Chapter8
Gabriella awoke and looked around her bedroom. Her eyes were wet and she reached her hand up to wipe away the tears. She wondered for a moment where they had come from, but a moment was all it took for her dream to come flooding back into her mind.
She had been with Antonio, in her bed at the cabin. They had made love all night and had fallen asleep in each other’s arms. When they awoke in her dream, they had been kissing and talking, when they heard Julian’s voice coming to them, and Julian yelled and fought with them, though they could not see him, until Antonio began to fade while still in her arms; like a misty vapor, he gradually disappeared, calling her name and reaching out for her, and try as she might to grasp for him and hold on to him, she could not close her hands around him, and he disappeared just as she woke up.
Her chest hurt and she tried to rub her headache away with her fingertips on her temples. After a few long moments she climbed out of bed and heard her phone ringing. Reaching for it, she saw that it was Lila, and she answered right away.
“There’s my girl!” Lila sang out in her sunshine voice. “How are you doing today, honey?”
Gabriella closed her eyes and held her hand to her mouth for a moment, trying to stem the tidal wave of emotion that threatened to overtake her. She took a deep ragged breath and Lila heard it.
“Oh no… honey what’s wrong?” she asked, her voice gentle with concern.
“It’s the Medici’s. Both of them. I’m a wreck,” she said quietly, swallowing a hard knot in her throat and taking another deep breath.
“What now?” Lila asked.
Gabriella walked into the kitchen holding the phone to her ear. She filled the kettle and pulled a mug and a box of tea out of the cupboard as she explained. “Well, I was doing a shoot for the April issue… not the cover, just contents, and Antonio showed up. I couldn’t believe he was there because the magazine is Julian’s; it’s something he owns on his own without his brother. Antonio has nothing to do with it, so I was really surprised when I looked up in the middle of the shoot and saw him standing there watching me. Girl… the way he watched me… like I’m the frosting on his finger!”
“Whew! That’s hot!” Lila said with a gasp.
“It was so hot. He just stood there watching me, and when it was over, he and I went back to my dressing room and things heated up so fast between us! You wouldn’t believe it. He was kissing me when Julian just barged right through the door and started screaming at us. He made Antonio leave and then he told me that if I ever see him again he’s going to ruin my career. He can do it, too.
He’s one of the big shots in California fashion because of the magazine, and he would only have to make a few phone calls to end my whole career. I wouldn’t be able to get a job modeling anywhere! I am so terrified that that’s what he’s going to do! I didn’t work all of this time, all of these years, making all of the sacrifices that I’ve made just so he can throw it all away in a minute because he’s angry that his brother and I want to be together! You should have seen how mad he was!” She closed her eyes and shook her head at the memory of it.
Lila was furious. “How can he do that? He can’t do that! You need to report him to somebody! You need to get him in trouble! There are laws about that!”
Gabriella shook her head, though she knew that Lila couldn’t see it. “I can’t do that! I mean, I could, and he would get into trouble, but you know he’d trash my career before he even went to court, and honey, he’s a billionaire… he’s going to hire some big name attorney to defend himself and then I’ll have to prove it, and right now it’s all ‘he said she said.’
There’s no way I can prove it. Hell, he could even lie and say that I was coming on to him to try to get the cover, and make me look like the one who is being underhanded. There’s no way to really get him for this one. He’s making the demands, but he hasn’t forced me to do anything; so far it’s all threats. I believe he’ll follow through with all of them, but they are just threats right now. Verbal ones; ones that I can’t prove.”
“This is sickening,” Lila grumbled angrily.
“It is. I know it is. That’s only part of it. He told me never to see Antonio again or it was all over for me, but I just can’t keep Antonio off my mind. I think about him all the time, and I want him so much. I dream about him, I miss him, I feel lonely without him. It’s crazy! I haven’t ever had an interest in a guy like this. Not ever!” Gabriella frowned thinking of how much he was affecting her. “It’s like he’s in every part of me and I just can’t get rid of him!”
Lila laughed a little, but it was an ironic laugh coupled with a moan, and with no hint of humor. “Oh no, baby girl. Oh no.”
“Oh no what?” Gabriella wondered aloud.
“You’ve gone and done it now,” Lila said knowingly.
