Chapter 8
8
CELIA
W e were driving toward my father’s house when I thought of those gates, the circular drive, and the big house beyond. The gates would close once Gabriel left, and I would be trapped inside again.
The thought made me feel claustrophobic.
“What are you doing tonight?” I blurted out. “Your work?”
“Someone decided to set up their own gambling ring in my territory. They did not ask my permission, and I’m going to go express my displeasure.”
His blunt honesty surprised me. I asked, “You’re going to do that personally?”
“Yes. You can’t claim power from a distance.”
The shadowy campaign the girls and I were arranging came to mind.
“Take me with you,” I implored.
He glanced at me. I could read the surprise on his face, and it was mirrored in the flush of embarrassment and shock that I felt.
“I’ve always been left out of my father’s business,” I said, then regretted the confession. Was he trying to get close to me because he thought I had information that could serve him well? “I want…”
“What do you want?” he asked with an edge, as if he knew I wouldn’t be able to answer. I felt that edge in my gut, and then he added, “You can come. If you’re sure.”
I nodded, but his attention was still focused on the road. I cleared my throat, knowing I needed to use my voice more than I normally did.
I’d almost died, unable to scream, unable to raise my voice.
“Yes, I’d like to come.”
“You surprise me, Celia. But I guess if you’re going to be frightened off, now is the time.” Still, he looked pleased. He took a turn toward the right.
I glanced in the rearview mirror. Somewhere back there were more of his men as well as Luca. I wondered what he thought, following in the wake of my date. I wondered what he would think when I followed Gabriel inside.
When Gabriel parked, he left the keys in the ignition and looked over at me. “I’m going to have Luca stay with you. I’ll bring you in once we have the situation under control. All right?”
“Okay.” My body felt tight and nervous. I wasn’t interested in walking into a gunfight, but I couldn’t continue the way I was now, either.
“Move into the driver’s seat. If things go sideways or you just change your mind, take the car home.”
“Are you sure?”
“I know where you live.” His voice was dry.
No one ever let me drive. When he got out of the car, I slid over into the driver’s seat. He waited until I was settled into the slick tan leather before he leaned in and said, “I’m glad you’re here.”
He winked, and I stared at him for a split-second in shock before he closed the door.
I hadn’t known he was capable of winking.
He hesitated outside the car, until the passenger door opened, and Luca slid into the seat.
I froze. I couldn’t help it. He was so big—tall and broad-shouldered and barely fitting into the passenger seat. But more than that, he had an overwhelming presence. I barely remembered to breathe.
He closed the door, not looking at me but studying the night outside. He reached up and turned off the dome light, so we were in darkness. The world outside resolved more clearly into the stark, ugly lines of the warehouse district outside the window.
“How’s your date?” he asked.
“It’s been lovely. City views, fine foods, and now a little murder in the warehouse district.”
He finally glanced at me. “You were supposed to be going straight home after dinner.”
“Is that what my father said?”
“That was the plan I was briefed.”
By Gabriel or my father? I had the feeling Luca and Gabriel had an entanglement I didn’t understand.
There was tension in Luca’s frame. I wasn’t sure it had anything to do with the scene. When distant gunfire sounded, muffled by the building, he didn’t react in the slightest.
I had the feeling he was mad at me, but I always thought everyone was mad at me. That kind of hypervigilance is the lifelong gift of a childhood like mine. I tucked my hair behind my ear and kept my mouth shut. If only silence was a superpower.
“Why are you here?” Luca asked.
I looked over at him. God, his face was beautiful in profile.
“I wasn’t ready to go home.” It was the truth.
“You wanted to spend more time with Gabriel. I’m surprised.”
“It’s better than going home.”
“We’ll see if that’s true.”
I frowned.
The words almost curdled in my mouth, but I managed to ask, “Are you mad at me?”
“What right would I have to be mad at you? As long as you listen when I try to protect you, I’m not going to be mad at you.”
“You seem tense.”
He looked back at me. There was heat in his deep-green eyes, and I thought it was anger at first. Then I realized that it wasn’t anger at all.
The tension between us felt like it was alive. I clenched my knees together, reaching to push my hair back yet again. Was he thinking of the way I’d clung to him ?
“I want you to be safe,” he said. “I do try to be competent at my job.”
“So, you want me to do something else tonight?”
“I want you to go home and forget Gabriel Caruso exists.”
I didn’t think that would’ve been possible for me, even if my father would have allowed me to choose my own fate. The fact that I had my own dreams, my own direction, had to be my secret.
“Do you think he’s a danger?” I asked lightly. I thought so, but I wanted to know more of what he thought.
“I think you’re a nice little girl who doesn’t belong in our world and who certainly doesn’t belong at the side of a man like Gabriel Caruso.”
He might as well have slapped me.
“If you know some way I can walk out of our world, Luca, I’m listening.”
His lips twisted. He didn’t answer. How could he?
Gabriel strode out of the warehouse, followed by two of his men who he dispatched in different directions before he headed toward us. He looked so confident and determined, and my heart skipped a beat unexpectedly.
He opened the door for me. “This was a dogfighting ring, which I’ve never authorized. It’s unsettling in there, Celia. I wouldn’t be disappointed if you don’t want to go after all.”
“I’ll be fine,” I promised, though my stomach curdled at the thought of dogfighting with all its cruelties.
