Chapter 25

Mia stretched her body to grab hold of a bag from the back seat of her car. It contained most of Amiyah’s things and she opted to remove her belongings in the morning. Her only concern was seeing her daughter. She gazed forebodingly at the two story house in her window; the lights were on in every single room, the front porch luminously attracting her with a false sense of happiness.
It had been hard to leave Amber and Nate. She couldn’t shake the look of disappointment on their faces when she told them she was packing up her stuff. They’d begged her to take a few more days, but how could she leave her daughter in this man’s hands for that long? Nate had run out to her car and pleaded with her a last time before she drove off.

Now that she was parked in the driveway she felt tempted to sleep in her car. Amber pushed open her car door and walked up to the front door. She’d left her copy of the house keys in her old room…well, not so old now. She pressed the door bell and waited, dreading the self-satisfied look she would see on Gabriel’s face.
Mia turned away from the door and set her gaze across the street, the Rolands’ family sat in their front porch watching their kids running around with their little dog. They were always a very affectionate couple, the husband always finding some reason to hold onto his wife in public. Lea Rolands glanced over and noticed Mia, she sent an enthusiastic wave her way. Mia smiled and returned the gesture. She was faintly aware of the door unlocking behind her, Lea immediately exchanged a nervous look with her husband, averting her attention away from Mia.
Mia’s forehead creased, she wouldn’t think too much of it. Perhaps, Gabriel had offended them too. It wasn’t shocking; most of their neighbours couldn’t stand him.

“Back from your vacation, already?”
Mia’s blood ran cold; she spun around at the very feminine voice. The last time she checked, Gabriel sounded very different.

“What are you doing here?” The urge to use curse words marrying with the urge to drag Taylor out and into the street. Taylor was clad in an oversized block coloured shirt, brown to be exact. The fabric open at her chest, exposing her sternum and it ended six inches above her knee.

“Thought you finally got rid of me with your lies, huh?” Taylor leaned casually against the door frame. She eyed Mia from head to foot, a mocking smile altering her expression.
Mia itched with discomfort. She hated being scrutinised. That hate for scrutiny tripling when it was being done by her former best friend and husband’s mistress.

“Lies?” Mia echoed disinterestedly, their few words back and forth already fading from her mind. She tip-toed to look inside the house, she had no intention to saying anything more to Taylor. *Where the hell was her daughter?*

“Well?” Taylor drew Mia’s attention to her. She needed Mia to know that her antics weren’t going to work. The love she shared with Gabriel was too strong to be broken up by her lies.

“I think you are more foolish than you look.” Mia responded angrily. She could feel the curious stares from the neighbours around them. She didn’t expect Gabriel to treat her any better but he’d found a new low.

“Excuse me?” Taylor leaned off the door frame, her arms crossed across her chest, her eyes staring daggers into Mia.

“Is he letting me in or not?” Mia raised her voice, hoping it carried through the house loud enough for Gabriel to hear it from whichever corner he was stuffed away in.

*Wouldn’t that be fun? To stuff him into a corner, never to be found.* Her sub-conscious shrieked humorously.

“Give us a few minutes, Taylor.” He’d appeared out of thin air like some demon. Surprise, surprise, he was shirtless. Mia didn’t have to think too hard about the whereabouts of said shirt. She burned with embarrassment.
Taylor pouted prettily at him. Mia gagged and rolled her eyes as Taylor scurried off further into the house.

“Are you going to stay outside all night?” He flashed her a smile that reminded her of a hyena’s feral smile. He held the door open and made space for her to enter. Mia screwed up her face at him and entered the house. Her mind running on her daughter.

“Where is Amiyah?” She immediately questioned as the door clicked behind them. She stared at him in complete disgust. He took her away only to neglect her for his mistress.

Thinking about it, she’d lost any ounce of respect she ever had for Taylor. After their last encounter she had thought the woman had grown some sense. She thought Gabriel loved her? Mia wanted to laugh. Gabriel loved no one but himself and if that wasn’t apparent when he made her abort their child, then Mia shuddered to know what it would take for Taylor to actually leave him.

“She is safe, just not here.” He said, leaning back against the door, his eyes scanning her.