“What have I done?” Gabriella asked in confusion.
“You went and fell in love with Antonio,” Lila answered quietly.
Gabriella froze for a moment, shock rocketing through her. She blinked a few times and lowered her brow. “I… no I haven’t. No… I haven’t. I’m not in love with him… Not at all. I’m… I like him a lot, and I wish we could be together, but I haven’t…” she paused as the concept sunk fully into her mind.
“Oh god,” She whispered, realizing the truth.
“You fell in love with him. I didn’t know if you were ever going to fall in love, because it hasn’t happened to you before,” Lila said with a comforting and gentle voice.
“I fell in love with him,” Gabriella admitted out loud. Lila was right. Gabriella had had plenty of boys and men after her, but she had never even looked at one long enough to like him much, let alone fall in love with him, because everything she ever focused on was her career.
Lila sighed deeply and her voice was soft and loving. “I wish I was there to hug you. You’re about to go through hell. If you want to come up here at any time and get away from those crazy Medici boys, you come right ahead. You always have a room here, and you know it.
I’m so sorry honey. You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, and that jackass Julian put you there. Right there in between choosing your career or his brother who you are in love with. Great. What a bastard.” She grumbled a bit more. “He better hope I never meet him,” she swore.
Gabriella closed her eyes and let her head fall back on her sofa. “I can’t believe this. No wonder I can’t get him out of my thoughts and my mind.” She sighed and groaned softly. “What am I going to do?” she asked in a thin uncertain voice.
“You’re going to focus on your career,” Lila answered sternly. “There’s nothing you can do about the boys, and both of them have caused you nothing but trouble. You work, and you keep looking for other modeling jobs, and you do nothing but your career, just like you’ve always done, and every time Antonio comes into your mind, you push him out and think about work. Every time. Focus on your job, honey. That’s all you can do, thanks to Julian.”
She knew that her best friend was right. “There’s no other way out of this for me,” she agreed. “If I focus on the job, the only thing I have to worry about is when the next time Julian will come onto me is… if he does it again, and I have a bad feeling that he will. He’s banged up from his wreck right now, or I think he would have tried again already.”
Lila grew angry again. “If he does anything, you better report him, do you hear me? He can’t get away with that. Not at all. If he comes after you like that, you call the authorities. He has no right to do that to you, or treat you that way. Do you hear me? You turn his nasty ass in!”
Gabriella smiled. She loved that she had such a good strong woman in her corner. “Yes ma’am. I’ll definitely turn him in if he tries anything with me. I promise.”
“Even if you think it will cost you your career. You do it,” Lila demanded.
“I know. I promise,” Gabriella agreed. “Hopefully he will just let it go. He knows I don’t want him, and now he knows that I want his brother, so maybe he’ll back off. Here’s hoping,” she said with a shallow laugh. She didn’t believe for a moment that he would let it go, but she could hope.
Her mind turned to something else that had been worrying her, and she brought it up. “Lila, there’s something else that I’m really worried about.”
“What’s that honey?” Lila asked curiously.
“Well, my contract with the magazine is up in March. I have to renew it with the company. I want to renew it, and I want to keep my job there, but I don’t know if Julian will let me. I’m so worried about that.” Gabriella’s voice was little more than a whisper.
“Have you ever had to see him before to renew it? Isn’t that something that you do with Kathy?” Lila asked hopefully.
“Yeah, Kathy usually does take care of that, but with Julian coming after me like has, I don’t know if he will wind up getting involved in it. I keep hoping that he has no idea it’s coming up and that it’ll just be paperwork for Kathy and he won’t even know about it, but I guess I’ll just have to wait and see.” Gabriella sighed heavily.
“You are one hot mess after another. My god, girl,” Lila said and Gabriella could just see her shaking her head. “Well, just take it one day at a time; that’s all you can really do anyway, right? You just keep going in to work every day, and when the contract comes up, just hope that Kathy is the one handing it to you to sign. You better keep me posted on all of this, and really honey, if you need a break, you come up here. I’m always here for you.”
“Thank you, Lila. I love you.” Gabriella smiled for the first time that morning. They said goodbye and she got ready for work with Lila’s words in her mind. Take one day at a time. Just keep going. That was her plan, and though it wasn’t much, it was all she had.
