Chapter 12
12
CELIA
T he car began to move later. I screamed some more obscenities, but I was sure the roar of the engine drowned my words.
Besides, they’d probably just have amused Gabriel.
Being in the trunk was suffocating. The air felt thin, and I squeezed my eyes shut, trying to will myself to calm down. But the more I thought about everything that had happened, the angrier I felt.
Gabriel had maneuvered this entire situation. He had left me believing David was dead for years. Lorenzo and David had disappeared. But Gabriel had always been in my world, at a distance, in the underground casinos and the fight clubs.
He could have told me that David was alive.
Instead, he had put Luca at my side, years later. When I thought of how I’d been chased by that stalker, how Luca had rescued me…I knew Gabriel had pulled all those strings.
Luca, Dante, and Gabriel were all keeping secrets from me.
I was fucking done . Things had to change.
But my first priority was definitely getting out of this trunk.
The car eventually stopped, and I heard the slam of a door followed by silence.
The trunk opened, and I caught a glimpse of Gabriel’s cool expression, the courtyard of the mansion. Behind him, midnight blue sky and distant, uncaring stars.
“Are you ready for bed?” Gabriel asked mildly, offering me his hand.
I sat up in the trunk, hurrying because I didn’t want to be shut in there again, and heaved myself out of the trunk. I half spilled onto the driveway, and Gabriel caught me, his hands on my waist. My legs ached from being curled in the trunk.
Gabriel released me and took a step back, his eyes wary. As he very well should be. I’d hit Luca with that shovel, but Gabriel deserved a whole garden shed worth of beatings.
“What the hell was that?” I demanded.
He smirked, looking cocky. “Just a lesson in obedience.”
“Obedience? Is that what you call it?” I realized my hand had risen as if I would slap him, but I never would. I was too calculating to act so impulsively, and I knew Gabriel was capable of dark consequences.
But his hand lashed out, capturing my wrist anyway. “Do you need another lesson?” His tone was mild, despite the threat.
“You can’t shut me up by locking me in a trunk!” I spat out, tears of frustration stinging my eyes. “You can’t make me doubt what I know!”
Gabriel’s expression softened. “I’ve merely prevented you from making another mistake. You forget that your actions have consequences.” He released his hold on my wrist, and I rubbed it, trying to ease the burn of his skin against mine, though his grip hadn’t hurt. “I wasn’t ready to leave yet, and you clearly were in no state for…polite company.”
Anger surged through me at his words. “So, when you locked me in the trunk…you were looking out for me?” My voice was laced with sarcasm.
“Exactly. I won’t let you ruin your future. There’s a part of you that wants this life. You just don’t realize it yet.”
I took a deep breath, trying to control my anger. “You don’t know anything about me.”
“Is that so?” His voice was deadly dangerous. “I know you love other men, but I’ve been very patient with that fact so far.”
“Are you threatening me?” I wanted to protect Dante and Luca more than anything.
He tilted his head, studying me. “I locked you in my trunk, and I could do far worse to you without anyone questioning me. You’re a clever girl. Do I have to threaten you?”
I glared at him, my heart racing. He was right. He could hurt me in so many ways without anyone knowing or even caring…except for Dante and Luca. Did he really have them locked away? Were they in danger, or just doing his bidding? The thought made me furious.
“You don’t scare me, Gabriel.”
He chuckled darkly, stepping closer to me. “We’ll see about that.” His hand reached for my chin, tilting my face up toward him as his fingers traced along my jawline. Heat flushed across my cheeks as I struggled to maintain eye contact with him.
“I can’t believe you’re still holding onto those feelings for David,” he whispered, his breath warm against my skin. “He’s not worth it.”
His thumb brushed against my lips, and I closed my eyes, trying to ignore the conflict within me.
Dante and Luca.
They kept running through my mind, their faces blurring together with the anger and frustration I felt toward Gabriel. But despite everything, there was still a part of me that couldn’t deny the pull I felt toward him. He was always the most powerful, dangerous man in the room.
I opened my eyes, meeting Gabriel’s gaze once more. “You don’t understand,” I whispered, my voice shaking slightly. “You can’t just expect me to forget about them.”
