Secrets (A Standalone Novel) (A Suspense Romance)

by Adams, Claire

  “Kyle seems to like you at the very least. Perhaps I should let him have his way with you right here, just to prove that he’s not the mole.” I tried not to respond, but my eyes darted at Gunner and something in the way I looked at him must have given Gino some concern.

  “On your knees!” Gino screamed as he put a handgun to Gunner’s head. Gunner instantly went to his knees. He responded like any of the other employees would have responded, by doing exactly as he was told. I looked up at Chris, in the hopes that he would do something to stop the situation. But he didn’t even look at me, instead he intently watched the situation between Gino and Gunner.

  “Do you know this girl?” Gino asked Gunner.

  “No sir, but she is fine as hell. That’s why I looked at her like that. I’m sorry sir.”

  Gino looked at me. He took some extra time to look up and down my body. Our eyes made contact with each other and then his gazed moved down to my breasts.

  “Mmmm baby girl is fine,” Gino said. “Stand up then,” he yelled at Gunner. Gunner stood up and didn’t look at me. Only straight at Gino, who had now moved down the line to some other guy in the group.

  “You want to fuck her?” Gino said to the next guy.

  “Not my type. I like girls with some ass,” the guy joked.

  All the people laughed awkwardly. It was the best they could do with such a dangerous man. None of them were free to say much and Gino continued to move down the line of people and see if he could notice a reaction that would warn him that someone was the mole.

  What Gino didn’t know was that he had at least three moles within his group. I didn’t know everyone that Chris worked with and it was highly possible there were even more men who had infiltrated this group. I thought back to what Chris had said about his work and how long he had been on this case. He certainly must have been working with Gino for many years for Gino to trust him as one of his right hand guys. I was a little in awe of how dedicated to his work that Chris was.

  When I first met him as my shirtless neighbor, I felt like he was probably a meathead. My instinct was that he was one of those police officers who spent all their time working out and picking up women, but not very much of their time taking their work seriously. I certainly had been wrong about Chris.

  Chapter 53

  Gino continued on for what seemed like hours. He went from person to person throughout the crowd and asked them questions to try and find his mole. His determination was somewhat admirable, although I felt like there were a lot of shady characters in the room and any number of them could be the mole. Although, I clearly knew who the real mole was. Chris held onto me tightly and pushed me around behind Gino just as he was commanded to. At one point, Gino wanted me on my knees.

  “Get on your knees bitch,” Chris yelled as his hand pressed my shoulder firmly and forced me to the ground. It surprised me and I fell hard to the ground. Chris certainly was very good at his job and appeared to be the man that Gino thought he was.

  “No need to call the sweet thing names, Skinner,” Gino said. “She deserves to be treated nicely. Until I have to torture her.”

  I looked at the ground as I kneeled and Gino asked another person something about knowing me. My body shook with fear and I couldn’t hear Gino talk anymore because my own heartbeat took over in my eardrums. I was scared, really scared and my body started to shut down as the fear took over. But soon Chris had yanked me up from the ground and had me standing again.

  My knees were weak and I started to fall over. The fear that I had felt for the last couple hours was too much for me. I just couldn’t stand anymore. Chris let go of me and let me fall to the floor.

  “Jesus Christ Skinner, you could have caught the sweet little thing,” Gino said as he came to my side. “Are you alright?” he asked kindly, for a man who planned to torture and kill me. I just stared at him. My body did not seem to be in my own control anymore and the fear had made me unable to stand or even talk. My eyes just looked at Gino and I wasn’t able to get my mouth to word anything as an answer to him.

  “Skinner, take the girl over there to that room and let her rest,” Gino said as he pointed to an old office in the corner of the warehouse. Chris roughly grabbed me and practically dragged me over to the office. He didn’t gently try to support me, he didn’t kindly put his hand on my back to guide me; instead he grabbed my upper arm and walked swiftly to the room. When my legs gave out under me, he just pulled me up with his hand that was on my arm.