One day at a time passed into the next, and they began to slip by slowly. Soon a week had passed, and Gabriella hadn’t heard from Julian at all, which was an enormous relief to her, and she tried as best she could to focus on her work, and to not think of Antonio at all, but it was one of the hardest things she had ever done, and it hurt like hell.
Keeping him from her thoughts during the day was difficult, but keeping him from her dreams every night was nearly impossible. She tried to think of anything but him every night as she went to bed, but every night when her eyes were closed, he was there in her dreams, talking to her, holding her hand, dancing with her, kissing her, making love with her… so many different dreams.
Every morning when she woke up, she was sad to find that none of them were true. It was all a painful façade, but she couldn’t risk blowing her career, so she let the dreams go every morning, and she focused on work, and so the days passed by, one by one, like a ticking clock.
Another week was nearly gone when she was out shopping one day and heard her phone ringing. She pulled it from her bag and saw that it was Antonio. She watched his face light up the screen, and she saw his call ringing over and over, and she wanted more than anything to answer it, but she held herself back with every ounce of determination and strength in her. He was off limits, and she knew it.
If it was important, he could leave a message and she would check that, but she couldn’t bear to answer the phone and hear his voice on the other end of it. She knew she wouldn’t be able to tell him no if he wanted to see her, and she couldn’t let herself down that way.
The ringing stopped after what seemed like an eternity, and she waited to see if he left a voicemail. After a few long moments she saw that there wasn’t one. He had just wanted to talk with her, and that was something she couldn’t afford to do.
Her fingers trembling, she slid the phone back into her bag and reached her hand up to wipe tears away from her face. She wished she could have answered it. She wished desperately that she could have heard his voice, that she could have asked him to see her, to spend time with her, to tell him that she loved him, but that was a one way road that she could never go down.
She turned her thoughts toward Lila and Sophie, and memories of growing up with them. Sweet thoughts of her best friend, and her scandalous trouble causing sister made her smile, and slowly, with great effort and enormous pain, she pushed Antonio out of her mind until the only thoughts there were warm and precious memories with her friends.
Antonio set his phone down on his desk, rubbing his hand over his eyes, not at all sure why he had tried to call her. He knew that he shouldn’t. He knew that he had no business whatsoever trying to contact her, but he couldn’t get her out of his thoughts or his heart. She had lodged herself there so deeply that there was no getting rid of her. There was no way to escape thinking about her, and it was all he could do to keep his distance.
He’d begun to wonder if maybe they couldn’t just talk on the phone. Julian would never know it. He hoped that maybe he could just hear her voice, just listen to her talk about how things were going, and that would be enough. That would be something at least, and at that point for him, anything was better than nothing at all, even if it was just her voice.
He ached for her, missing her so much, dreaming about her when he was asleep, and fantasizing about her when he was awake. There was no way for him to get away from thoughts of her, and he didn’t want to get away from thoughts of her, for that was where he was truly happy. It felt to him as if nothing else in his life gave him the deep and complete happiness that she did, and he longed for it.
Antonio and Julian had not spent a moment together or said one word to each other since Julian had stormed out of the house in his rage. The tension in their home had not lessened at all, and Antonio knew that it was just going to get worse when word of the changes in control at Medici Corp were finally announced to his brother.
True to his promise to Marcus, he had not uttered a single word about what was happening at the company, and if he was honest with himself, that felt more like a betrayal of their brotherhood to him than anything that had happened with Gabriella. He prayed that his brother would not feel that it was, because his reaction to what had happened with Gabriella would be nowhere near what his reaction to the changes at the company would be when he finally found out, and Antonio was not looking forward to that at all.
He looked at his phone, promising himself that he wouldn’t call Gabriella again. He had thought that he’d give it one chance. One call. If she answered, he would talk with her, but if she didn’t, he would let her go. She hadn’t answered. He hadn’t left a message. He told himself it was the only time that he would do it.
It wasn’t the only time he did it.
Each day he woke from dreams of her, and he would swear that he wouldn’t try to call her, and each day at some point he would cave and pick up his phone and dial her number, hoping that she would answer it just so he could hear her voice and ask her how she was. Each time he called, it would ring endlessly, and he would finally end the call, knowing she wasn’t going to answer it.
