Page 105 of Fragile

“I don’t understand, how does he know where I am?” I questioned, my lips feeling dry.

This caused him to shoot a blistering look towards his colleague. “Find my fucking phone did the job,” Kia revealed with a look of exasperation. My eyes flickered towards my phone in his large hand, the pink colour looking misplaced against his inked skin. “As usual, another member of the Knight family has successfully shit on my parade.” His words sent a jolt of adrenaline through me.

For self-preservation reasons, I attempted to ignore his comment about the Knight family, heat stung my cheeks. He must have put his hand inside my bra to get my phone. As I pulled my gaze back, he was smiling, with mischief dancing in his eyes.

With a wink, he said, “You don’t have to worry. I was very careful not to touch your skin. I don’t grope unconscious women.”

“But you expected me to,” his friend barked out with a grim expression.

“Shut it,” was the comeback.

“What do you want from me?” I almost snarled. My words amused him and his lips twitched.

“Now that’s a loaded question. Nothing, just your obedience.”

I narrowed my eyes, not knowing whether I believed him. The man had a haunting presence. I remembered what Charlie had said. Mafia. I tried to phase out the image of this man maiming people for sport. Bloody images rolled through my mind.

Suddenly his pocket vibrated and he placed my phone on the small table beside him next to a vodka bottle and a shot glass.

The man called Kai suppressed a yawn and then drew his own phone out and started scrolling through it. “And here he is, right on time. Fucking marvellous.” The dirty look he gave the other guy was full-on.

“What? I’ve said I was sorry,” his buddy huffed, breathing harshly.

“Save it. It’s show time, we have company.”

“Company?” came another voice from the shadows.

Kai shot me a thoughtful look saying, “The rat has arrived.”

On impulse, I jostled my feet to stand but failed. Flutters of unease danced through me.

“Don’t you hurt him,” I blasted. My outburst seemed to amuse and he held up his hands in mock surrender. Considering he was such a large man, and thoroughly intimidating, he owned a lethal type of charm.

“Easy little fairy. You wound me,” he began, placing a hand flat against his heart. “I’m a fair man. He has nothing to worry about as long as he didn’t send the package he was sent to the police. If he did that, he automatically put a target on his back. I’ll also need the name of his little mole.”

“Mole? What mole? Gabriel isn’t mixed up in the stuff his father is,” I blurted before I could stop myself, tugging against the bonds on my wrists again. This drew his gaze down to my hands. I swallowed down that desire to punch him in the nuts; an uncharacteristic thought but I encouraged that impulse.

“A little birdie in my organisation also owns a courier company. They help my boss move shit from time to time, under the radar. My contact told me he suspected someone in my set-up was gathering stuff against us.”

“What type of stuff?” I questioned, knowing he was probably referring to drugs.

“Something very powerful. Information. They remember a package being sent to your boyfriend and sniffed that something was off. We’ve been looking for it.”

This drew my thoughts back to the break-in when Gabriel’s laptop had been stolen. “He’s not my boyfriend,” I replied sadly.

“Whatever.” My captor then started to scrutinise my face intently and I felt my cheeks heat. “You’re a bit of a ghost, aren’t you? Unlike girls your age. You don’t have thousands of selfies uploaded to Instagram or that Tiktok shit. You don’t even have any accounts, why is that?”

I jerked my wrists again. “I just don’t do social media.”

He took a few moments, watching my useless actions before he warned, “Don’t do that. You won’t free yourself and you could hurt your pretty skin. Believe me, I know how to tie people up,” he stated, his tone full of arrogance like I should be impressed with his talents.

“Great. I suppose it’s good to have some skills,” I said, my voice dripping with sarcasm. When did I become so ballsy? When someone was threatening the man, I loved, that’s when!

And BOOM. LOVE?

I did love Gabriel, with all my heart and I knew at that moment that I would die if anything happened to him.

Kia narrowed his eyes and he watched me with a head tilt. “I must say, I didn’t think you’d be this gobby. I’d heard you were all sweetness and light.”

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