  “Ouch!” I let out as he pulled my arm.

  “Skinner,” Gino said, “try to be nice.”

  “Yes sir,” Chris said to Gino.

  Chris threw me into the room and I fell against the old metal table that was in the room. Chris banged his hand hard against the metal desk and it made a loud noise that echoed throughout the warehouse.

  “Skinner, that didn’t sound nice,” Gino yelled from the other side of the warehouse.

  “Sorry boss,” Chris said.

  I just stayed there sitting on the floor up against the metal desk. I couldn’t move. My body was overcome with the fear and adrenaline of the situation and I was just slightly relieved to be in a different room than Gino. Chris walked out of the room and shut the door behind him. I let my head lay up against the desk and I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths. I wanted to be in control of my body again. I just had to figure out a way to get control over the fear that pulsed through me. I needed to relax.

  Gino and his group of workers stayed out in the main warehouse for another thirty minutes or so. Then I heard the crowd disperse and Gino’s voice outside the door to the office I was in.

  “Can I trust you to watch over the girl and not kill her?” Gino asked the man next to him.

  “I won’t kill her if she doesn’t try to escape,” Chris said in response. “I don’t have to feed her or anything like that do I?”

  “That’s a good idea actually, no don’t feed her. She can drink water and there’s a toilet over there, but that’s it. I’m going downstairs to talk with a few of these assholes and see if I can figure out who it might be. In the morning, I’ll bring a couple of them up and you can help me give that sweet thing some pain and see if we can get a confession from someone.”

  “I’d love to help with the pain,” Chris said. His voice sounded different and he actually sounded like he enjoyed inflicting pain. I had chills as he said it. Chris was very convincing as the right-hand man to Gino, I could see why he was able to get so far in Gino’s organization.

  “Ok, but leave the girl alone tonight. No torture until morning, understood?” Gino said firmly.

  “Yes, sir.”

  I sat there and anticipated Chris coming through the door as I heard Gino walk away. Any second Chris would come in and help me escape. I looked at the door intently as I waited for him. My mind raced with thoughts of how Chris and I could make our escape without being heard. We could climb out the window and make our way down a drain pipe, or maybe sneak quietly down the stairwell and make a run for it. I thought about every mob movie I had ever seen and how people escaped from their murderers. Surely, Chris and I would be able to make a swift escape.

  After a few minutes, it became apparent that Chris did not intend to come into the office at all. I saw him pull a chair close to the office door and he sat down. I didn’t want to yell at him or say anything for fear that there was someone else out there with him. The door was closed so I couldn’t see what was going on. For all I knew there could have been other people still out in that room with him. As the night wore on I could feel myself as I became extremely tired and finally grabbed a work coat that was on a nearby chair and used it to curl up on the floor and go to sleep. My body was exhausted from the fear and stress from the day. I felt my eyes as they got heavy and I closed them in hopes that I would be able to get some sleep.

  I took a couple deep breaths and said a little prayer that everything would work out in the morning. I didn’t want Chris or any of his
men to get shot and I certainly didn’t want to be tortured by Chris or anyone else on Gino’s team of killers. I hoped that Chris would find a way to save me and we would both make it out of the situation unharmed.

  Chapter 54

  “Are you alright?” Chris said in my ear quietly.

  I opened my eyes to find Chris kneeled down next to me on the floor. I sat up quickly and looked at him. He held a finger to his lips in a motion to be quiet.

  “I’m fine,” I whispered. “Where is everyone?”

  “They are all downstairs.”

  “Can we get out of here?” I said, desperate to leave that warehouse and get to safety. I sat up and started to stand, but Chris put his hand on my leg and held me in place.

  “Not yet. We have to wait until morning for backup to arrive.”