After two weeks of trying to call her, he gave up. He guessed that she was listening to what Julian had told her, and that she had given him up for her career.
He understood. He knew how much dedication, time, and work had gone into her modeling career, and he knew he had no business asking her or expecting her to give it up for him. He couldn’t be that selfish. He wanted to support her in any way that he could, and he realized that the only way he could fully support her at that point was to leave her alone so that she could do what she wanted so much to do.
She had spoken to him of her dreams and her goals and he wanted her to reach them. He wanted to see her become the success that she was trying so hard to become. He knew that he had to let her go completely.
Gabriella had begun turning the ringer off on her phone after the third day that Antonio called her. She couldn’t stand not answering it, knowing he was so close, knowing he was just on the other end of the phone and if she swiped her finger across the screen she could hear his voice and talk to him. She knew that if he kept calling her every day, she was going to cave.
She was going to fall to her desires, and the phone call would become a visit, and the visit would become a passionate encounter where she would lose herself in his arms, and then they would be running the risk of being found out. She thought through to time past, wondering where it would all end.
They couldn’t have a relationship. They couldn’t do anything more than have an affair and a secret one at that, and that wasn’t worth her risking her entire career over. She hated to ignore him, hated to let the calls go, but she had to, and one by one, call after call, she turned away from her phone, and then one day there was no call, and her heart ached horribly, and she knew that he had given up and finally let her go.
The call that she got that day was one that she had been dreading, and when she saw it, she knew she had to answer it.
“Hello Julian,” she said quietly, dismay filling every part of her.
“Well, look who it is,” he drawled coolly. “How’s my girl doing? It’s been a couple of weeks since I talked to you.”
“I’m not your girl, Julian,” she stated flatly.
“Whatever.” He brushed her comment aside like a wisp of smoke. “Listen, Gabriella, there’s some business that you and I need to look into. Your contract is coming up and you and I need to discuss it.”
She closed her eyes and her heart filled with dread. She knew it was coming and she prayed that it would pass by without him ever being aware of it, but apparently he was keeping a closer eye on her than she knew. He never had anything to do with the model’s contracts. That was for Kathy to handle, but being the owner of the company, he did have the right to take over the renewal of one if he so chose, and he was obviously choosing to.
“Oh… that’s right. It is coming up, isn’t it?” she tried to sound like it hadn’t been on the forefront of her mind for the last month.
“That’s funny, Gabriella. Don’t act like you didn’t know.” He sounded like he had a smile on his face, but his tone was not funny at all. “I will send a car for you tomorrow afternoon. You have the time off work already. I told Kathy that I would be handling this, so work a half day in the morning and then get in the car I send, and come to me. We’ll talk about your renewal options,” he said with a voice as cold as steel.
Her heart was racing in her chest and adrenaline was flying through her. She tried to calm herself so that she wouldn’t be sick. “Okay. I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said quietly. She hung up the phone and closed her eyes, praying that it would go well and that she would get the renewal with no trouble.
She had given up all hope of getting the April cover, and no one had talked about who might be on it, but she was certain that it wouldn’t be her, since Julian hadn’t gotten what he wanted out of her. Her only hope now was to have her contract renewed. She had no backup plan for modeling, and she didn’t want to change the job she had come to love unless it was to move up to the international model status that she was trying so hard for.
The next day, Gabriella dressed herself professionally, wearing a smoky gray business suit of pants and a jacket with a white blouse buttoned up beneath it. She wanted to give the visual impression of business, so that it might deter Julian if he had any ideas about getting romantic with her.
Her nerves were a tangle from the moment she woke up, and for the first time in days, she woke up not thinking of Antonio, but thinking of Julian instead, and not one of her thoughts was nice or encouraging. She prayed all morning that it would go well, that she would be successful in her renewal, and that everything she wanted, everything that she had worked so hard for, would come to her.
Her focus at the studio that day was skewed with her distraction, and though no one said anything, she felt bad when James had to call her name a few times to get her attention. She was as tense as a fiddle string the entire morning until a man dressed in a black chauffeur’s suit came in and asked for her.