“What do you mean?” Her voice rose, the vein at her temple threatening to blow her entire head off. *This better be a goddamn joke!*

“You’ve lost weight.” He cocked his head to the side and continued to stare at her openly. Since he’d been unwelcomed in her bed, his mind and body craved her. She’d taken great pains to get into shape after the birth of their daughter and he was denied access to her new and improved body.

“Where is my daughter, Gabriel?” her tone deepened and she shook her head to ignore him. She wasn’t interested in this line of conversation.

“She is with my mother for the night.” He shoved his hands into his trouser pockets.

“I am going over there.” She announced, taking two steps back into his direction, towards the door. Gabriel stepped in front of the door, her eyes being assaulted by his bare chest inches away from her. Mia raised her eyes slowly, the fury in them causing Gabriel to smirk.

“What are you doing?” She hated that she was close enough to smell his cologne. She had loved that scent when she thought herself in love with him, she used to cuddle into him, bury her face into his neck to breathe him in. Now, that scent turned the food in her stomach in directions it had no business going.

“We’ll pick her up tomorrow.” He said, not moving an inch.

“The hell I will.” She bared her fangs but he didn’t budge.

“Don’t forget I also have a say in if you can come back here.” He passed a finger along her jaw and lowered his head. Mia pulled her face away from him, oblivious to the tiny twitch in his jaw. She inhaled and took a few steps back. Her eyes glaring at him.

“Why did you ask me to come back tonight if you were busy?” her entire body was twitching, she had more anger than she knew what to do with.

“Lower your voice.” He snarled grabbing her by the arm and leading her to his downstairs study.
Mia pulled and pulled against him, “Let go.” She spoke through clenched teeth but he didn’t listen. He flung her into his study and closed the door behind them. Mia massaged her arms, the skin blushing.

“Let me guess,” She regarded him disdainfully; “You’re still feeding her that bullshit about me wanting to stay with you?” She referred to Taylor.
Gabriel chuckled. “If you won’t occupy my bed, someone else has too.” He responded boldly.

“Regardless of my position in your life, there is always someone else occupying your bed.” She spat, wondering what possessed him to bring her to the house.

“Jealous?” he moved closer towards her. It had been ages since he’d been this close to her in such a small place.

“Of what?” she scoffed, “Mediocre sex?” she glared directly into his eyes. She had no range by which to judge sex, he was her first and her last, but the words burned. She hated that he was the only person to touch her.
His eyes darkened, “Have you allowed someone else to touch you?” his voice was low.

“So what if I did?” She’d put herself in this situation, how could she get out? She didn’t want to stroke his ego by telling him the truth.

“No one is allowed to touch you.” He said, seeing her panic and knowing instantly that she’d been taunting him. An empty lie.

“So, you can bring your mistress into our home, disrespecting me to the absolute fullest, but I am not allowed to have a life outside of this?” She was half screaming, half dread. He’d done far worst that she expected by bringing Taylor into the home he shared with her.

“I can buy us another house if you want.” He had relaxed, secure in his abilities. “Your life is mine Mia, I thought you would have understood that by now?’ he said, turning to the door.
Mia felt the burning consuming her eyes, her entire body shaking. “Stay here tonight, we’ll pick up Amiyah in the morning when I drop Taylor off at her house.” He said as he exited the study.

Mia dropped the bag she had in her hand and sank down into a chair. Her despair quickly morphing into anger. She’d made sacrifices in hopes of being a good mother to her daughter, and those same sacrifices were showing Gabriel that he controlled her. He even dictated what she should and shouldn’t do with her body.

*Fuck that!*

She knew no matter the decisions she made she was determined to be a good mother to her daughter, nothing would change that. Amiyah was her first priority. With that being said, she had to ensure she wasn’t playing by Gabriel’s rules. There were some things she couldn’t fight against but others were well within her reach.
The first thing on the agenda? To scrub his scent off her. She would be damned if she allowed him to be the last man to touch her.
She pulled her cell phone out of the back pocket of her jeans and stared at the message from Harvey. She’d read it a hundred times when she first saw it, knowing that she couldn’t entertain him, now her fingers were typing away a response.