He offered me his hand. I took it, feeling the warmth of his hard palm against my hand, the way his fingers folded around mine. He drew me out of the car.
We left Luca behind as we walked toward the warehouse.
Inside the warehouse, there were bodies sprawled across the floor. Gabriel still held my hand, helping me step over a pool of blood. “They weren’t initially receptive to my message.”
“I see.”
“Look at this, though.” He led me to the back, past the ring and empty crates.
The air stank of blood and piss and fur, and I covered my nose with my hand. The thought of men fighting in the ring, as long as they chose to be there, didn’t bother me. The men in my world loved violence, and if they suffered at the hands of their true love, I didn’t care. But the fate of the dogs sickened me.
In the back of the warehouse, in a cluttered office, was another crate.
Gabriel bent and stood up holding a small, dark bundle in his arms. There was a faint whining sound, and the bundle moved its head.
Big brown eyes met mine.
“She’s so small.” I moved toward him, drawn by the puppy. I put my hand up to her nose, and the dog sniffed my hand before I touched her tiny head between her ears.
“I don’t know what happened to its mother or its littermates. We found it alone.”
“You must be so scared and lonely,” I cooed to the puppy.
“I think they were going to put it in the ring with one of the big dogs,” he said.
My stomach turned over at the thought of this cute little creature being torn apart.
“I know you had to stop this ring because they were on your territory, but…I’d have been glad you killed them all anyway,” I said fiercely.
Gabriel’s lips turned up at the edges, as if he were amused by my fiery response. No one ever saw me react like that. “Well, then. If you care so deeply…I won’t allow dogfighting.”
“You won’t?”
“Where’s the fun in having power if we don’t use it as we please?” He stepped toward me, so we were almost chest to chest, the puppy between us. He towered over me, and the scent of his aftershave, spicy and intoxicating, replaced the stench around us.
I realized a heartbeat too late while I had been focused on him that he was offering me the puppy.
I took her from him, our hands briefly overlapping, and I cuddled the puppy against my chest. She began to lap at my face. I let out a giggle, and Gabriel’s gaze softened as he looked down at me.
It might all be an act because I knew this man was dangerous.
“What should we name her?” he asked.
I shook my head. “I don’t know.”
“Well, you should name her. She obviously likes you. You can keep her.”
“I can’t keep her.” I felt suddenly frantic; it was an instant response. From the way he looked at me, he read it clearly—his eyes widened slightly as he studied me.
“Why not?”
“My father doesn’t like pets.” I licked my lips, debating what else to say.
“Even if the pet is a gift from me?” he asked, his brows arching.
“You don’t understand.” I could barely breathe through my sudden sense of panic, although I knew it was irrational. It wasn’t as if Royal was going to appear in the room to murder the puppy.
I had to make him understand, and that was the only reason my words spilled out. “I had a kitten once—I’d found it after my mother died, a stray, and it made me so happy to have something that loved me. But then Royal…”
“What did he do?” His voice was cold.
I couldn’t bring myself to look up at his face; I just stared at his chest. He didn’t seem to notice the blood soaking his shirt. My gaze dropped lower to his hands; his knuckles were bleeding. He had hurt people tonight.
I must seem so ridiculous to him.
“Royal crushed her,” I whispered. I tried to push away the memory, which was too vivid, as if I could slip back into the crying, desperate little girl I’d once been.
The puppy wriggled in my arms and tried to lick my face. I clutched her tighter as she moved around, trying to protect her from herself.
Gabriel put his arms around me, steadying me and the dog. “Celia, listen to me.”
I finally looked up at him. I expected disgust to be written across his face—what was a kitten to a man like him—but he was looking at me steadily.
“This dog is not going to your house with you,” he told me quietly. “She’s going home with me. And when you come home, she’ll be there.”
I stared up at him in confusion.
He went on, “She’ll be your dog. If you want her. And no one’s ever going to hurt her.”
“I don’t understand why you would…” I couldn’t finish the sentence.
“We need to get out of here.” He put his hand on my lower back, turning us both, guiding me through the chaotic scene ahead of us.
“Why would you care, Gabriel?” I asked quietly.
He hesitated, looking around the dark scene, making sure no one could hear us.
His icy-blue eyes met mine. “I’m not going to pretend I’m capable of love. I would never make a good husband to you, Celia.”
I let out a shaky laugh. Well. That was a hell of a confession on a first date.
“The closest I’ve ever come to loving anyone is my brothers. David and Lorenzo. And we all know how that ended.” His lips curled. “But because I love David…and because now, after all this time, I can…I’m going to protect you.”
“I haven’t asked to be rescued,” I said.
“And I wasn’t asking if you wished to be.” His mouth dropped close to my ear as the two of us stepped back out into the cool, fresh air of the night.
I shivered, though who knew if it was because of Gabriel or because of the night air.
“You are going to be mine, Celia. I’m not going to lie to you about what I can offer you. But I have to do this for David.”
Something warm and heavy draped over my shoulders. I looked up in surprise as he put his leather jacket over my shoulders.
He held out his large, strong hands, and I handed the dog back to him. She curled up against his shoulder, looking content in his arms.
He looked down at me, confident and certain, as if he thought I’d be as easy to win over as the puppy.
Part of me wanted Gabriel Caruso, and another part of me wanted to tell him to go fuck himself.
I couldn’t trust him.
I hated the part of me that wanted to throw myself into his arms. To believe he would protect me. To believe I didn’t have to be alone.