Then something in her broke and she tried to let the tension go, lifting her chin, readying herself for the meeting to come. She was going to be brave. She was going to be strong. She was going to be successful no matter what. She was not going to be bullied by Julian Medici. She was going to get her contract renewed.
Feeling some strength course through her, she followed the chauffeur out of the studio and let him put her into the back of the car that was waiting outside for her. Twenty minutes later, the car pulled up to one of the most expensive hotels in all of Los Angeles, nestled in Beverly Hills. She got out of the car and the chauffeur handed her an envelope.
She thanked him and walked inside the hotel, pausing in a quiet corner of the luxurious lobby to open the envelope. There was a room number on it. She bit her lip and furrowed her brow, wondering what Julian was up to. Taking a deep breath and squaring her shoulders, she walked to the elevators and pressed the button for his floor.
When the elevator doors opened, she stepped out of them, looking around her as she got her bearings. Her heart thumped hard in her chest and she tried to steady her rapid breathing, hoping against hope that it was going to be the best possible scenario for her, and dreading that the worst was possible, no matter what she hoped.
She stopped before his door and lifted her chin again, raising a trembling hand to knock on it. A few moments later he opened it and she looked into his eyes and fear stole its icy fingers around her heart. The hungry look in his eyes was a look that she had seen there many times, and it was one that she had grown to hate.
“Come in my dear. I’ve already been waiting for you,” he said with a sultry drawl. She walked in and was astounded by the grandness of the room they were in. It was a suite with a living room area in which they were both standing, and beyond that there were double doors that opened into a massive bedroom. She had never seen a hotel room, or any room for that matter, as finely appointed and decorated as the one she was standing in.
He reached behind her and placed his hand on the small of her back, guiding her into the living room. She saw a bucket of champagne near the fireplace where a roaring fire was dancing and giving off a fair amount of heat.
He let his eyes drift slowly over her body, taking in her lines and curves, knowing that not too long from that moment, his hands and his tongue were going to be moving over her body and she was going to be wrapped around him, giving him exactly what he wanted from her. Imagining it filled him with heated desire and his groin tightened as they stopped beside a table near the fireplace.
Julian didn’t say anything at first, but instead walked over to the champagne bucket, and lifted the bottle out of the ice. The cork was popped and it sounded to her like the gun shot death knell of her future. She tried to steady her breathing and slow her heart down as much as she could.
He poured two glasses of golden, bubbly champagne and turned toward her, walking over with a sly grin on his face and a wicked twinkle in his dark brown eyes. He handed one glass to her and then lifted his in a toast.
“To my beautiful Gabriella, and your wonderful modeling future with me.” He touched the rim of her glass with his and then tipped his back, swallowing most of it in one drink.
She didn’t drink hers at first and he noticed. His gaze darkened some and he looked at her expectantly. “You don’t care for champagne?” he asked casually, though his eyes were anything but casual.
She took a breath. “I’m not really in the mood for it today,” she answered, trying to be clear about what she felt.
He narrowed his eyes. “Humor me. Drink it,” he said shortly, watching her like a hawk. He loved the feeling of power that he had over her. It was like an aphrodisiac to him, warming his groin and making his desire build.
Sighing, she frowned slightly and tipped her glass back, taking a sip of it.
“More…” he drawled as he began to smile.
She hated the control that he was exacting on her. She tipped it further back and he smiled wider. “Finish it for me,” he said smoothly, grinning. She obliged him and emptied the glass.
“Good girl,” he said quietly, looking satisfied with her acquiescence. He turned and reached for the bottle again, and lifted it to her glass.
“I don’t really want more,” she said in a quiet voice.
He looked at her intently. “I want you to have more,” he said firmly. She looked away from him but she didn’t miss the grin that slid back over his face as he filled her glass. When he pulled the bottle from the flute, he spoke in a velvety tone.
“Drink it,” he said softly. “All of it. Right now.” He watched her as she hesitated and he gave her a warning look. Sighing again, she lifted the glass to her lips and slowly raised the bottom of the flute as the bubbles coursed over her tongue and down her throat, warming her belly. When the glass was emptied, she turned and set it on the table near her.
“That’s enough,” she told him adamantly. “We aren’t here to drink.”
