“Would it bother you, if I had?”
Horrified at the quiet menace behind Gabe’s words, made ten times more potent because he’d dropped his voice to a controlled, flat, emotionless cadence, she stepped back. He didn’t follow her, simply smiled and raised one eyebrow.
“Of course, it would. He’s my father. He’s the only family I’ve got left.” Her voice caught on the last few words, and much to her horror she blinked away tears.
“And you love him.”
That statement sat between them like the big elephant in the room. She opened her mouth to confirm that she did, but nothing came out. She stared up at Gabe, horrified at the realization that she didn’t. Oh, she craved his acceptance, had loved him once, but lately? What she felt for the old man he’d become, was more pity than anything. The need to do her duty by the man she owed her very existence to, but love? Whatever love she might felt for him had died with those hateful words he’d flung her way when he’d all but sold her to this man.
“He’s my father,” she said, and repeated it as though to convince herself that this meant anything. “Mama would have—”
“You mother, may she rest in peace, wouldn’t have wanted you to waste one tear on that scum,” Gabe interrupted her. The absolute conviction behind those clipped words meant they lodged in her belly like poisoned darts. Lissandra shook her head and bit her lips so hard she tasted her own blood.
“How dare you? You have no idea what my mother would have wanted.”
Cruel laughter filled the space between them, made those arrows take root, as a million questions popped up in her brain.
“Don’t I, Lissa? Why do you think I know how your mother drank her coffee? She woke up with me a long time before she ever graced Andrini’s bed.”
“No, you’re lying.” Lissandra wrapped her arms around herself and shut her eyes. Anything to ward off those images threatening to make her sick.
“You’re wrong. Mama loved Papa. She never would have. You’re wrong. You’re a damn fucking liar.” A sob escaped with the last words, and she slammed her hand over her mouth to stop anymore from escaping.
Before she even knew what was happening, she was in his arms. Held tight against his hard body, she fought against him, but she was no match for his superior strength. No matter how hard she pummeled against his chest, he wouldn’t let her go, just murmured words in her hair she couldn’t catch over the ugly crying she was now doing.
When she eventually got herself under control, she realized she was sitting in his lap on one of the recliners dotted around the terrace. It seemed to wrap ‘round this side of the apartment with various plot pants and garden furniture dotted around and what looked like a covered hot tub outside the next wall of windows, which had to belong to Gabe’s bedroom. He was next to hers, after all.
She struggled to sit up, and his hold on her loosened. Gabe produced a starched, white handkerchief from nowhere, and accepting it, she noisily blew her nose. He nudged her chin up to make her look at him, and this time his brown gaze held none of its predatory nature. A genuine smile lit up his ragged features, and he swiped the remaining moisture off of her face with his thumbs. For one heart-stopping moment she thought he would kiss her, found herself leaning forward to meet his full lips, in fact, before he blinked and released her.
“I’m not lying, Lissa.” He put his index finger over her mouth when she opened it to voice her protests and shook his head. “No, hear me out. You’re right, your mother loved your father to distraction, and she never cheated on him. The same can’t be said for Andrini, of course.” Gabe smiled grimly at her sharp intake of breath. “She knew, of course she knew, but she always forgave him, always hoped he’d mend his ways.” He pulled back further, seemingly lost in thought, and shook his head. “As if a leopard ever changes his spots. Power went to his head, made him hungry for more, and he didn’t give a shit about who he stepped on to reach that goal, including me.” His thigh muscles tensed under her, and she held her breath. She knew some of the history between Andrini and Henshaw, but it was one-sided and only what she’d picked up in snatched, overheard conversations as a child, which hadn’t made sense back then.
Out of nowhere, another memory rose to the surface. Of her, as a child, sitting on this man’s lap with her sweet Mama looking on and laughing. The remembered happiness of that moment took her breath away. She wanted to hold onto it, but as quickly as that memory had appeared it drifted back into the recesses of her brain.
