Chapter 14
14
CELIA
A s we walked toward the house, Luca asked the man, “How’s your little girl doing, Marcus?”
Marcus gave him a cutting look. He knew what Luca was doing.
“Is she sleeping through the night yet?”
Marcus finally caved with a sigh. “No. Marissa’s been getting up with her because she worries about me, but she’s so tired. She took a six-hour nap when I had my day off.”
“It’s a good thing she’s so cute,” Luca said sympathetically.
“She is,” Marcus said, just as eager to brag about his baby as to complain about her sleep habits.
As Marcus talked on, Luca and I traded the quickest of glances. He gave me a quick wink. The man who had been my tormentor was now my co-conspirator.
Our footfalls seemed to be swallowed by the hush of the expansive foyer, and it made me feel like I was already a ghost as we walked toward the dining room.
Then I heard a familiar low voice that made my stomach bottom out in horror.
Royal.
I didn’t even realize I’d reacted before Luca said, “Let’s go greet our guests. As one happy family.”
He held out his hand as if to beckon me in front of him with a gentle touch on my back.
“Of course,” I said with a strained smile. I moved ahead of him too quickly for him to touch me. Why was Gabriel forcing me to see my father and brother? Was he considering returning me to them?
And if so…was it because he knew about my connection to the outside world?
Or because he’d felt something last night too…and it made him panic?
My thoughts raced. But my feet kept carrying me into the dining room.
There were four men in the dining room already.
Then I saw Dante, and the rest of the world fell away.
David .
He stood next to Gabriel, just as tall as his brother now, even though—while he had been tall—he hadn’t been done growing when I last saw him. He was broad-shouldered, and his features were different than when we were young—finer, sharper—but those dark eyes that met mine were the same.
He was the same boy who had kissed me for the first time, who had whispered to me that I was beautiful and smart and funny. For the first time since my mother died, I had someone who said sweet things to me…and I believed them.
Dante.
David.
My heart stopped, and the two of us stared at each other for a long beat.
And then I knew I had to keep moving.
“Hello, Father. Royal.” I turned my smile on them.
“Good afternoon, Celia. How are you enjoying married life?” My father smiled at me, his eyes crinkling at the corners.
He was so good now at that facade of fatherly concern. I felt a shock of loss. He could’ve given me this kindness at any time, even if it were fake. I’d wanted that attention for so long, but my mind was at a tumult at the moment, and I only cared for seconds before I moved on, trying to seek out Gabriel’s gaze to read what mood he was in.
I felt Royal’s gaze sweep up and down, taking in my casual outfit with his usual disgust. Before he could say anything, though, Gabriel was at my side.
“Hello, tesoro. Did you have a nice walk?” He wrapped his arm around my waist, pressing a tender kiss to my cheek.
But his hand gripped my hip a little too tightly, and his eyes smoldered down at me in a way that suggested danger.
“It was lovely. I wish you’d joined me.” I smiled back at him, before raising my lips to his.
As Luca had reminded me…we needed to play happy family.
No matter how much it bothered me for Dante to be in the room and to pretend I didn’t know who he was; to pretend I didn’t love him. The lie twisted around my chest and stole my breath.
Gabriel’s lips descended on mine. If I’d had any sense left, any air in my lungs, he claimed it for his own with a long kiss. His hands slid up my hips. His lips pressed mine in a branding, claiming kiss, and my body flushed with heat.
Royal cleared his throat.
Gabriel pulled away as if it were hard for him to stop himself. He spoke to our guests, but his gaze was still on me as he said, “You’ll have to forgive me. My lovely bride drives me out of my mind.”
It felt like a threat, although there was dark need in his eyes as he stared at me.
Desperately, I tried to figure out a way to take control of the situation. At least some part of it, so that I could find some kind of footing.
But asking why we were all here seemed too direct. Instead, I asked, “May I get you all anything to drink?”
Royal opened his mouth. For once, I was happy my brother would never miss a chance to have me wait on him. I desperately wanted to escape, just for a few minutes, and try to clear my mind.
“Of course not,” Gabriel said, putting his arm around my waist. “Wine will be served with dinner. And you don’t need to serve us. That’s not what you were born for.”
I stared at him, because that was exactly what I was born for in his world.
“Let’s sit down, my darling,” he told me as he steered me toward the table, where he put me at his side.
“Luca, please,” he said, indicating the space on the other side of me, and Dante was already sitting at Gabriel’s right. My father and brother took the two opposite seats. At least I wasn’t sitting directly next to either of them.
