Chapter 8
Gabriel
“The numbers from the Milwaukee shop are down.” I run my finger over the ledgers in front of me. “By twenty percent.”
“You want me to look at it?” Roman asks. “Or we can ask Lucian to stop in; he’s been itching to get his hands dirty.”
“What he’s itching to do is break a few skulls. Ever since Blair left him, he’s been like a bull with his horns down.”
“Well, if there’s a problem at the shop, he’ll get to do both.” Roman grins and shoves the last bite of his banana muffin into his mouth.
“If he can manage not to kill anyone before getting all the answers, fine with me.” I drop my pen and lean back in my chair, glancing at the time on the grandfather clock in the corner of my office.
Nearly ten, and there’s been no sign of Savvy yet this morning. She was still sound asleep when I slipped out of bed five hours ago. She’d been just as dead to the world when I’d slid between the covers last night.
It wasn’t the first time I’ve slept beside a woman in my bed, but not having fucked her first was new. When I’d climbed into bed, I’d expected to roll to my side and drift off. But I was restless and tossed and turned, until finally I shifted over closer to her warm, soft body.
She’d immediately rolled over into me, draping her arm across my waist and snuggling her face into my chest. I’d fallen asleep right after.
A man could get used to that.
“How is the new distribution hub coming?” Roman’s question pulls me from the memory of Savvy’s warm body pressed against mine.
“Fine.” I close the ledger book. “All of the financing has gone through, and we’re due to break ground by Thanksgiving.”
A soft knock on the door interrupts him as he starts to say something. The door opens and Savvy’s head peeks in. Once she sees me sitting behind my desk, she shoves the door open and comes inside.
“You’re up,” I say.
She raises her eyebrows. “Yeah. I’m up.”
Roman chuckles. “Her attitude hasn’t improved much since I saw her last.”
“You remember my brother, Roman.” I gesture across my desk at him.
She swings her attention to him and offers a nod of acknowledgement.
“The jerk who shoved me into the room and locked me inside. Yeah, I remember him.” She walks over to my desk. “I need my phone and my iPad. Neither of them was in the suitcases.”
“I have your phone.”
“Well, I need it. I have a job I need to wrap up—”
“I remember telling you last night there won’t be any side jobs while you’re working for me.”
“This is from before I knew you existed. It doesn’t count.”
“What’s the job?”
“Some birth certificates and ID cards. I just need to finish the birth certificates. I’ll be done by this afternoon.” When I don’t say anything else she sighs and adds, “It’s for a contact I have at a woman’s shelter.”
“Why does a women’s shelter need fake Ids?”
Her expression darkens. “She helps women disappear when restraining orders get ignored. In order to do that, they need new identities.”
“How often do you do work for her?”
“Between her and other shelters she works with, almost weekly. So give me my phone and iPad so I can finish the work for her.” She wiggles her fingers at me.
Someone thinks since we have an audience she’s safe from me.
I stare at her open hand. “Maybe you should try using your manners if you want something.”
Her gaze hardens, the same way her jaw does, but she doesn’t relent. She seems content to stand there all day and glare at me until I give in.
A lesson she should learn now: I never give in.
“If she’s going to be doing those manifests, she’s going to need her computer.” Roman pipes in after a solid minute of tense silence has filled the room.
“He’s right.” She flashes me a twisted smile.
I open the top drawer of my desk and pull out her devices. Having already had mirroring software placed on all of them, along with a tracking app, should she decide to go on another adventure in the middle of the night, I’m not worried about what she’ll do with them.
I pull away when she moves to take them from me.
“Say please.”
“What?” She scoffs.
I tilt my head, leaning into her. “Say please. I’d prefer, please, sir, but I’ll wait until I have you on your knees for that.”
Murder flashes across her expression. A soft pink hue blooms on her cheeks, but I make no mistake in thinking it’s because she’s embarrassed. No, the woman would definitely like to stick a knife through my throat.
“You should just say it. He’ll stand here all day waiting, and we have work to do still.” Roman doesn’t even look up from his phone while interfering.
“If you think I’ll ever get on my knees for you—”
“I don’t think it, sweetheart; I know it. Now, say please.” I lower my voice, leaning against her ear. “Unless you want me to pull your jeans down and show you again how I treat bad girls?”
She sucks in a harsh breath.
“I hate you,” she grinds out from behind clenched teeth.
I bring my eyes in line with hers and whisper, “Hate me all you want, but remember the rules and what happens if you break them.” I pause a beat. “Now, say please so you can take your things and go on your way.”
Her nostrils flare. It’s fucking adorable. If it were physically possible, steam would be pouring out of her ears.
“Please.” Her lips barely move, but she manages to get the word out.
“What did she say?” Roman’s chair creaks as he leans toward us with a hand cupping his ear. “I didn’t hear her.”
I retreat a step and hand her the electronics. “You can work in here.”
“I’d rather go back upstairs. I can use the room I was in before.”
“So long as you understand that room is off limits at night.”
Flames burst in her eyes.
“There are a lot of rooms in this house, I’m sure you can spare an extra bed.”
I lift a shoulder. “Of course I can. I don’t want to.”
