by Simply BWWM
She hung up, feeling completely elated that she was finally getting somewhere with him and that she would be able to get a chance at the cover. She’d wanted it for so long, and now it looked like it was finally going to be hers.
Julian picked her up a few hours later and she was surprised to see him in his own car, rather than traveling with any of the camera crew.
“Where is everyone?” she asked as he put her bag into the car.
“Oh, they’ll meet us up there,” he said offhandedly.
They got in and he drove them up into the mountains outside of Los Angeles. The scenery changed drastically from palm trees and warm air to pine trees, snow covered hills, and cold, crisp air. Before long, they were pulling up a long winding road to a remote property.
Gabriella had tried to talk to Julian about the shoot and about the possibility of her being on the cover for the April issue, but he kept changing the subject and she finally gave up on it. She turned her thoughts instead to the shoot and looked out of the window until they passed through an electric gate and drove a little further up the road to a massive lodge overlooking the lake.
He took their bags out of the car and walked into the house with her. She was again astounded, just as she had been seeing his mansion on the coast. His lodge was no less grand or stunning, though it was decidedly created to blend in seamlessly with the natural world in which it was placed.
The lodge was built with natural light wood, stone, and enormous windows that let in a great deal of light while simultaneously offering a spectacular view of the lake and the hillsides that led down to it. She was breathless with wonder staring at all of it, in particular the large river stone fireplace that rose up from the sunken floor in the den which faced the lake. There was an enormous tree stump in it waiting to be burned.
He came up behind her and leaned close over her shoulder. “Do you like it?” he asked in a low voice.
She turned with a start and pursed her lips slightly. “Yes, it’s beautiful,” she replied shortly, and then she looked around and turned her eyes back to him. “Where is everyone else?”
Julian shrugged. “I have no idea. I guess they’ll be along soon.”
Gabriella frowned. “Well, isn’t there a schedule? Isn’t this all supposed to start soon?’ she asked suspiciously.
He shook his head and took a step toward her. “We are shooting in the morning, so I’m not sure when everyone else will get here. You and I are the first to arrive, that’s all. Are you hungry?” he asked, indicating the kitchen.
She rolled her eyes slightly. It didn’t escape her attention that one of the first things both Julian and Antonio always asked was whether anyone was hungry.
“I’m fine, thanks. Where is my room?” she asked, hoping she could get some time away from him and a little peace in the beautiful setting.
He walked upstairs with her to the upper level and took her to a huge room at one corner of the house. The view took in the hillsides and the lake and she saw that there were French doors that opened up onto a balcony facing the water. There was an enormous jetted bathtub and a big shower made of cut and smoothed stone with skylights over it, flooding it with sunlight.
She looked around the room, well furnished with various wood pieces, and stared at the enormous bed that was set in one corner. It was easily the most beautiful bedroom she had ever seen her life.
“Will this do?” he asked with a sly smile.
She grinned and nodded. “It’s incredible! I love it. Thank you,” she said sincerely, turning to look at him.
He smiled back at her and took a few steps toward her, reaching out to run his fingertip down her arm as he often did. “It connects to my room,” he said quietly, his eyes steady on hers.
She clenched her teeth and shook her head. “Julian, don’t you get any ideas. We don’t need a connection between our rooms.”
He laughed and turned around to walk out of the door, leaving her with a look over his shoulder. “We’ll see,” he said quietly. He closed the door behind him and she glared hotly at it. She spent a few minutes looking around the room and then she unpacked, as she expected to be there for the full weekend.
After packing she walked out onto the balcony and soaked in the warm sun and the cool, fresh air. She was excited to see the snow covering everything and the half frozen lake. It was a rare sight for her to see snow and ice, and she liked it.
A short while later, she decided to look at the rest of the house, and she was relieved to see that Julian was nowhere in sight as she explored from room to room, examining the other bedrooms, and she found that it was true that there was a room connected to hers, but the door was locked from his side, and she wondered momentarily if he would try to unlock it and come into her room in the middle of the night.
She went downstairs and visited the den, the kitchen, and the dining room. It was when she wandered into the library that she got a surprise. Julian was sitting in a large cushioned chair reading a book and drinking straight out of a bottle of Jack Daniels.
Frowning, she was about to turn to leave when he looked up at her and closed his book. His eyes had the same glaze that she had seen in them when he was on the yacht drinking. He raised his hand and she hesitated near the doorway.
“Don’t go anywhere yet…” he said quietly, standing up. He set the half-empty bottle down on the large desk near him and he walked toward her, his eyes locked on her. “Were you looking for me?” he asked with a growing smile.
She shook her head. “No. I was looking at the house,” she answered shortly, and then she turned to leave, but he grabbed her arm and held her back.
“Don’t go so fast. There are things that we need to talk about,” he said with a sultry grin. She felt her skin chill and her blood go cold.
“What do we need to talk about?” she asked in trepidation.
He reached behind her and closed the door, standing between her and it. “We need to talk about why you’re up here with me and what you want to do with your career.” He spoke as if it was a simple and obvious fact.
