Chapter 234 How's the Taste of Glass?
"Yes, we did grow up together, and I've spared you time and again. But since you seem intent on digging your own grave, who am I to deny you?" Gabriel's cold aura intensified as he locked eyes with her. "Now, tell me, aside from planting cameras in my wife’s office, drugging her and Terry, and arranging for her to be run over, what else have you done to her?"
"I haven't done anything!" Dakota denied vehemently, looking into Gabriel's eyes.
She had suspected that Gabriel would be behind her capture abroad. Thus, she was steadfast in her denial. Others had carried out all her schemes at her behest. She believed that as long as she kept denying it, Gabriel would have nothing on her.
"Gabriel, Teresa dug her own grave, engaging in foul deeds. Folks aching to see her perish are numerous. Why the hell should you—” A sharp gasp cut her short.
In the blink of an eye, Gabriel sprang from the couch with the speed of lightning, charging at Dakota. His leg flew up in a vicious kick.
Dakota's scream pierced the room as she was sent flying, crashing onto the floor several yards away.
Pain wracked her body, contorting her face. Ribs in her chest felt shattered, breath eluding her.
"Dakota, don’t think you've got the right to spout lies to my face." Gabriel's gaze bore down on her, his voice a heavy offer for one last chance at the truth.
"I... I didn't do anything..." Dakota gasped, her voice weak as she lay on the floor, "Gabriel, ever since we were kids, I... I've cared about you. You can't do this to me."
"Are you going to talk or not?" Gabriel's patience had evaporated, his tone ominously low and dangerous.
But Dakota was resolute, shaking her head stubbornly. "When there are so many out to get Teresa, why... why blame me?"
"Luke." When soft tactics failed, Gabriel resorted to harsher measures, merely nodding to his assistant.
"Got it," Luke acknowledged. He strode off only to return moments later with a box filled with shards of glass. Placing the box before Dakota, he slowly pulled on a pair of wire mesh gloves.
Dakota's eyes flickered between the box of glass and Luke's ominous silhouette, a ghostly pallor spreading over her face as if blood drained, leaving her looking ashen.
"Miss, since you won't talk, we're going to have to make you," Luke said, yanking Dakota up by her hair, forcing her to look up.
"What are you going to—?” she began.
But before she could finish, Luke, holding glass shards with gloves on, stuffed it into her mouth.
"Mmph... Gabri—" The glass shards silenced her muffled cries.
Her eyes widened in horror at the sharp sensation, and she began to struggle against her physical and psychological restraints desperately.
The bodyguards standing nearby sprang into action at the first sign of trouble, pinning her down with a vice-like grip. One of them clamped down on her jaw so hard she couldn’t move an inch.
Luke showed no mercy as he grabbed handfuls of broken glass pieces and ruthlessly shoved them into Dakota's mouth.
From his vantage point, Gabriel watched Dakota's eyes widen with sheer terror, almost bursting from their sockets. Her lips, now sliced by the glass pieces, began to bleed profusely. Despite this, the chilling menace in Gabriel's eyes only intensified.
Unable to scream, Dakota's mouth was stuffed full of glass, and she could only whimper through her nose. The excruciating pain like nothing she'd ever felt before caused tears to stream down her cheeks, mingling with the blood to paint her face in a grotesque picture of horror.
Yanking Dakota's hair mercilessly, Luke forced more and more shards into her mouth till she could take no more. Her lips were torn and bleeding. Finally, he let go.
As Luke released her, the other bodyguards did the same, and Dakota collapsed onto the ground like a discarded rag doll.
"If you don't start telling the truth, you're going to eat every piece of glass in this box," Gabriel warned coldly from his post on the couch, legs crossed, eying the half-dead Dakota.
Terrified beyond belief this time, Dakota didn't hesitate to nod vigorously through her sobs, blood from her lips spilling out uncontrollably.
Trembling, she raised a hand to touch her bruised and bloody lips, gingerly starting to remove the pieces of glass stuck there and in her mouth.
Every time she pulled a shard free, her body convulsed with a violent shudder.
Gabriel watched her shake like a leaf, the blood continuously staining her shirt, showing no urgency.
"Speak up. You have five minutes," he said after about seven or eight minutes, glancing at his watch, expecting Teresa to wake up soon.
"Gabriel, why... why are you doing this to me? I love you so much... why are you treating me this way?" Dakota managed to say, her swollen mouth making her words nearly indistinct after she'd removed all the glass from her mouth.
"Luke," Gabriel called out dispassionately upon seeing Dakota's continued resistance.
"Yes, sir."
"No!" Realizing Luke was about to feed her broken glass again, Dakota immediately shook her head, crying out loud, "I'll say, I'll say, I'll tell you everything..."
