Chapter 39 – Liam
Fucking hell….
I wanted to believe her. I wanted to trust that her brash display was meant for me. But how could I, when she was keeping secrets?
Gabriella pressed her lips tight. But there was a tantalizing gleam in her eyes.
She looked ravishing in that blue gown. After ordering the ceremonial dress for her, I found shopping for my wife was my newest addiction.
The app on her phone was filled with clothes, so it was easy to gauge her style.
I wanted to fill the closet, make her try them on, but who was I kidding. Once she was naked, I would pounce.
The thought of tasting her bare flesh sent a sizzle of heat straight to my dick.
If it wasn’t important for business to be here, I would have hauled her out of the party. It had been a long week, and I couldn’t remember why I’d spent the nights on the couch. That stopped now. I was going to take her home and put our king-sized bed to good use. The idea of waiting was torture.
Or maybe we don’t have to.
Hell, there were plenty of empty rooms in this mansion where we could hide.
A movement caught my attention over her head.
I lifted my gaze and locked eyes with Harold Sacks, a real estate tycoon. He grinned, all teeth and suave inclination.
Fuck me.
There was no avoiding this collision.
Pressing a fast kiss on Gabriella’s forehead, I murmured, “You look beautiful tonight, by the way.”
She sucked in a sharp breath of air. It was as if she were surprised.
I frowned, but there wasn’t time to push the issue. I spun her into my side, locking her in place at my left and angling my body slightly in front of hers as Sacks made his way over.
The tycoon drifted to us with a loose confidence that came from money and a half-empty glass. Eyes glassy, he smirked, already convinced he owned the room. He stuck out his hand like he was doing me a favor.
“Hell of a party,” he said, voice loud enough to draw a little attention. “Haven’t seen you out and about much. But I can guess why.”
My molars scraped hard as he studied my mask.
Reluctantly, I took his hand and shook. There was no reason giving this sonofabitch much of my attention.
Da never touched his properties, but I felt the pitch coming on like a bad stink.
As the head of the organization, it was now my job to endure these kinds of interactions.
“Harold, good to see you,” I lied.
Dropping my hand to my side, I made plans to burn the glove when I got home.
The tycoon chuckled, taking a sip of bourbon, gaze flicking over the mask again. “My condolences about your father.”
“Thank you.”
“Glad to see you’re not hiding at home.” He scratched his chin with his cocktail glass. “In fact, I’m surprised you took over the family business. What with the accident and all.”
“I’ve been running McDonagh Construction for the last decade,” I bristled.
What a fecking wiener. He knew that. Hell, everyone in the damn room knew that.
Gabriella shifted beside me, watching the interaction.
I took a deep, calming breath. The tycoon was only trying to get under my skin. The scent of peaches grounded me.
I’m not going to let him.
“Your father and I were talking at one of the spring galas—the Commission for the Blind or the Arts Foundation, I can’t remember which. Doesn’t matter,” he snorted.
His gaze flicked to Gabriella. It assessed her, raking down her body. Right before I could push her behind me and get in the fecker’s face, it slid back to me. Dismissive. And that made me see red for a whole different reason.
Sacks found her wanting.
I was going to kill him.
“We were talking about plans for the old sports center on Bay Front Drive,” the tycoon continued. “It would make an excellent high-rise for condominiums. The area is teeming with potential.”
“The youth sports center?” I growled. “The one for disabled kids?”
“Yeah, that one. Great location. The whole block is begging for a remodel.” Sacks took a sip of his drink.
I took a step to the left, ready to move on. “Not interested.”
The tycoon snorted, stepping to block me. “Your father was more tactful. Then again, he knew how to speak business.”
Gabriella let out a huff.
I squeezed her hand, grateful for the adorable little outburst. It helped me resist the urge to reach for my knife.
“Must make networking interesting,” he went on, like he was commenting on the weather. His gaze fixed on my mask. “Hard to read people when they don’t give you much to read back. I like to know who I’m dealing with.”
In a flash of midnight blue, Gabriella tried to step around me. Her fingers slid over my arm. The motion was casual. Familiar. But it was also protective.
Or at least, that was what I wanted to believe.
“Oh, he’s very easy to read,” she said. She smiled at the tycoon, patient and polite, inviting him to underestimate her. It fucking grated that she wasted even the most professional smile on him. “He just prefers conversations that actually matter.”
The tycoon laughed, tipping his glass toward her.
The condescending arse.
“Fair enough. Still,” Sacks added, eyes drifting back to the mask, “must get hot under there. Or is that the point? Easier to scare people when they don’t have to look at what’s underneath.”
The people eavesdropping suddenly had somewhere else to focus their attention.
Gabriella didn’t miss a beat. Her smile sharpened just enough to cut.
“You’d be surprised,” she said lightly. “Most people are much easier to deal with once they stop worrying about appearances. But then again, I suppose that’s harder when your whole business depends on faking it.”
Sacks frowned, anger sparking in his eyes.
But Gabriella wasn’t done. Her tone dripped with disdain. “The spray tan, the dental implants…a great investment for shmoozing the weak-minded.”
My feral little wife. Something violent swelled in my chest. Pride. Admiration. And something more. Like I would be blind if she left the room.
“What gives you the right—”
“My husband said he’s not interested,” Gabriella continued, talking over him. “No one with an ounce of common sense is touching that youth center. The locals are very proud of it.”
With a squeeze of my arm, she turned into me, still speaking loudly enough to be heard. “Come on,” she urged. “I think we’ve endured enough bad taste for one evening. We need a drink.”