She looked up at him and frowned. The man whose lap she sat on had definitely been him. A much younger version, without the grooves on his face, and the gray streaks in his hair, less menacing and dangerous, as he’d joked with her mother.
“You used to come and visit.” Those words blurted out before she could take them back, and Gabe grew even tenser. His hand clenched into a white knuckled fist, and when he looked down on her his amber eyes had darkened, held a wealth of emotion before he blinked, and the moment was lost.
“You remember that? You were very young back then.”
Lissandra tried for a smile, but failed miserably, if the expression on his face was anything to go by.
“Not really, just snatches. I know Mama was happy when you came. She laughed a lot, then.”
Gabe swore under his breath, and in the next instant she was off his lap and sitting on the recliner by herself, while Gabe prowled the space in front of her like a caged tiger. After minutes of simply sitting there and watching him, she had to break the tense silence.
“What happened? I mean, you stopped coming and Mama cried a lot, I remember that much.”
Gabe froze, scrubbed a hand over his face, and shook his head.
“You don’t know? Can’t believe for one minute Andrini didn’t brag about his hand in that.”
When she shook her head, he frowned.
“Really, I don’t. I mean, I heard rumors since, but he never told me anything about … well, about that side of his business. Why would he? I’m only a girl, after, all, a complete disappointment, and women don’t count as anything other than arm candy.”
She swallowed hard at another memory. This time of dear Mama in tears, as her so-called husband berated her.
“The one thing I need from you, and you can’t even do that. Why can’t you be nice to him? It would get me this fucking deal.”
Seeing that scene play out in her mind sent a shiver down her spine, and she hugged her arms around herself, as she saw it through adult eyes now.
She blinked when Gabe’s hands settled on her thighs. On his haunches in front of her, he studied her.
“What is it? What have you remembered now?”
“I’m not sure, I mean he wouldn’t have used Mama like that, would he?”
Gabe’s eyebrow rose, and his smirk said it all.
“Andrini is capable of most things, and even back then he was desperate man. Making me take the fall for the drug deal gone wrong wasn’t enough for him.” She pulled back, and he nodded. “That’s why I disappeared. I did a few years at Her Majesty’s pleasure. Got let out early for good behavior, if you can believe that.”
His short laugh rang hollow, and her stomach cramped.
“When did you get out?” she asked.
“Three days before your mother got killed in the crossfire.” A muscle ticked in his jaw, and Lissa wanted to scream as the terrifying possibility occurred to her.
“Did you kill my mother?”
Chapter Four
Fuck. Gabe’s immediate denial stuck in his throat, as the talons of grief and remorse pulled him under. Thoughts and feelings which he’d thought himself immune to sat on his chest and threatened to swamp him, making the simple act of breathing difficult.
To give himself time and to hide his reaction to her words, he straightened slowly and turned his back on her.
“Why would you ask me that?” He ground the question out through gritted teeth. He sensed her get up and step closer. The briefest of gentle
touches on his arm, and then she stood in front of him. Arms wrapped around herself, she worried her plump bottom lip with her teeth, and Gabe swore softly. She looked so much like her mother had at her age, it was unreal.
“Just answer the question, please. I was there in the car. I saw her being shot.”
He flinched when her expressive eyes filled with tears.
“I know, Lissa, I’m sorry.”
She gasped, shook her head, and stepped away from him, until the glass balustrade stopped her.
“Oh my God, you did do it, didn’t you? I heard rumors, even out in Switzerland, but … no, don’t you dare touch me, you bastard, you.” She put her hands up to ward him off when he took a step toward her and shook her head. “How could you? What did my mother ever do to deserve this?”
“Nothing, sweet girl. The bullet wasn’t intended for her, believe me. That asshole used her a shield, when the first shot went wide. Neither you nor your mother should have been there.”
Like a spring released from its box, Lissandra shot forward and slapped his face with surprising force for someone so small. He blocked the next move easily enough, grabbed her wrists, and spun her around so that her back was resting against his chest. She still fought him, kicking and snarling like a feral kitten, while he held her pinned against him, feet dangling off the ground with her calling him all the names under the sun. He took it for a while—she needed to vent—until she started to sag against him, and he put her back on her feet.
