AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Why, Gabriella?” I question, bringing my thumb and index fingers to her chin so that she doesn't even have the idea of looking away.Bambinablinks and opens her lips, letting a warm exhale escape.
“Because no one but you has the right to hurt me, not even me.”
I was never particularly a believer in the statement that in a relationship of dominance and submission, it was in the hands of the submissive that all control was, not until this very moment.
Gabriella's words are like a spell cast around us, squeezing our breaths until they become a single breath. A smile spreads across my face and it takes everything in me to stop myself from consuming Gabriella's mouth as a reward for giving me whatI wanted from her from the beginning: her complete and utter surrender.
I just connect our noses and close my eyes, breathing in her scent for a moment, knowing exactly the size of the impact that my next words will have on thebambina. I find myself wishing I had the power to change the course of things that have already happened just so I don't have to cause her the pain I know she's about to feel.
“I'm afraid I can't fulfill any of your requests yet,Bella mia.” The disappointment is as permeated in her voice as it is in her look when she answers me.
“Why not?”
“Because your little sister is missing.” Gabriella's eyes grow as her ears process the information.
“What?”
“The last record I found of Raquel is of a hospitalization that took place two weeks after we came to Italy. No one came to pick her up from the hospital and child protective services were called, from then on, everything went up in smoke.”
“That you found?” She sticks to the last bit of information I would expect, of course. Her brow furrows as her eyes turning red from unshed tears stare at me. “What do you mean the last information you found?”
“I asked my men to investigate your family's whereabouts a few days ago.”
“Why?” Two tears slide down her cheeks, I cover one with my thumb, but I lose the other.
“That's not all, Gabriella.” I don't answer her question, because I don't have an answer for her.
“It isn’t?”
“Your father, he was found dead in your old house.”
“My dad died?” She asks, her face already contorting into an incomprehensible painful grimace. I knew that the child's disappearance would leave her shaken, but her father's death?
The man was a nuisance all of Gabriella's life, and yet here she is, grieving his death. I confirm with a nod, and the desolate expression on her face makes me grit my teeth at not being able to stop that either. I tighten my grip on the arm around Gabriella's waist and place my hand on her cheek.
She tilts her head, fitting it into the curve between my shoulder and neck, and cries.Bambinamourns her father's death as if she had just lost a much-loved family member until, amid sobs, she raises her head, looking for my gaze with her face red and already swollen. It's the first time I've seen Gabriella actually cry.
I've seen tears run down her face, but the desolation on it and the obvious marks of tears are unprecedented for me. And they are uncomfortable to me to the point of transforming the desire that I have felt more than once in the last few minutes, that of sparing Gabriella, into an incalculable need to ensure that never again will the strong girl I know need to bow to a pain that is not within my complete and absolute control. Understanding takes my breath away for a moment.
“Fernanda?” she asks between noisy breaths.
“Alive and with known whereabouts.” Relief washes over Gabriella's face as she shakes her head up and down.
“I want to change my favor,” she says, between sobs. “I don't need to see Raquel.” Her head shakes from side to side in desperate denial. “I don't need to see her ever again if you don'twant me to, but please, Vittorio, please find my sister! Find my sister and make sure she has a happy life. Please!” She begs.
Tears have never moved me, and the humiliation inherent in begging has always disgusted me. Gabriella's painful cry, however, lets me know that I will do anything to never hear it again.
“You don't need to change anything,mia bambina. I told you that I couldn't make your wish come true yet, but I will find your sister, and when that happens, you will choose what you want to do about it.”
“Promise?” The request is a barely audible whisper.
“On my honor.”
CHAPTER 56
________
Gabriella Matos