I’d misspoken. I’d said them when I’d meant to say him .
His grin spread slowly, a wicked glint in his eyes. I hadn’t surprised him with my slip. “Oh, but I think you will. Eventually.”
“Then why are you keeping them here? To control me?”
“You don’t seem particularly under control,” he said tightly.
When I looked at him, there were so many insulting things that I wanted to say. I pressed my lips together tightly.
The more I begged him for information, the more he clearly enjoyed denying me. I wasn’t going to give him any more satisfaction.
His lips curled up at the edges. “I would love to know what you’re thinking.”
I doubted that very much. I shook my head.
“It’s nice to know that you’re capable of restraint,” he told me. “You fooled so many, haven’t you? They don’t realize you’re so smart. Far smarter than the men who’ve thought you were nothing.”
I didn’t feel smart. I felt as if I had spent the last few days allowing myself to be carried by the tides, knowing that there was no point in struggling until I had reached the end of the riptide.
The plan that I had with my girls had always been that I would take my father’s place. There was no happy ending for me here with Gabriel, or even with Dante and Luca. I would always just be a pawn. I could always be tucked away into the trunk.
I had to get in touch with Moriah, Natalie, and Kara. I needed to find a new path forward. For now, as terrifying as Gabriel was, I was less afraid of him than I was of Royal and my father.
“Tell me what you’re thinking.” His thumb traced the skin to the right of my eye, wiping away a smudge. “You look like you were screaming in the trunk.”
“No. It was nice and cozy.” I didn’t want to give away how afraid I had been in the trunk or in that mausoleum. I sure as hell couldn’t let Gabriel see any weaknesses. “Can we go to bed?”
Maybe in the morning, I’d be able to see Dante and make sense of what was really happening.
“Oh, tesoro.” He seemed amused.
I didn’t know what tesoro meant, but I could guess it was an endearment. I didn’t know why he’d started using it after he shoved me in a trunk.
I headed for the house. He matched my stride easily.
“I’ve never thought I had any chance of meeting a woman who was my match. I’ve always thought the best I could do was someone obedient and loyal.” He glanced over at me. He looked amused and relaxed, like someone who had lingered over his whiskey while I was bashing the trunk with my fists.
“If you thought I was your match, you wouldn’t lock me in the trunk.”
“It would be even more delightful to have a woman who was my match…and still obedient and loyal.”
“Obedience is for dogs, Gabriel.” I walked ahead of him into our bedroom and began to undress. “We already have one.”
He came up behind me and undid the zipper on my dress without asking. I paused, irritated to find that the domestic gesture, the way he kept his hand over my hip, the feel of his fingers sliding over my bare skin, all had an unexpected effect on me.
I left the dress in the middle of the floor and turned to face him. There was a part of me that felt insecure and even vulnerable by the fact that he had chosen to send someone else to have sex with me.
I very much preferred Dante, of course. But I wondered if he didn’t find me desirable. He didn’t seem like the kind of man who had ever given up on something that he wanted.
But his gaze raked over me hungrily.
“Why did you send Dante in?” I asked again, more softly.
“I didn’t want you like that. In front of everyone. Tense and afraid.” I wasn’t sure if it was yet another lie, since Gabriel had given me different reasons. “I want you eager for me.” His lips curled up. “Begging. Pleading. Maybe newly uncaged…”
I let out a disgusted huff and went to brush my teeth and take off my makeup. He joined me in the bathroom, removing his suit jacket and shirt before he began to wash for bed. I glanced over at him, at the rippling, lean muscle beneath his tanned skin.
It seemed insane that I had to sleep next to this man who treated me so badly. Though maybe he should be the one who was scared. I could kill him in his sleep.
He fell asleep first while I was endlessly replaying the night with Dante.
I wanted to see Dante so badly, but I was afraid to push my luck. Why this elaborate game? Why wouldn’t Gabriel just tell me what was really happening?