He paused a moment and then laughed lightly. “You’re right, my feisty girl, we are most certainly not here to drink, but if I want you to have more, you will.” He felt himself growing hard for her, and he was anxious to feel himself inside of her body finally. The thought of it made him ache for her.
He looked at her sharply then and set his glass down, looking entirely pleased with himself. “Have you ever been in a hotel room like this before?” he asked in a light tone.
She hesitated a moment and then shook her head. “No,” she answered simply.
He raised one eyebrow and smiled. “I’m not surprised. Come with me, and I’ll give you the grand tour,” he said, reaching for her back and sliding his hand low around her hips. He walked with her through the living room and took her into the bedroom where he passed the bed and led her into the bathroom.
It was enormous, and she was surprised to see that the bathtub was filled completely full with steaming water and miles of bubbles. She frowned and looked up at him in confusion, wondering why there was a bath ready for someone just then.
He smiled at her and rubbed his fingers over her back gently. “Do you like it?” he asked in her ear with his velvety voice. She wondered how much he had had to drink before she got to the hotel.
“It’s a lovely room,” she said without showing any emotion at all. She turned to walk out of it and he followed her, his hand still on her back. She was walking through the bedroom, hoping not to stop and really look at it, though it was a magnificent room, when his hand closed on her arm and he stopped her in her tracks.
“Wait a moment now, you don’t want to miss this room,” he said in a low voice, leaning over her shoulder as he closed his other hand around her and turned her to him. Her blood was racing through her, saturated with adrenaline as she looked up into his eyes.
“I can see it just fine. I don’t think that we need to be in here,” she told him with more strength than she was feeling.
He chuckled slightly and shook his head a little at her. “Oh no, baby, this is exactly where we need to be. You see, you’re here to renew your contract, and if you want to do that, you’re going to have some work ahead of you convincing me to sign it for you. You see, I’m done waiting for you. This is it. Now, I thought I’d be a gentleman and give you your choice.
I have that fire going in the other room, and you can start in there with me. I have the bathtub all filled with hot water and bubbles if you would rather go bathe me first,” he said, rubbing his thumbs over her arms as he held her close to him, “or we have this excellent bed here.” He tipped his head to the massive bed beside them.
“And you can start there with me, but you will be giving me what I have wanted for so long with you, or you will not be renewing your contract. Take your pick, baby, do you want the fireplace, the bathtub, or the bed?”
Julian felt that his thoughtful and romantic offerings were going to make it much more difficult for her to say no to him, to resist him, and that no matter which she chose to start with, once she felt him inside of her, screwing her like the lustful Italian that he was, she was going to be so turned on and aroused that he would get to do all three of his ideas with her, and she would be begging him for more after each one.
She clenched her jaw. “We are not doing any of those things, Julian, I am here to sign my contract and that is all. That’s it. There isn’t going to be anything between us but a business relationship, and that is it.
I’m not sleeping with you now. I’m not sleeping with you ever. You sign my contract, or you don’t, but there will be no sex.” Resentment and anger had begun to boil up in her, and it had given her the boost of confidence that she needed to tell him exactly what she thought and how she felt. She wasn’t going to let him try to force her to have sex with him just to get her contract renewed. If he didn’t renew it, she would figure something out, but she was adamant that she was not going to cave in to his lascivious demands.
His eyes narrowed and his hands tightened around her arms. “Be careful, Gabriella, you might just cost yourself much more than your contract. You might very well be costing yourself your job and your career. I’ve already warned you what would happen if you didn’t give me what I want.
I’ve waited much too long for this. You should have been in my bed a long time ago and long gone by now, but you kept putting it off, and now the time has come. You will give me what I want, and you will do it right now, or you will find yourself without a contract, without a job, and without a hope of a career in the modeling field. Do you understand me?”
He was growing irritated that she was still playing her little morality game, and his desire for her had grown even more intense as she stood there before him denying him. He was as hard as a granite rock, throbbing with need, and she was going to give him the satisfaction that he so desperately craved.
Gabriella’s face contorted in anger and she tried to pull her arms from his grip. “No! Julian, I said I’m not going to sleep with you and I’m not! That’s it! Take everything away from me if you have to, but you are never getting me into your bed!”
