Chapter 13 #2
I get her point, I do, but the years of resentment from her running from me bubble over, encouraging me to be cruel.
“You think children with families like mine are the only ones in danger? That children aren’t in danger every day of their lives from the mundane parts of this god awful society?
People who hurt children are in schools, churches, and the government programs designed to do the exact opposite. Don’t be a hypocrite, Gianna.”
She scowls. “Don’t be condescending. You know what I meant.”
I shake my head. “I don’t. You know why? Because I have the money to protect our children unlike others. Money talks, more than intentions. That’s just the way the world spins.”
Disgust filters over her face. “I know all about your blood money! That doesn’t comfort me!”
“You’re misinformed. My company merely invests, no blood money involved. So whatever you are searching for, you won’t find it here. Be sure to tell your brother,” I say with a sneer. There’s only one person who has soiled the image of me in her mind.
Leaving her there, I head to the bedroom, exhausted from the day. We keep going back and forth, resolving nothing, and somehow it pushes her further away from me.
I pull off my shirt, turning on the shower when I feel her presence. Unbuttoning my pants, I glance over my shoulder. “I put food in the fridge if you wanted some. I didn’t forget just because I had to stop by work to take care of something.”
She doesn’t answer, just stares at me.
“What?” I ask, a little more snappishly than I intend.
She bites her lip before moving closer to lean against the counter. I shove off my pants, and her eyes fall to my swaying cock before looking away with a sigh. “How’d you know about my brother asking me to find things?”
I suppress the smirk that almost comes over my lips, my mood lightening instantly. I do love when I’m right. “I didn’t, just assumed.”
Gianna frowns. “And I just confirmed it. I told him I’d make a horrible spy.”
A laugh escapes me before I can stop it, and I move into the shower, sighing at the warm water. My eyes fall back on her, catching her watching me. Sending her in to spy on me, what a foolish, no, ignorant man.
“What did your brother want?”
Uncertainty and fierce protectiveness storm her face in thick clouds. “You’re not going to hurt him if I tell you?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Was he planning on hurting me? Do you care?”
“No—I mean, yes. Ugh. No, he wasn't planning on hurting you. Yes, I would have cared.” She shakes her head in frustration.
“No, I wouldn’t have hurt him.” I give her that truth. Though depending on what he was looking for, I would have handed him off to others that would. I came to the conclusion a long time ago, that any revenge I seek on her brother could never be at my own hands.
Gianna’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know what he wanted. He just asked me to find something that connects you to the mafia and hand it over to the FBI.”
My head jerks back from the shock, sputtering out the water that’s slipped into my mouth. “Your brother is working with the FBI?”
She frowns, watching my reaction with concern. “He said he is… Is that bad, Sebastian? They’re the government.” Her fingers fidget where they’re resting on her stomach.
“That doesn’t mean they’re the good guys,” I spit out, rubbing my hand down my face. Fuck, if the Italians find out, Matt is as good as dead. “Your brother is a fucking dumb twat. He put himself and you at risk by working with the feds. I’ll never forgive him for endangering you.”
I huff out an angry breath, calming the drumming in my head demanding I do something right this instant. Nothing good ever came from a rushed decision.
“Get your ass in here,” I snap, glancing over at her.
I see the refusal on the tip of her tongue, but something else flickers over her face before she sheds her clothes and steps in, facing me.
Grabbing her waist, I pull her closer to me.
Her fingers reach up, tracing the butterfly tattoo over my heart.
Her hand shakes as she gets to the date underneath and she blows out a bated breath.
“It looks like the pendant I used to wear all the time. I lost it a long time ago,” she says.
It’s not lost, it’s shoved into a velvet box and tucked in my drawer for safekeeping, but I don’t tell her that.
“You’ve always been with me, Gianna.”
Her eyes flutter shut, and her forehead falls forward to rest on my chest. I squeeze her tighter against me, savoring the scrape of her hard nipples on my skin and the softness of her curves under my hands.
“Why is it bad?”
I don’t want to talk about her brother anymore. My anger over the information is still swirling in my mind and has not dimmed, but I answer her anyway.
“Because feds can be bought. And the few who can’t be, don’t give a rat’s ass about the informants and they all are left for dead. Your brother is gambling with his life, and for what?”
Her nails dig into my skin. “You’d have him killed?”
I’m silent long enough for her to look up at me, and I trace a finger around her lips.
“It wouldn’t be me, Gianna. But others aren’t so forgiving. If your brother reaches out, I suggest you tell him to put a stop to it.”
She swallows harshly. “He only let me come with the intention of finding information.”
“Is that why you came?” I ask, my heart squeezing for the answer I probably don’t want.
Gianna’s eyes roam over my face and she shakes her head. “I think I decided to come before that.”
While inside I rejoice at her confession, my mind can’t let go of the mistrust. The betrayal that could easily happen.
Not that I could blame her, exactly. I blackmailed her into staying with me, and we still haven’t figured out why she ran to begin with.
But it’s more than just my life on the line.
I pull her closer, wanting to pretend she came only for me.
“You could have anyone you want. Why me?” she asks when I don’t reply.
Disdain tears into me at the question. When we were younger, I knew Gianna doubted my intentions with her.
As if she was waiting for the day that someone told her I was cheating so she could have that validation.
It’s ludicrous. I’ve never wanted someone as much as her.
Until I saw her, I had been plenty content with the whores in the underground brothels that so many Made Men visited.
I never thought to strike up a relationship with an outsider.
I reach out, squeezing her ass until she yelps. “I thought I told you to stop degrading yourself.”
Her face flushes red. “Sebastian. You are one of the most eligible bachelors—hey!”
She cries out when I smack her ass cheek, the water making it sting harder than I meant. I glare down at her, seriously peeved off with her putting herself down.
“Six years. That’s how long I looked for you, and you still doubt I want you?” My fingers slide between her cheeks until I’m playing with the pussy I’m determined to fill with my baby. “Should I show you how much I’m obsessed with you? Get you knocked up on your first week here?”
She shivers, her tongue sweeping against her lips, and a small laugh falls from them. “I should say no.”
Leaning down, I lick at her neck and kiss up to her ear. “You should, but you’re not going to, are you?”
“It doesn’t mean I forgive you,” she whispers.
I smirk. “That’s fine. I don’t need your forgiveness to fuck you.” Impaling her with my fingers, she gasps, rising up on her tiptoes as I push them as deep as I can. I kiss her, groaning into her mouth when her pussy clenches around me.