His fingers bit into tissue and bone, causing her to gasp in pain. “Remember what I said about your parents? I can make sure they don’t have a job—”
“I’m really beginning to think your threat means shit when the likelihood of Devlin marrying Sabrina is literally nil.” She held his gaze even as her heart threw itself against her ribs. “Now let go of my arm.”
His eyes flashed with anger as he yanked her forward, against his chest. “If Devlin ends my sister’s engagement because you ran your mouth to him or to Gabe, you’re going to wish you kept quiet.”
Every part of her body that touched his crawled. She jerked back. “Let go of me right now.”
“Or what?” Parker’s voice dropped as he yanked her against him again.
“Or I’m going to rip off the hand you’re touching her with.”
Relief shot through Nikki so fast she thought she might faint as Parker’s eyes widened at the sound of Gabe’s voice. He let go of her arm, and she stumbled back as Parker turned to the side. Nikki saw Gabe then, stalking down the center of the hallway.
His striking features were all hard lines. Seeing him surfaced mixed emotions in her, but she was happy that someone was here.
“Gabe.” Parker’s well-practiced smile fell into place. “I was looking—”
Nikki squeaked as Gabe cut off whatever Parker was about to lie about with a very large hand around Parker’s neck. He slammed the thinner man against the wall.
“Give me one good reason why I don’t choke the life out of you right now,” Gabe asked, his voice way too calm. “I doubt you can come up with one, but I’m feeling generous.”
Having never seen Gabe like this, Nikki backed into the opposite wall. She suddenly remembered what Sabrina had said about the man who attacked Emma. She’d forgotten that in the mess that had followed.
Parker gagged as Gabe’s grip tightened on his throat. “Still waiting for one good reason. Just one.”
Nikki saw it in him then. He might be the brother everyone claimed was the most levelheaded, but she saw right then what brewed beneath the surface. She wished that it scared her or that it made her look at him differently.
It didn’t.
Parker dug at Gabe’s hand, his face turning red.
“Why was he grabbing you, Nic?” Gabe asked in the same flat tone.
She glanced between them, perversely satisfied by the pleading look Parker shot her. “I told him that if he didn’t leave, I was going to call the cops.”
“And why wouldn’t he leave?”
“I don’t know. You’d have to ask him.”
“I’m sure he’ll have an answer I don’t want to hear. What was he doing here?”
Nikki crossed her arms. “He said he was here to see Devlin.”
He cocked his head to the side. “Bullshit, Parker. You know Dev isn’t back in town until Saturday. So why are you really here and how the hell did you get in?”
Parker couldn’t really respond, not with Gabe choking him. The man’s face had gone from red to a purplish color. Nikki decided to speak up. “I think he came here to tell me to keep my mouth shut about what I saw on Monday.”
“Really?” Gabe let go of Parker.
Parker slumped against the wall, coughing as he dragged in air. “Jesus,” he bit out, voice hoarse as he rubbed at his throat. “You were choking me.”
“No shit.” Gabe bent at the waist, getting his face right in his. “Did Sabrina send you to threaten Nic? You’re probably not going to answer that question honestly, so don’t even bother.”
Parker started to look away, but Gabe grabbed a fistful of hair and forced the man to look him dead in the eye. “I want both you and your sister to understand some things—I thought I’d made it perfectly clear to Sabrina on Monday, but I’ll say it again. Stay away from Nic. Don’t look at her. Don’t even breathe in her direction. If you or your sister do, that will be it. Do you feel me?”
Parker didn’t respond.
Jerking his hand back, Gabe slammed Parker’s head into the wall. “One more time. Do you feel me?”
“I feel you,” Parker gasped.
“Good. The next thing is a message for Sabrina. Let her know that I will be talking to Dev. That’s going to happen the moment he comes home on Saturday. Sabrina fucked up and she’s going to live with that. Just like you’re going to.”
Parker swallowed hard. “If Devlin doesn’t marry—”
“I don’t give a fuck. At all. Not one single fuck,” Gabe said, and when he smiled it was the scariest damn smile Nikki ever saw. “Do you understand me?”
“Yes,” Parker groaned.
“Perfect.” Gabe let go of Parker’s hair and the man leaned against the wall, his chest heaving. “Just one more thing.”
Parker lifted his chin.
Smiling, Gabe cocked his arm back. He moved as fast as lightning striking. His fist connected with Parker’s jaw and down the man went, folding like a paper sack.
“Oh my.” Nikki placed her hand over her mouth.
Gabe towered over Parker. “Get up and get the fuck out of this house before I do worse.”
Parker didn’t protest. He got up and he ran—the man ran down the hall and then he all but tore at the front door to get it open. He didn’t look back.
And that just left Gabe and her in the hallway.
“There’s something wrong with the Harrington family,” she murmured.
“That there is.” He sighed, working the knuckles of his hand. “That’s the second time I punched a man because of you.”
Nikki slowly turned to Gabe. “What?”
“Are you okay?” he asked instead of answering.
“Yeah.” She folded her arms across her chest. “I don’t know how he got in here. I locked the doors.”