“Have you quite finished, girl?” He growled the question into her ear and was rewarded with another backward kick by her left foot. Thank heavens she wasn’t wearing shoes, or his shins would be black and blue, come morning.
“No, let me go, you murdering scum.” The words, while brave, came out on a hoarse whisper, and Gabe sighed and relaxed his hold on her a little more.
“That would only be an insult if it was true, little girl.” She stiffened in his arms. “Now, promise to behave yourself and I’ll let you go. Hit me again, and so help me, your delectable ass will be red raw, are we clear?”
He didn’t miss her sharp intake of breath, but she did murmur her acquiescence.
“I can’t hear you, little girl.”
“Yes, damn you.”
He transferred both of her wrists in one of his and delivered a sharp swat to her ass.
She jumped and yelped, and her startled gaze collided with his.
“That’s ‘yes, damn you, Sir’, at least, girl.”
Her eyes widened, and she looked all set to argue before she offered him a tight smile.
“Fuck you, Sir.”
The snarky intonation she put on that title, while she yanked her chin up and did her best to stare him down, should have made him do good on his promise to put her over his knee. However, the slight wobble in her bottom lip, coupled with the way every delectable curve of her body was pressed into his frame, meant any such action would be a very bad idea indeed. He wouldn’t be able to keep his hands off of her, and he didn’t want her first time to be angry sex. She deserved better than that.
“Oh, fuck we will, my dear, but not now and not here.”
Her eyes grew wide, her already fast breaths sped up even more, and Gabe swallowed a groan. He let go of her and stepped back for some much-needed breathing space. As it was his cock was trying his hardest to break out the confines of the denim surrounding it. Gabe couldn’t even remember the last time he wanted a woman this damn much.
“So, you’re going to add rape to your rap sheet. Murdering innocent women wasn’t enough for you?”
A gasp from behind them alerted Gabe to Mavis’s presence, and sure enough when he turned his head it was to see her standing there. Hands pushed into the pockets of her ever-present apron her lips were pressed into a fine line, signaling her disapproval.
“Parkinson is here, Gabe,” she said.
“Thank you, Mavis, I’ll be there in a minute.”
She nodded, glanced at Lissandra and shook her head.
“Tell her the truth, Gabe, all of it. Or this will never work.”
With that, she turned and left them alone on the terrace.
“Oh my God, she knows, doesn’t she? I thought she was nice and I could trust her. Oh, I’m such a fool.”
Lissandra tried to get past him, but he stepped in her way.
“Lissa, don’t.” She pushed against his chest in a vain effort to make him move and then glared up at him.
“Don’t you dare call me that. Only Mama ever called me that. Don’t you fucking dare…” She slammed her hand over her mouth and shook her head. Misery and despair rolled off of her in waves, and Gabe had to fight the urge to take her in his arms. She wouldn’t welcome that move right now, if ever, and now was not the time.
Instead he crossed his arms over his chest, widened his stance, and simply looked at her.
“I’ll call you anything I damn well, please, little girl, and you will lose the attitude. I told you last night, you’re mine now, so you better get used to it. As for Mavis, she is the most loyal person I ever met. Without her, I doubt I would have survived my childhood, so you be nice to her, do you hear me?”
“Or what? You’ll kill me, too?” The mumbled reply grated, and he took several deep breaths to calm himself.
“If I wanted you dead, you’d be six feet under already, girl. After the hit on your father went wrong, I’ve never trusted anyone else to do the killing for me ever again.” He waited for that to sink in, and sure enough her head came up, and she stared wide-eyed, confusion evident on her face.