She narrowed her eyes. “I’m up here for a photo shoot that you said might get me the cover I want and have worked so hard for.”
He shrugged. “Maybe. Maybe you’re up here with me because you want to be alone with me in this house for the weekend to give a little for what you want to get. Maybe you know that if you want that magazine cover, you need to work for it. You need to give me what you know I want so you can get what you want.”
She thought she might throw up and a realization hit her squarely, worrying her deeply. “No one else is coming up, are they?” she almost whispered. “There is no shoot, is there?” she asked in a hushed voice.
He laughed and reached for her, closing his hands around her arms and pulling her to him. “You’re a smart girl. I’m going to lay it all out on the line for you.” He brought his face close to hers and a wave of his whisky breath enveloped her and nearly choked her. She held her breath and turned her head away from him slightly, keeping her eyes on him.
Julian stared at her deeply. “You’re going to sleep with me, as much as I want you to, and then you’ll get the April cover. It’s that easy. If you don’t sleep with me, I’m going to fire you from the magazine, and I will personally wreck your career. You won’t be able to model anywhere.” He grinned at her, pleased with himself for having been so clever.
Her heart stopped in her chest. She couldn’t believe that she had heard him correctly. It couldn’t have been what he said. She blinked at him.
“You’re not serious…” she whispered desperately.
He raised one eyebrow. “Oh, I’m dead serious. I’m tired of playing this game with you, Gabriella. I’m tired of waiting. I’m tired of thinking that you’re going to come around and figure it out and do what you should do. I want you. I’m done waiting. This weekend up here with me… it’s for you to convince me that you’re good enough in my bed that I should put you on the cover.
I am taking you t
o my bed, and I am not letting you leave it until it’s time to go back to Los Angeles, and if I still haven’t had my fill of you then, then you’re going to spend some more time with me, but you will have sex with me, or you will no longer be working for the magazine.”
Gabriella felt fury and rage rise up in her and she yanked herself out of his grasp. “How could you do this? I’m one of your best models! You’d be willing to lose talent like mine just over sex? You aren’t in love with me! You don’t care about me! It’s nothing more than lust and conquest for you!” she raised her voice at him as her body began to tremble slightly.
“I’m not going to let you do this to my career, Julian! You can’t try to force me to sleep with you if I don’t want to! I’m not going to give up on everything I’ve worked for! I’m not losing it! You have tons of women who want to sleep with you! Go after them and leave me the hell alone!” she insisted.
He shook his head and reached for her again, but she backed away faster than he could move. He swayed slightly and stumbled a little. “Gabriella, I swear to god, you are playing with fire here! I want you and I will have you or you will be done in this industry! Do you hear me?!” he raised his voice back at her.
She felt like her whole world was slipping away from her in an instant. “No! Julian! Please don’t do this! Please don’t try to make me be with you! I don’t want you! Don’t throw away my whole career over something as stupid as sex!”
Hot tears stung her eyes and slid over her cheeks. She shook her head, pleading with him and his face contorted in disgust. “You think crying is going to change my mind? Do you have any idea how much I’ve already invested in you just in time alone? I want you, Gabriella! You’re mine!” he yelled at her.
She shook her head. “No, I am not yours, and I will never be yours, so you go to hell. Fire me if you think you have to, and lose one of your best models, and if you think it’ll make you feel good to wreck what I’ve spent almost all of my life building, then fine. Do it. I’m not sleeping with you.”
She turned away from him and pushed past him to the door, ripping it open and slamming it shut behind her when she left. She heard him open it back up and he screamed her name as she went up the stairs to her room and slammed that door as well, locking it behind her.
Gabriella thought that he might try to come upstairs to her room to hound her more, but she heard the front door slam and then she heard his car peel down the driveway and she looked out of the window trying to see what he was doing, but he was gone.
Weak with desperation over the probable loss of her whole career and her job at the magazine, she went to her bed and laid down on it, planting her face in the deep pillows and sobbing until she fell asleep.
She hadn’t realized she had fallen into such a deep sleep until there was a doorbell ringing insistently and she pushed herself up from the bed and saw that the sun was beginning to set. She looked around and realized that Julian must not be back yet, because whoever was at the door was being stubbornly insistent and wasn’t about to give up.
She pulled at her clothes and her hair, straightening herself up and she went downstairs to the front door. When she pulled it open she was shocked to see two highway patrolmen standing there in front of her, looking very grim.
“I’m Officer Brandt and this is Officer Yarrow, and we’re here about Julian Medici.” The taller one spoke seriously to her.
She sighed and folded her arms across her chest. “Did he get arrested for another DUI?” she asked sarcastically, certain that he probably shouldn’t have been driving after drinking all that he had, and even more certain that he hadn’t learned his lesson from the last drinking violation.
The two officers looked at one another darkly and then gazed back at her. “No Ma’am,” said Officer Brandt, holding his hat in his hand. “Julian was in an accident. He was drinking and driving, but he slid off the road and rolled his car. He’s in the emergency room. We weren’t sure who to call as there was no information in his car. Not even his cell phone.” The officer sighed and looked at her sympathetically.
