Taming the Bitch (COMPLETED)

Chapter III - FIRST MEETING

"Spare Ade from all of this..."
Gabrielle's voice tore through the corridor as she stormed into her father's enormous Manhattan office. The doors slammed into the walls with a crack that startled the secretaries outside.

She'd heard everything from Adrian.
His mother — the woman who had practically raised her — was dying.
Stage IV lung cancer.
No hospital willing to take her without money.
And Ade had none left.

His father's gambling had swallowed their savings whole; his mother's illness devoured the rest. Adrian modelled to keep the lights on. Two younger siblings still in university in London. He carried a world on his back that should never have been his.

Ade had always been her best friend.
Her real best friend.

What they had was beyond romance — something deeper, older, bound by loss and survival. People assumed Gabrielle was the one doing all the giving, but in her eyes, it had always been the opposite.

Ade gave her a family.
A home.
A sense of belonging she never received from her own blood.

His mother fed her, scolded her, held her when nightmares of her kidnapping returned. She had been a mother in every way that mattered. Since the night Gabrielle's own mother died — days after that horrific kidnapping — Ade's family became her entire universe.

Was she in love with him?
Yes — but not the sort of love one marries.
A love of loyalty, dependency, gratitude.
A love born from shared wounds.

But the only person she had ever truly loved — foolishly, recklessly — was Ryan.

"Stop being a fool, Gabrielle. How many times must you humiliate yourself over users like him?" her father said, clicking his tongue with disdain.

Her eyes narrowed, heat rising to her throat.

"Adrian is not what you think he is," she snapped.

Her father raised his brows sceptically. Leaning back in his leather chair, he clasped his hands together as though he were offering a prayer.

"You said the very same about that swine," he replied coolly. "And where did that lead? He ruined you publicly because you couldn't control your emotions. Because you were careless."

Ryan.
Her stomach twisted.
She looked away, hating that the sting still lived in her.
Hating her father for manipulating it.
Hating Ryan for exploiting her.
Hating herself for being naïve enough to believe either of them.

"I saved you from that swine," her father continued, "and now you've entangled yourself with another. He's bleeding you dry — money, influence, all of it. In a month he'll do the same to me."

"Hah! With what, Father?" she spat. "I've saved you from spending money too. You no longer need to pay Ryan to keep our photos — or rather, our videos — from the world. Everyone already knows what a disgrace your daughter is. No need to polish my image anymore."

Her voice trembled — anger, pain, humiliation all colliding under her ribs.

"Do you ever think of your mother, Gabby...?" he asked suddenly.

She blinked.

His expression — for a fleeting second — carried real anguish. They never spoke of her mother after her death. There was too much blame. Too much guilt. Too much silence.

"Don't involve Mum in this," she whispered, tears threatening.

"All she ever wanted was for you to grow up well..." His voice softened painfully. "I suppose we both failed her."