Their lips molded together. Gloria couldn't move her jaw at all, so she could only let the drool drip down the corner of her mouth.
It was not an affectionate kiss, but a complete torture.
Gloria closed her eyes and refused to shed a single tear. The man in front of her made it utterly clear to her that her tears were worthless.
Patrick had gone mad the moment he learned that Gloria had got herself a new driver's license.
He thought, 'I'm sorry, Gloria. I fell in love with you, and I hurt you. If the pain is enough to make you remember the lesson and too scared to leave me, then it's worth it.
Because I can never let go of you again.'
Patrick kissed the woman under him madly.
He only pushed Gloria's dislocated jaw back when the car stopped steadily. His technique was swift and skilled.
Leo was blaming him for hurting Gloria. However, he ignored Leo completely. Right now, he saw nothing but Gloria in his eyes.
"Gloria, don't talk. It'll hurt you," Patrick said in a soft voice. "Be good. Don't think about running away ever again. Gloria, didn't you always say you were my mate? I admit it now. Stay with me, and we will get married under the Moon Goddess' witness. OK?"
Gloria was in Patrick's arms, yet she still shivered in fear, with goosebumps all over her skin.
Her crystal-clear eyes were filled with great fear. She bit her lip hard enough to stifle the scream of terror in her throat, but she failed to control her fear deep down. She kept trembling in his arms.
Patrick hugged her tighter. The moment he learned that she wanted to flee from him, he realized that he had fallen madly in love with her!
He thought, 'Gloria, you'll be stuck with me for the rest of your life!'
"You don't have to go to Moonlight Group anymore," Patrick whispered.
Gloria wanted to ask him why at first. However, she opened her mouth and, eventually, swallowed back the question that sounded like a protest. She thought, 'I will not be hurt again as long as I behave.'
"OK," she said numbly.
"You can pass the projects in hand to those you trust. That Mandy seems alright to me," Patrick said. His suggestion was in fact the order.
"But..." she instinctively tried to contradict him, but the lingering pain in her jaw reminded her of the kind of man she was dealing with.
She lowered her head dejectedly and thought, 'Gloria, don't resist. Every attempt you make will be in vain. If Patrick doesn't let go, you won't even be able to leave this city.'
"I see." She nodded meekly, but she was reluctant deep down.
Gloria's eyes were a little red. In the end, she could not help but ask, "Why can't I even go to Moonlight Group? Hank is here. I can't run anyway."
She heard Patrick's soft laughter coming from above her head. He reached out, stroked her hair, and said gently, "Turns out my Gloria knows better than just to run."
His words made Gloria shiver. For as long as she could remember, Patrick had never called her name in such a tender voice.
She was amused by such a discovery. She hung her head to hide the irony in her eyes, afraid he might think of some new way to torment her.
"Just be good and stay by my side. You don't have to worry about Moonlight Group. I'll take care of what Mandy can't," Patrick continued in a gentle voice. "All you have to do is stay by my side."
He added silently, "All you have to do is love me with all your heart, the same way you have been doing for the past twenty years."
Gloria's lips curved. She grinned miserably in silence.
Patrick brought Gloria to Fittro Club, but he did not touch her. She did not know what he was up to.
She did not sleep for a minute that night. Instead, she kept her eyes open until morning.
To her surprise, Patrick took her to work. She followed him into the car and looked out the window without saying a word.
As the scene outside the car passed by quickly, Gloria was suddenly shocked. "This is not the way to the Hammond Group!" she exclaimed.
In the next second, she felt that her shoulder sank. Patrick rested his head on her shoulder, and his warm breath reached her ears while he said, "Indeed. From now on, you will live with me in the Black Thorn Pack."
"I'm taking you home," he added silently.
In the past, when Gloria came to the villa to see him, he always felt annoyed and never bothered to talk to her. However, when he was worn out by work, he would look at her, who was lying on the grass. She had always been outgoing and cheerful, like the sunshine.
It had never occurred to him that those memories would be so deeply engraved in his heart. He started to look forward to their future together.
Yet Gloria did not think so.
There were countless memories in his villa in Black Thorn Pack, including the past between her and him as well as that of her and Gabrielle. She did not want to stay in such a place. Instead, she felt the strong urge to run away.
"Fittro Club is fine. I am used to living there." Till this moment, even her resistance sounded feeble.
"Be good. My villa is bigger. I'll have the servant make you a chocolate cake this afternoon. Also, there are books in my study. Feel free to sit in the courtyard with a book and have afternoon tea while basking in the sun," Patrick began to fantasize.
Gloria clenched her fists and then unclenched them, thinking, 'But this is not what I want!'
"Can I..." she tried to speak.
"Are you being disobedient again?" Patrick uttered some horrifying words in his magnetic voice.
Gloria tensed up and clenched her hands on her lap into fists tightly.
After a while, she unclenched them again weakly and said in a gruff voice, "I'll be good."
Patrick stroked her head with satisfaction and said, "Very good. I will reward you. Have Christine go to the mall with you this afternoon and buy whatever you want."
Any other woman would be happy to receive such a reward, as she won the heart of Alpha of the Black Thorn Pack and got to buy whatever she wanted.
However, right now, Gloria's heart ached. She felt as if there was a hole in her heart, and the cold wind had blown into the hole, sending chills through her.
She thought, 'The first thing Patrick does is keep me out of Moonlight Group. He isolates me from my circle.
Then he asks me to move from Fittro Club to his villa in the Black Thorn Pack. He wants to restrict my freedom.
And now, he wants me to go shopping with Christine so that I will be willing to stay at home like his pet.
Everything he does is to take away my freedom and control everything!'
A wave of anger overwhelmed Gloria silently.
"Be good." She heard Patrick's threatening voice ringing out again.
Gloria, who was so close to being blinded by anger, suddenly came back to her senses and shivered.
She took a deep breath to suppress her silent rage.
Because she knew. If Patrick refused to let her go, it didn't matter what she did. Going against him would only make her suffer more.
She could only keep saying to herself, "Gloria, don't provoke him again."