I leaned up onto my elbow to study the handsome planes of his face. It had been no surprise to hear how much everyone desired Gabriel when we were at the club. There’d always been something about him that was so magnetic and charismatic. Maybe it was the way he seemed like he didn’t care very much about anything or anyone. There was something that made him seem as if he could never be possessed, and—combined with how charming he was—it made people long to win him over.
I wasn’t stupid enough to think I could win him over.
I could take a pillow and put it over his face and smother him. No, I didn’t have a high chance of that working, given how much stronger he was than me. I’d need to find another way. Perhaps I could knife him.
Still, I couldn’t help but think that David wouldn’t want that, just as David wouldn’t want Gabriel to mistreat me the way he did.
I had to find out what Gabriel wanted, and I was starting to fear that Dante already knew.
Had these three men conspired to trap me together? The thought made my heart pound. But it made no sense otherwise.
Well, I certainly wasn’t getting my answers tonight. And I certainly wasn’t going to murder Gabriel tonight, as much as I might indulge in a fantasy.
I wasn’t sure I could ever kill him or even let him die in the fallout of the war my girls and I would launch.
I reached for another pillow because I always like to sleep in a little nest of pillows. But Gabriel’s hand flashed out and caught my wrist.
“What are you up to?” he asked, bringing my wrist to his lips so he could press a kiss to the back of my hand.
“I’m trying to sleep.” I felt rattled by the realization that he had been awake as I studied him and daydreamed and plotted.
“Are you? Or are you trying to murder me?”
“I’m not trying to murder you as we lay in bed together. Are you insane?”
“The way you were staring at me does not suggest innocence.”
“I wouldn’t try to murder you when we were in bed together because it wouldn’t work,” I said in exasperation.
He let out an unexpected laugh. His laugh sounded husky, maybe even a little rusty. But it was still charming, and I felt a little thrill of power that I had made him laugh.
“I’m not like Luca. I don’t find it charming for you to try to hurt me. In fact, it will come with dire consequences.”
“Yes, you’re very scary.” I filed away the information that he and Luca had deep conversations about me. Unless Gabriel had them interrogated…which wouldn’t surprise me…it seemed as if these men had been in conversation. “You’re my husband. I wouldn’t try to kill you. Although I might plot revenge if you insist on punishing me…I wouldn’t hurt you. You don’t have to threaten me.”
“Am I supposed to believe in your loyalty?” His brows arched.
“You’re supposed to prove yourself worthy of it.”
“You have no loyalty to me. That’s why I must have your obedience.” His hand skidded down my side, and even through the lush covers, I felt electricity race through my body.
“It’s because you demand obedience instead of listening to me that you have no chance of getting my loyalty. You have to offer loyalty to me first.” I returned.
His face was so near mine, so handsome and alluring. I wished he was worthy of my loyalty. It would be a thousand times easier if the two of us could form an alliance to combat my father.
But even if I couldn’t trust him, he was still my husband. Had he sent Dante in most of all because he had a weakness for me to some extent? That he didn’t want to indulge?
He was still staring at me, with that handsome face that was so hard to read, with those icy blue eyes.
I put my hand on his cheek. The stubble across his usually clean-shaven jaw was rough against my palm.
“You shouldn’t look at me like that unless you forgive me. Because you’re looking at me like I should kiss you.” His voice was dark and full of desire.
It gave me the same unexpected thrill of power that his laugh did. A thrill of power, but also of desire.
I didn’t want to be made small. Not here. As much as I hidden myself all these years, part of me wanted Gabriel to see me as I was.
“I don’t forgive you, and you shouldn’t kiss me,” I whispered.
Both those things were probably true.
But I brushed my lips against his.
I closed my eyes, letting go of everything but the heat I’d felt in his touch as he carried me through the halls of the Obsidian.
His lips were cool to the touch, soft and smooth. For a split second, he didn’t respond.
Then his lips parted against mine. He kissed me back soft and slow. Gabriel took his time kissing me. His mouth was soft and tender. When my lips parted against his, the tip of his tongue teased into my mouth. I sank against him, molding myself too him, my hand sliding up the hard planes of his bare chest to the thick muscle of his shoulder.
I finally pulled back, breathless.
His hand reached up to cup my chin. “You are incredible, Celia Caruso.”