  I felt my heart sink at his words. My whole hope had been on him to rescue me. The idea of sticking around all night long and waiting to be tortured in the morning did not sit well with me. We had to leave, we had to get out of the building before Gino and his men woke up and started to torture me, or kill people. Didn’t Chris understand the gravity of the situation? Surely he knew this could all end very badly for me.

  “We could just sneak out now,” I said hopefully.

  “Babe, we can’t. I have three guys in the group downstairs and I’ve worked for years to catch Gino. This has to end with him in jail and I’m going to be the person responsible.”

  I shook my head in understanding as I looked at Chris. He seemed intent on staying for the night and I couldn’t argue. I didn’t have enough energy to move on my own so I was going to be at his mercy. I had to trust that he knew what he was doing.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked as he handed me a sandwich. I looked around to see if anyone was coming since I had heard Gino tell him not to give me anything to eat.

  “Don’t worry, I checked. Everyone is asleep downstairs, even Gino.”

  I ate the sandwich quickly and then drank the bottle of water that Chris gave me. I was starving and it felt great to get some food.

  “So what’s the plan?” I asked Chris as I finished drinking.

  “Well, there is a large swat team coming to raid this place in a couple hours. They should get here just before dawn, so we just have to tough it out and sit quietly for a couple hours. Should be easy, everyone is asleep and the raid will wake them up and Gino can be taken into custody before he knows what happened.”

  Chris seemed so calm and at ease about the situation. It was hard for me to fathom being able to control my body and calm myself as well as he was able to do. I leaned in and let my head rest against his chest. I felt safe there. At that moment, with his arms wrapped around me, I felt safe. Even though there were dozens of people just a few hundred yards away that would easily kill us both, in that room and at that moment, I felt safe.

  Chris moved to sit down next to me and pulled me up next to him. He looked at my arm which was black and blue from him dragging me into the room earlier. His lips moved down and kissed the bruise. I could tell he felt horrible about it as his lips gently moved across my skin. I wanted to tell him it was alright, I wanted to tell him I understood he had to play the role that Gino expected from him. Instead, I leaned down and grabbed his chin and pulled it up to meet my lips.

  Our lips moved together in passion and I let my hands hold onto the scruff of his beard. Chris grabbed my hips and placed me on his lap. One leg sat on each side of him as I straddled his hard body. I felt at home next to him. It had only been a few short months before that I had been overwhelmed by the wealth of muscles he had. Now, I felt more comfortable there in his lap than anywhere else in the room. My hands moved down to stroke his chest as we continued to move our mouths in unison. His soft lips were such a contrast to the rough fir of his beard. I felt my body reacting to the passion in his hands as they moved up and down my back.

  His long fingers cupped my ass in his hand as he played with my jean shorts. I felt his hands go up my back and then try to slide down the back of my shorts, but the tightness of them prevented him. I continued to enjoy his tongue as his hands made their way around to the front of my shorts and unbuttoned them. Then I felt him unbutton his own pants and heard the zipper as he lowered it.

  My lips separated from his as I stood up and took off my shorts and watched as he pulled his throbbing cock out of his pants and pushed them down to his knees. I couldn’t help but lick my lips as I looked at his pulsing organ and his desire for me. With my legs on either side of him, I lowered my body over him and let my lips meet his again as I continued to lower onto his throbbing cock. A moan left my mouth as he filled me up completely and I moved slowly against him. His hands returned to my ass and spread my cheeks as he played with me and forced me to rock back and forth on his cock as I bounced up and down. The intensity of his body as it pressed inside of me felt like heaven.

  We were quiet, making sure not to moan or make noises as much as possible. The silence was erotic and drove me to pay close attention to my body and how it pressed up against his. I felt everything differently, more intensely than I had ever felt before. Soon I felt his hands pressing my hips to move harder and faster against his body. He thrust his own hips into me as we continued to kiss each other.

