Malice

Chapter 15

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

Gwendolyn

Sitting cross-legged in the middle of my new office, I pulled another bag close to sort through the next number of cords I needed. I was nearly done. Just a few more things to do and my space would be all set up.

My old office had been great, and really, I couldn’t fault it. But this area was a wet dream. I’d been a bit uncomfortable about accepting all this from Malice. It seemed like so much, but if he was sure, and my family was as well, I may as well utilize it.

Besides, I could view it as a bonus for dealing with the Devil.

Another good thing about this office was that it had so much more space. So many ideas ran through my mind.

I wanted to invest in another monitor or two. An office couch off to the side. Oh, I could even get a refrigerator.

Maybe even—

“Gwen!”

“Shit a brick.” I spun around, my eyes practically bulging from my head and my heart racing. “Hell, Felix, you scared the bejesus out of me.”

He chuckled. “Sorry, sis, but I’ve been calling for you.”

“Oh, my bad. Really?” When he nodded, I added, “Sorry, what did you need?”

“Was wondering if you’re ready for dinner?”

My stomach grumbled at the mention of food. Even though I should eat, I really wanted to finish setting up first.

Smiling, I told him, “I’ll have dinner later. I’m just going to finish this first.”

“Gwen, you haven’t eaten since breakfast.”

I went back to fiddle with the cords. “I’ll be okay. You guys eat, though. Don’t wait for me. I’ll be down soon, and we can all watch a movie together. I don’t have much left to do.”

He sighed. “Okay, Gwen.”

Before he left, the doorbell rang through the house.

We stared at each other, then I asked, “Who could that be?”

Felix shrugged. “Maybe Reaper again?”

Rolling my eyes, I asked, “Can you let him in?”

“No problem.”

I heard him leave and soon got lost in what I was doing again.

At the loud knock on the office door, I jolted from under my desk, hitting my head.

“Felix,” I scolded, climbing out from under there, saying, “I swear to God, I’m going to murder you and paint my new walls in your blood—” My eyes widened.

“You’re not Felix.” I looked at the second person. “And neither are you.”

The guys grinned, and one of them said, “No wonder our brother moved you in.”

Malice

Downing the rest of my whiskey neat, I groaned as I rolled my head around. I couldn’t get her off my mind. She’d already consumed my thoughts before I’d even met her. Now it was worse. It was as if she lived inside my head.

I was obsessed with her fiery curls framing her freckled face, the sparkle in her eyes when she found something funny, the red tint to her cheeks when she was nervous, and the fire in her words when she got pissed.

She was perfect.

My perfect doll.

A thump close by shook me from my thoughts. Torment, who’d taken over from Vincent a few hours ago, had put his feet up on the coffee table.

“How’s it going out there?” I asked.

He grinned. “Busy as fuck.”

I hummed under my breath. That was good. I used the casino for my organization to launder money.

“And the payment collection?”

“Great. Reaper and the other lieutenants organized their teams to do collection.” He grinned mischievously. “And they’ll give them a scare if they don’t obey.”

I grunted. “Good.”

We also collected payments from the streets I controlled—compensation for protection from rival organizations and anyone who wanted to operate a business on my turf—whether they liked it or not.

I hadn’t gone door to door for payments since my father was in charge. Those had been good times.

“Have the men who are on Benjamin reported anything back?”

“He’s still being shady, but it’s the usual for that twerp. He’s frequenting the casino and clubs more often. His phone records show calls to Ray, Byron, Michael, and Joseph.”

They were some of the lower-rank family members who did odd jobs for the organization. Nothing overly important.

“Right. Have the men continue surveillance.”

He hummed in response. I glanced over at my cousin and noticed the distant look in his eyes.

“How was the drive home last night?”

Something passed over his face, but it was gone as fast as it came. “Good.”

The dinging of my phone interrupted any further discussion. As I took it out of my pocket and opened the message, bitterness seeped into my veins.

“What the fuck do they think they’re doing?”

“What?” Torment planted his feet on the floor and stood.

When he was close, I passed it over to him as I got up and moved to the coat rack to slip on my suit jacket.

Torment chuckled. “Those cheeky fucks.”

I fixed my cufflinks as he walked my way, waiting until he handed me my phone back. I pocketed it before ordering, “Let’s go.”

When we reached Gwen’s house, I opened the front door and stepped through before I bellowed, “Cameron, Lorenzo!”

Torment snickered as he stepped around me to take his place in the corner.

Quiet laughter, muffled by footsteps, echoed down the hallway and drew closer before Tweedledee and Tweedle-fucking-dum came around the corner, along with Felix. They stopped just a few feet away.

The little shits stood there avoiding my hard gaze while trying not to smile.

Hell.

I would do anything for these two, but sometimes they just crossed the line.

“Explain.”

Enzo spoke up, “We just wanted to say hello to the new neighbors.”

I cocked a brow. “That right?”

“Yeah, we heard around the community that you moved someone in. We wanted to—” Cam paused before continuing in a whisper. “—meet the special person.”

Felix’s eyes widened.

I grumbled in annoyance, carding my fingers through my hair, then pinching the bridge of my nose.

I didn’t like them snooping around my doll without asking me first. Gwen was mine, and that meant she was off-limits until I gave anyone permission to meet her.

I just needed to make everyone aware of it.

“For fuck’s sake, you two,” I bit out.

Realizing just how annoyed I was, they both apologized in unison.

“Out. We’ll discuss this later.”

“Wait,” Felix said.

The boys stopped moving, and I asked, “Yes, Felix?”

He stepped around the boys, eyes darting between me, Torment, and the floor. “I need your help.”