“Agreed,” I drawled and carved a path through the crowd for the beverages.
But as we walked, I heard their whispers. I felt their stares. I wanted to reach up and touch the mask, so I forced my gloved hand to fist at my side.
Gabriella stroked her fingers over my arm, humming under her breath. I focused on that sound.
I don’t know how I would do this without her.
“Whiskey. Neat,” I instructed the butler who was mixing drinks behind the portable bar.
He nodded, balding head glowing under the dazzling lights. “Yes, sir. And for the lady?”
“Oh, um….” Gabriella paused, tearing her gaze away from the spectacular room and looking at the man in the penguin suit.
“She’ll have the same,” I instructed.
Gabriella’s eyes danced. That pretty smile was right there.
“Thank you,” she breathed.
When the cut glasses slid our way, I took them both, dumped the one into the other, and brought them to my lips.
Gabriella’s gaze heated.
I passed her the glass, watched as she turned it, just like I knew she would. Those crimson-stained lips found the spot mine had been. She didn’t look away as she sipped.
I cleared my throat, but the words still came out as gravel. “What do you think of the house?”
Cradling the glass in her palm, Gabriella looked around. “It’s big, I’ll grant you that.”
What I really wanted to ask was if she wanted something like this. Ma was planning to move out, and if we consolidated our assets, there was no reason we couldn’t find a place equally as grand.
Gabriella deserved to live in a fecking castle.
And I would give it to her.
“A lot of rooms to clean.” She laughed and took another sip of the drink.
“The cleaning service could come more often,” I insisted. Pulling away, going back to the edge of the room, I tugged her into my arms. “Do you like the house?”
Gabriella placed the glass in my gloved hand. She debated her words but eventually lifted her gaze to mine. “Truthfully? No.”
I cocked my head to the side, studying her. “Why not?”
One delicate shoulder lifted in a shrug. “A house should be brimming with life. Kids, a family. Christmases and birthdays. Something this grand feels like a statement, not a home.”
A single word in that declaration made my heart thump over itself. We hadn’t spoken of children. Ever. That was probably a conversation we should have. While now did not feel like the right time, the opportunity was there.
My chest filled with a strange emotion. Hope and the idea of a future that didn’t end in a body bag. I knew instinctively that Gabriella would make a wonderful mother. The only thing I had to do was try to be a good father.
“Do you want kids?” I asked quietly.
She couldn’t look away fast enough. “No, not really.”
Pain stabbed straight through my chest. The inflated feeling whooshed out, the ideas I dared to have cut down before they could fully form.
Who could blame her? No one as beautiful as her would want to procreate with a scarred monster like me.
“Well, it’s a good thing you had your cycle,” I bit out and took a long swallow of the drink.
The burn of the smokey whiskey did nothing to numb the agony.
Gabriella whirled around. “You snooped in the trash!”
I set the now empty glass on a side table. “We’ll have to be more careful in the future.”
“That’s disgusting.” Gabriella shook her head vehemently. “Who looks in the trash for feminine products?”
“I wasn’t looking,” I snapped, ready to be done with this conversation so I could nurse my wounds and lock away the idea of ever becoming a parent. “I blew my nose, and when I dropped the tissue, I saw the bloody plastic sticks.”
Gabriella bit her bottom lip hard and battled a laugh.
I looked away, not wanting to see the smile she refused to give.
“Tampon applicators,” she said breathily.
“Yeah, whatever.” I raised a hand as a city councilman looked our way. “Time to talk shop again.”
But Gabriella didn’t move with me. “I’ll be right back.”
I frowned.
“I need to use the bathroom,” she whispered.
I nodded, too hurt to say more, and I couldn’t walk away fast enough from the woman who took my beating heart and stomped all over it.
“McDonagh! Good to see you,” Roger Ackles boomed.
We shook hands.
“How’s your wife feeling?” I asked, focusing my attention on him and not the glances surrounding us.
Roger chuckled. “The fruit basket made her smile more than she has in weeks.”
I nodded. “Good.”
The councilman was one of the people whose hands we’d slicked over the years. I sent a bonus to him, and from the sounds of it, he was in my favor now that I was the boss.
“And how are you?” Roger asked carefully, voice lowered with concern.
Currently? Not so good. My skin crawled with ants. Each bite from their teeny, tiny teeth was accompanied by a whisper or a quick look at my face.
“Busier than ever,” I said tightly. “The high-rise is taking up most of my time.”
As we fell into an easy conversation about the construction business, my mind wandered. It was only because I was tangled in thoughts of my wife that I realized my phone buzzed.
“Excuse me a moment.” I held up a finger while pulling out the bleeding device. It was rude, I knew that. But what if it was Gabriella?
It was.
My Queen: Alright, mobster, come and find me.
There was another message. This one with a scandalous picture that showed Gabriella, topless, her back to the camera, but looking over her shoulder as the blue gown draped around her waist.
As I stared in open-mouthed disbelief at her lunatic face, bubbles appeared on the screen.
My Queen: IYCMYFM.
What the fuck did that mean? My brows scrunched together as I tried to decipher the letters. That wasn’t English. Maybe something in Italian?
Feck it.
Gabriella was topless, and she wanted me to find her.
Suddenly, not a damn thing mattered.
“I have to go make a call,” I told the councilman. “Something’s come up.”
“Of course,” he sighed, and I hoped that wasn’t gratitude for the escape in his voice. “Always a pleasure seeing you. And thank you again for the fruit.”
If it wasn’t for my money, I doubted he would want anything to do with me. None of them would. I buried that thought before I could apply the same logic to Gabriella and took off to find my wife.