Olivia Rodrigo - traitor

The little rabbit rested on Gideon's side of the bed. He had blanked her this morning, ate breakfast and left the penthouse without a word. He was angry at her and it was causing panic to rising in her chest, pushing the air out of her lungs relentlessly.

Hence, Vivian brought her a cup of chamomile tea, to soothe her nerves and regulate her sleeping patterns. Though, last night she slept perfectly fine tucked under her husband's arms. She didn't awake at all.

Rory pressed on the rabbit's feet and Gideon's voice resonated in the room.

"That's a cute gift." Vivian smiled, refilling her cup with more tea.

Rory sat up, leaning against the headboard as she sipped on the fresh cup of tea.

"I never thought he was a romantic." She admitted.

"I think he just does it for you." Vivian said, sitting back on the armchair. "He's so very much in love with you."

The settled over a comfortable silence.

"Vivian," Rory swallowed, staring at her reflection in the tea. It wasn't the same girl with who was so sure of her future staring back. It was someone else completely different - no future, no plans, nothing. "I need a favour."

Vivian tilted her head in curiosity, "What is it?"

"Can you get me some contraceptive pills?"

Vivian pursed her lights, "Have you spoken to Mr Torres?"

"Yes, he's okay with it." She stammered but the lie was evident.

"Mrs Torres, I can't do that for you." She apologised, standing on her feet. "I'm sorry." She really did want to help the girl but whatever medication is prescribed to her, goes through Gideon first.

There were also cameras everywhere in this house, watching their every move. No couldn't afford to get on the wrong side of the man.

"Vivian please." Rory cried, following after the older woman, "I can't have a baby especially if my health is as bad as you say it is."

Vivian loaded the dirty dishes on the counter into the dishwasher. The girl was knelt beside her, grabbing onto her arm as she begged to be saved. She was close to having another episode, she noticed, helping her off the floor and placing her on the couch.

She urged Rory to calm down but she merely threw her head back and cried, hot tears pouring down her cheeks. She was helpless, so helpless and pitiful.

"What is going on?" Gideon's cold tone chilling the room.

He was followed into the room by Sebastian, who also observed the room with curiosity.

"Why is she crying?" He snarled, pointing a glare at the caretaker who was not doing her job affectively.

"I'm sorry," Vivian said, bowing her head. "She was just-"

"Don't lie to me!" He roared, an angry vein throbbing prominently on his forehead. He left in a foul mood this morning which had left to calm.

"She wanted me to provide her with contraceptive pills." She said quickly, down casting her eyes. God, Vivian felt so bad for the girl who only cried harder as those words left her mouth.

Gideon strode to her, rage in his steps as he picked Rory up roughly by the forearm.

"Sir, it is not a -"

"Shut the fuck up." He glared, "you're off the clock so go home."

Gideon dragged Rory to their bedroom, throwing her on to the mattress. Her body ricocheted off the bed and she crawled towards the headboard, tucking her knees under her arms.

She bawled violently, watching her husband paced the bedroom in anger.

He paused, running a hand down his face as he kicked over the armchair and began recklessly destroying the room. He was pushed over the edge once again by her behaviour.

Gideon heard what she said last night and the anger had slowly been eating away at him, ready to explode any second. That's why he had came back early from the office, to cool off but instead it enraged him more. Her crying enraged him, her having learned nothing from his punishment enraged him.

How long, how long will it take for her to fully give herself up?

Reaching the bed, he grabbed both of her ankles and roughly pulled her trembling body to the edge of the bed, forcing her to sit and face him.

"Are you trying to force my hand?!" Her howled, shaking her shoulders. "Answer me!" He roared when she didn't open her mouth.

"No," she cried, knowing exactly what he was referring to. "Please don't hurt her."

"Then why?" He snapped bitterly, "Why are you acting like a goddamn child who has learn nothing?"

Her bottom lips quivered at his words. She took deep breathes and calmed herself. Rory closed her eyes and squeezing out one last drop of tears. She opened her eyes again, feeling a new serenity around her. Yet, there was nothing swirling in her green orbs.

