Dr. Fake It - A Possessive Doctor Romance

“Leave us alone,” I said as I took a few more backward steps. “I’m married to Gavin now, okay? He’s going to pay you— we’ll pay you and— just leave us alone, okay?”

He clenched his jaw and came toward me. I was about to scream when he stopped a few feet away.

“Understand something,” he said, and his voice sounded surprisingly calm, though his eyes looked furious. The disconnect between the two was more than a little alarming. “Gavin is dead if you keep defying me. There’s nothing the two of you can do, nothing you can pay me. I want you, Erica. I want to make you mine, and I’m not going to stop until that happens, or until you and your doctor are both dead. Do you understand me?”

I stared at him, heart beating wildly, breath coming in ragged gasps, and didn’t bother to respond. Instead, I turned and ran.

I ran fast. I sprinted as hard as I could, legs churning, arms flailing. I felt like an idiot and more than a few people stared at me as I flew past them, not stopping at stop signs, not watching for cars. I didn’t care, I couldn’t care. I ran as fast and as hard as I could until I reached the hospital and staggered into the lobby. I stood there breathing hard, gasping for air, until I finally managed to take the elevator up to my mother’s floor.

The room was empty except for Mom. I collapsed on the floor next to her bed and sobbed, sobbed so hard I couldn’t see or breathe. I didn’t hear Fiona come inside, but her arms wrapped around me, she said something to me—but I didn’t hear. She disappeared again, and by the time Gavin stepped into the room, I had calmed down enough to wipe the tears and snot from my face.

He shut the door behind him. “What happened?”

“Cosimo.” The word came out like vomit. “He followed me from the hospital.”

His eyes narrowed. “Did he hurt you?”

“No,” I said, shaking my head. “But Gavin, he said there’s nothing we can do. He won’t take money, no matter what.”

“I see.” He didn’t look surprised or upset.

“Don’t you get it?” I asked, fighting my anger and panic. He was so calm, but things were falling apart. Cosimo wasn’t going to stop and he didn’t care that Gavin was a popular doctor. He was going to kill us both, and then finish off my mom, and then nothing would matter anymore.

He was going to get himself killed, all because of me.

“I hear you,” he said, “but I have a plan. Or at least I’m starting to come up with one.”

I let out a bitter laugh. “Your last plan worked out great.”

His eyes narrowed. “You’re safe, aren’t you?”

I ripped the engagement ring off my finger. “Marrying you was supposed to get Cosimo to back down, but it only made him angrier.” I threw the ring at him, fighting back tears.

It hit his chest and clinked down to the floor. He stared at me and I could see the hurt in his expression—real hurt, for the first time. I felt horrible as I stepped back and covered my face, the tears rolling down my cheeks again. I was losing my mind from fear, so scared for myself, so scared for Gavin, and I wanted him to leave me, wanted him to give up on me and save himself, because I was doomed either way. There was no reason for him to get pulled down with me.

He bent over and picked up the ring. He looked at it, holding it up to the light, before walking to the nightstand next to my mother’s bed and gently placing it down.

“Put that back on if you want,” he said softly. “Or pawn it, I don’t care. If you want a divorce, we can get a divorce. I’m not like Cosimo. I’m not going to force you into this marriage. But I’m not about to back down.”

“Why?” I asked, shaking my head. “I’m so horrible. And you’re only going to get hurt.”

“Because you’re not horrible, and you don’t deserve this.” He nodded at the ring. “Put it back on and come home tonight. That’s what I want.”

I laughed and felt so pathetic, so stupid. If I weren’t such a coward, I’d tell him off and run away.

Instead, I turned my head and looked out the window.

He left quietly and closed the door behind him.

I cried there in my mother’s room, and I wondered how many more times it would happen, how many more tears I’d shed over this before I got it together and finally did what I should’ve done from the start.17GavinI halfway expected Erica to disappear, but that night she showed up looking exhausted and wearing the ring. She went straight to her room and shut the door.