Page 15 of Eternally Bound

“I gambled,” he said, swallowing hard. Before he even said the next words, I knew what was coming. “I lost.”

My breath came out in a rush and my chest pounded. I should have been surprised at his proclamation, but the truth was, I knew he was back to gambling. In my heart, I knew he couldn’t resist it.

“How much did you lose?”

He shook his head and his complexion paled even further. And Callen was pale to begin with.

He didn’t answer straight away, and I waited, silence stretching uncomfortably. “It wasn’t just money I gambled.”

My heart turned cold and empty. My mind ran through different scenarios of what he could have gambled away. He barely owned his publishing house. Maybe his family’s home? A pained expression on his face met me, but his eyes still avoided locking gaze with mine.

“What did you gamble?” I asked slowly.

He dropped his eyes guiltily and his hands fisted in anger. Silence. With each passing second, the coldness in my heart grew. The unknowing made me imagine all the worst scenarios.

“What did you gamble?” I repeated, my own voice strangely distant to my own ears.

“You.”

I swore my heart stopped for a few seconds before it resumed beating. I must have misheard him. None of this made any sense. You couldn’t gamble with something you didn’t own, even less a human life.

“Excuse me?”

“I gambled you,” he repeated glumly.

“I don’t understand,” I mumbled, struggling to grasp how he would have gambled with me. I wasn’t an expert on gambling, but I was certain that you gambled only with money, or things you could sign over possession for. I wasn’t his possession. I was a person. A human being.

“I didn’t have enough money,” he uttered in a low voice. “So, you were the gambling chip. I was sure I’d win.”

He covered his face in embarrassment, but right now I couldn’t feel sorry for him. I couldn’t feel anything, except the rage that slowly worked its way through my body. This was the father of my son, and he gambled me away. Like I was a piece of property.

“But I’ll make it right,” he continued, but my brain tuned his words out. He kept on talking, but I stopped hearing him. My body crawled with revulsion and fury that he would so carelessly gamble me away. And that was besides the fact that he didn’t even have a right to do that. He was crazy if he thought he’d subject me to paying his debt.

I stared at his man I have known for the past four years in utter disbelief. This whole situation seemed surreal, like the worst kind of nightmare.

“Get out!” I spat.

“W-what?”

My fists clenched in my lap and my temper flared out.

“Get out of my house!” I repeated, keeping my voice even. He looked shocked but didn’t move. If he didn’t get out of my sight, I’d lose my temper at any second now.

“He wants you and Bram,” he swallowed hard and the little ounce of sanity I had left dissipated.

My hand flew across the air and connected with Callen’s face.

“How dare you?” I hissed. “You not only put me in danger but your son too?” The anger inside me rose with each second. “How could you be so stupid to get involved with dangerous men like that? Obviously, they have no scruples if they are willing to bet human lives like they are nothing more than chattel!”

“It got out of hand,” he replied so calmly that it made me even more furious. The fact he could talk about betting our son so calmly made me want to claw at his face and strangle him with my own hands. I’d die before I let anyone get their hands on my son or me.

“You tell your debtor he can’t have me nor Bram,” I gritted, the rage clear in my voice. “But he can have you. Now get out before I throw you out myself!”

I stood up, side-stepping him, then walking back into the house without a backward glance at the father of my son, firmly shutting the door behind me. This was the defining moment in our relationship. I was so stupid that it took getting to this point to finally shut the door on a future with him. A future that was doomed from the start.

Just as my future was with Daniel.Then why am I still thinking about that man!

The moment I shut the door behind me, I leaned back against the glass and met my mother’s worried expression. This was the last thing I wanted, worrying my mother further.

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