“I hate to tell you this, but I just came in through the mudroom. That door wasn’t locked.”
“What?” Disbelief filled her. “I locked that. I know I did.”
Gabe shook his head as he walked ahead. “Did Parker do anything to you?” He went to the front door and threw the lock. “Are you sure he didn’t hurt you?”
“No. He scared me, but he didn’t hurt me.” Now that the adrenaline was fading, a whole different kind of anxiety was rising.
Gabe faced her and then looked down at his hand. “I told him once to stay away from you. He obviously has a problem listening.”
“You did?”
“Let me see your arm.” He started toward her.
Nikki backed up. “Nothing is wrong with my arm.”
“I’d feel better if you’d let me check it.”
“Why do you care?” The question burst out of her as she backed up.
“Why do I care?” he repeated slowly. He looked away, biting down on his lip. “Nic, we need to talk—”
“No, we don’t, because you’re going to say ‘Of course I care about you,’ and things are going to get really awkward and really painful.” She unfolded her arms. “Because you obviously don’t care about me in that way.”
He turned his head back to her. “Nic . . .”
“You know the way. The one that makes you share actual important details about your life.” That knot was back in her throat. “Like that you have a son. And you can’t deny that. You really can’t.” Squeezing her eyes shut, she exhaled raggedly as she struggled not to break down. “Thank you for talking to Parker. Punching him. Whatever. But I still don’t want to talk to you.” She opened her eyes and hated that his face blurred. “I don’t want to see you.”
Nikki had never been more grateful to have something like a move to occupy her thoughts. She wasn’t thinking about Gabe all day or worrying with residual dread every time she thought about Parker or Sabrina.
Today was the first day she hadn’t felt like staying in bed and crying like she was eighteen all over again. Unpacking boxes and putting away utensils had a strange way of emptying her head of all thoughts.
It had helped that her parents sp
ent part of the day with her, as did Rosie, who’d just unloaded the last of the towels, leaving them on her bed.
As Rosie came out of the short, narrow hallway, Nikki’s gaze fell to the little island that separated the kitchen and living room. Off to the right was a space for a kitchen table.
She hadn’t gotten one of those yet.
Her gaze got snagged on the chisel kit Gabe had given her. It lay open from when Rosie was poking around in it, looking for something sharp to open a box with.
She’d brought it with her to the apartment, because she refused to let what happened with Gabe ruin something she enjoyed doing once more.
Seeing the kit hurt, but she’d be damned if she let that stop her.
“You doing okay?” Rosie asked, wiping her palm on her forehead.
“Yeah.” She lifted her hands above her head and stretched her back. “Just a little lost in my head.”
“Remember what I told you.” She adjusted the scarf that was holding her curls out of her face. “Fuck him.”
“I remember.” Nikki had filled Rosie in on what had happened days ago. She trusted that Rosie wouldn’t say a word about Gabe having a kid, but she had left out what Sabrina had said about the man who’d hurt Emma. That was something Nikki would never repeat, ever. “Fuck him.”
Fuck him had become Rosie’s new motto.
Rosie draped an arm over Nikki’s shoulders. “It’ll get easier.”
“I know.” She swallowed and then smiled. “Been down this road with him before.”
Her friend kissed her cheek and then leaned against the island. “I still think there’s more to why he never told you about his son. I’m sure that he’ll probably explain himself eventually.”
“It doesn’t matter if he does.” Nikki sucked air through the pain piercing her through her chest. “To not tell me something that huge that impacts his future—that would’ve impacted our future together—tells me that he wasn’t even thinking that far ahead.”
Rosie said nothing.
“At the end of the day, I was just . . . someone he was passing the time with. He said it himself, Rosie. He’s going to leave here.”
“Men say stupid things they don’t mean all the time.”
“And sometimes they say the things they mean.” She drew in a breath but it got stuck around the messy ball at the back of her throat. “God, I can’t believe I still love him. I’m an idiot.”
“You’re not an idiot. Pretty sure he’s the idiot.”
She smiled at her friend. “Thank you so much for helping out today. I really appreciate it.”
“No problem. I wish I could stay and help longer, but I’m filling in for Randy today. It’s the fall and you know how popular the ghost tours are in the Quarter.”
Nikki grinned, sort of wishing she could join her. “Totally okay. You’ve done so much already.”
After Nikki promised to make Rosie the first meal in her new apartment, they said goodbye and then Nikki was alone.
It was too quiet.
She immediately turned on the TV, so thrilled that the cable had been turned on that morning. She needed the background noise.
Placing the remote back, she stopped and stared at the coffee table the remote had been sitting on. Her chest squeezed painfully. A moving truck had showed up that morning, right after the cable guy actually. At first she had no idea what was in it, and it wasn’t until the men started bringing in the items that she realized it was the pieces Gabe had promised her.
Her throat burned as she looked away, pressing her lips together.
Nikki sucked in a stuttered breath. Every time she thought about the two of them, about what they shared and then what he said to her, it broke her heart over again.
She wished she hated him.
God, it would be so much easier if she could.
Walking into the kitchen, she pulled out the tub of spaghetti her father had made for her. She nuked it in the microwave and spent the next however many minutes mindlessly eating.