In a blink of an eye, she slapped him though, it hurt her palm more than it hurt him. She pressed her hurt palm to her chest and glared.

"I am a child," she told him with her newfound confidence, "I haven't even graduated high school yet."

His gaze returned to her face and he tilted his head with a lopsided grin so manic it made her gut wrenched. It was fight or flight and her instincts were screaming at her to run. Rory eyed the bedroom and attempted to dart to it but, he caught her crashing her into the bed with his big body.

"You've done it now." He whispered, "You're done."

He dragged her back into the lounge room, forcing to sit in front of the flat screen tv. He turned it on, nodding to Sebastian to connect his laptop to it bringing up a familiar looking room where a body laid underneath the covers.

Rory eyes widened in recognition - the bedroom with the paintings and the curly hair spread onto the pillow. It was her mother's bedroom.

"No, no!" She cried, shaking her profusely.

A figure appeared into the room wearing all black clothing, his face covered by a ski mask. He extended his right hand which held a gun and aimed at her sleeping mother.

Rory screamed, falling onto her knees as she begged for him to stop it. Tears gushed out her eyes and she crawled to him, at his feet and begged - clasping her palms together.

The newfound confidence leaving her body as quick as it came.

"Please don't do this."

Gideon glanced down at her, his decision unwavering. But, for him, it was all an act. He spent years perfecting his expressions to the point no one, not even his enemies, knew what he felt or thought. Rory was no exception, she fell for his act, screaming and clinging onto his legs as she begged for him to spare her mother.

"Please, please I won't be bad anymore." She promised, meeting his hard stare.

He wasn't buying it. So, Rory rose to the tip of her toes and brought his head down to her level. She planted a soft kiss to the side of his face where she had slapped him. Gideon still, eyes going wide as he was not expecting that.

"I'm sorry I hurt you." She murmured through hiccuping sobs. "I won't do it again so please don't hurt her."

"Then who should I hurt instead?" He asked, grabbing the side of her head with his big hands. "Who should I hurt instead of her?"

"I don't want you to hurt anyone." She replied quickly, fear and panic racing in her veins when he tighten the hold on her face. He was going to squeeze her to death.

The moment she winced, he let go and faced Sebastian. They spoke in fast paced Spanish that she couldn't even pick up.

Seconds later the screen switched, splitting into two. One was at a dimly lit warehouse where a figure was tied on a chair with a sack over his face. The other appeared to show the inside of metal container with a woman, her business attire stained red, was also tied to a chair with a sack over her head.

"Why do you want your freedom so much?" He asked, his back turned to her while he was fixed on the screen.

The two people he had tied up where traitors who he had sniffled out a few days back. They planned to sell his idea to a rival and make off with the profits. Unfortunately, for them he had eyes and ears, loyal to him, posted in every inch and corner of this world.

Rory tore her eyes from the tv and stared at his back. She swallowed thickly, sensing he was still angry at her for her revelation last night. He had no right to be angry - it was what she wanted and he was the only thing that was standing her way. He was her owner, the key holder to her cage.

He was just upset that she was not an obedient pet.

"Because I want to live." She murmured desperately. "I want to make my own choices about my life and what I do."

Gideon slowly turned to her, his face tensed and storming with pure, hot rage. He clenched his fist so tightly that his nails were tearing into his palm. He can't hurt her not yet since her body was only starting to heal.

"You're free." He seethed through this teeth. "You have made choices of your own."

"All the choices I made were to make you happy." She said, "They weren't choices I would've make with my own free will."

He released a snarl, rubbing his hands through his hair and tugging it. The urged of wanting to destroy everything around was overwhelming, he couldn't control it. Thus, he began trashing the penthouse - shattering everything to release all his anger.

Gideon was like a wild animal let loose.

Horror stricken, Rory watched. At least he wasn't hurting her.

