flight to catch."
"An hour? Yes. That will work. Tell the guards at the gate who you are," Gabriel told her, his voice all business now.
She did call a cab, after checking her stock values to ensure that something hadn't gone terribly wrong, but they were fine. To Angie, she said she was leaving to shop and then got in the cab before she could think about it too much.
At the gate, she began wishing she had stopped to pick up something a little nicer to wear. The guards were wearing five thousand dollar suits, for crying out loud. She was escorted up to the third floor of Gabriel's mansion, to his office. There, the guards left and closed the door. Gabriel was across the room and two of his regular goons were on each side of her, which made sense, considering he was in a war.
"Good to see you again, Nicole," though he said this without turning around to actually see her as she walked to the middle of what could have been a master bedroom.
She stopped in front of his desk, "I would like, if only for politeness' sake, to say the same, but I can't. Let's do this and get back to business."
He turned around to face her and she saw what was in his hand -- a syringe.
Strong, unyielding hands grabbed her arms and shoulders, and pressed her hard into the desk, making her drop her laptop, "What is that? What the fuck is that?" she said, barely noticing the hands on her. Her focus centered on the needle in Gabriel's hand.
"I think you know," Gabriel smiled. "Heroin. The whore trainer."
"You keep that filth away from me! Gabriel! Don't fucking do this!" she yelled, her voice was breaking and her panic rising.
"You don't have to worry. We’re just going to do some re-training on you. I've got ten years of very good experience with excellent results. I'm very good at this, Nicole."
"We had a deal! A fucking deal!"
"You aren't a power, Nicole and I don't negotiate with whores. I mean, really, what would people say?"
She was scared out of her mind. Over and over she witnessed the results of that drug in the hands of Gabriel. He would hook her and then break her. She wouldn't be a call girl any more. She wouldn't be able to think well enough to be one after he was done. She grabbed a hold of that last thought, "Fine! I'll come back! I'll come back willingly. I'll take up my clients again. But I can't if you use that on me. You know it won't happen. I'll never be able to take my clients with that filth in my veins."
Gabriel stopped. He watched her for some time and then walked back to the window, "Well, that would take care of this stupid war and have you remain profitable at the same level," he mused. "But no," he said turning back around. "There's that driver of yours. It wouldn't work. He would still come after you and eventually he might even get you. I mean, the man took out Antonio in a close combat gunfight. You don't take a man like that lightly. It would be stupid."
"I'll call him," she panted, her fear nearly choking her. "I'll call him and break it off. I'll tell him I came back on my own. He'll have no reason to come after me."
Gabriel set the needle down on the desk and thought about that for some time. "You'll tell him that you don't want to see him? That you came back on your own?"
"Yes, yes, and no one can prove otherwise," she panted.
"Hmm, risky, though," he mused. "But all right. I'll take you back and put you back with your clients on the condition -- and I swear to you, honey, I'll so fuck you up if you try something -- on the condition that you make it so convening that even I believe you."
"All right, yes. Yes," she agreed, relief pouring out of her.
They let her up from the desk and she stood slowly. She begged the universe to somehow let Cole know that she didn't want to do this. She had no choice. She couldn't live with that shit inside of her, melting her Brian, taking her soul away, breaking her into a fuck-doll. She