Chapter 41.

**Tessa’s POV.**

I heard his voice.

For the first time in months, I had heard that voice that gave me the will to carry on but the voice sounded broken- wrecked if you may. He sounded so sad and it brought more tears to my eyes, I missed him so damn much and every day I would remind myself- punish myself because I never got the chance to tell him those words that probably meant everything and anything.

At first, I was reluctant to call him; what if he had moved on? What if he had found someone better than me? Was he relieved that I was gone? Was he doing to another what he did to me? Was his beautiful mouth driving another woman crazy?

His voice gave me all the reassurance that I needed- he had not moved on from me. I realized that I was being selfish, I was the one who walked away from him and yet I don’t want him to move on. I kept telling myself for the past few months that what I had done was right but now, I had come to realize that I was just being stupid and naïve- he was hurt, I hurt him.

He had asked me where I was but I had no answer, where was I? Even I did not know that fucking question! Andrew O’Connell had completely blocked me from the outside world, all I knew was that I was in an old mansion. He had the drapes down all the time so I did not know anything; where I was, what season it was, what day it was- it sucked not knowing all these things.

When he dragged me out here, I thought that I was at least going to have my freedom but no, he had other plans for me- I was to stay in the house all day with big broody men watching my every move. I wasn’t necessarily suffering but everyone needed to breathe in fresh air once in a while and they were restricting me from doing that.

Well, I did know one thing about this place though, it always got extra cold at the time of the day I was asked to sleep- night. I mean, it was always cold but during the night, it was worser than you could imagine. I would usually curl up in my sheets and pretend that he was here with me, his large arms where bringing me warmth as they always did- that only worked for a while until reality set in, he wasn’t here with me and he never will be.

“Tessa”, that voice, I hated it with sore passion and I hated the owner a lot more than that, whenever I heard him call my name, it was like nails on a chalkboard- it was so fucking irritating and annoying,

“What is it?”, I already knew what this was about, that bastard ratted me out!

“We had a deal Tessa and you did not meet in the middle”, he said as the bastard who had reported to him placed a chair in the middle of the room for him to sit on,

“I needed to talk to him! I love him and I am sure that isn’t something you can relate to”, my voice came out venomous, I hated him so fucking much, he should mistakenly hand me a gun, I’m curious to see what I’ll do with it.

“If you really loved him, you will let him go!”, he growled, “He doesn’t want you- who would? Look at you”, his eyes roamed over me in disgust, “He has a bright future ahead of him and you are ruining that. You were never in the picture and you are not going to be”, his words stung harder than a bitch and tears actually coated my eyes- he was wrong!

“You are wrong!”, I screamed at him, I didn’t want to hear what he was saying, it was too much for me to take in,

“Of course, he never told you that he is set to get married to a daughter of one of my business associates”, he shrugged with a smirk on his stupid face, he enjoyed seeing me crash down like this, I was giving him the satisfaction he craved, “You know the deal, Tessa. I do not want to have to take away his inheritance because of you. He would hate you for it”, how do you sucker punch a person that is across the room? I was seriously tempted to attack him, at least I will get a few hits before his goons pull me off him”,

“That wouldn’t be needed”, I said through gritted teeth, he nodded in fulfillment and stood up from his chair,

“Then I believe we would not have a problem from here on out?”, I nodded my head stiffly and he walked out of the room, leaving me and the bastard alone.

“Snitches get stiches”, I warned him and gave him the middle finger, “I will come for you”, it was a promise that I planned on fulfilling, he was all going to see hell when I had the time. He just shrugged his shoulders and stuck his tongue out at me- really mature.

Sometimes, I wondered how long he was planning on keeping me in here, what was going on in that dumb head of his? Was all this really necessary to keep me away from Gabriel? What was his plan exactly and where was he going with all this pointless bullshit?

I had learnt a lot during my stay here but one thing proceeded to play on my mind every single time I thought about it; Mr. O’Connell was involved in something illegal and dangerous. I had gathered a few theories together and realized that he was into drug trafficking and arms dealing which made me wonder whether Gabriel, Kevin and Alex knew about all this- if they did, I was already terrified in advance.

I was about to lay down on the bed in the room that was assigned to me when a knock sounded from the door, “Come in”, only one person in the whole house knew how to knock and that just so happened to be a woman who I had actually learned to respect,

Her red hair was the first thing I saw before she came into view wearing her signature apron, she had a tray of food and juice in her hands, “Its time for you lunch”, I felt like I had just taken breakfast two hours ago,

“Thank you”, I smiled at her as she placed the food on the chair Andrew O’Connell’s butt was once on- now I might have to disinfect the food before I eat it and turn into a withering pain in the ass for everybody- well, everybody that mattered.

“You’re welcome”, she was about to leave when I stopped her,

“Do you know if she called?”, she placed a small pitiful frown on her lips and shook her head,

“No, she didn’t”, my jaw ticked as they clenched together, that was good right? She hadn’t called in almost a month, that meant she had forgotten about me, that she wasn’t going to be in my life anymore even when I eventually see civilization once again.

“Good”, I had used this opportunity to cross out the word, ‘mother’ from my life- I had no mother or father, I was orphaned.