Guys this chapter is the longest one I have ever written. Make sure you guys comment for my hard work.
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"Tell me, Gabriella. How did you really steal from Antonio?" He asked me.
All of a sudden the feeling of tiredness was completely gone. I felt wide awake. My stomach dropped as a nervous feeling settled inside of me.
"What do you mean?" I asked him wearily. Almost like an instinct, I found myself sitting up. Christofer sighed as he too sat up. He turned on the lamp next to him. The dim light illuminated his handsome face, making it hard for me concentrate.
He ran a hand through his messy hair and looked straight into my eyes, making my breath get caught in my throat. We were close. Too close. If I brought my head forward our heads would touch. Immediately my eyes trailed down his bare chest.
I breathed out the second my eyes landed on his ribcage. The tattoo was still there. I was surprised, almost as if I was expecting for him to remove it. Strangely he didn't.
"I want you to tell me how you stole from Antonio" He repeated his words, making me shut my eyes in fright. I took a deep breath as I tried to calm myself down.
"Chris, I thought he told you," I said. He shook his head.
"He did. But I want to hear it from you, Gabriella. I need to know the full story. You didn't just steal the money for fun. You needed it for something." He said, making me take a deep breath.
"Yes. I needed the money to survive, Chris" My tone turned defensive. My emotions were getting the best of me. I was letting my feelings for this man change me. And I couldn't afford losing myself. I couldn't afford to love anyone else, yet for him the fierce heartbreaker Gabriella was turning into a sleazy weak little girl. I wouldn't become that.
"That's not what I asked, Gabriella. You know perfectly what I meant" He folded his arms against his chest, making me grit my teeth.
"I am not going to have this conversation with you, Christofer. Let's leave it at that" I said defensively. A knowing look crossed his eyes he nodded.
"Very well, then I'm going to have to talk to Antonio," He said. My eyes widened at his words and I felt my legs turn into jelly. If Chris talked to Antonio then-
"What do you mean? What would he know that you don't?" I asked him, trying to keep my emotions in check. A dark look crossed his eyes.
"That is exactly what I am going to find out, Gabriella. He knows something that you are keeping. Isn't that true?" He asked me with a small smirk. I felt my heart stop inside my chest and I imagined my lifeless body falling to the ground.
"Chris" I breathed out in utter horror. He sensed my fear.
"What do you mean?" I asked him.
"I see the way you avoid him. You must be really afraid of your little secret flying out, aren't you?" He asked me sarcastically. My eyes filled with tears.
"Chris you DON'T understand!" I raised my voice at him. Something flashed in his eyes.
"What I did had to be done! And even if I have to spend the rest of my damn life in your basement I would still do it!" I shouted.
"Antonio" I breathed out in anger.
"That..that damn man is pure evil! He is a monster I tell you! I do not want to even breathe the same air as him and it has nothing to do with a secret!" I exclaimed. His expression darkened.
"You are afraid of him" Chris muttered to no one in particular.
"I am" I accepted.
"Please, Chris. I doubt my begging will mean anything to you, but please don't do anything. I don't want to have anything to do with that bastard ever again. The day when you left me alone with him-" I took a deep breath.
"That day was one of the worst days in my whole damn life. Promise me that you won't ever leave me alone with him" I begged him. His expression turned serious. He eyed me up and down.
"What did he do?" Chris asked me quietly.
"Let me go!" a note of hysteria was beginning to rise in my voice. I started to panic.
"Why aren't you confident now?" He chuckled at my misery as his eyes ran up and down my body. I felt as though my breathing was stopped. Like someone cut the supply of oxygen to my airways. My legs turned like gelly and I felt numb.
"NO! LET ME FUCKING GO!" I screamed in agony.
"Shut the fuck up" He whispered in anger before his lips twitched.
"Oh, wait there is no one to hear ya" He laughed at me. He brought his mouth towards my neck as he started kissing me. I trashed as hard as I could but I felt useless. His mouth moved towards my mouth as he kissed me forcefully. Tears blinded my vision. I was indeed getting raped.
I shook my head at the memories. My hands moved up and down my body as I tried to warm myself up. He eyed the motion.