I arched my brows, given the conversation we’d been having before I dared to kiss him. “Incredibly good? Or incredibly bad?”
His lips quirked. “Definitely not good . Just incredible.”
Gabriel gripped the hem of my t-shirt, starting to pull it upward. I tensed, suddenly self-conscious.
That cutting gaze of his never missed anything. “What’s wrong?”
“Besides the fact this is demented after everything else that happened tonight?” I leaned forward to kiss him again anyway.
His fingers skated over my bare skin, tracing a line up from the waistband of my panties up my side under my shirt. “Are you embarrassed being naked in front of me?”
“I was just naked in front of a crowd,” I reminded him.
“Mm. But you seemed pretty thoroughly distracted.” He still seemed annoyed despite the fact he’d been the puppet master pulling strings when he sent Dante in to me. That was his natural way, after all. His fingers teased back over my hip, slowly inching my panties down my hip with his touch. “I think every man in the crowd tonight was jealous, thinking I was getting to touch these sweet curves.”
The words made me shake my head. I licked my lips. His gaze flickered to my lips, following them, but then he continued his languid travel, abandoning my panties twisted partway down my thigh. His hand ran across the swell of my stomach. “You are so lush and perfect.”
“Gabriel,” I said, feeling embarrassed.
“If you tell me who told you nasty lies about yourself, maybe I’ll get you their tongue for a birthday present.” He seemed lazy, comfortable, amused, and yet I had the feeling he meant it.
“That would make family reunions a little tense.”
“I’m going to kill that asshole you call a father and the pathetic little douche you call a brother,” he told me.
Only if I don’t kill them first .
“I wouldn’t call Mal a father,” I responded swiftly. “And I wouldn’t call Royal a brother.”
“I see.” His fingers slid up, until they brushed against the underside of my breast. I let out a breath. “I am sorry that they weren’t the family you should’ve had.”
I believed he meant it, which was pretty fucking wild. He’d apologize that Royal was a monster, but not for locking me in a trunk.
“You could make me feel better,” I suggested, surprised by my own brazenness.
His lips arched, so he didn’t seem to mind. “Only if you take your shirt off. I want to see my wife.”
I sat up, pulling my t-shirt over my head. The way he looked at me, the need written across his face, all seemed real.
“I love how soft your skin is,” he told me, running his hand over my side as if he were drawn to touching me. “And I love these tits.”
My surprise at his choice of words must’ve shown on my face, because he didn’t try to hide his amusement. “I have a lot more vulgar things to say about how I feel about your body, Celia, and the things I want to do to you.”
His hands reached out, cupping my breasts gently. I gasped at the contact, my skin tingling under his touch. His thumbs brushed over my nipples, and I arched into his hands, craving more.
He continued his tender exploration, alternating between soft caresses and teasing pinches that sent jolts of pleasure through my body. I closed my eyes, losing myself in the sensation.
The mattress shifted under my knees. Opening my eyes, I saw Gabriel lying back, his head propped up on our pillows. His arousal tented his boxers.
“Take it off,” he said, his voice rough with desire. “I want you on top of me while I play with the most beautiful fucking breasts I’ve ever seen.”
I hooked my thumbs into the waistband of my underwear. Slowly, I slid them down my legs, stepping out of them when they pooled at my feet.
When I straddled his hips, I couldn’t help but admire his body beneath me. His broad shoulders, the defined muscles of his chest, the trail of dark hair leading down his stomach. He was breathtaking.
“Everyone was jealous of me tonight when they saw me with you,” I whispered to him. “I think every woman in the Obsidian wanted you.”
“Were there other women in the Obsidian?” he asked, brows arching. “I didn’t see anyone there but you.”
I smiled. “You can be charming when you want to be. But it’s not quite the same as apologizing for locking me up.”
“Oh, Celia. I’m never going to apologize for locking you up. One day, I’m going to tie you up.” His hands wrapped my wrists, anchoring my hands to the lean, hard muscle of his torso. I felt my core tighten, his arousal pressing up against my thighs as I ground against his hips. “I’m going to fuck every one of those sweet holes of yours. And you’re going to beg me for it.”
