Chapter 19
Chapter Nineteen
OLIVIA
G abriel didn’t take days off. I learned that quickly.
Every day, he was up with the sun and gone until the evening.
I didn’t know what he did during those hours. Honestly, I was afraid to ask. And it wasn’t as if I could jump on a phone or a computer to search through the news for his name.
All I knew was that sometimes, the men who came over to whisper in his ear during our nights at the club were scary enough to give me chills. But to their credit, they never once stared or looked at me sideways. They might have been the nastiest men on Earth, but even I knew they’d never risk angering Gabriel.
No one was that stupid.
No one except my idiot brother…and maybe me.
Even as days turned into weeks, I never stopped thinking about my phone sitting in his desk drawer. Every now and again, when I was alone in the office and the door was shut tight, I’d risk turning it back on for a few seconds to peek at the screen.
But there were never any notifications.
No missed calls. No new messages. No way of knowing if anything I’d said to my mother had made its way through the thick layer of denial she wrapped herself in for protection.
I wasn’t brave or stupid enough to try another call. I’d nearly been caught the last time, and that had just been with Mrs. Tarolli. I shuddered to think what might happen if Gabriel came through the door next time.
It didn’t matter that time hadn’t cooled the sparks between us. I didn’t fool myself into thinking I was safe just because he laid me down on his bed every night and made me feel things I didn’t know were possible.
With every touch and caress, I felt the strength in his hands. I knew those talented fingers that were capable of playing me like a damned fiddle were just as capable of wrapping around my throat and squeezing the life out of me.
We were close enough now that I knew he wouldn’t want to do it. But that didn’t mean he wouldn’t .
I knew if I gave Gabriel a strong enough reason. His code of honor would make him. He wouldn’t feel like he had a choice.
He had killed his own uncle, after all—his own flesh and blood.
I wasn’t family. I was just the human collateral he was temporarily sharing his bed with. And no matter how mind-blowingly good the sex was, I’d be wise to remember it.
But even with that thought always front and center in my mind, temptation still pulled at me.
And one morning, after everyone had left and it was just me and Mrs. Tarolli in the house, it became too strong to resist.
I opened the drawer and looked down at my phone. Everything was quiet outside the cracked door. Only the faintest sounds of the housekeeper all the way down in the kitchen rose up the stairs. So, just like I’d done a couple dozen times before, I hit the power button and waved for the screen to come to life.
By now, I should’ve been used to the disappointment of a blank home screen, but apparently, hope really did spring eternal.
Well, hope might have been everlasting, but time definitely wasn’t.
It was running out fast.
A whole month had gone by, and I had no idea if my family was any closer to securing the money that would give me back my freedom and save Theo’s life. There was no way I would be able to stand another sixty days under the same anxiety and stress.
I decided I was going to have to risk it.
Keeping the phone in the drawer, I pulled up my contacts. Mom’s number was right there at the top of my favorites. All I had to do was hit it and?—
“Liv.”
My head shot up, all the air in my lungs freezing as my wide eyes took in the sight of Gabriel’s face in the doorway.
No . Not Gabriel’s.
The features might have been the same, but that ramrod straight back and those tight shoulders belonged to someone else.
“Hey, Matteo,” I said, trying to look and sound nonchalant as I quickly closed the drawer. “I thought you were gone for the day.”
“I came back for something,” he said without blinking. His eyes stayed fixed on mine, as cool and assessing as always, as he leaned his shoulder against the door jamb. “What are you doing?”
A simple question spoken in a flat, neutral tone, and yet I knew how deceptively dangerous it really was. An open-ended question like that could give a person plenty of rope to hang themselves with.
“Nothing,” I said.
“Nothing?” he echoed. “I thought you were working on the new La Sera numbers.”
“I am.” I lifted up the paper lying in front of me. “See.”
His eyes narrowed as he stepped inside the room to take the page from my hand. He scanned it for a second before nodding.
“Impressive,” he said, his tone as impossible to read as always. “You do good work, Liv.”
“Thank you.”
“I wouldn’t have been able to straighten out the books at the nightclub without you.”
“Of course you could have,” I replied honestly. We both knew he was just as talented with numbers. So, what was he playing at?
“True,” he admitted readily. “But it would have taken me time I didn’t have, so I appreciate your help.”
“And I’m happy to give it.”
Even though the conversation was light on the surface, my heart was still hammering. Tension filled the room as I waited for him to pounce.
“I know Gabriel appreciates you, too,” Matteo said, his stony gaze drilling into mine. “Your calm presence in this house diffused what could have been a nasty situation with your brother.”
“I didn’t really have a choice about that.”
“Maybe not,” Matteo said with a shrug. “But you have to admit, things could have been worse. Much worse.”
Sick of pretending, I dropped the fake smile. “They still could be.”
“True,” Matteo agreed. “The situation with your brother isn’t resolved yet. And from what I can tell, your family hasn’t yet made the kind of major financial moves that would lead to a happy ending.”
That’s what I was afraid of. “I knew they wouldn’t take this seriously. No matter what I say, they never listen. They?—“
I closed my eyes.
Oh shit.
Sure enough, I’d taken Matteo’s rope and slipped right over my neck.
“Hmm…so you have been in contact with them. Good.” What looked like a genuine smile started to crack through his granite mask. “I was hoping that was the reason you were digging around in that drawer and poking at the phone Gabriel threw in there.”
My brows pulled together. “What else would I want with it?”
“To call your friends and ask them to help you. Or maybe the NYPD. Even the FBI.”
“God, no!” Even the thought was enough to make me wince. “I’m not stupid, Matteo. I know what would happen if the authorities got involved in this mess. You, me, my brother, your brother—we’d all be screwed.”
Matteo nodded. “You don’t know how glad I am to hear you say that.”
And I wasn’t just telling him what he wanted to hear. I didn’t realize it until I said the words out loud, but I really meant them. “The only thing I want is for this to end peacefully. I don’t want anyone getting hurt.”
“For what it’s worth, neither do I,” Matteo said before nodding politely. “Which means I should probably take these new numbers and leave you to finish what I interrupted.”
Really? I wasn’t expecting to be let off the hook so easily.
“Matteo,” I said as he turned toward the door. “Are you going to tell Gabriel about this?”
He looked back at me, his brow furrowed and heavy. “Do you want me to?”
“Yes. Wait—no.” I briefly closed my eyes and drew in a steadying breath. “I mean, I don’t know. I don’t want you to lie. Besides, secrets are part of what brought on this whole mess in the first place. But I also don’t want to upset Gabriel, especially since…”
I trailed off, not wanting to give away any more than I already had.
But it was far too late for that.
Matteo shot me a look that made it clear he already knew.
“Especially since you can’t promise that you can talk your mercurial brother into doing the reasonable thing?” he finished my thought before giving me a conspiratorial wink. “I might know a little bit about what that’s like.”
No doubt he did.
“Do you have any tips on how to get through to him?” I asked.
“Which one?” Matteo cocked his head to the side. “My brother or yours?”
“Either,” I answered. “Or maybe both.”
He nodded. “Just keep trying. Sometimes, it can feel like you’re bashing your own head against the wall, but keep trying nonetheless. You never know what day lightning is going to strike. You can never guess what will be the magic word that gets through to them. All you can do is keep trying.”
“Thank you, Matteo.”
“Anytime, Liv,” he said before closing the door behind him and leaving me with my phone and my thoughts.
Thirty seconds later, my brother’s voice sounded in my ear.
This is Theo Collins. You know what to do.
Voicemail. Again.
I breathed deeply, filling my lungs as I waited for the beep.
Then, once more, I tried to find those magic words Matteo was talking about.