The hairs on the back of my neck rose. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s Gwen. She hasn’t eaten since breakfast, and it’s now just after eight.

She’s been distracted all day with setting up her new office.

When she gets into her zone, she doesn’t realize time’s flown by.

I tried to get her down for dinner, but she said she’ll eat later, even though her stomach is growling. ”

I was so fucking close to putting her in that cage, hand feeding her, bathing her, and keeping her away from everything and everyone so I knew she was safe and only mine.

“Have the rest of you eaten?” I asked.

Felix shook his head.

I pulled out my phone and sent a message to the cook, saying I wanted dinner ready in twenty minutes. Then I took the stairs, slow and silent, heading for her office. Soft music drifted through the space, no doubt dulling her instincts.

When I stepped into the doorway, she didn’t look up. Didn’t sense me.

Fucking dangerous.

Even over the music, I heard her stomach growl—and when she did nothing about it, irritation flared sharp and immediate.

I stalked over to her and picked her up, throwing her over my shoulder.

She screamed, “Malice, what the fuck are you doing?”

With a slap on her ass, which earned me a squeal, I said, “We’re going to have dinner.”

She wiggled, trying to get out of my grasp, but I refused to let her budge.

“Stop moving or I’ll take you in a way that the children shouldn’t see.”

That had her stilling.

“Good girl.”

“Oh my God,” she whispered.

“God isn’t going to save you from me.”

She made a little meep noise but said nothing more until we reached the top of the stairs.

“Wait!”

I halted. “Yes?”

“I’ll walk from here.”

“No.”

With that, I continued down the stairs, ignoring her grumbles and pleas. Downstairs, Amelia and the old man had joined the others in the front living room near the entrance.

Torment stood with his arms draped around the twins’ shoulders. All three were chuckling like idiots.

“Gwen, what’s going on?” her sister asked.

“Nothing. It’s nothing. Everything’s okay. Malice just has his panties in a twist about something.”

“Everyone. Dinner at mine. Now.”

“I’ve already eaten,” Greg said. “I’m going to stay here.”

I nodded and ignored the twins smirking. I’d be talking to them later about boundaries.

As I continued forward, with everyone following close, I made my way across the lawn as Torment called, “As much as I’d love to see how dinner goes, I have to head off. Reaper will be by in the morning, and I’ll take over in the afternoon.”

I narrowed my gaze on him. He was acting odd. Usually, he’d never miss a chance to witness any type of drama.

Plus, he hadn’t told me he was going anywhere tonight. For safety reasons, I knew where my two right-hand men were at all times, even if they were dick deep.

Something was happening with him, and I would find out what. For now, I tipped my chin his way. “Right.”

He met my gaze and replied with a thin-lipped, curt nod. He knew I’d want answers later.

As he walked off, I turned and started for my place once more.

“Okay, well, you can put me down now, Malice. I’m not letting you parade around your community with me looking like a fat-ass bag of potatoes over your arm.”

This time, I pinched her ass for her attitude and for even thinking she could look anything but delicious.

“Ow, you dick,” she yelled, before grumbling some more under her breath and swatting at my ass.

“It’s not far,” I told her.

I continued to my house, stationed right next door. Once we were over the perimeter, I said, “And we are here.”

She pushed up off my back and looked around. “You’re joking.”

“Afraid not.”

“Put me down, Malice. The kids think this is weird.”

“Nope. We’re good watching the show,” Cam called.

Enzo and Felix chuckled.

“I agree,” Amelia cheekily added.

“Amelia,” Gwen scolded.

“See. They don’t,” I told her.

Still, I placed her down right in front of me, keeping my hands on her hips.

“You’re trying to tell me that the only available house in your community was next door to the boss?”

“Correct,” I lied.

“Next door?”

Lie. “Yes.”

She glowered up at me. “Right.”

Leaning down, I got close enough that our noses nearly touched. “Do you not want to be near me?”

When her cheeks burned red, I smirked, and she shook her head.

“Good, and even if you didn’t want to be nearby, I wouldn’t allow that to happen.”

With that, I grabbed her hand and stalked forward, pulling her with me. Once we reached my front door, I heard car doors slam on the street nearby.

“My son.”

Slowly, I faced my mother. “Ma, Vince, what’re you two doing here?”

“Uh….” Vincent glanced at the twins and back. “Enzo messaged, saying to grab Mom. That we’re having dinner at yours.”

“Is that so?”

I turned my head to see the little shit looking off to the side, whistling, while Cam hid his wide grin behind his hand. Un-fucking-believable.

Moving toward my mother, still holding Gwen’s hand, I placed my other hand on my mother’s shoulder and kissed her cheek.

“Ma, this is Gwendolyn and her siblings, Felix and Amelia. This is my mother, Valentina.”

As if Gwen had just woken from a daze, she fought to tug her hand from mine, but I tightened my grip, refusing to let her shake me off. When she realized there was no use, she maneuvered our joined hands to hide them behind her back and reached out with her free one to my mother.

“Hi, yes, I’m Gwendolyn. You can call me Gwen. I… uh… work for your son.”

Ma watched my doll for a few beats longer, examining her, before she smiled. “Hello, Gwen. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

Ma ignored Gwen’s outstretched hand and pressed her palm to Gwen’s cheek. “You have the most gorgeous hair and eyes. Doesn’t she, son?”

“Yes, Ma. My doll is gorgeous.”

Gwen released an awkward laugh. “Right, okay, let’s get dinner going.”

Gwen spun around, this time dragging me along. The others and I chuckled at her sudden enthusiasm for dinner. No doubt later I’d get an earful from her about meeting my mother and calling her my doll in front of Ma. I couldn’t wait.