Gabriella’s heart felt like it stopped in her chest. “No… is he… is he going to be all right?” she gasped as her hand flew to her heart.
The officer nodded and shrugged. “He’s in pretty bad shape, and he’s unconscious, but the docs say he looks like he will pull through all right. Is there any family member who could come to handle his business for him there at the hospital?” Officer Yarrow asked, piping up a little.
Gabriella nodded mechanically. “Yes… his brother. I’ll call his brother,” she said in a monotone voice.
The officers nodded and Officer Brandt handed her his business card. “If you need anything, please give me a call. I’m glad to help,” he said solemnly.
She nodded and took it from him. “I’ll be in touch with his brother and we’ll be over to the hospital soon,” she promised. The officers shook her hand and left, offering their apologies again before they were gone.
Gabriella closed the door and went back in the house, stunned. Julian had wrecked and was in intensive care. She had no idea how to help him, other than to call Antonio, and she was not looking forward to that call. She remembered that Julian had been in the library before their fight and she wondered if he had left his cell phone in there. She went in looking for it and was enormously relieved to find it laying on the desk.
Picking it up, she quickly found Antonio’s name and swiped the screen to call him. It rang several times before he finally picked it up. His annoyed tone was evident.
“What is it now, Julian?” he asked in frustration.
“It’s Gabriella,” she said softly, her stomach tightened into a knot trying to figure out how she was ever going to convey her message to him.
There was a pause at the other end of the phone. “Gabriella…. What…. What happened? Did he get pulled over again?” he asked, and she could hear in his voice that he didn’t really think that was what had happened, and that perhaps he was hoping that was all that had happened.
“No, Antonio. He wasn’t pulled over. He was drinking again and got himself into a car wreck. He’s in the hospital,” she said quietly.
He gasped and she heard panic shoot through his voice. “What hospital? Where?”
Gabriella frowned slightly. “We’re at the cabin at Bear Lake. It’s the hospital near here,” she replied.
“I’ll be right there. Stay at the cabin and I will come get you. Then we’ll go to the hospital together,” he instructed firmly.
“Okay,” she answered. That was all. He hung up and she stood there alone in silence.
Waiting seemed longer than it really was. Antonio was at the cabin in record time and didn’t even stop to really go in; he just pulled her out of the front door and put her in his car, and then they drove to the hospital together. He said nothing to her as he drove them, and he walked straight into the ICU as soon as he had the car parked.
The doctor met him and spoke with him privately while Gabriella stood aside to give them both some privacy. Antonio returned to her a few minutes later, looking as if the raw emotion in him had definitely taken its toll. He sighed and took her by the hand, leading her to some chairs and sitting with her.
“He’s in pretty bad shape. They are going to keep him in a medically induced coma to continue to ascertain the damage and to give his brain a chance to heal. He’s unconscious right now. They said it will be a couple of days before they let him wake up. He has sprains and broken bones, but nothing that won’t heal over time, although he’s going to be in a lot of pain recovering while it does heal,” he said quietly.
“I’m so glad he’s going to be okay!” Gabriella wiped a tear from her eyes. She might have been furious with him just before he left, but she was enormously relieved that it hadn’t ended worse than it did.
He frowned and lowered his brow slightly. “What were you two doing up here?” he asked. “Why was he driving drunk while you were obviously at home sobe
r?”
She sighed. “He told me that we were coming to the cabin for a photo shoot to give me the magazine cover, and when we got to the cabin, I found out that there was no shoot, he just told me that to get me there, and he planned on making me sleep with him, trying to coerce me into doing what he wanted me to do, or he was going to fire me from the magazine and spread rumors to ruin my career. “
Antonio closed his eyes and took a deep breath as she explained everything.
“Then, when I told him I wasn’t going to sleep with him, he took off. He’d been drinking all day, and he was pretty well wasted, but I was upstairs and I didn’t know he was leaving, and I didn’t know he’d taken the car until it was too late and he was gone.” She left it at that and Antonio shook his head and stood up, raking his fingers through his hair and covering his face with his hands as he turned his back to Gabriella.
“Damn him,” he said quietly. “Why is it that he always has to do things the hard way? Always… with him… it’s the hard way.”
He stood there a moment in silence and she watched him, her eyes on his back as he thought. Then he turned slowly and walked toward her, taking her hand in his and pulling her to her feet. “We aren’t going to do him any good here. He’s drugged up and they aren’t letting him wake up anytime soon. Let’s go.”
Antonio led her outside and they got in the car and went back to the house. Barely a word was spoken in the car again as they drove, and he clenched his jaw every few minutes as he ran everything over and over in his mind. She had never seen him so put out and angry with his brother.
When they got to the house, he went into the library and found the near empty bottle of Jack Daniels, and looking thoroughly disgusted, he emptied the bottle in the sink and threw it out.
Sighing, he went to Gabriella in the den and sat down by her. She was looking out of the window, holding a cup of tea in her hand. She looked up at him and tried to give him a half-hearted smile.
“I’m so sorry about all of this,” she said quietly. “This has to be so hard on you.” Sympathy carved itself on her face.
