Page 189 of Plunge into Obsession

I nodded with a sudden sense of urgency. I led her to Gabriel’s office, trying to remember where Gabriel said he had kept his safe.

He’d said the money was for me in case of an emergency. I considered this to be an emergency.

“What are we doing here?” Kaia asked, standing in the same spot I had left her in as if she was afraid of touching anything.

“I just need…” I crouched and found the safe under the desk. “Bingo.”

I heard her shuffle closer, and she watched as I put in the combination—my birthday.

A part of me hadn’t actually believed Gabriel used my birthday, but the safe opened easily enough, making my heart stutter.

I felt like I was doing something wrong as I swung the door open. I gazed at stacks upon stacks of hundred-dollar bills.

Behind me, Kaia gasped. “Are you sure we should be doing this? I just meant a couple of thousand from your personal account. Something I can pay back as soon as I can find a job there. But this…”

“Gabriel said this is for me.”

“Yeah, foryou—”

“And I choose to use it to help you.”

“Won’t he be mad?”

“Are you worried he’ll hurt me?” I asked. I didn’t know when it happened, but at this very moment, the thought that he would physically harm me was laughable. “Don’t. He won’t.”

I grabbed two stacks, which looked to be about ten grand each.

Twenty grand to help her get settled into her new life, and once things got better, once Gabriel wasn’t so angry with me anymore, perhaps I could convince him to let me visit her.

Somehow, the possibility of that happening didn’t seem so real.

I handed her the money and shot her a smile I didn’t feel.

“Did you drive here?”

She nodded. “And I packed everything already. I’m going straight to the airport.”

My heart stalled a bit. Was this it?

How long would it be before I would see her again?

Kaia pulled me into a tight hug.

I wrapped my arms around her and buried my face in her neck.

“You’re going to be fine. I don’t know why you’re running away from him, but you’re going to be fine.”

She had to be. I refused to lose another friend.

I felt her nodding.

“I’ll call soon.”

And with that, she pulled away and walked out of the house.

I stayed where I was, standing in the middle of Gabriel’s office for a while, not really seeing anything as my thoughts ran a million miles an hour.

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