Chapter 9 - The Line in the Sand
They left the gala early.
The ride back to the Rittenhouse Square estate was spent in absolute, suffocating silence. The moment the bulletproof Mercedes pulled into the private garage, Gabriel flung his door open and marched into the mansion, loosening his tie with angry, jerky movements.
Sadie followed him into the grand foyer, her patience finally snapping.
"What was that back there?!" she demanded, throwing her evening clutch onto the marble table. "Why did you react like that to Vance? You act like I'm some kind of porcelain doll that's going to shatter if someone looks at me wrong!"
Gabriel spun around, his gray eyes blazing with a fury that had nothing to do with Julian Vance and everything to do with fear.
"Because you don't understand the target you've painted on your back!" Gabriel shouted, his voice echoing off the high ceilings. "Vance recognized the description of the girl from the alley! He knows someone helped me escape that night, and he’s been hunting for her!"
Sadie stopped dead in her tracks. Her breath caught in her throat. "He... he knows?"
"He suspects," Gabriel corrected, closing the distance between them until he towered over her, his chest heaving. "Which means every second you stay in this city, every second you're outside these gates, you are in mortal danger. That’s why I brought you here. That’s why I'm keeping you locked away!"
"I am not your prisoner, Gabriel!" Sadie yelled back, hot tears of frustration pricking her eyes. "You don't get to buy me, cage me, and call it protection!"
Gabriel stopped. The anger draining out of him as quickly as it had flared, leaving behind something raw, exposed, and infinitely more terrifying.
He reached out, his hands framing her face, his thumbs gently wiping away a tear that had escaped down her cheek.
"I didn't buy you, Sadie," he whispered, his voice cracking with an emotion she had never heard from him before. "I brought you here because the moment I opened my eyes in that alley and saw you looking down at me... I knew I was never letting you go. But I was terrified that if I kept you close, my enemies would tear you apart."
Sadie’s heart hammered against her ribs. The anger melted away, replaced by an overwhelming, terrifying warmth.
May you like
"Gabriel..." she breathed.
He didn't let her finish. He pulled her flush against his chest and kissed her—not with the desperate, bloody urgency of the alleyway, but with a deep, consuming hunger that stole the very air from her lungs. Sadie wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him closer, surrendering completely to the man who had terrified and saved her all at once.