God, his fucking mouth.
“But not tonight?” I asked, brows arching.
He let out a laugh. “I’m not interested in sharing you with?—”
He cut himself off. I frowned down at him, wondering where that thought had come from, and what he’d been about to say.
“You don’t get my cock while you’re still leaking another man’s cum,” he told me, letting go of one wrist so he could reach between my thighs. He rubbed his fingers over my slit, over the wetness that was soaking his boxers. There was no denying that I was turned on by his crude words, no matter how I reacted.
“Clean yourself up so I can touch you,” he said roughly, holding his fingers up to my mouth.
Was that how it worked? I took his fingers into my mouth, watching his face as I sucked the faint smoky taste of myself and Dante off his fingers. I darted my tongue around his fingers, licking and teasing, and with every swipe of my tongue, I watched the pleasure wash across his face.
The need.
Gabriel Caruso held terrible power over me.
But I just might hold power over him too.
How terrifying that must be for him.
Suddenly, I understood why he had turned so cold after he gave me the bike. He had ignored me on our wedding day.
Because he wanted me, and he was afraid of that desire.
“Is that enough?” I asked, taking his hand in mine. I ran my thumb over his palm, feeling how tense his fingers were, trying to ease his grip. Let go, Gabriel. “Will you please touch my pussy now, sir ?”
I ground down against him again, and his gaze flared.
“God, I love looking at you when you’re mine,” he said, his thumbs brushing over my nipples.
I arched into his touch, savoring the sensation. As I gazed down at him, I marveled at how his tanned skin contrasted with the white sheets. The play of shadows across his muscled torso was mesmerizing.
Gabriel’s lips curved into a smile. He took my hands in his, guiding them to my own breasts.
“Show me what you like here, and I’ll take care of your pussy,” he murmured, his voice low and husky. “I want to watch you touch yourself.”
My breath caught in my throat.
Slowly, I began to caress my breasts, cupping them and running my thumbs over my nipples. Gabriel’s eyes were fixed on me, drinking in every movement. I could feel how turned on he was, his body tense beneath me.
As I continued, I felt Gabriel’s hand slide between my thighs, his fingers ghosting over my skin. The dual sensation of my own touch and his exploring fingers made me gasp softly.
I ground my hips down instinctively, feeling Gabriel’s hardness beneath me. A soft moan escaped my lips as his fingers found my clit, stroking with gentle but insistent pressure.
I continued to caress my breasts, putting on a show for him as he touched me. My pleasure was building, coiling tighter with each circle of his fingers. I rocked against his hand, chasing the sensation.
“Gabriel,” I breathed, my voice thick with need.
He increased his pace, watching me intently. “Let go for me, Celia. I want to see you come apart.”
I could feel myself getting close, teetering on the edge.
“That’s right, come on my hand. Soak me with that pretty pussy.”
I tumbled over the edge, waves of pleasure washing over me. My body shuddered as Gabriel continued to stroke me through my climax.
“Oh god,” I gasped, overwhelmed by the intensity of my orgasm.
Gabriel’s eyes were lit with desire as he watched me, a satisfied smile playing on his lips. “Let’s not get carried away. You can continue to call me sir .”
I started to collapse onto the bed, my legs weak and trembling from the power of that orgasm. But Gabriel drew my body against his instead, pulling my head to be cradled on his shoulder. My body molded itself to him as if I were meant to be against his side, my leg thrown over his.
“Sleep well, Celia,” he whispered. “I’m sure you have all kinds of evil plans for tomorrow.”
I didn’t bother to protest. It had been a long and eventful day, and if he wanted my body against his…that was a good thing.
And even if I didn’t trust Gabriel, I did feel warm and cozy with his body against mine.
Though, he’d probably panic in the morning and run off to kill a dozen people until he could convince himself he was a monster who didn’t want me.
“You too,” I murmured, knowing his evil plans involved me and my family. I didn’t mind if he burned my family mansion down and left Royal and my father screaming inside, but that didn’t change how dangerous he was to me too.
But his hand was caressing my lower back in slow, gentle circles, his touch warm against my skin. So, I let myself sleep.