“I’m going out this afternoon, and I need a car since you ‘took care of mine.’” She switches topics so quickly, it takes a second for it to register.
“Where are you going?”
“Out.”
“Where is out?”
“Not here.”
Roman chuckles again. At least he has the decency to keep it low. I’m still going to throat punch him, but it’s good to know he has some level of respect for me.
“You’re already testing the rules. Maybe we should go over them again.” I make a point of resting my hand on my belt. Her gaze flies to the leather strap.
“I’m meeting up with Cassie. We’re going to go to the deli she likes for lunch, and then we’re going shopping because she has a job interview in St. Louis tomorrow afternoon and needs a new skirt.
” She raises her brow. “We’ll probably grab a coffee afterwards, too.
Would you like me to map out exactly what streets I’ll be taking? ”
“Cassie’s the girl that was on the iPad yesterday?”
“Yes.”
“How does she know you’re still able to meet her today? She saw me break down your door.”
She lifts a shoulder, and then I realize there are more people in this house other than myself.
“Mrs. Neville let you use her phone, didn’t she?”
“I won’t let you yell at her.”
I jerk back.
“No one is going to yell at her.” No one yells at Mrs. Neville. Not even her own husband.
“Good. So, about the car.”
“I’ll have a driver ready for you.”
“I don’t need a driver, just a car.”
“I’ll have a driver ready for you. I have work to get back to, and so do you.”
She turns on her heel and storms from the office, slamming the door behind her.
“So…how’s the new girl working out?” Roman smirks at me as I sit back down behind my desk.
“I’m not in the mood.”
“If she irritates you so much, why are you keeping her here?” He shoves his phone into the back pocket of his jeans.
“She’ll settle in.”
“Hmm.” He gets up from his chair. “She doesn’t seem like the kind of girl that settles in.
She’s more of the bring-chaos-into-every-room-she-enters sort of girl.
But I have limited experience with her, so I could be wrong.
It’s just most women would have curled up in a ball and sobbed themselves to sleep after I locked them in a room.
She threw insult after insult, tried to barricade the door with a hundred-pound bookcase, and then escaped. ”
“Thanks for the review. I’m aware of what sort of woman she is.” I open my laptop, determined to put her out of my mind so I can go over the proposals waiting for my approval.
Savvy Collins isn’t going to bring chaos into my life. She’s going to work off the money she lost me, and then she’s going to sail off back to the tiny apartment with the paper-thin walls.
“I’m just saying that you’ve forced men into your employ before but none of them spent the night in your bed.” He gets up.
“Don’t you have things to do? You have an office; you should use it.”
He cocks an eyebrow. “I’m heading there now. Are you going to be in at all today?”
“No. I have enough to keep me busy here.” I open an email, set to put my mind into work and forget about the curvy brunette upstairs.
“I’m sure you do.” He laughs, heading to the door. He stops when the door opens and our cousin, Lucian, stalks inside. A murderous look fixed on his face.
“What’s wrong?” I gesture for Roman to shut the door.
“I just came from a meeting. Ricci’s unhappy,” Lucian states, his hands fisted at his sides. He’s been looking for a fight, and if Ricci’s as dumb as I think he is, there might be an opportunity here.
“What could he be unhappy about?” Roman asks, leaning against the door and checking his watch.
“He’s saying the money Gabriel paid him to cover that girl’s debt was a purchase.” He gestures toward me. “He’s saying you bought the woman from him. He wants to make another deal to cover her debt.” Lucian’s jaw ticks.
“That’s a little different than the gratitude he’d shown for taking her off his plate when I’d made the offer to pay her debt.” I lean back in my chair. “What does he want?”
“Full access to her.” Lucian says flatly. “He tried making the case that since he let you take her, he’s out the opportunity to have her work for him. He wants that opportunity back.”
“No.” I answer before he’s even finished the sentence. “She doesn’t work for him. She doesn’t work near him.”
“Who the fuck does he think he is trying to make a deal like this after he’s already taken our cash?” Roman demands.
“He’s trying to make it seem like you couldn’t get a woman, so you bought yourself one that can work for you in and out of your bed.” Lucian rolls his shoulders. “He’s lucky I didn’t rip his fucking windpipe from his throat right there.”
“Other than you, who’s he saying these things to?” Roman questions. Always on the lookout for trouble from every angle.
“His own crew mostly, but you know how shit like this spreads. No one would believe it, but it’s the disrespect,” Lucian says.
I can have Ricci in the ground within the hour with one single nod of my head.
And he knows it. But killing him would trigger a bigger problem with other families that work with him.
And having a full-scale war over that little prick right now with all of the business I have tied up with the city right now outweighs my need for his blood.
“Tell him no. If he reaches out again, the answer is no. She doesn’t go anywhere near him for any reason. She works for us, and only us. And if he so much as looks like he’s going to make a move against us, take care of it.” I nod to Lucian. “However you see fit.”
“Of course.” Lucian’s body softens. The prospect of getting to break a few bones in Ricci’s face is enough to relax him.
“Since all of that is settled, I’m going to the office.” Roman yanks open the door and Savvy spills inside.
She offers a pitiful smile. “I was just going to ask about that ride?”