Cruel Seduction (Underground Kings 2)

“I…” I swallow the lump of emotion in my throat, the one that has been clawing at me for years now. “I don’t know, Quinn.”

Quinn presses the elevator button for me and when the doors slide open, I step inside, and she follows. Quinn and I never spend much time together, so I’m not sure why she feels the need to come along. The ride down is silent, but not awkward.

I lift Gabriella up and place my ear against her chest to make sure she is still breathing.

Da-dum, da-dum, da-dum.

She is still alive. That is something, but she is freezing. If I don’t warm her up soon, my newfound relief of her heart beating will be short-lived.

When the ding sounds, the doors part, and I step out, not expecting Quinn to come with me, but she does.

I run to the nearest room, the motion lights turn on, and Quinn opens the door for me. I lay her on the bed and go to strip her robe off to drape her in heated sheets, but then I freeze. She wouldn’t want me to see her body like this for the first time.

Quinn’s hand falls on top of mine and squeezes. “I got it. You go get the sheets, blankets, and heating pads. Crank the heat up, and get an IV ready. I’ll change her.”

I give a brisk nod, not wanting to pull away from Gabriella. I’m afraid if I turn my back, she’ll vanish into the thin air.

“I’ll take good care of her. I promise.” Quinn’s small smile gives me a tad bit of reassurance, so I back away, letting Quinn take the wet robe off her. I hear it fall to the ground with a wet plop, and Quinn inhales a sharp breath. “Oh, you poor thing,” she says in horror.

I freeze my movements while turning the thermostat up. “What? What is it? Is she okay?”

“She’s fine. She has little scars all over her body. Who knows what she has gone through?”

I close my eyes and count to ten while I take a deep breath. I have to keep my cool. Once Gabriella wakes up, I’ll get to know h

er all over again, and maybe she’ll feel comfortable telling me how she got the scars. It’s hard not to imagine the scenarios.

My brother whipping her, cutting her, putting cigarettes out on her—I have no idea. What I do know? I am terrified to find out because I’ll feel a massive amount of guilt for not getting to her sooner.

I open the cabinets and grab extra blankets, including the ones that are warmed, and grab a heating pad for the hell of it. She is beyond frozen right now, and anything will help. “Is she decent?” I ask, turning my chin to my shoulder to make sure I hear Quinn’s response.

“Yes, she is. She’s in a gown now. You can turn around.”

I spin around so fast, my feet almost get the best of me, and I nearly fall to the ground with my arms full of things that will keep Gabriella alive. Quinn hooks up the heart rate monitor, and the steady beep has me breathing easier. I lay the heating pad on her first and plug it in the wall, turning the dial to a medium temperature. Next, I lay the sheets over, then the green blanket, and pull a chair close to the side of the bed. I sit take her cold hand in mind, and rub my thumb over her knuckles.

“So, this is your meaning for revenge?” Quinn asks, taking a seat in the chair on the other side of the bed.

“In the flesh,” I say, and I bring Gabriella’s hand to my mouth and kiss her knuckles. It is the first time I’ve ever kissed her, and even though her hands are ice cold, the touch of her skin against mine warms me from head to toe.

“You love her very much.”

“More than anything this world could offer me; it will never amount to what I feel for her.”

My capacity to hold anything else near and dear to my heart is impossible. Gabriella takes up every square inch of the organ inside my chest. Really, it is an unhealthy need I have for her. If she dies, I’ll die. It is as simple as that. I don’t want to live in a world where she doesn’t exist; the thought is too much to bear.

Gabriella doesn’t know how much power she holds over her me.

When it comes to her, I am irrevocably powerless.

Chapter Ten

GABRIELLA

There isn’t an inch of me that doesn’t hurt. The constant beeping draws me out of the darkness that clouds my mind. My lashes flutter open, and the bright lights scorch my eyes. I grunt softly and try to move around to readjust my position, but everything hurts too bad to try on my own.

The ceiling is different than the one I'm used to. This one is simpler, what a ceiling is supposed to look like, and I know by the smell of things I am in a hospital.

Which means they called Kendrick.