Andy's mother used to say that kindness was more powerful than any kind of brute force. However, the truth was that since she was a child, and even today, at the age of 15, Andy suspected the veracity of that sentence since, apparently, it was because of her mother's thinking that she had spent so many years suffering from her husband's betrayals and contempt, only having managed to break free of it through a divorce that was barely a year old. Not that Andy had ever dared question Imogen about that because, well, she was her mother and the best person she knew, so there had to be some truth to that.
But at that moment, as she tried unsuccessfully to free herself from the grasp of the hands of the two boys who were dragging her by the arms along the Ferrars' country house, Andy could not believe more than ever that kindness was a cure for anything.“Let me go!” she screamed again, eagerly trying to kick one of their legs, but the boys just laughed and held her even higher, making her arms ache.“The cow is worth quite a fight, huh?” Mark Ferrars, who was walking ahead, chuckled and looked at her out of the corner of his eye, clearly enjoying the vision.“Fuck that.” Gabriel Ferrars, Mark's cousin and the responsible for Andy being in that situation, growled, furious as he always was when he got close to her “She knew she shouldn't have agreed to come to my house! And much less daring to be near me! Now, I'm going to teach her the lesson she deserves, to learn to never chase and piss me off again!"“I wasn't chasing you…” Andy gasped, horrified “I was going to my room and you guys happened to be in the hallway! It was an accident..."But her sentence was interrupted when the boys stopped in front of a door and, after Gabriel opened it, revealing a very small closet full of brooms and other cleaning items, Andy was flung inside, painfully scraping her back against the rough wooden floor.“So…” Mark started to ask, very casually “What are we going to do with her, exactly?” he licked his lips as he looked at her, making Andy's stomach sink in dread.Gabriel, however, did not answer. He just turned and gave his cousin a dark look, as if the deep, meaningless hatred he felt applied to everyone around him, though he only seemed to take it out on Andy. Then, finally, he elbowed Mark violently, knocking him to the side, and took a step forward towards Andy, making her shiver, barely able to imagine why he had made his henchmen drag her there. “Please…” she stammered, cringing until her back touched the bottom of the tiny closet."Screw this." he growled once more and, with a bang, closed the door, leaving her alone inside that dark place, but Andy's relief only lasted until the second she heard a click come from outside, very similar to a key locking a lock..."Hey!" in a panic, Andy stumbled to the door, feeling his blood run cold as he turned the knob and realized that they really had locked it in there “Open that door! You can't leave me here...!"“Shut up, you fat cow!” Gabriel growled and kicked the door hard, making Andy flinch again, out of pure instinct “Let's see if being locked in there you learn your place! Fucking idiot!”“So… If we're done with that part of today's fun…” Mark spoke, with a clear smile on his face “What do you say we go swimming? The river is always much more fun at this time of year...”“Fuck what we’re going to do!” Gabriel grumbled and even from behind the door Andy could hear the other boys gulping, intimidated by his anger "I'll go anywhere that's far away from that pile of lard!"“You can't leave me here!” Andy tried the doorknob again, this time with tears streaming from her eyes "Please!"The way she was pleading, however, was completely ignored by the boys, whose snorting snorts and Gabriel's furious snarls drifted down the hall until Andy could hear nothing but the sound of her own sobs and the metal of the doorknob, it didn't give any sign that it would open even after she moved it in every possible direction.With her throat choking and crying shaking her body, Andy's trembling legs were no longer able to support her and she ended up sliding to the floor of the broom closet, barely able to move properly in that small space, while hugging her knees, bitterly regretting the moment she had chosen not to be candid with her mother and brother about why she didn't want to come on that school field trip to the Ferrars' country house. But, her mom had been going through so much lately, with increasingly strong sessions of chemotherapy... It seemed so selfish to bother her by telling that Gabriel and his cronies had spent that entire school year cursing her, putting trash in her locker, and tripping her down the hall...Andy might be young, but she was well aware that the Ferrars had as much money and influence as her family, the Vamcaps. Otherwise, her grandmother wouldn't be so close to Gabriel's mother. So Andy knew she could say whatever she wanted to her mother and worry Imogen to the max, but still Gabriel would get away with it and the bullying he was doing to her would get even worse... Even though it got worse anyway, even that she always tried to avoid him as much as possible and pretend he didn't exist inside the school they both attended...Yet, here she was, alone and locked inside that closet, without any possibility of when someone would show up to help her.Like always.Through a tear-blurred vision, Andy watched her own hand curl around the doorknob, hating how easy it seemed to get out of there, but even so she would have to wait for someone's good will, only to crawl pathetically out of there to the first hole to hide, as she had during every second of that last year, when suddenly Gabriel had gone from being a kind and handsome classmate to be her executioner.But for the first time since Gabriel's dark blue eyes had looked at her with hatred and this whole nightmare had begun, Andy felt neither fear nor pity for herself.She felt angry.
