Falling into Surrender (3 page)

“Yes! Please, Gabriel!”

“Good girl.” His hand continues kneading my breast as he finger fucks me at the same time. Dark spots fill my vision as the orgasm tears through me, nearly making me faint in the process. I’m still throbbing around him when he growls, pouring his own release deep inside of me.

“Fuck!” he pants, collapsing beside me. “You never cease to amaze me, Victoria.”

I can’t speak, or even have a rational thought for that matter, so I just stare up at him with heavy eyelids. He kisses the crown of my hair and strokes my entire body before releasing me from my binds. I’m like a limp noodle, completely useless as he carries me back into his bathroom, setting me down into the bathtub. He goes about running the water and pouring in soap while I focus on not passing out. I’ve never experienced an orgasm so intense in my life, and it’s taking me forever to come back down to earth.

Gabriel climbs in behind me and pulls me to his chest while he massages my shoulders and back, kissing my temples softly.

“Are you okay?” he asks. “You haven’t said anything.”

“I’m more than okay.” I relax back into him. “That was… amazing.”

He breathes a deep sigh of relief, squeezing me a little tighter. “I’m glad that I was the one to give it to you.”

Chapter Three

Gabriel

As I pull away from the curb outside Victoria’s apartment, my cell phone rings. The number on the screen indicates it’s Allan Ricketts, the same detective I had it out with last week.

“Allan,” I answer briskly, “did you finally come to your senses?”

“Yes, Mr. Maddox,” he says in a contrite tone. “I’ve been working on a hunch, but I didn’t want to say anything before. Now I have something concrete for you.”

As much as I don’t want to take the bait, he has my attention. If it’s something concerning Victoria, I need to know about it, even if I do hate dealing with this scumbag.

“Fine, what is it?”

“I’m afraid this is a little bit more of a confidential matter,” Allan says nervously. “I’m going to need to meet you somewhere. I have some hard copy documents to give you.”

“Can’t you just fax them to me?” I snap.

“I’m sorry, Mr. Maddox, but not these. You’ll understand why when you see them.”

“Fine,” I agree. “Where do I need to meet you?”

“Well, it’s the weekend,” Allan says. “I’m at my apartment.”

“Text me the address. I’ll come now.”

When the text comes through, I debate just telling him to fuck off. The place is all the way on the other side of the city. But again, I think of Victoria, and I enter it into my GPS. An hour later I pull up in front of the dilapidated apartment building, thinking that it’s a perfect place for a roach like Allan to live. Still, I have to wonder what he does with all the money he makes from his steep fees.

The elevator is out of order when I walk in, so I open the door to the stairwell. No sooner do I step inside before something cracks into the back of my skull.

***

Victoria

I haven’t heard from Gabriel for two days, which is unusual. The way he was acting on Sunday, I expected him to be all over my case. I’ve been going stir-crazy in this apartment while I wait for his call.

My phone rings, snapping me out of my thoughts. It’s my boss Marvin from the courier company.

“Hello Marvin,” I answer less than enthusiastically.

“Victoria,” he greets me in a business-like tone. “I need you to make a delivery this morning, can you do it?”

I hesitate for a moment before answering. Gabriel isn’t going to like this, but right now, I don’t care. He’s too busy to give me a courtesy call or respond to my texts, and I need to get out of this apartment.

“Sure,” I agree. “I can be there in thirty minutes.”

I hang up the phone and quickly throw on some jeans and a hoodie. Before I head out, I toy with the idea of taking the gun with me. I know it will make the inevitable fight with Gabriel easier if I do, so I tuck it into the back of my jeans beneath my jacket.

When I walk into the living room, Alanna gives me a puzzled glance.

“I’m just going to make one delivery,” I explain. “I need to get out of this apartment before I go crazy.”

Alanna nods in understanding. “Okay, just be careful, babe. Gabriel’s got me twisted into a bundle of nerves now. I’ll feel much better when we are safe in his apartment.”

“Yeah,” I groan as I walk out the door.
If that ever happens.

When I get to the courier company, my boss hands me a piece of paper with the address on it.

“You sure are popular.” He laughs. “I think it must be that rich boyfriend of yours. He told me not to tell you, so make sure you act surprised, okay?”

I smile in relief. He must be planning a surprise for me. I wonder curiously what it is as I walk down the street.

Twenty minutes later I’m staring up at two adjacent buildings. This business has a ½ address, and I can’t figure out where it is. I decide to walk down the alleyway, thinking it must be somewhere behind the two buildings. I’m expecting Gabriel to be standing there, but I don’t see him anywhere. I don’t see any buildings with the address on them either.

