Chapter 31.

**Narrator’s POV.**

“Where the fuck is she?!”, Gabriel’s voice roared out as he barged into his father’s home office. The scene of his father’s sipping his coffee and acting completely unaware of the situation only bothered him more, “Where is she you fucking bastard?”, he slammed his fists on the table, not missing out the slight flinch on his father’s face,

“Now, now Gabriel, you would have to be specific when talking to me. Who is this ‘she’ you are referring to?”, Andrew placed his mug on the saucer in front of him and leaned further into his chair,

“You know exactly who I am talking about! I have not seen my fucking girlfriend in a fucking week and I know for a fact that this is your handiwork”, he reached over the table, grabbing his father’s collar before the man could react, “Where is she?”,

The man smirked in his son’s face, trying to foreshadow his fear, “Far away…”-

*Flashback*

“It is your choice Tessa, what would it be?”, the sweat on Tessa’s fore head could fill a bucket, she was torn between breaking her boyfriend’s heart by leaving or staying with him and risking everything he had ever worked for, “What is it going to be Tessa?”, Andrew was vastly growing impatient, time was ticking- fast. Knowing the kind of man his first son, Gabriel was, he could bet that he was already searching the house for her.

“I love your son, is that not enough for you?”, her sweat was now joined with tears and the cold laughter that left Andrew’s lips did not help the situation,

“Love?”, he asked before leaning over the table and grabbing her face tightly with his hand, “You are so cute to think that there is a thing as love and even if there is, there is no love in business”, he released her face, “That is why I have no personal suitors. Your time is up Tessa, do not make me choose for you”, the sight of the man in front of her was sickening- she hated him so fucking much, she wanted him dead! He did not deserve the kind of life he was living- it was unfair to humankind to make such an evil man as Andrew O’Connell influential.

Tessa stood up from the chair she was sitting down on and wiped her tears, “Okay, I would leave but just know that I am doing this Gabe and not for you”,

“Either way is a win-win”, he rolled his eyes and grabbed his phone from his desk, “Andrew, come and get her”. Hastily, the man who had brought Tessa to the office entered with the hardest expression she had ever seen on him, “You know what to do”,

“Yes sir”, the man bowed his head and held onto Tessa’s shoulder gently, “Right this way, Miss Romano”, he led her out of the office and straight outside- no cutting of corners or anything. Soon, she was pushed into a black SUV and in a second, the hasty bodyguard was at the driver’s seat, pulling out of the house.

The drive was extremely silent- leaning into discomfort. Tessa had nothing to say to the man driving her away from the one she loved- she had just come to terms with the fact that what she felt for Gabriel was more than just likeness, it was love. She was scared mostly of the revelation but knew there was no point in deny it to herself when she was one hundred percent sure that she would never get to tell him or never get to hear him say it back.

She gave him a month- Gabriel was bound to forget about her and move on to the next girl like she never existed. He was rich, handsome and influential- he did not need her for anything and being with her would only be holding him back. She knew she had made the right decision by leaving- his inheritance meant so much too him and staying with him would be extremely selfish of her, knowing what was at stake.

“Tessa”, she heard the familiar voice call from the driver’s seat, she had wanted to say something to him immediately he held unto her in the office but she was speechless- she felt betrayed because she had asked him what was happening and he lied to her! He should not have done that! “Tessa look-”, the man sighed and moved his eyes to the rear-view mirror to catch a glimpse of her face, “Tessa I am sorry, I-”, she cut him off,

“Don’t”,

“Please Tessa, you should understand something; I would do nothing to personally hurt you but this is my job, my duty is to obey Mr. O’Connell’s wishes no matter what”, his voice was strained making it obvious that he was indeed unhappy, “To be honest, I hate this job a lot, but it puts food on the table”, he explained further making Tessa understand things from his view,

“It is fine Andy; it is not your fault. Its also not your fault that you share a name with such a horrible man”, she said quietly and a soft chuckle left his lips,

“Well, I am glad that I didn’t reach the ‘Andrew’ stereotype then”, Tessa gave him a weak smile and went back to looking out of the window. Looking out of the window on this journey reminded her so much of Gabriel; she would often stare out of the window during their many outings together while he holds her hand. She enjoyed the scenery a lot, looking out of the window always brought her comfort but this time it was the exact opposite- looking out of the window gave her pain but she enjoyed the pain, the pain reminded her of why she was doing this exactly;

It was for Gabriel.

The more she let this ring out in her head, the less she felt tempted to force Andy to pull over as they neared the private Hanger where Mr. O’Connell’s plane was waiting to take her far away to God knows where.

A few minutes later, they were at the hanger in front of a large private jet with the company engravings on it, “Do you know where I am going?”, the silence emitting from Andy was her answer, “Oh, I am not allowed to know that too”, Andy nodded and dropped out of the car to open the door for her,

“I am so sorry for all this Tessa but you will also have to release your cellphone”, Tessa rolled her eyes but complied,

“Yeah, sure, it isn’t like I know my own boyfriend’s number off hand, right?”, she had taken her time to memorize Gabriel’s number incase of emergencies- actually, he had forced her to know it as if it was hers. Was she meant to forget it so soon? Was she meant to forget him so soon?

She had never felt this way for another guy before. Gabriel was that special guy for her and now, she was walking away from him.