Angry that she wasn't as strong as he was, that she hadn't had the courage to face him until now and, mainly, angry that all her attempts to avoid that situation had led her to this point. And, it was feeling all that accumulation of anger and revolt that she got back to her feet, gripping the doorknob tightly, while she started hitting her own shoulder against the wood of the door, over and over again.
Her shoulder hurt, making it very clear that the biggest and most painful bruise of her life was forming, but still Andy didn't stop, keeping the lock moving the entire time, until the latch was almost vibrating. That effort, however, caused the handle's slightly sharp corners, which had probably been done just to make the design more elegant and modern, dig into the skin of her hand, coming very close to grazing her palm and fingers.But, even as she felt her hand grow wet and hot, as a drop of blood fell to the floor, Andy kept throwing herself fiercely against the door, hearing the latch and the wood creak and scream, until, with one last blow that made her hand slip particularly painfully on the handle, Andy suddenly slammed forward, along with the now slightly crooked door, landing face down on the floor outside.
With the same bloody hands and shoulder throbbing with pain, Andy shakily got to her feet, sitting on the floor just to breathe for a second and enjoy the feeling of being free of that closet.And, no matter what she had to do, Andy was determined to be free of Gabriel Ferrars too, after that day.“Uh… Are you sure we should be here, Gabriel? Your parents made it very clear that they didn't want anyone near the river, because of the strong current at that time of year...""Don't you want to go whine about it to your mommy, Steven?" Mark scoffed, but Gabriel paid neither attention, continuing to undress until he was wearing nothing but his sweatpants "We don't want to risk a little baby starting to cry, do we?"Steven probably shouted the worst possible curse in Mark's direction, but Gabriel couldn't hear it, having already dove towards the water of the river before him, which looked as angry as he felt inside. He hoped he had scared the Vamcap girl enough that she knew better than to accompany the rest of the class on that silly ride his father had made a point of offering to the principal as one of the annual donations the Ferrars made to the school. But, no, she had to be stupid enough to come torment him there, with those big dark eyes that he couldn't forget even when he wa
Fuck, if he was going to die, then at least let it happen while he was trying to save himself.That was the last thought that crossed his mind before he relaxed his body and let the current carry him swiftly closer to the log, and Gabriel would remember it for a long, long time."Hold my hand!" just as he was about to slam his face against the wobbly tree, a pale hand appeared from beneath the water, and even though the water was trying to make his body spin, Gabriel managed to grab Andrea's wrist at the last moment, getting the support he needed to lean against the trunk and lift his chest out of the water, taking a sharp intake of air that made everything inside him ache “Hurry! We need to get to the shore!” she screamed, not letting go of his trembling body for a single instant, with a strength that surprised him “I know you must be in shock! But try to move!”And even with all the fear, the pain and the urge to vomit all the water that had lodged inside him, Gabriel found himself
On the same day that she had saved her bully from drowning, Andy had promised herself that she would never see him again. But, after spending 10 years without having the displeasure of seeing Gabriel Ferrars' face again, she had discovered that, more than unfair, fate could also be extremely cruel."Excuse me." A female voice sounded behind her the moment Andy entered that huge building and as she turned around she saw a blonde woman smiling hopefully “Are you Andrea Vamcap?”“Uh… Yes, I am.” Andy answered hesitantly."Thank God." the woman sighed, as if that was the best news she had ever received “I am Mr. Ferrars' secretary. Please follow me. He is waiting for you.”Clenching her hands into fists hard enough to feel the pain of the nails digging into her palms, Andy managed to swallow the disgust of knowing that he'd apparently let everyone there on notice of her presence, and just nodded. Still, as the smiling secretary guided her to a nearby elevator, nothing was able to ease the