  The kissing provided a way to muffle the low moans that left my body as I felt the buildup of excitement. As we moved harder and harder against each other, it became impossible for me to keep quiet. The pleasure was just too much. Chris reached up and put his hand over my mouth as I continued to moan and thrust against his raging cock. Harder and faster we moved together until I thought for sure someone would hear us. My body shook with pleasure as one final thrust delivered by Chris sent a surge of ecstasy throughout every last inch of me.

  It was unsafe to be there, it was dangerous to be fucking him; but it was the perfect moment.

  Chapter 55

  I fell asleep wrapped in Chris’ arms and feeling safer than I had ever felt. But when I woke up, I certainly did not feel safe. There was loud popping noises going off downstairs and I heard screams…the popping was gunfire. Chris opened the door to the office and stood there for a minute. He looked at me and then back at the stairwell across the warehouse.

  “Get under the desk and don’t come out,” Chris said as he closed the door and sat back down in the chair outside of the office. For a minute I thought it was already morning and the raid had started. But there had not been enough gunfire. Only a couple shots. I did as Chris told me and went under the desk and waited.

  “Where is the girl?” Gino yelled from across the warehouse as he came up the stairs.

  “In the office,” Chris said calmly.

  “Get her.”

  “What’s up?” Chris asked Gino

  “I found the mole; I’m going to kill her now.” There was silence and then I heard the door open. I stayed under the desk and tried not to move. I didn’t know how it would be possible to make it out of the situation alive. There was no sign of daylight outside yet and I had no idea if the swat team would be able to get to us in time or not.

  “So no torture?” Chris said as he opened the office door.

  “No. I killed that Kyle kid after I found him trying to sneak out the back door. It had to of been him,” Gino said.

  Chris stayed at the entrance to the office but continued to talk to Gino. I couldn’t believe Gunner was dead. Why would he of tried to sneak out? I thought, but then remembered that was exactly what I had tried to convince Chris to help me do only a few hours before.

  “You think he was the only one?” Chris said to Gino. He was silent for a long moment, obviously contemplating the situation. I didn’t know where Chris was going with this, but it didn’t seem like a good idea to start giving Gino the idea that there was more than one mole in his group.

  “Well anything is possible,” Gino said. “Get the girl out here; I want to talk to her.” Chris came into the room and walked over to the desk. He pulled the chair o
ut and leaned down.

  “Get your sweet little ass out here,” he said.

  “Oh, she’s hiding under the desk? That’s smart,” Gino laughed.

  “I know…like we wouldn’t find her or something,” Chris joined in with the laughter.

  It was creepy how quickly Chris was able to change from the man I had started to love into this crazy creep that worked for this guy Gino. I looked at the two of them as they laughed and I walked out into the main room.

  “Alright sweet thing, was that kid Kyle the man you know?” Gino asked. I just looked at him and shook my head no. I didn’t know what I was supposed to do or say. Maybe I should have just said yes since Gunner was dead now. Maybe I was right to say no? I had no idea. When I looked at Chris, I didn’t see any response from him.

  In fact, when I looked at him I didn’t really see Chris at all. He had turned into Skinner and didn’t respond to me one bit. The way he held his body, even the way his eyes looked; Chris did not look like the man I knew.

  “So you know someone else in my group then?” Gino asked. Again I shook my head no.

  Gino reached up and grabbed me by the throat and pushed me up against the wall. It happened so quickly that I didn’t know what to do. My hands darted up to meet his and I tried desperately to pull them away.

  “Listen here bitch, I will kill you. Do you understand?” Gino said as I shook my head yes. “Now tell me who the fuck you know in the group.”

  “Maybe we should bring her downstairs so she can show us,” Chris suggested.

  I shook my head yes again.

  Chris appeared so calm and withdrawn from the situation. He didn’t react to Gino strangling me, he didn’t even make a motion to come rescue me. It was disturbing. I didn’t know who I was going to show Gino, I didn’t know what was next, but I did know that I needed his hand off of my throat.