"What did he do?" Chris repeated his question.
"I can't tell you, Chris. I really can't. But you can't trust that man. You don't have to believe me but I swear to God something awful is going on in his head" I muttered.
"What do you know?" He asked me quietly. I shook my head.
"If you really believe that he knows some secret about me that you don't know then tell me, Chris. Why hasn't he told you yet? He is one of your men. He is supposed to tell you everything. But you claim he didn't. Can you really trust a liar?" I questioned. I knew what I said was risky but Chris needed to know the truth. He had to find out about his traitor of a third man.
But the fear was too much for me. If Antonio found out that I told Chris anything then it would be the death of me. And not only my death. But if only we could find my brother. If only he was with me then he wouldn't have anything to blackmail me with. Nothing but my identity.
"Are you really suggesting that Antonio is not loyal?" His tone was murderous. I gulped.
"Chris, I know you don't trust me. You still think of me as a possible candidate of a spy. But think about this. Antonio did everything in his power to make you believe that I was the spy. He beat me and tortured me while you were gone. And when you got angry at him he immediately suggested that I might not be the spy. Don't you find that suspicious?" I asked him.
"Gabriella I do not think of you as the spy. But are you really questioning my third man? I have known him for years. And I know you for months. Who do you think is more likely to lie?" He questioned, his tone dark.
"Of course you trust him more. That's logical! I am not blaming you, Chris. But please look me in the eyes and tell me that I'm lying" I begged him. He shook his head as he looked down in anger.
"Chris I am not telling you to make any decisions! All I am asking you to do is to look me in the eyes and hear my words" I said as I got my fingers on his face and brought his face up. Our eyes connected.
"Antonio is a very dangerous man. He is not a good man" I said as I looked him straight in the eyes. He chuckled.
"Gabriella, so am I" He muttered, causing me to shake my head in disagreement.
"You are dangerous, Chris. I could never deny that. But there is a big difference between you and him. The difference is that you're not a bad man. And never could be" I whispered the last part.
"Gab-" I cut him off.
"Listen to me, Chris. I will tell you everything you need to know. Everything that will guarantee me being safe from him. But don't make me tell you things that will get me in trouble, because if I tell you what happened then he will destroy me" I whispered. A look of pure anger crossed his face and I started to take my hands off his face.
He was quick to catch my fingers in his. I breathed out as he looked me straight in the eye.
"Has he threatened you?" He asked me slowly. I shook my head as I felt the tears betray me. My tears were enough for him.
"What did he do?" He asked me, causing me to shake my head again.
"Chris, please. Promise me that you won't tell him about this conversation. Please promise me that he won't find out about anything I told you. Promise me that!" I panicked.
"The Gabriella I know isn't scared of anybody. So tell me what the fuck did he do? What does he know?" Chris tightened his hold on my fingers and I felt butterflies in my stomach at his words.
The Gabriella he knows.
"It all started when I needed money" I whispered. His hold loosened as he finally let my hands go. He nodded motioning for me to continue.
"It was sudden. I didn't think I would need that much money" I whispered. He looked like he wanted to ask me why I needed the money, but he didn't ask. I was thankful for that.
"I had to get money even if it meant losing my life. I just had to. So I went to the club and looked for a man" I whispered. He nodded.
"I did what had to be done. But when I found out who he was I ran, Chris. I ran because of you" I finally let the truth sink.
"Because of me?" He asked me. I nodded.
"Finding out that you have messed with Christofer Luca Santobello was like knowing you signed up for your own death. When I saw your man chasing me I knew that I had no chance of running away" I muttered.
"Were you really that afraid of me?" He asked me. I stayed silent.
"You surrendered yourself, Gabriella. Why?" He asked me. I bit my lip, knowing that the truth was going to slip. I stayed silent.
"And there was no trace of the money, Gabriella. Meaning you gave it somebody before surrendering yourself. Your sacrifice was just a distraction. It was to let the person to whom you gave the money to get away" He said making my stomach drop.
"Who were you helping, Gabriella?" He asked me.
"Chris you don't understand. I had to do it!" I exclaimed in fear. He rolled his eyes.
"I don't fucking care about the money, Gabriella. I want to know whom you were protecting!" He exclaimed in anger, making me flinch.