Ferrars men tended to be obsessive about the woman they loved.Gabriel had been less than eight years old when his grandfather had told him this, shortly after he had seen his grandson chuckle the way he always smirked when his wife walked past them as they played together in the living room. Of course, at the time, Gabriel was too young to understand why his grandfather was advising him to prepare for the future. In fact, even as he got older and one day he found himself unable to take his eyes off the girl who had been his classmate since he was in elementary school, Gabriel still refused to understand the true meaning of that phrase.It was ridiculous and depressing to remember how the only thing that had made him realize how he felt about Andrea Vamcap was having his life saved by her. And now, here they were. He had spent the last ten years thinking about those black eyes every second of every day and she...She clearly hated him."What did you say?" slowly, Andy's face took on a
“You don't have to worry about me, Aaron. I know how to take care of myself.” Andy sighed, massaging one of her temples as she spoke to her brother on the phone, although Aaron didn't seem at all willing to let the subject of her meeting with Gabriel Ferrars the day before go so easily.“I don’t care if you know how to take care of yourself or not. I want to know what that son of a bitch said to you yesterday.” Her older brother grunted, a little grumpier than usual, with frustration.“Grandma will be very angry if she hears you calling one of her best friends a bitch...” Andy tried to joke, not wanting to lie to her brother about what had happened, although that seemed to be becoming inevitable.“Andrea...” Aaron gritted his teeth loud enough so she could hear o
“I can hardly believe it!” Andy growled angrily, practically hurling her tablet against her office room table the moment she and Harriet were finally alone, after hours of listening to Conrad talk about how the contract with Ferrars was the firm's golden opportunity "What is this idiot thinking? Wasn't it enough that I agreed to this crazy idea of meeting up to spend time with him, that is, whatever the fuck that means, in exchange for the evidence he has about my mother's extramarital affair! And that scoundrel even dared to tell me that he wanted to prove to me that he had changed, when he met me yesterday...!”“I don't know if I've been reading too many romance novels lately, but…” Harriet commented, not only thoughtfully, but also slightly concerned “Spending 10 years sending you gifts, blackmailing you into meeting him, and now becoming his client for can I
“So that’s all you got? I expected better results, after all the wonders that investors commented on your business…” Sienna Ferrars commented, for the entire meeting room to hear, with her light brown, almost golden eyes, completely focused on the graphs appearing on the tablet's screen in front of her.Gabriel, however, wasn't even surprised by his mother's words, as most of the directors around seemed to be surprised, swallowing hard, uncomfortable. After all, they weren't used to that kind of comment, like Gabriel was. So he just nodded, even though he knew that Sienna wasn't paying attention to him, as usual.“The iron extraction points that I bought in China recently needed government authorization before we could start activities, so they took longer to turn a profit than planned.” he explained, without any hesitation
Andy hadn't been this nervous since the first trial she had participated in, when she was still in college. Even though, all those years ago, there was also a lot of euphoria and excitement to balance that feeling of cold sweat and upset stomach. At that moment, however, sitting at the furthest and most private table in one of the most expensive restaurants in the city, there was nothing good inside her, other than the almost suffocating tension of knowing that she was about to have to endure Gabriel's presence. for an indefinite number of hours.What a hell! Could it be that even after 10 years he hadn't met anyone else he liked to torment besides her? What was so fun about making her life a misery, anyway?Taking a deep breath, she tried to convince herself that, at least, Gabriel had had the decency to fulfill what he had promised. Practically the same momen