As I sat down, I ran my hand across my pocket to make sure the phone didn’t shift out.
There was nothing there.
My fingers curled into the fabric, beneath the table, desperately seeking the small, hard object. But there was nothing.
“Is everything all right, tesoro? You seem anxious.” Gabriel’s hand found my thigh beneath the table, as if he were giving my leg a reassuring squeeze. His fingers almost met mine.
“I’m just tired. Last night was a long night.” I smiled at him.
“You didn’t seem to mind it,” Royal muttered.
I looked up at him in shock and horror. “You were there ?”
“We were not.” My father corrected with a shake of his head, giving Royal an offended look. “We had business to conduct that night. I saw you in your dress on our way out—you looked lovely—but we left as soon as we were done. Long before the night’s festivities began.”
“You had business to conduct after you left, didn’t you?” Gabriel’s voice was soft and dangerous.
Royal, who had pulled his cell phone out and was scrolling, didn’t hear it. But my father’s gaze sharpened.
“What are you talking about?” my father asked.
“I heard that you were considering uniting with the Manchester family for European arms trading. Which seems a bit inconsiderate of Celia, given that the arms trading is her dowry.”
My father shook his head. “I’ve long had some negotiations with the Manchester family, yes. But those will work in Celia’s favor, and yours, as I turn over the business.”
Gabriel leaned back in his chair. When his hand left my leg, I felt as if I could breathe again. Did he have the phone? He must. I’d have heard it fall if I had dropped it, and he had been touching me.
Unless Luca had somehow managed to snag it during our walk because he had the better chance of hiding it. I glanced over at Luca, but he seemed to be warily watching the proceedings. Imagining Luca had it was a wild bit of hope, but I clung to it.
Meanwhile, I turned back into the conversation as my father’s tone sharpened. Gabriel seemed as relaxed as ever.
But I believed he was right that my father intended to wring every bit of profit he could from selling off his business before he handed them over to Gabriel, in the hopes that he could use Gabriel to help him destroy another family without losing anything himself.
Except me, of course.
“It’s an alliance with the Manchester family, I’m not selling off any parts of the business to them,” my father said. “You’re welcome to sit in our next meeting. Once the business is yours, you’re welcome to cancel the deal with them.”
“And when will that be, Mel?”
“As soon as we’ve neutralized the Dempsey family.”
Moriah’s family .
“Yes, let’s talk about our plans.” Gabriel’s gaze cut over to me in such a rapid flicker that I didn’t think anyone else saw it. My stomach twisted with new tension. He wanted to make sure I heard what they were planning. “Don’t you think your plans are a little…blunt?”
“What are you implying?”
“Killing them yourself seems a little graceless. You’ve been working on turning their dealers against them. As well as disrupting their supply lines now, it gives a motive for the killing. After all, you don’t want the murder of that family tied to you directly.”
“No, of course not,” Mal said. “We need to make sure it isn’t tied to either of our families. Once their leadership is dead, we move in, though. For the sake of keeping balance and peace in the city.”
So that was my father’s plan. Use Gabriel to kill everyone at the top of Moriah’s family. And then I bet he would make sure Gabriel would take the fall so that everything Gabriel had maneuvered to accomplish could be his.
I had to warn Gabriel. And most of all, I had to warn Moriah.
Maybe we could even use this to our advantage. Maybe Gabriel and my father could be used to kill her father, and Moriah could take his place if she were prepared for their assault.
“It isn’t believable that one of their dealers would manage to massacre their entire leadership. The family itself, yes. And we can get a good bit of the people they’re close to. I could make sure they’re taken out as soon as Tuesday. There’s a funeral for the grandmother. I could have my men strike then.”
“Once they’re gone, there’s no one else in the arms business in the tri-state area except for us,” my father reminded him. “It benefits us both.”
“It’s also risky,” Gabriel said. “If there are any mistakes, any survivors, the other families could tie the crime back to me. And given our recent alliance, they might well then tie it to you, Mal.”
“I have faith in you,” my father said with his cold, glinting eyes.
“And I have faith in you.” Though Gabriel didn’t say what he had faith in .
Throughout dinner, I ate as little as possible; my stomach couldn’t handle food. I tried to keep from even looking at Dante. His very presence was overwhelming. So were the men on either side of me.
Gabriel kept touching me, possessive and asserting. I could feel how aware Luca and Dante were of every touch.
“I’m glad we have a plan to move forward,” Gabriel told my father as he rose from the table. My dessert lay untouched as I stood, too, dropping my napkin onto my chair. “I feared at first that our marriage had turned into a betrayal.”
