Chapter 50.

**Tessa’s POV.**

For the first time in a very long time, I slept peacefully, knowing that I was now safe and far away from Andrew O’Connell- the man who had held me captive for months.

Honestly, I was not expecting what transpired the day before, most of it was a blur to me and it seemed like I was in a very special kind of dream- minus the way he had touched me, his hands on my body made me feel dirty and rotten, like I needed a thousand baths to get his fingerprints off me.

When Gabriel and Kevin barged into the room, I was in shock, I never thought I was going to see them again and there they were, standing in front of me which made me put two and two together. The men Andrew had brought into the room with him, the way he told them to stand on both sides of the door after tying me up and taping my mouth, the way he had gone into the bathroom- he knew they were coming but he thought they were alone. The FBI showed up and arrested him and somehow, that was the last thing I could remember.

I wanted to turn but the arm on my waist was stopping my movement, I panicked for a second and went to push the arm off in fear until I heard his voice, “Calm down, Tessie. It’s okay, it’s me”, my eyes snapped up to meet those icy blue eyes I had learned to fall in love with and I smile immediately made it way to my lips,

“Hey”, I said groggily,

“Hey”, he said back with a megawatt smile on his lips, was it so bad that I just wanted to kiss the living daylights out of this man? So, I went for it, I bent my head backwards and leaned up, inching my lips closer to his. I was expecting him to meet me in the middle like he usually did but he didn’t, instead, he pulled his face back and removed his arm that was placed on my waist. He swung his legs unto the ground, sitting down on the edge of the bed with his back facing me.

Tears filled my eyes instantly as I wondered what on earth had happened and why he was treating me like this. I knew Gabriel, he never missed an opportunity to kiss me senseless, there was something wrong- I could feel it.

“Why Tessa? Why did you leave me?”, the crack in his voice broke not just my heart but me as well, “You promised me you would never give up on us”, I heard him sniff, was he crying? He somehow answered my question by turning his face towards me, tears were rolling down his cheeks in streams and I swear the sight made me cry like a baby, “Answer me, Tessa! Why?”,

“I am so sorry”, I placed my head in my hands in shame, I am such an idiot, “He told me he was going to take away your inheritance if I didn’t leave, you’ve worked your whole life for it and I knew it meant a lot to you”, I was taken aback by the humorless laugh that left his lips,

“Bullshit Tessa!”, he said standing up and walking to the other side of the room, each inch of space he placed between us deepening the cuts in my already broken heart. “I made it clear! I told you over and over again that you mean the world to me, not some fucking business or money or whatever”, at this point, my heart was melting within me and I didn’t think I could take the pain anymore. Gabriel hated me, I made him hate me.

I stood up from the bed but kept the distance between us, it was possible that he didn’t just want to be around me at the moment- or ever, “I thought I was doing it for you, your father said…”,

“Fuck what my father said! The only thing that leaves his mouth are lies”, he cut me short, “I told you never to trust him, he is a fucking crook”, I was praying for a hole to just open and swallow me whole, I had fucked up majorly with Gabriel this time.

“I understand if you hate me-”, he never allowed me to finish my sentence as he walked to me in hurried steps, his eyes were narrowed at me and his eyebrows were knotted together tightly,

“How dare you insinuate that?”, a scoff left his lips, “How dare you say that to me? How dare you think for a second of the goddamn day that I am capable of fucking hating you?! If I hated you, I would not be here! You”, he pointed at me, “Left me after all”.

I squeezed my eyes shut, allowing a tear to slip out of my eyes, “I wish I could redo it all, I wish I hadn’t left the way I did, I am sorry”, was this the end? It felt like the end to me. “I messed up, I really did and I will not force you to take me back because you deserve a lot more than me. You deserve a girl who wouldn’t give you hell, who wouldn’t go out with your brothers before you like I did”, my head was down but I heard a grunt leave his throat when I said that, “You deserve a girl who matches your level, who can meet the expectations of your class and…”,

“Would you please shut the hell up for a second?”, my head and my left eyebrow shot up instantly,

“Excuse me?”, he brought himself closer to me and placed his large hands on my shoulders,

“I asked you to stop talking. You talk way too much”, he took me by surprise when he leaned down and captured my lips with his- dear God. Once I was over my initial shock, I began kissing him back, his hand that was on my shoulder had gone to my waist, making it easier for me to pull him closer by grabbing unto his shirt- I never wanted this kiss to end, I wanted us to stay like this forever, I wanted to the bombs in my stomach to keep going off and exploding inside me. But we were human and humans needed air.

He pulled away and placed his forehead on mine, locking his eyes unto mine, “There is no other girl for me other than you Tessa. I do not think I can live another day without you because there is no one and nothing that I love more than you. I love you Tessa, get that into your skull and let it fucking sink”, my heart stopped for a second and my breath hitched. Gabriel had said he loved me- not that I was extremely surprised about that, I just wasn’t expecting him to say it first.

“I love you too”, I admitted with a huge grin on my face,

“No, don’t add ‘too’, it sounds like you’re just agreeing with me”,

A small laugh escaped my lips just as a tear slid down my face, “I love you, Gabriel, I am in love with you. You make me so happy and there is no one I would rather be with if it isn’t you. Thank you for finding me and I am sorry for what I put you through”, this time, I press my lips unto his and it was as perfect as the last kiss we shared.

We pulled away again when nature decided to interfere, “You don’t need to thank me, babe and you should also stop apologizing. This is my father’s fault, okay? You had nothing to do with this”, he tried to convince me,

“Even with you losing a hell of weight?”, that was one of the first thing I had noticed when he had walked into the room, I mean, he was still fit in the right places but he had lost a lot weight. I sighed, “I do not like seeing you like this, Gabe, I do not like it one bit”, my hand that was at the back of his neck found it’s way into his chocolatey locks of hair- it was still as luscious and healthy as I had remembered, “Not eating is not healthy”, I sounded like a mother telling their child off.

“I know”, he said sheepishly, “I am an idiot, I shouldn’t have done this to myself but I just couldn’t take it. You know, you not being around and all”, yes, Gabriel was a very clingy boyfriend but he was my clingy boyfriend and I loved him just the way he was. “Kevin and Alex gave me shit about it every day”, there it was, another thing that I had not been expecting but, I was undeniably happy about,

“So, you, Kevin and Alex, huh? How did that happen?”, the shock on my face when they walked in wasn’t only because I was not expecting them but it was because I was not expecting them together.

Gabriel shrugged but he had a small hidden smile on his face, “I mean, they are not so bad once you get to know them, plus, they were actually useful during this whole thing. We learned to get along and sort of figured that the major reason we resented each other was because of our father and the whole inheritance thing”, he paused and moved to the bed, sitting down and placing me on his lap, “When I found out he had taken you away, I confronted and he threatened me- as usual but this time, I drew the line. I told him he could fuck his inheritance and I left home, leaving everything behind.

The next morning, Alex shows up at my door and offers his help which I obviously took but reluctantly. Then, Kevin showed up as well and a week after we searched the whole state of California, Drew showed up offering his help by spying on our father for us”, he paused for a second, rubbing soothing circles on the small of my back with his thumb, “It’s a really long story babe, which reminds me, we need to talk. All of us. You should freshen up, I’ll go tell the others to get dressed or something while you do that”, he carried me off his lap and stood up, “I’ll see you”, and with one last kiss to my forehead, he was out of the door.