An uneasy feeling starts to creep into my belly, unfurling its black venom like a poisonous snake. The more I think about it, the more I realize Gabriel would never ask me to walk around in a strange place like this. It doesn’t feel right.

I turn to leave, but it’s already too late. Something slams into me from behind, plunging me into darkness as I crash to the ground beneath.

Chapter Four

Victoria

My tongue is plastered to the roof of my mouth and it feels like someone’s jammed a knife straight into the back of my skull. One quick glance around confirms that what happened before wasn’t a nightmare. I’m lying on a stone cold floor with my arms bound behind me, my forehead covered in blood and sweat. Bile rises in my throat as I try in vain to struggle loose from the ropes, but a hard boot to my ribs is quick to put a stop to that.

“Stop moving, bitch!” A man barks from behind me.

My mouth is duct taped and I try to speak, but everything comes out muffled. All I want to do is scream, but I know I need to stay calm. To figure out where I am and what’s happening. I’m not dead yet, so there has to be something I can do.

I glance around and take in my surroundings. This place looks strangely familiar, and it only takes all of a minute for reality to sink in.
I’m in Gabriel’s cabin.

A renewed sense of dread washes over me as I flop my body over, craning my neck to look for him. The man who kicked me is standing in front of the door, watching me intently. It’s the same man who bumped into me in front of my apartment the other day, the one I got the weird feeling about. I have no idea what he could possibly want with me, but from the look in his eye, it doesn’t take much to guess.

I try not to focus on that as I continue to survey the room around me. Lifting my head isn’t easy, and the moment I do searing pain shoots through my skull. I whimper and try to suppress the overwhelming urge to vomit as my eyes land on the other side of the room.

My worst nightmare has come to life as I glance at the battered figures strapped into metal chairs before me. Alanna looks as though she is sleeping peacefully, but Gabriel is bleeding badly from the side of his drooped head. He looks as if he’s taken the brunt of this strange man’s wrath, and my heart squeezes at the sight. I don’t know what he wants, but the more I watch him, the more I realize he’s waiting for something.
Or someone.

Almost as if on cue, the front door creaks open, and a voice behind me chills me to the bone. Sweetness laced with Arsenic, the most caustic woman I’ve ever known enters the room with a flourish.

Eleanore.

“Is the bitch awake yet?” she asks casually, her gaze swinging in my direction.

“Yeah, she’s awake all right,” the man retorts. “And already causing trouble too. When are you going to let me at her?”

My stomach churns violently at his implication, my breath coming out in hollowed gasps. I would rather die than let Eleanore do this to me again. But then I think about Gabriel and Alanna, the innocent bystanders in all of this.
They’re only here because of me.

“All in good time, Allan,” my stepmother’s shrewd voice cracks my raw nerves like a whip.

As she approaches, her heels click across the hard floor like shotgun blasts. And instinctively, I know this is it. The end of the line for me, because there’s no getting away from her this time. And just as I suspected, she isn’t going to let me go down alone. I squeeze my eyes shut as tears flood my vision, threatening to turn me into a sobbing mess. She’s going to hurt Alanna and Gabriel to get to me.

In a sick twist of irony, I recall the time that Gabriel and I spent at this cabin not so long ago. How I told him about Orion’s fate, and how I thought the constellation had guided me to him somehow. And now, here I am, his own personal Artemis, unknowingly leading him to his death.

The whole situation is so fucked up I want to scream until my lungs are bloody. But I know it won’t do me any good. The expression on Eleanore’s face tells me as much. She’s finally got me right where she wants me, and there’s nothing I can do to change that.

“Did you really think you could get away from me so easily you foolish girl?”

I try to mumble a fuck you from behind the tape, but nothing intelligible comes out. Eleanore stoops down, and in one swift painful movement, rips the tape from my mouth. I tamp down the strong instinct to react to the pain, refusing to give her the satisfaction.

She simply laughs at my stiff expression. “Always trying to put on a brave face, aren’t we? Tell me, Victoria, don’t you think it’s time you paid the piper?”

“What are you talking about?” I hiss. “I’ve done nothing wrong. I’ve left you alone, so why can’t you just move on?”

“Oh you would say that,” she snaps. “After everything that you’ve done to hurt me. Making your father hate me… making the whole town think I was crazy.”

“You are crazy!” I yell, unable to stop myself. I know this isn’t the best way to approach the situation. She has the two people I love most in the world within her grasp. I know I should be logical, but right now I can’t. I hate her with the fire of a thousand suns.

“You think you are so tough don’t you?” she glances across the room. “We’ll see how tough you are after your friends wake up and you watch me slowly torture them to death.”

