Chapter 22

<Gavin Forrester>

I wake up with a pounding in my head but I'm not at Magic 8 anymore. I'm in a completely white room with one window and nothing else in the room. I look down and see that someone has removed my flannel and thrown it in the corner. I move my hand to try and rub my temples but something stops it. I look down and see that I'm chained to the wall. I grit my teeth and use all my strength to try and rip the chains form the wall.

"It isn't going to work, Gavin."

I look up and see Talon and his guards enter the room. My anger intensifies at the sight of him and I feel the sudden urge to strangle him. He chuckles and comes near me.

"What the hell am I doing here?" I snap and stop trying to pull myself free from the wall.

"You defied me...I'm teaching you a lesson. I'm teaching you who your real master is. I own you, Gavin Forrester."

"You must have me confused with Carter because you don't own me." I snarl.

Talon should be damn grateful I'm restrained.

"Don' test that theory..." Talon glares at me and then snaps his fingers.

The guard to his left hands him a 9 millimeter and Talon puts it to the side of my head. He grabs my hair in his other hand and slams my head against the wall, holding it there.

"I want you to understand something, Gavin. In less than 3 days you will be at her rehearsal dinner whether she wants you there or not. You will bring my gun with you and you will kill her." Talon says, his tone dripping with venom.

"In front of you, Carter and her mother." I remind him, trying very hard to keep the edge out of my voice.

"Whatever will get the job done."

"That won't get the job done...I still have to pull the trigger and I'm sure, whether I make you watch or not, you'll feel no guilt." I shout, my anger taking over.

"You're right...I won't feel any guilt." Talon whispers with his eyes practically bulging out of his head.

"Talon, I made it very clear that I'm not going to kill her." I struggle against my restraints but the metal of the cuffs just digs into my skin.

Talon grips the gun tighter and locks the bullet into place.

"I don't want to do this, Gavin but you've left me no other choice." He takes in a sharp breath and for about a second I think he may actually pull the trigger.

"Why can't you just kill her yourself?" I narrow my eyes at him and wait for a response. "Why do you need me to do it? You have a whole network of operatives working for you, why do I have to kill her?"

"Because if I send any other damn operative, you'll come to her rescue and she'll live! If I want her dead then I need her savior to kill her." Talon shouts and I feel his grip on my hair loosen.

"I. Will. Not. Kill. Victoria." I say, stressing every syllable.

Talon raises his fist and it connects with my cheek. A pain blooms in that area but it's nothing compared to what I imagine the pain of losing Victoria will be like.

Talon punches me in the stomach and then a few more times in the face. My head hurts, my vision is blurry and my lip is bleeding but I'm still convinced I can take more pain if it means standing up for Victoria.

"Wow, Talon...You're so honorable to beat a man while he's down...while he's freaking chained to a wall!" I chuckle and Talon slaps me extremely hard in the face, making my nose bleed.

"You should learn to not talk to me like that." Talon gives me an evil grin while he pulls a gleaming knife out of his pocket.

"If I have it my way, you'll be 6 feet under so I won't be able to." I smirk as he hands his gun off to the guard on his left side.

He holds the knife up to my neck and I struggle to swallow, trying extremely hard to avoid the blade that's threatening to impale my neck.

"You can't kill me if you want her dead." I say in a strained whisper.

"I don't want to kill you...I want to make you suffer." He chuckles and grips the knife a little tighter.

"The feeling is mutual." I roll my eyes and relax my shoulders so my neck is a centimeter away from the blade of the knife.

"Still sassing me when I have the power to kill you...You're not the brightest bulb in the batch, Forrester."

I roll my eyes again and look at the blank wall; it's a better view than the one I have of Satan standing in front of me.

"We're going to play a game that is going to make you suffer and is going to entertain me immensely." Talon takes the knife off of my neck and twirls it around in his fingers.

I hope you accidentally stab yourself, Talon...

"I'm going to cut you with this knife once for every day you knew Victoria and didn't kill her. That should be about 30 days, correct?" he turns towards one of his guards for confirmation.