Julian saw the defiance and fierce anger in her eyes and he knew she meant what she said. He was never going to have her, and his leverage of her work and her career was not enough to tip the scale and make her say yes to him. Furious with her choice, he yanked her suddenly toward him, planting his mouth on hers and kissing her hard as he took his hands off of her arms and curved them around her face, holding her to him.
Stunned into stillness for a moment, Gabrielle found herself frozen as his mouth moved over hers and he tried to pry her lips open. Rage flooded through her and she shoved herself away, breaking their connection, leaving them both breathless.
“You go to hell,” she growled at him. She turned on her heel and stalked into the living room and he followed close behind her, calling after her.
“Gabriella, do you see this? Do you know what this is?” he snapped, standing beside the table and picking up a thick stack of papers.
She turned and looked at him. She knew what it was the moment he held it up before her. Her heart sank like a stone in the ocean, falling forever before it left her body through her feet.
“Look at your face.” He laughed coldly. “You do know what this is. This is your contract, and this is the cover of the April issue. I chose you. I have gorgeous shots of you ready for it. Kathy hasn’t put anyone on it because I have her waiting to hear from me on the final decision. This is it. This is your job, your career, and the April cover, right here in my hands. You get your ass over here and take your clothes off or this is going in the fire right now.” He took a few steps and was standing directly beside the fireplace.
She stood there in silence for what felt like forever. All of the years that she had worked so hard building her dream flashed before her eyes. All of the auditions, the photography sessions, the beauty procedures and products and healthy lifestyle that she had clung to in order to make herself the best that she could be.
All of the exercising, the eating right, the studying of fashion, design, modeling, and acting. The classes. The lines. The hopes and fears. The successes and failures. The first time she saw herself in print. The first time she walked down a runway. All of it became an avalanche in her mind and she knew that she was looking at the end of it, if she chose not to go have sex with the bastard before her who was going to end her career.
Possibilities slipped through her mind. She could sleep with him. She could give him what he wanted. She could keep her career and her job and she could have the cover of the magazine. At what cost? She wondered. At what profound cost could I keep those things I had worked almost all of her life for?
She considered that it would probably be just this one time. It would probably be just this one day that she would have to give in to what he wanted, and then she wouldn’t lose everything. She seriously considered it. What was one day in the face of what she had sacrificed almost her whole life for?
Then she wondered if once would be enough for him. If one day would truly satiate his lust for her. She wondered what would happen if he wanted her over and over again, and if he made her come to him again and again any time he wanted, knowing that all he had to do was threaten her if she didn’t. She would be trapped as his sex slave anytime he wanted her, and she knew by his vindictiveness that he might never get his fill of her.
She thought of Antonio and her heart nearly broke. She loved him with everything in her, and if she gave in to his brother’s demands in order to save her career, she might well be hurting him just as much as she was hurting herself. She couldn’t bear the thought of it, and more than all of those thoughts, she couldn’t bear to let herself down. She would be betraying her own deepest morals and values, and she would be letting go of the things that truly mattered most to her; her integrity and her self-worth, and no man was worth losing that.
There was only one answer that she could give him, and nothing he could threaten her with would change it. She lifted her chin and narrowed her eyes at him. “Never,” she answered coldly, steeling herself. She knew the worst was coming.
He glared furiously at her and with a flick of his hand, threw her contract into the fireplace. Her heart stopped in her chest as she watched the edges of it catch flame, and the paper turned dark brown and then black as the edges curled and smoke rose from it. It was done.
She looked up at him and he shook his head. “Get your things out of the studio. You’re done.”
Gabriella didn’t say a word. She couldn’t speak. She turned her back to him and walked out of the room, leaving him behind her as she closed the door on everything she had worked most of her life for.
Tears streamed down her face as she went to the elevator and pressed the button. She tried as hard as she could to hold it all in. The last thing she wanted was to leave the hotel sobbing. Holding her hand to her mouth, she stepped into the elevator and rode it to the ground floor, unsure of anything in her future. All of it had just been wiped away.
The elevator doors opened and she hurried through the lobby to the front door. She had never been so grateful to see a waiting cab in all of her life, and within moments she was in the backseat, giving the address of the studio to the driver.