All of the blood drains from my face, and just like that, my temper is gone.

“Please, Eleanore…” I beg. “You don’t have to do this. Just let them go.”

She actually seems to consider it for a moment before busting into a hysterical fit of laughter. “No, I don’t think so, Victoria. But don’t worry, it won’t be all blood and gore. We’re going to have a little fun first. You see, I think I will make your angry boyfriend watch Allan here rape you repeatedly. Maybe your pretty little friend over there too. I haven’t really thought that far ahead yet.”

“Why are you doing this?” I plead, my voice cracking. “They haven’t done anything to you. You can do anything you want to me, but please let them go.”

“Tisk, tisk.” Eleanore smiles. “Where would the fun in that be? You deserve everything you get, you little whore.”

“How can you say that?” I try to reason with her, playing to any of her sane emotions. “You’ve been the only mother I’ve ever known.”

“Yes, how unfortunate for me.” She retorts sourly. “You didn’t know how lucky you were. You never appreciated me.”

The weakness in her eyes surprises me, but before I can say anything, she walks back towards the front door.

“I need to get some things in town,” she announces to the man standing guard. “You call me the minute they wake up, do you understand?”

He nods, and then as quickly as she entered, she’s gone again.

I need to figure something out, and fast. As I stare up at the ceiling, I hear incoherent grumbling from across the room. I crane my neck to see Gabriel stirring in his chair. He blinks his eyes open wearily, his expression filled with pain.

“Victoria,” he rasps. “How did they get to you?”

I glance up at the man at the door to find him picking his nail absently. He doesn’t seem to care that we’re conversing, so I decide to answer.

“I was making a delivery,” I reply.

His jaw grows rigid as his eyes darken with obvious frustration. “I gave you one simple fucking request,” he booms. “You just had to leave your apartment, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t know,” I snap back. “I thought it was a delivery for you. That’s what my boss told me anyway.”

His face softens a little as his eyes roam over me, taking mental stock of my condition. I can tell he wants to rescue me right now, but he can’t move an inch. Somewhere deep in the recesses of my depraved mind, I almost find it ironic.

“Are you okay?” he asks.

“Yes.” I nod.  “I think so. My head hurts, but I’m okay.”

He looks so sad and forlorn, I can’t help the intense guilt that floods over me.
This is all my fault.
Tears spring to my eyes, and I try my best to hold them back, to be strong.

“I’m so sorry Gabriel,” I whisper. “This is exactly what I didn’t want to happen.”

“No,” he replies firmly. “Don’t think like that, Victoria. This is not your fault. If it’s anyone’s fault, it’s mine.”

He casts his eyes to the floor and I try to make sense of what he’s not saying. But then he quirks his eyebrow as though an idea has just struck him. He glances at the man by the door and then strains in his chair to try to look out the window.
What is he doing?

“Victoria,” he says calmly, “I just want you to try to relax, okay.”

The man at the door lets out a sarcastic laugh, shaking his head at our conversation.

“Think back on the last couple days, and how good they were,” Gabriel continues, his tone odd. “Think of all the things we did together. You, me, and Alanna.”

He seems to be stressing the last part. He’s trying to tell me something, but I don’t know what. I think over the last couple of days, mentally taking stock of our time together. I hardly even saw him. The last time I saw him was when he was teaching me how to shoot…

The gun.
It was in my waistband before when I was taken from the alley.
Is it still there?
My body seems impossibly numb as I try to adjust on the floor without getting the attention of the man above me. I roll as flat as my bound wrists behind me will allow, wiggling my hips a little to press my butt to the floor. And then I feel it. The cold metal of the gun still inside my pants.
How did they not find it?
I shake my head because it doesn’t matter.
I need to figure something out and quick. Eleanore will be back soon. As I try to wiggle my wrists behind me, the ropes make a slight noise, and it earns me another swift kick to the ribs from the man at the door.

“Don’t fucking move!” he growls.

Gabriel rocks violently in his chair, his face red with anger as I try to fight the overwhelming pain.

“I’ll fucking kill you when this is over Allan,” he bellows.

The man just gives him a pathetic smile, as if he already knows that will never happen.

“I’m going to fuck your little girlfriend here,” Allan announces. “Long and hard, right in front of you. Then you’ll watch her die a slow and painful death before it’s your turn.”

A sob escapes from my chest. I don’t want to cry, and I don’t even care that he said he’s going to rape me. All I can think about is Gabriel. If I can’t get free, he’s going to die… because of me.

“Shhh baby,” Gabriel tries to soothe me from his chair. “It’s okay Victoria, I’m right here with you.”