There was still so much she needed to do.
After putting away the books in the small bookshelves, she made her way back to the bedroom to tackle the pile of towels just as night had fallen.
She really did love her apartment. It wasn’t huge, probably smaller than the apartment Gabe had at the de Vincent house, but it was perfect for her. She just wished the whole experience wasn’t tainted by the sickness in her heart.
Hell, if she was being honest with herself, she wished he was here with her, sharing a bottle of wine in celebration and breaking in the bed.
None of that was going to happen.
Sniffling, she used her shoulder to wipe away the stupid tear coursing down her cheek as she picked up another towel to fold. She’d get over this and this time it wouldn’t take her four—
Click.
Her breath caught and everything inside her stilled when she heard the front door of her apartment open.
Chapter 31
The back of Nikki’s neck tingled as she dropped the towel she was folding onto her bed. Her body flashed hot and then cold as she turned to the open bedroom door, her heart pounding erratically in her chest.
Someone just walked into her apartment.
Hadn’t she locked the door?
She stepped back from the bed and peered out into the hallway. There would only be one person she knew who was arrogant enough to walk into her apartment unannounced, but it couldn’t be him. Not after everything.
Still, she held onto the little spark of hope and crept toward the bedroom door, straining to see out in the hall. She heard nothing but the low hum from the TV she’d left on in the living room. All she could see was the arm of her couch and the island that separated the kitchen from the living room.
“Gabe?” she called out, her hands opening and closing at her sides.
A heartbeat passed and then a man stepped into her line of sight. A man that was definitely not Gabe unless he lost weight and height in record time.
And decided that a black ski mask was a new fashion accessory.
For a horrifying second, Nikki couldn’t move, couldn’t even breathe as she stared at the man at the end of the hall. Like an animal petrified in front of oncoming headlights, she was frozen as her body raced to catch up to what her brain was ordering it to do.
The man started down the hallway.
Icy terror exploded in her gut as instinct finally took over. Springing into action, she lurched forward, grabbing the end of the door. She slammed it shut and then turned the pitiful excuse of a lock.
“Shit. Shit.” She spun around, looking for her cell phone. Black ski masks were bad, so bad. She shot to the bed, yanking up the towel. No phone.
Something heavy crashed into her bedroom door, jarring the whole wall. A shriek parted her lips as she whipped around. Her phone—Christ, her phone was in the living room!
The man hit the door again. Wood cracked down the center, and Nikki stumbled back. Her chest rose and fell heavily as the center of the door gave way, wood splintering. A gloved hand reached through, finding the lock.
Oh my God, she couldn’t believe this was happening. There was a strange man—a strange masked and gloved man in her apartment, and she watched enough Forensic Files to know this was going to end badly.
Her wild gaze darted around the bedroom, landing on the glass doors of the balcony. Instinct told her she wouldn’t make it in time, not with the doors being locked and the bar in place.
Weapon—she needed a weapon.
Spinning around, she grabbed the lamp, the only truly heavy thing she had in her bedroom. The door swung open and she whirled around, ripping the plug out of the wall.
“Stay back!” she yelled, holding the lamp like a baseball bat.
The man started toward her.
Shit.
There wasn’t a part of Nikki that hesitated. She swung that lamp with every intention of knocking the dude’s head off. Except that’s not what happened.
She didn’t make it.
He got her around the waist. One second she was standing on the floor and the next she was falling through the air. She hit the bed hard, knocking the air out of her lungs. She was startled just for a second, and it cost her.
Twisting at the waist, her scream was muffled as he came over her, slamming a hand over her mouth as he straddled her hips, effectively locking her legs down.
Panic froze her muscles as the man leaned down, lowering his head toward hers. His eyes . . .
His hand pressed on her mouth, bruising her lips as his other hand dropped to her shoulder and then slid down, over her breast.
He squeezed painfully, eliciting a sharp cry that didn’t reach her ears.
A whole new horror exploded as she screamed against his hand. This man—oh my God.
Pure terror fueled the adrenaline pumping through her veins. Bucking her hips, she tried to throw his weight off, but he pressed down. Pain burned through her chest, but she ignored it as she swung her hand as hard as she could, slamming her fist into the side of his head.
The man’s head jerked back and his grip on her mouth loosened. She swung again, connecting with his jaw. A burst of pain lit up her knuckles. He fell back just enough for her to sit up, pulling one leg free. She twisted, reaching for the edge of the bed.
A hand dug into her hair, jerking her head back. Fiery pain pricked along her scalp as he flipped her onto her back.
“Stupid bitch,” he grunted in a voice that raised the hairs along her body.
That voice. That voice. She knew that—
His fist slammed into her jaw. The burst of pain was raw and startling. Then the fire spread across her face. A metallic taste filled her mouth. Blood. Blood. He hit her again.
Another burst of pain radiated from her eye—her left eye—darkening her vision as she collapsed onto the bed. Thoughts were . . . they didn’t make sense all of a sudden. Nikki tried to sit up, but her head felt weird, too heavy.
Moonlight Seduction_A de Vincent Novel Page 31