Chapter 9 - Across the Mahogany Desk
I didn't flinch away from him, though every instinct I possessed screamed at me to back up against the vanity. I kept my hands steady, resting them lightly on the edge of the mahogany dresser just inches above where the hidden ledger lay buried under the linens.
"I don't need gymnastics to find the truth, Gabriel," I said, my voice steady despite the dry tightness in my throat. "I just need to open the right drawer."
Gabriel stopped walking a few feet away. His gaze flicked down to my hands, then slowly rose back to my eyes. A faint, humorless smile touched the corner of his mouth, though his dark eyes remained as cold and sharp as winter ice. He didn't ask what I meant. He didn't need to. The quiet tension in the room thickened until it felt as heavy and oppressive as the fog rolling in against the coastal glass outside.
"Truth is a luxury, Elena," Gabriel said softly, taking another slow step closer until he was standing just an arm's length away. The scent of cedarwood and amber scotch surrounded me entirely. "Most people can't afford the maintenance on it. They prefer a comfortable story that lets them sleep at night. You had a comfortable story. You chose to tear the pages out yourself."
"Because your story is a prison," I answered, holding his gaze without blinking, refusing to let him see the terror clawing at my chest. "And I refuse to spend the rest of my life acting as the decorative centerpiece for your offshore accounts."
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Gabriel's smile faded completely. He reached out, his heavy, tattooed fingers lightly brushing the edge of the dresser right where the ledger was hidden. He didn't lift the linens; he just leaned in close enough that I could see the tiny silver flecks in his dark irises.
"You think this is a prison because you're looking at the bars from the inside," Gabriel murmured, his thumb grazing my wrist with a pressure that was both a caress and a warning. "Before the week is out, you're going to realize that the walls of this estate aren't here to keep you locked in. They're here to keep everything else out."
