Page 31 of Cruel Master

I stare down at it in disbelief before I yank my hand from him and take the ring off. Gabriel’s nostrils flare as I fling it at him. “Fuck you, Gabriel Blake!”

Gabriel's jaw is so hard I'm surprised it doesn't shatter. He doesn't say a word as I run from the room and back up the stairs. I suppose I should have run for the front door, but fuck it. What’s the point? There’s no escaping him, but I’ll be damned if I’ll go complacently into a forced marriage.

I barely reach the top of the stairs before I feel Gabriel’s arms encircle me from behind.

“Let me go!” I scream.

I feel a sharp prick on the side of my neck before my vision blurs and fades.

ChapterTwenty

I wake up slowly,my head pounding. I raise my hand up to my forehead as I grimace, and then I sit up swiftly when memory floods me. I touch the back of my neck as realization dawns on me.

Gabriel drugged me.

I look down and see that I'm still clothed. But of course I am. Why would he have to drug me to have sex with me? He's been fucking me every night now anyway.

So then what…

I suddenly become aware of an ache on my finger. I gasp when I look down and see a bandage wrapped around my ring finger.

I frown as I pull at it, my mouth falling open when I get the wrap off my finger.

“What the fuck?” I breathe out as I see the tattoo going around my ring finger.

“That motherfucker!” I curse as I blink to make sure I’m not hallucinating things.

No, the psychopath really drugged me and tattooed a wedding ring onto my finger.

“It’s more binding than a legal marriage,” Gabriel's cool voice speaks from the corner.

I look up at him and shake my head in disbelief as I hold up my hand. “What the fuck is this?” I’m so livid my entire body is shaking with rage.

“Exactly what it looks like,” he says calmly as if I just asked him about the weather. “It’s a wedding band I don't ever have to worry about you taking off.”

“Are you insane?” I gape at him.

He doesn't dignify my question with a response—at first. Instead, he closes the distance between us before he grabs my chin roughly. His blue eyes blaze down into mine as he speaks passionately, “You might not ever love me, but you’re mine, Nora. And now you'll never forget that.”

He stares at me for a long moment before he releases my chin roughly and stalks out of the room, slamming the door behind him.

All I can do is gape after him, more confused than ever. Gabriel fucking Blake has my emotions all in a spin. He has from the moment he first kidnapped me, and I don’t like it one fucking bit.

I shake my head as I contemplate what Gabriel has just done. He tattooed a wedding band on me after forcing me to marry him instead of asking me like a normal person. I let out an incredulous laugh.

Why would I think he would do anything normally, though? Nothing about Gabriel has ever been normal. Instead of asking me out on a normal date like a normal person, he decided he wanted me, so he kidnapped me. And what is so crazy is he doesn’t even realize if he’d approached me like a normal person and asked me out, I probably would have said yes. The man has women’s panties catching on fire everywhere he goes, so I still don’t understand why he felt like he had to kidnap me to have me.

This is his way of telling me he's going to keep me forever and never let me go. He can't put a normal wedding band on my finger since I stupidly flung it off, so he made sure I could never take it off again.

I should have known he’ll always win. I can’t fight him, so why try?

As I sit there contemplating the enigma that is Gabriel, I think I'm starting to make more sense of him. Gabriel wasn't lying when he said that he wanted everything from me. When he said everything, he meant everything.

That's why he got so mad. Because he does want my love whether he'll admit it or not. And this is his way of trying to force it.

But he’s ruined everything with his fucked-up way of doing things. I can never allow myself to love him—regardless of how much my body may respond to him.

I know now that I have to get away. I'm no longer afraid he's going to hurt Gia. I'm starting to realize that was just another one of his psychological games.

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