The guard nods in a greedy way like he's been waiting for this day to come.

"30 cuts and then I'll let you go back to your house to prepare to kill Victoria."

Talon lifts my arms above my head and chains them to some ones attached to the ceiling. I grit my teeth as he begins. He starts my cutting my back. I wince a little but again the pain is miniscule in comparison to what I've done to Victoria.

~~~~~

30 cuts later and there's a puddle of blood beneath me, staining the white floor with crimson revenge. Some of the cuts felt very deep like Talon was trying to rupture my internal organs and others barely scratched the surface of my skin. Talon hands the guard his knife and sends them out of the room so he can let me down. He unlocks my chains and throws my flannel at me.

"Leave, I don't want to see you until the rehearsal dinner." Talon spits and then unlocks the door to the room, finally giving me some space.

I try to move my arms but they protest, the cuts stinging with every move I make. I bite my cut lip hard and pull on my shirt, not focusing on the pain. My lip starts bleeding again but I barely notice. I get myself out of Talon's building and flag down a cab. I give the man the Magic 8 pool hall address and lean back as he starts to drive.

He pulls up in front of it half an hour later, telling me that the ride is $20. I hand him the money and then get out of the cab, practically limping towards the pool hall. I walk through slowly and Joe gives me a quizzical look.

"You look like crap, Gavin. What the hell did you get into after you passed out?" He chuckles as I take a seat at the bar.

"It's complicated...Did you find my keys and my phone?" I ask in a rushed tone.

"You're lucky nobody tried to take your keys and pawn your Ferrari." He smirks, dangling my keys and phone in front of me.

I mutter my thanks and take them from him.

"You don't look so good..." Joe mutters in a concerned tone

"I think I just had too much to drink." I mumble and stand up, walking towards the door.

"Sure, that explains the black eye and bruised cheek." Joe narrows his eyes as I exit the establishment.

I walk to where I parked my car and unlock it.

Thank God nobody stole it...

I lock my doors and put the key in the ignition, speeding away from this town as fast as I can.

~~~~~

I park my car in my usual spot and limp towards the elevator. I press the third floor button and wait rather impatiently for the elevator to reach my floor.

When the doors open up on the third floor, I try my best to walk down the hallway. I grab my key and am about to unlock the door when I see Victoria sitting in front of my door with her head in her knees.

I rush to her, ignoring the pain in my leg. I get down on my knees and wrap my arms around her sobbing body. She looks up from her knees and when she sees me, a heartbroken expression takes over her features.

"What are you doing here, Victoria?" I whisper and tuck a piece of hair behind her ear.

"I was asking myself that very same question...Why am I sitting in front of the apartment of a backstabbing asshole at 3 A.M. and then I figured it out...No matter what you've done, Gavin, I can't help that I love you and no matter how hard I try to fight it, I'm still going to be stuck loving you...I don't even know why I do, I just can't help it..." Victoria's ramble is interrupted by my lips on hers.

I wrap my hand around her waist and pull her close to me. I feel her kiss me back and suddenly all the other stuff I'd said last night melted away. The kiss is passionate, forgiving and everything I've been missing since I started ignoring her. Victoria pulls away and lets her hand linger on my chest before she pulls it off completely.

"Why do I feel like there's a wall between us all of the sudden?" I shift my weight so I'm facing her.

"It's more like the Great Wall of China so, 'just a wall' would be an understatement..."Victoria runs her fingers through her hair and then stares me straight in the eye, a fierce look taking over her brown irises.

"What do you mean?" I mutter, completely oblivious as to why she's being so hostile.

"Were you planning on putting the bullet through my head before or after I kissed you?" She gives me a heated glare as she turns away.

I hear her begin to cry and that's when I stand up. I unlock my door and hold it open for her.

"I owe you a complete explanation." I admit in the most honest tone I can muster.

"You damn well do." She crosses her arms as she steps over the threshold and into my apartment.