“I thought… it wasn’t…”
“No, little girl. I’m not such a bastard that I would rob a child of its mother, especially when that mother’s only crime was falling in love and staying with that fucker, Andrini. Besides, I prefer to kill with my hands. Much more satisfying.” He uncrossed his arms and wrapped his hands around her slender throat. Her heartbeat jumped under his palms, and he squeezed just once before he released her. “To feel the life draining out a piece of scum that crossed me … that’s sweet.”
“You’re a monster.” Her whispered reply made him grin.
“Yes, I suppose I am. You better get used to it, little girl, and don’t get any silly ideas of crossing me. You behave and do as you’re told, and we’ll get along just fine.”
She swallowed hard, but gave the tiniest nod, and that would have to do for now.
“Good girl, that wasn’t so hard now, was it?”
“So, you’ll kill me if I don’t behave?” She mimed quotation marks around that one word and nudged her chin up in a move of defiance that simply served to make him harder. It would be fun to tame all that passion, indeed, and knowing that he would be the first man ever to touch her, to teach her … fuck, what a turn-on that was. Gabe had never cared much about being the first. He wasn’t possessive over the women he fucked. That would mean he cared about them to be anything more than a convenient set of holes to sink his dick into, but this was Lissandra Andrini. His revenge and he was fast beginning to realize his destiny, too. Whether she’d also prove to be his downfall remained to be seen.
“Killing is too easy an out. That’s the only reason Andrini still lives. I want him to suffer, to wallow in his own filth. Death is too good for the likes of him. As for you…” He paused and smiled. “I’ve already told you what I’ll do to you. And once that ass of yours is red raw I will fuck it, so, maybe I’ll kill you after all with the petit mort, at least.”
Her sharp intake of breath almost sounded like a moan, and acting on instinct, he stepped closer, and shoved his hand under her robe to cup her mound. Wet heat greeted his palm, and he smirked, while a blush suffused her pale skin.
“What are you? You can’t … oh…” She tried to clamp her legs together, but one shake of his head stopped her. He forced himself to remove his hand, looked at the glistening evidence of her arousal on his palm and held it up for her to see.
“Protest all you want, Lissa.
Hate me if you must, but your body doesn’t lie.” He licked the wetness off his hands and immediately regretted that, as her feminine musk hit his nostrils. Damn, she smelled good.
“I do, I hate you.” Her denial was too breathy to be truly effective, and Gabe laughed.
“No problem, my sweet. You don’t have to like me to enjoy fucking me. Now, go and get dressed, and meet me in the living room in ten minutes. Don’t make me wait, or so help me I drag you out there like this or maybe naked.” He grinned at her simmering outrage. “I’m sure my men would enjoy the view.”
“You wouldn’t dare?”
Gabe threw his head back and laughed.
“Oh, my sweet, never dare the monster.”
****
Oh, that man. Dumbfounded, Lissandra stared after his departing back. He had to be lying. Her father wouldn’t have used Mama as a shield…
Even as she thought that, desperately tried to think back to that awful day, those frightful moments observed through the glass of the limo, she knew Gabe had spoken the truth. She’d known it then, in that awful moment, when her mother had screamed, and the red stain had appeared on her chest.
Lissandra closed her eyes and took deep breaths to quieten her rioting emotions. At least Gabe hadn’t been the one to kill Mama. She knew instinctively that he wouldn’t lie about that. In fact, she was as sure as she could be that everything he’d said to her had been the truth, which also meant he would make good on his threat to parade her stark naked if she didn’t get dressed.
Her pussy clenched at that thought, and Lissandra rolled her eyes and put her hands on her hot cheeks. She couldn’t be turned on by that notion, could she? Yet, as she hastened back to her room to pull on some clothes, the wetness between her legs called her a liar.
How fucked up in the head was she that she lusted after her captor? Stockholm syndrome, eat your heart out, only, she was painfully aware that she hadn’t been his captive for long enough to attribute this raging attraction she felt to the man to any sort of syndrome.
Had she met him in any other circumstances, she would have lusted after him just as much. So, what did that make her? Not frigid, as her last disastrous attempt at going out with someone her own age had suggested.
Gabe's Revenge Page 4