The city passed by her outside of her window, and somehow it looked completely different to her. It was for the first time in her life, terrifying and wild; there was no rhyme or reason to it, and it looked like the concrete jungle that people said it was. She was blinded by her tears which would not be held back, and when she reached the studio, she could barely see to pay the cab driver before stepping from his taxi and heading into the building.
She stood stock still as she opened the door to her dressing room. The last time she would ever open that door. She looked around at everything in the small space. Clothes hanging on a rack. Clippings from her published work hanging on the wall. Her makeup and hair styling tools set about on her vanity. Dried roses from Lila in a vase on a shelf. So many trinkets and tidbits that she had collected over her time there. Photographs of her and her friends that worked there.
She felt a sob erupt from her chest and she could not hold it back. It came at her like a force, and she barely made it to the chair in front of her vanity before she lost all of her self-control and wept bitterly, burying her face into her arms.
A long while later, she finally lifted her head and stared at her swollen eyes and lips in the mirror. It was done. It was all done. She wiped her hands over her face, trying to dry it and failing. Slowly she turned and surveyed the room again. Standing carefully, she walked to the far corner of the room and lifted up a box that she was going to use to mail several things to Lila in. She began to fill it with her possessions: the leftover memories of the time she had spent there, living, working, dreaming, hoping for the best that was just somehow a little out of reach.
Little by little she cleared the room, setting each piece of memorabilia in the box, or throwing it away sadly, not wanting to hold on to anything that would hurt her from her time there. After what felt like forever, the room was empty and the box was sitting in the doorway waiting to be carried to her car.
She stood in the doorway beside the box and looked around the room one long last lonely time. It seemed like a hollow shell with all of the important things missing—all of the things that gave it life. It was nothing more than a hollow box staring back at her—a soulless void.
Wiping at her tears once again, she sniffed and reached her finger to the light switch, flicking it downward and turning the light off. The room was instantly dark, and it felt much colder to her than it ever had. She reached for the door handle and pulled the door closed behind her. When she heard the click of the doorknob, she felt that it was completely done.
She bent over to pick up her box and lifted it to her chest, holding it against her, carrying her memories and her most precious moments with her as she made her way out of the back of the building. It was late; there was no one there except the guard who wasn’t anywhere around.
She walked to her car and set the box carefully in the trunk, looking up at the building one last time. She was leaving a place that she had called home for years, and it was one of the most heartbreaking things she had ever done.
Gabriella opened her car door and climbed in, not sure what to do or where to go. She rested her arms on the steering wheel of her car, burying her face in them one more time as tears streamed down her cheeks. After another short cry, she wiped at her face again and sat back in her seat.
Only one thought came to her, and she reached for her bag, searching for her phone like it was a lifesaver in the sea of oblivion. Pulling it out, she touched the screen a few times and the phone sprang to life and the sound of a ringing tone could be heard. It was the only thing to be heard in the car, other than Gabriella’s gasping breaths.
“Hi honey!” Lila’s sunshine voice came through the line crystal clear. “What are you doing today?”
Gabriella closed her eyes and bit her lip. She was going to have to admit defeat to her best friend. She had fought and she had lost. It was hard to say out loud.
“I just packed up my dressing room. It’s over. It’s all over.” She breathed haltingly, hating the sound of the words in her ears and the feel of them in her mouth.
Lila gasped. “No… oh my god, honey I am so sorry. How can I help you? What can I do?” she asked desperately.
“Can I come stay with you for a little bit? I just need a break. I don’t want to be in Los Angeles right now.” Gabriella’s voice wasn’t much more than a whisper overflowing with emotion.
“Sure, of course, honey, you come on home. You know there’s always a place for you here. You go pack a bag and get on the road. I’ll get dinner on for you, and don’t worry about how late you get here. I’ll be up waiting for you. It’s no trouble at all, you know that. You get packed and come home. I’m here, honey,” Lila told her gently.
Gabriella felt the dim light of relief hug her broken heart. “Thank you so much,” she managed to say through her tear strained emotions. “I love you. I’m on my way.” She ended the call and slipped her phone back into her purse, buckled her seat belt, and tried to dry her eyes again.
Reaching for the gearshift, she put the car into drive, and pulled away from the building, forcing herself to look forward at the road ahead, and not once looking back into her rearview mirror as the building and her life up to that moment grew smaller in the distance behind her.