16. Chapter 16
Chapter 16
R oman
My patience was long gone. We didn’t say a word during the ride to her apartment, and she unlocked her door and turned. “Tell the partners goodbye for me. I hope you won't be a moody prick if we happen to see each other again.”
I caught the door before she could close it and tsked. “Gideon will be here on Tuesday morning to pick you up.” I leaned in as her beautiful green eyes flared. “Don’t stand him up.” I gently pushed her inside her apartment and closed the door so I wouldn’t be tempted to follow her in and fuck her on the living room floor.
“Everything alright?” Gideon asked mildly as I slid into the passenger seat a moment later. He’d experienced the tense, silent ride from the casino too.
“No. Xander was right, this is a fucking mess.”
Gideon hummed. “Lionel Strack is a misogynistic psychopath. When he gets out, he’ll come after her.”
“Ivan is putting a tail on him.” I sighed. “We met Silas and his bodyguards as we were walking out. She’s on his radar too, and he confirmed Lionel wants her.”
Gideon’s mouth went tight. “She needs protection.”
“I know. She yanked the shit out of Lionel’s ridiculous little ponytail, and it probably took him three or four years to grow that thing.” I smirked, despite the deep frustration roiling through me.
“How’d the evening go other than Silas? Did it fluster her to be so underdressed?”
“No. She didn’t seem to care, and she still ended up causing a stir.” I told him about Cameron Wilder.
Gideon nodded, unsurprised. “Her beauty and curiosity pull people in, and her intelligence and humor don’t hurt either.”
“Everywhere we go, she draws attention. I don’t like it.”
He grinned but didn’t respond. A few minutes later, he pulled into my driveway. “You need to figure out what you want. I rather like her, despite who her father is, and I don’t want to see her get hurt–by the Stracks or by you. If you don’t claim her, maybe one of the partners will. Or you could hand her over to Cameron. He seems enamored by her, and he could keep her safe. Of course, he does have a penchant for rough sex. But then again, so do you.”
“You know goddamn good and well none of the partners will step on my toes. Fuck , I’m not talking with you about this.” As I got out, he chuckled at my frustration. Gideon liked to get under my skin sometimes.
Shedding my suitcoat as I walked into the kitchen, I headed to the liquor cabinet. The cool, still evening greeted me as I sat by the pool and nursed a bourbon while staring out at the Vegas skyline, brooding and planning.
There was no way I’d step aside and let one of my partners, or fucking Cameron Wilder, have Luna. Maybe that made me a prick, but the added bonus would be getting under her corrupt father’s skin, because Montgomery Cross may not care if she lost her scholarship or couldn’t take the bar. But I’d bet he would completely lose his shit if he knew his daughter was fucking one of the delinquent teenagers from Bitter Creek Ranch. The demons inside my head quieted for the first time in months, and I picked up my phone and started typing out a text to Klim.
Roman: As of right now, I’m no longer Luna’s mentor.
Klim: What the hell am I supposed to do with that on a Saturday night at midnight? What happened? Is Luna alright?
Roman: Ivan is her mentor now
Klim: Goddamn it, Roman. Did you fuck her?
Roman: Not yet.
Klim: Does she know about her father?
Everyone kept asking me that. Luna had been mine to torture and ruin before I met her, and now she was just mine. I didn’t care anymore about her fucking father.
Klim: You have to tell her
I didn’t respond, smiling grimly as I set my phone down and picked up my bourbon, taking a sip. A few minutes later, another text came in.
Klim: Goddamn it, Roman. You and I are going to have words
I wanted Luna, no I craved her, my obsession finally reaching a flash point. Setting my drink down, my mind buzzed with restless energy as my feet took me to the gym. I stripped naked and shadow-sparred with the punching bag for a good half hour. Then I showered and called Ivan.
“What?” he growled, sleep in his voice.
“What’d you learn about Luna’s childhood when you did her background check?”
Ivan was silent for several seconds, then he let out a long, mournful sigh. “You fucking asshole. You didn’t read my report, did you? Don’t ask me for the ‘full monty’ and then not read the whole goddamned report, you motherfucker.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Pull it up and read the entire fucking thing .” He punctuated the last three words. “I wondered how you could still hurt her after reading about… Fuck! I should have made sure you knew.”
My heart started pounding. “Ivan, what did I miss?”
“Just read it.” Then he hung up.
Cold dread seeped through me as I searched for Ivan’s email with the report attached. Walking to my bedroom, I propped myself in bed and read the entire report this time, starting at the beginning instead of just focusing on her last few years.
I read about a fairly typical childhood for a kid with narcissistic parents. Then I came across the section where the report outlined how Luna had been severely beaten by her father one night. The paragraph discussed “extensive contusions on the face, lacerations, broken ribs, and eyes swollen shut.” The report also outlined her broken arm and Luna being left for dead in the bottom of her parents’ clothes closet . She’d been eleven fucking years old at the time, and she’d spent her twelfth birthday lying there, waiting to die. I owed Sylvie Spade more than I could repay.
Montgomery had probably planned to send in a clean-up crew while he was out of town to get rid of the body, but Sylvie had found her first. Sylvie and her mother lived with husband number three on the same street as Luna in an upscale Phoenix suburb, and they’d become fast friends. When Luna went missing, Sylvie had gone looking for her, breaking in through Luna’s bedroom window and cutting her arms in the process.
My breath sawed in and out as I fought for control. Luna had been lying half-dead in her own blood and filth, locked in a closet while her parents went out of town so they wouldn’t have to deal with the mess.
Then her father had done to her what he’d done to us, and used his extensive reach and legal influence to lie, bribe, and cover up his crimes. He’d blamed the attack on a random break-in, and threatened Sylvie’s mother to keep the girls quiet. Frustration, bitter regret, and pure rage flowed through me. And hate. So much hate for Luna’s father.
“Fuck. FUCK!” I bellowed. I got out of bed and paced my room, but I couldn’t contain my anger. Stalking out to the back patio, I stared out into the night.
Luna had experienced her own hell at the hands of her father, and I wanted to soothe her hurts, protect her, and then fuck her senseless. Throwing my phone on the lounger, I stripped and dove into the pool, then slowly swam laps while the contents of that report rattled through my mind as my tired arms and brain slowly went numb. Now that I wasn’t her mentor, all bets were off.