"MY FAMILY!" I finally shouted out. A satisfied smirk took a hold of his face as he nodded.
"I thought you had no family left, Gabriella," He said sarcastically.
"Chris I had to save my siblings" I muttered, causing his eyes to widen.
"Siblings?" He asked me. I nodded.
"My brother and-" I took a deep breath.
"And my little sister" I muttered. A knowing look crossed his eyes
"She was sick, Chris. She needed a surgery. I told you I needed the money" I said, finally looking up into his eyes. He said nothing.
"How did you pull it off?" He asked me quietly. I took a deep breath.
"I didn't have enough time to get the money to them myself, so I had to have them pick it up. I could run away, but then getting caught with result in dangering all of us. I couldn't let that happen. I had enough time to make one phone call. I hid the money in the woods and told my brother to pick it up. I only had enough time to tell him to hide and be careful" I muttered.
"And then came the second part of the plan. To give them time I had to-"
"You had to cause a distraction" He finished for me. I nodded.
"And for that, I surrendered myself" I whispered.
"Where are they now?" Chris asked me, making my heart burst out of my chest.
"I don't know. The only time I got to talk to him was to tell him that I was alive. I told him that you had me and-" I gulped.
"And told them to leave the country" I finished.
"And Antonio knows about them" Chris caught up, making me gulp in fear. He couldn't know the whole truth.
"The very first task you asked me to do" I muttered.
"When you asked me to act for your man" I continued and he nodded.
"That day Antonio cornered me. He kept telling me some nonsense, how he couldn't forget me. He kept blabbering about my beauty and how he would-" I took a deep breath.
"How he would help me get out of here. How he would set me free as long as I agreed to be with him. I called him crazy. I thought he was serious about his words. I rejected him, telling him how I would never be with him. I found it suspicious." I said. Christofer clenched his fists.
"That fucker" He muttered.
"Later on when you read my information he covered it up. He destroyed any evidence about my siblings which was again suspicious" I whispered. Christofer took a deep breath as his fists clenched in anger.
"A few days later I went to his room. To thank him for covering me up and ask him why. He told me that he knew about my brother. And blackmailed me into doing whatever he wanted me to do for covering up my brother from you. He told me he would ensure my brother died a painful death If I didn't listen to him and so I did" I whispered.
"Is that enough evidence?" I muttered. Christofer jumped off the bad and started to take deep breaths. His chest heavily moving up and down. His fists were clenched and his jaw locked. I stood up too.
"Don't come close to me" He warned as he brought his hand up to stop me.
"Chris" I muttered in panic.
He punched the wall with such force that it left a dent in it. I flinched and covered my mouth with my hands. He breathed out as I saw the heavy droplets of blood oozing out of his fist. I moved towards him and got my hands on his shoulders, causing him to stiffen up.
"Chris, calm down, please. Let's go get you cleaned up" I muttered as I moved my fingers up and down his bare tense shoulders. He took a deep breath but said nothing. I took his healthy hand and led him towards my bathroom. I turned on the light and scrunched up my eyes.
"Sit here" I instructed, motioning towards the bathtub. He obeyed, sitting down on the edge of the tub. I took a deep breath as I opened the drawers looking for a first aid kit. I took it out.
"Open your fist" I commanded. He did so. I frowned at the deep cuts and bruises on his knuckles. I began to clean his wounds making him flinch. I looked into his eyes.
"Does it hurt?" I asked him even though I knew the answer.
"No," He said roughly. I shook my head as I looked down and continued to clean his hand. I thought of all the things I told him today. He reacted much more calmly than I would have ever predicted. I took out the bandages and began to gently wrap it around his hand.
"If what you said is true" His deep voice spoke suddenly, causing me to stop.
"Then he will pay for it with his life," Chris said. His voice deep. I took a deep breath as I continued to wrap his hand.
"Just promise me you won't tell him about this" I whispered as I kept my gaze locked on his hand. I felt his fingers wrap around my chin as he made me look into his eyes.
"I promise," He said. I nodded, slightly out of breath.
"We are going to find your siblings Princess. You will finally reunite with them" He said.