"Enough!" Sebastian hollered, blowing smoke from his lips and nostrils. He was casually watching his friend throw another tantrum as if it was a regular part of the day.

Gideon stopped and stride to his trembling wife. He pulled Rory into his chest, one palm on her nape and the other pressing on the back of her head. He kissed the top of her head roughly, lingering for a moment.

"I love you, Rory." He confessed. "I'll give you anything you want just say."

"I want my freedom, my right to choose what I want to do." She said, tilting her head back to stare at him. She pleaded with her eyes, those emerald orbs tugging his heart strings.

Gideon nodded, "Then choose."

He turn her head towards the screen, towards the two people who were tied up with now a gunman standing in front of them. Her eyes popped in realisation - he wanted her to choose who gets to live.

"Please," She whimpered, clinging onto his arms, "I don't want to hurt anyone."

"You wanted the right to choose, so choose!" He growled, stilling holding her in place. "Who gets to live and who dies?"

"No!" She hoarsely screamed, "This is wrong. It's not right to play with other people's lives!"

It was cruel. He was cruel for setting this death game up just to punish her. If was he angry at her be angry at her and not someone else who had nothing to do with their problems. Gideon won't understand that though, she didn't know why but she was certain he won't. All he could see were the things he wanted - he was selfish.

Rory scratched his arm in an attempt to force him to release her but he remained sturdy like a pillar, unmoving. In the end, she closed her eyes and silently wished for all of it to be just a bad dream. It's not real, it's not real, she told herself.

"If you don't want me to hurt your mother then choose Rory." He threatened. "You wanted to have a choice and I have given it to you."

"Why?" She let out in a tiny and fragile voice. "Why this? If they are people who have upset you why don't you just do it yourself."

"Because you're my wife." He deadpanned so simply. "You are entitled to all my assets including how to conduct my business. So help me out wife and choose who should live and who dies!"

He won't let this go easy. Rory could cry a river of tears and begged until vocal chords swell up, and still Gideon would punish her. He was determined to teach her a lesson, to ingrain her her mind that he was not a man to screw over. He loved her with all his heart yet she would choose to leave him the moment the door to her cage opened.

Rory would fly away from him if she had a choice. That's why, that's why he couldn't let her have choices instead he could only mask them - make it out to be that she did.

However, he learned she was not stupid - she knew his game.

"Please, no." She begged one last time. If she didn't choose he could resort to use her mother as a weapon against her.

"Choose Rory!" He roared, "Last fucking chance!"

She opened her eyes again and stared at the screen. They were waiting, waiting for her to choose whether they lived or not. And, she wanted them to live.

"I choose both of them to live." She stammered, "I don't want them to die."

"Good girl." He whispered in her ear, a second later. He was satisfied.

He kissed her cheek, deep and passionate then her temple before pulling her to his chest.

Several rounds of gun shoots echoed in the room, startling her. Rory turned to the screen and watched the two bodies go limp, unmoving. Bullets buried in their body, piercing all their internal organs.

They were dead.

She didn't understand, she wanted both of them to live. She turned back to her husband in shock to find him grinning down at her.

"You killed them." She uttered, lips quivering. "Why?"

"Because they betrayed me." He answered, shrugging.

"You said I had to choose so why?"

"I told you to choose who gets to live and who gets to die." He said. "And you didn't which is okay because it was your choice." He stood there and shrugged with a smug smile on his face.

All Rory could do was stared at him in disbelief. He was crazy, he was a psychopath. He was twisted so cruel for killing those two people and feeling nothing. She untangled herself from his hold and stepped back, afraid.

"You're a monster." She whispered. "You're a horrible person."

His eyes darken over, the smirk disappearing from his face as he reached for her. He pulled her close and stated, "And you belong to his horrid monster."

Gideon harshly threw her against the floor, pinned her down with a chilling glare before storming out of the penthouse.

Unable to find her strength to stand, Rory remained frozen on the floor, curled up into a ball. The thought of having at least saved one life lingered in her head, carving itself into her conscience to later haunt her as she slept.

🙏🏾