Taming the Bitch (COMPLETED)

Chapter X - Her Ruin

"Is it true...?"
Margarita's voice—once honey-soft, now raspy from illness—was still as gentle as Gabrielle remembered.

She had been admitted to hospital again. Ironic, really—days after the public announcement of Gabby's engagement, Margarita collapsed from another attack.

Gabrielle looked at the older woman, her heart cracking at the sight. The elegance Margarita once carried so effortlessly had faded under the harshness of chemotherapy. The bright spark in her eyes—once lively when she laughed with Gabby, Ade, and his sisters—was now replaced with exhaustion and sorrow. They had grown up like siblings; Margarita had always treated her as one of her own. She was, in every way that counted, a second mother.

With trembling fingers, Margarita reached for her hand.

"Was it... your father who decided this?" she asked gently, searching her face. Gabby couldn't lie. She could never lie to her.

"Is it because of me? Or Ade...?"

"N—no," Gabrielle said quickly, forcing the lie as tears stung her eyes. "Don't say that."

"Don't make us your priority, love," Margarita whispered, stroking the back of her hand. "Be happy. You don't have to sacrifice your life for us. For me. I'm dying anyway..."

"No. Don't say that."
Gabrielle leaned forward, gathering the woman into her arms.
"You're not going to die... please, don't. Mum already left me. I didn't even see her before—please don't do this to me too..."

She broke down against Margarita's chest, the past hammering into her all over again.

Ten years ago

"Your father really is an old bastard, isn't he? Abandoning his own kid."
One of the kidnappers spat on the dusty floor, glaring at her.

Gabrielle looked away, trying to hide how violently she was shaking. She had been trapped in this derelict garage somewhere in the countryside for over a day. Starving. Terrified. Wondering what would happen next.

She had been taken during a school field trip—two men in black, a van, and then nothing but darkness.

Now there were five of them, all watching her like she was nothing more than a bargaining chip.

Last night, they had called her father demanding a billion-dollar ransom. Her father demanded to hear her voice—to be certain she was alive—but the kidnappers sent a video instead: her knees forced to the floor, a gun pressed to her temple.

"Who do you think you're ordering around?" the scarred man had barked. "We have your daughter. Do as you're told."

Her mouth had been taped, and every time she fell from the force of their shoves, they cursed her father. Ranted about the ruin of their business. She didn't understand then—but later, she would learn the truth. Her father had crushed their casino hotel by quietly buying shares under different names, forcing it into bankruptcy, then taking full control. They had lost everything.

And now they wanted revenge.

Time was running out. Her father was meant to arrive within the hour with the ransom—alone. And she knew the truth already. They would kill him... and keep her.

"We'll make use of you," the scarred man sneered, dragging the barrel of the gun along her arm. "He took everything from us. We'll take his precious Barbie doll. Fair trade, yeah?"

She flinched as he leaned close, breath foul, tracing her ear with the tip of the gun. Instinctively, she pressed back, her tied wrists cracking against his jaw.

"You little—!"

Before he could strike her, another man shouted, "He answered!"

The scarred man smirked darkly and shoved the phone to her ear. Hearing her father's voice nearly made her crumble.

"He wants to speak to her before he complies!" one kidnapper snapped, pulling the tape from her mouth so roughly she yelped.

"Gabby?!" her father's voice was sharp, panicked.

"Speak to him!" the kidnapper barked.

"Dad..." she croaked. That was all she could manage.

"Is the speaker on? Are they armed?" he asked in French.

She swallowed. "J—just one gun... Dad..."

The tug on her hair was immediate. "What the hell did you say?!"

But all she heard was her father's voice.

"Gabrielle... I'm so sorry," he whispered.

"Dad...?"

"You're the best thing in my life. And I'm sorry I had to be your father."

Her heart dropped.

"I can't save you, Gabby. Even if I pay, they'll only take you again. Hurt you again. I can't let you suffer anymore."

"D—Dad?"
No. No, he wouldn't say that. He wouldn't abandon her.

But he did.

"I'll treat it as if... my daughter was never born."

The kidnapper roared into the phone in fury, slamming the receiver down.

Gabrielle stared, tears streaming silently, as the scarred man raised his gun.

It was over.

Or it should've been.

A crack split the air—the man dropped, blood pooling beneath him.

The garage doors burst open. SWAT stormed in. Shouting. Gunfire. Chaos.

Someone shielded her, dragging her away. She collapsed, and the world vanished.

When she woke, it wasn't her parents beside her—but her old bodyguard and Margarita.

Her father arrived hours later.

"Where's Mum?" Gabby whispered.

Her father didn't speak.

"I want Mum," she said, voice cold and shaking. "Not you."

He approached, reaching for her hand, but she pulled away like he was a stranger.

"You weren't there," she whispered. "You didn't even try. I waited for you... more desperately than they waited for their ransom."

"Gab—"

"You never planned to save me."
Her voice cracked. "You meant what you said. I was just... nothing to you."

"Gabrielle—"

"Was I wrong to think you loved me? Even a little?"

He gathered her into a trembling hug, but she didn't move. Didn't lift her arms. Didn't forgive him.

"I want my mum," she choked. "I just want my mum..."

That was the day everything ended.

Thirteen years old, and her childhood was severed cleanly in two: before the kidnapping, and after the betrayal.

Her mother died that same day. Her father left her emotionally long before that.
And a piece of her had never healed.

Back in the hospital room, Gabrielle sobbed harder into Margarita's embrace.

She had promised herself then—never would she abandon the people she loved. Never would she let them suffer because of her father.

And that was why she agreed to all this now.
For Ade.
For Margarita.
For their safety.

Even if it cost her freedom.
Even if it chained her to a political marriage with a man cut from the same cloth as Gabriel Davis.

Vincent Walton.

A man whose world revolved around power. Wealth. Legacy.

And soon, her life—her future—would belong to him.