for Mathew than I originally thought... If that is the case I gotta tell you that it makes me really angry."
"This isn't about Mathew..."
"See, I think it is. In my head, you are holding back because of your feelings for him. If that is the case, I will kill him. I will happily end him."
"Stop." Her heart was racing a mile a minute now. She believed he would do it too. She knew what he was capable of.
"Mathew has your heart?"
"No..."
"You sure about that?" Oh god.
Gael looked at her darkly. He was thinking hard. She watched as he lit up a smoke and nodded his head to himself.
"I will kill him just because." His words freaked her out. No he did not...
"Stop. Stop saying that. He has nothing to do with it."
"No? So who then should I kill? Atlas? Maybe then you will change your mind."
"Why are you being this way?"
"Again, until you tell me I can have you, I might very well start killing off... Mathew... Atlas..."
He meant it... He meant it... She felt it in his voice. She saw it in his eyes.
"You have me and what Gael?" She asked quietly. She wanted this to end. She knew that Atlas would kill Gael or Gael would end up killing Atlas... One was going to die... There was no other outcome. If Gael took it further with her, he was going to die... If she continued to refuse Gael, he would kill Mathew and Atlas... She had no way of solving this at all.
"Then I have you." He replied after taking a long drag of his smoke.
"Doesn't matter to you that you would have fucked up me for good? Does that not even matter to you?"
"Again, you want to be married, got no issues with doing that."
She was in hell... She needed to do something... Think... Think Charlotte think...
"Okay..." He squinted his eyes at her.
"Okay? What are you okaying about?"
"We'll get married. Before you do anything." She was biding some time. Trying to work out how to run... Find an opening... If they left the cabin she stood a chance.
"Just like that?" He asked her sounding very suspicious of her motive.
"I... I don't know what else to do..." She wanted to cry.
"Okay... So we'll be married tomorrow then." What? She was not expecting him to do it so soon. "No time like the present right?"
"Tomorrow?"
"Well yeah..." Not knowing what to say to that, Charlotte left him there and went into the room. She moved into the bed and covered herself. This was too much. He was scaring her to a whole new level.
Gael followed her into the room after he had a shower and moved into the bed beside her. She had her back to him not wanting to face him. He moved over to her and wrapped his arms around her body spooning her tightly.
He nuzzled her neck and she froze. She did not know how to be. "You will be my wife tomorrow..." He said forcing her around to face him. She was flat on her back now and Gael placed one of his legs over both of hers trapping her in place. She felt his erection... Oh god she was going to hell. "It's for the best we do it this way..." He said stroking her bottom lip with his thumb.
She came to move away and turn only to be pressed back down.
"How will you stop me tomorrow?" He asked her darkly. "Ha? How would you think to stop me tomorrow?"
He scoffed before he let her go and turned his back. Oh my god... This was getting too real. Too real.
Tomorrow, she was going to run... She was going to escape or die trying. She would take the opportunity to run when he took her to get married. She was going to stop this from happening no matter what.
It was hard to sleep, Charlotte was finding it so very hard to stop her head from overthinking it all. She was desperate...
Come morning and Charlotte woke up to find herself alone in the bed. She got up and used the bathroom to freshen up quickly before she headed out to see what Gael was doing.
He was having a smoke and coffee in the living room. He looked at her darkly when she joined him.
"Priest will be here soon, have something to eat and be ready."
"What?" They weren't leaving? No... He counterattacked. Oh my god...
"Priest will be here soon. You would be wanting to get ready."
"I thought..."
"You thought what? You thought I'd be that stupid to take you anywhere?"
"Gael... I... Atlas is going to kill us..."
"So how about you go and fix yourself up..." Totally ignoring her concerns.
"I'm not going to marry you..." She said shaking her head. She was so freaked out right now. "Gael, no... You have to stop this..."
"Think hard Charlotte." He said squinted his eyes at her. "Think very hard baby. See... I am on the verge of just doing whatever the fuck I want to do with you and be done with it. Marrying you is so you can have a clear conscious. But make no mistake baby, I will happily fuck you here and now and it would not faze me in the least."
Charlotte could see how serious he was. How to stop him from making this happen? She needed to save his life, needed to save Atlas' life, needed to save Mathew's life. All Gael was doing was making this situation that much worse.
"Atlas..." She was so choked up.
"Will have to accept it. It will be a done deal."
"And if he kills you?" She didn't get how Gael was so uncaring about how dangerous this entire situation was.
"Why would he kill me? You'll be my wife." He said shrugging his shoulders now. Wow.
"Can't you just stop?" She asked him quietly. "Gael... If we go back, we will talk to him..."
"Like you said, he won't ever allow it. So... Let's do things my way this time. We played his way, now we do things my way."
There was no getting through to him. No way in hell was he going to listen to her. She sat there unmoving. Her life was going to be over because Gael thought this was his god given right.