He didn’t say the words to me, but I felt them through my body. They were meant for me.
To my surprise, my father reached out and hugged me. He was stiff and awkward and unpracticed. “Stay well, Celia. I’ll see you soon.”
For a second, I thought I saw a flash of real concern in his eyes. And then he took a step back, his usual cold demeanor settling over him.
As soon as Royal and my father had left, I picked my napkin up and worried it between my hands. I didn’t dare speak to Luca or Dante in front of Gabriel.
“I found something interesting.” Gabriel pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and put it on the table.
I needed that phone desperately to be able to tell Moriah what was coming for her family. I folded my hands in front of me, keeping myself from reaching for it. It didn’t do me any good right now.
When I looked up at Gabriel’s face, his gaze was intent on me. “Don’t lie to me, Celia.”
“I wouldn’t.” My voice came out hushed. “Even though you lie to me all the time.”
And yet, there were lies even he wouldn’t tell. He wouldn’t say that David was dead, as if that were sacrilege to him.
“Why would I bother to lie to you, when even if I tell you the truth, you’re powerless?” Gabriel asked.
Beside me, Luca’s hands curled into fists.
“I think I’ve been too kind to the three of you,” Gabriel said. “And you’ve forgotten the roles we all have to play.”
Gabriel reached out to take my hand. I let him, although my fingers trembled against his warm, broad palm. I didn’t think he missed that detail, and I didn’t think it displeased him, either.
“Where did you get the phone, Celia?” he asked. “Are you using it to contact your father?”
“No!” My eyes widened. “I would never do that.”
“You’d never be disloyal to me,” he said skeptically. “You’d never kiss another man at our wedding, love another man in our house , or spy on me for your father?”
I let out a gasp of shock. “I’m not spying for my father!”
His lips ticked up just faintly, as if he were amused by the specificity with which I’d rejected that accusation.
“I don’t want to have to hurt you, Celia,” he said, almost gently.
“I gave her the phone,” Luca broke in. “She’s not spying for her father. I just wanted to be able to reach her if she needed me.”
“Interesting.” Gabriel took the phone and handed it to me. “Unlock it.”
I did, punching in the password for emergencies. It opened, though it opened to a dummy page Moriah had set up for our burners. It wouldn’t expose any of my real calls.
Gabriel glanced at the phone, then placed it back on the table.
Then he turned and drove his fist into Luca’s stomach. I gasped in horror.
Luca doubled over, but then he threw himself into Gabriel.
The two them fought, crashing into the antique sideboard. The crystal decanters rattled, and one toppled, sending liquid trickling down the polished wood.
The door opened at the end of the room, and Marcus moved in, leading half a dozen men. I shared a terrified, wild-eyed look with Dante.
Gabriel waved them back with a sharp gesture. His lip was bleeding where Luca had landed a punch, but his eyes were alive with a terrible sort of pleasure.
“No!” I started forward, but Dante’s hand came down on my shoulder, keeping me in place. I knew he was trying to protect me, but I struggled as he gave up on holding me back with just one hand and instead wrapped his arms around me. He gave me a quick, sharp nod.
Luca fought like someone who’d grown up fighting real fights, all barely contained fury and desperate efficiency. But Gabriel fought like someone who enjoyed it. He drove his knee into Luca’s ribs with surgical precision, then caught him with an uppercut that sent him staggering back.
“Stop it!” My voice cracked. “Gabriel, please?—”
“Please?” He caught Luca’s next punch and twisted his arm back. Luca didn’t cry out, but his face went white with pain. “You don’t get to ask for anything, Celia.”
“It wasn’t her fault,” Luca gasped, blood trickling from his split lip. “I already told you?—”
Gabriel silenced him with another brutal punch. “Noble of you to try to protect her. Stupid, but noble. Typical for you.”
He dropped Luca to the ground. Luca immediately started to try to struggle to his knees, and Gabriel launched a kick in his side.
I tried to move around Gabriel, to reach Luca, but Gabriel reached out to touch my face. His touch was gentle, but his fingers were spotted with Luca’s blood. “I don’t enjoy having to hurt any of you. But you keep forcing my hand.”
Gabriel’s hand dropped to my shoulder, and he steered me out of the room. Behind me, I could hear the sound of flesh being brutally beaten. I twisted around, trying to escape Gabriel, but he forced me away from Dante and Luca.
“Come along, wife.” Gabriel’s voice was ice-cold. “You have your own lesson.”