"Go and get ready." His eyes so dark when he ordered her to do that. She left to the room and had to think hard. Maybe, maybe she could work on the priest... Okay... That could work...
She didn't know what to wear, she was too nervous to care about what to change into. Gael walked into the room a while later and did not look happy at all that she was still as she was.
"The priest is here." He said looking her up and down. She was literally freaking out. "Put something nice on." He snapped. He opened the closet and looked through it before he tossed her over a simple white dress. It was a pretty dress that sat just above her knees. It flowed out and was tight on the bodice. Charlotte drew in a deep breath and came to change into the bathroom. Only thing was Gael didn't seem to have any patience left. He forced her out of her clothes roughly. "There you go." He snapped clearly agitated.
Charlotte quickly threw the dress on
Gael changed his clothes also and she jumped when she heard somebody knocking on the door. "Can I come in?" Who on earth was that?
"Yeah..." He replied. Her shock at seeing her makeup artist there.
"Are you ready?" Olivia asked Charlotte. What? Then it hit her, Olivia helped Gael take her the day of the wedding. Oh my god.
"Fix her up." Gael said forcing Charlotte to sit down on the chair.
Olivia did her make up and Gael walked outside. "They needed a witness." Olivia was acting like this was all normal. That this wasn't her fault that she was here... That she was forced to marry Gael. "Gael wants to make this special for you." What the hell? She was too shocked to react.
Once Olivia finished applying the last touches did Charlotte say anything. "He is forcing me..." She said quietly. "You need to help me..."
"You look gorgeous..." She said smiling.
"Olivia... Please. You... Please help me..."
Before Charlotte could say anymore, Olivia opened the door and called out that she was ready. "Don't forget your shoes." She said smiling before she left the room.
What the hell? This was a nightmare.
All Charlotte ever wanted was to marry Gael. She did, she had wanted nothing more in her entire life. She was so taken by him... It didn't matter now... For some reason she knew that this was going to end up so bad.
She knew that Atlas was going to take this as the ultimate betrayal. It was not going to have a happy ending. Gael was not thinking clearly. If he was he would never do this... Not go against Atlas so openly...
It didn't seem to matter to Gael... He was going to see this through...
Gael made his way to the room and she had just finished putting on her heels. She felt stupid standing there. He rubbed a hand over his mouth as he looked her up and down. "You look stunning." He said walking toward her. He held her hands and looked into her eyes. "You will belong to me in every sense of the word." He said before kissing her softly on the mouth. He pulled away when she gave nothing back and nodded his head. "Let's do this then."
With that he led her out of the room to the where the priest was standing was Olivia.
She was going to beg the priest not to do this but something inside her told her that Gael was more than prepared for her to try something. She was just numb.
They were declared husband and wife before she knew it.
Gael lifted her chin up and kissed her on the mouth. The priest handed over the marriage certificate once Olivia had signed that she was witness to it and it was over. The priest left.
Olivia hung around. She opened up a bottle of champagne and handed them each a glass. "To the newlyweds?" She said toasting them.
With the glasses in their hands, Olivia took pictures. Gael held her to him and kissed her so Olivia could take more shots. Once Gael seemed happy with the amount of pictures he refilled the glasses with Champagne. Charlotte did not touch her beverage.
Charlotte watched as Gael sculled his entire cup in one hit. She wasn't able to function right now. She had just screwed up her life. Putting the glass down she made her way to the room and sobbed.
This was not how it was supposed to happen! She was so confused. She had prayed so hard to end up with Gael, she had used up all her tears on Gael... Now they were married.
Atlas... Oh my god...
Gael would touch her... She knew that it was a done deal now. In his head he was her husband and that was that.
She felt disgusting... It was wrong... All of this was wrong. She wasn't meant to end up with Gael... Months and months of being told how wrong it was... Months of nothing but showing her the error of her ways only to have this marriage happen.
It was not fair...
She was too afraid to want this... She knew it was bad and it would not end well... It was hard to just accept it...
Deep down inside Charlotte wanted to allow herself to be happy. Allow herself to be with Gael like she wanted to be with him... But her fear... Her fear of what was to come...
She had every right to be afraid. Both Atlas and Gael were deadly. This was personal... This was very personal now and neither of them were going to take this lying down.
Atlas was going to rip into them both... Gael now had a reason to fight, he would be fighting for his wife... He now had a leg to stand on and if that wasn't the scariest thing ever.
Gael kept his mouth shut with Atlas regarding their relationship, he knew that he didn't really have anything to go on. Atlas said no and he had to go with it... Now... Well now the game had changed.
Gael was her husband... She was his wife... He had the upper hand suddenly. In her heart she knew this was a pre-planned. He made it happen so she had no choice but to marry him giving him the lead in this race.