Page 11 of Crime Lord’s Captive

She turned as Gavin rose and stilled when she saw his implacable expression.

“I took you for granted,” Gavin acknowledged as he slowly rounded the table, closing the distance between them with deliberate steps. “I didn’t want to change. I admit that. I liked having you in one section of my life and the business and girls in the other. I had it all and then Min fucked up when he let you into the club without checking with Blade first.”

“It was kind of hard for Min to check with Blade when he was getting sucked off by two women,” she said and glared at him. “I can’t believe you shot Min. It wasn’t his fault!”

Gavin shrugged as if it wasn’t a big deal, and to him it wasn’t. Gavin grew up in the cutthroat underworld. He was taught to fight, fuck and deal before he hit puberty. She tried to shy away. Gavin wrapped a hand around the back of her neck and plastered her against him.

“I thought you’d been taken by one of my enemies. I thought you’d been killed.” His eyes hardened. “How could you, Lyla?”

“I wanted out,” she said. Her heartbeat accelerated as Gavin’s energy began to pulse in the air around them.

“I was tortured by thoughts of what my enemies did to you before they killed you. Three years of regret and then my investigator finds you in Maine with a different name, working as a bank teller.” His eyes raked over her face. “And living with another man... a fucking nerd. You let another man touch you, make love to you? How could you do that to me?”

“You expect me to be faithful to you after you cheated on me?”

Gavin’s eyes flashed with rage. Gavin lifted her off her feet and shook her like a rag doll.

“What does he have that I don’t, Lyla? You leave me for a guy that makes fifty-thousand a year? Who I could beat to a pulp?”

Lyla struggled to get free, but Gavin didn’t seem to notice. His eyes were glazed with fury and his hands were moments away from crushing bone.

“Your life belongs to me. No other man is allowed to touch you.”

Lyla trembled in his grasp. “Gavin, you’re hurting me.”

“And you hurt me!” he shouted and shoved her away from him.

Lyla staggered back and hit the glass door that led into the back yard hard enough to make it bow and shudder in its frame. She shook like a leaf. She knew what Gavin was capable of. The night before she left him, she witnessed him kill a man with his bare hands. Gavin was a savage beneath the polished veneer. He could kill her easily. His ragged breathing filled the kitchen. She bowed her head and waited for him to come after her, to finish her off.

“Don’t push me, Lyla. I’m so fucking angry at you. Look at me.”

She was too afraid to raise her head. Suddenly, he was right in front of her and once more, his hand shot out. She screamed as his hand closed around her throat. His hair was mussed and he looked like he was seconds away from strangling her. She wrapped both hands around his wrist and struggled to get away.

“When I tell you to do something, you do it!” he shouted in her face. She closed her eyes against the sight of him. “You don’t leave me, Lyla. Do you understand me?”

She nodded because she couldn’t speak.

“Open your eyes.”

When she didn’t obey, his hand tightened in warning. Her eyes popped open.

“Tell me you understand.”

“I-I understand,” she whispered as he threatened her airflow.

“Tell me you won’t leave me.”

A tear slipped down her cheek. “I w-won’t leave you.”

He grabbed her lower lip between his teeth. She moaned and tried to turn her face away, but he increased the pressure and bit. She tasted blood. More tears slipped down her face. When he released her, a trickle of blood slipped down her chin. He glared at her as if he hated her, as if he were debating whether or not she was worth the trouble. She held her breath.

“You belong to me,” he stated without emotion, as if she were a chair that he was claiming ownership of. “You try to leave me again, I’ll hunt you down and make you watch as I slaughter everyone you love. Then, I’ll make you pay.”

Lyla couldn’t conceal her horror. In the four years they were together, Gavin never touched her in anger. He had been so gentle with her, so caring. With everyone else, he was a beast, but he always reined it in around her. Now, it was on full display and it made her tremble.

“Your place is by my side. You listen to me and follow my rules. You don’t have the freedom you had last time. You check in with me for everything. You understand?” At her slow nod, he stepped back. “Go upstairs and fix your face. Then, I’ll take you to see your mom.”

Lyla lurched into motion, making a wide circle around him as she left the kitchen on unsteady legs. She walked upstairs, focusing hard on putting one foot in front of the other. When she reached their bedroom she closed the door and stood there for a long moment, mind racing. If she stayed, he would kill her. But, there was nowhere to run where he couldn’t find her. Even though he suspected she had been killed by his enemies, he didn’t call off the search. He meant every word he said in the kitchen. He would kill her family if she ran again. He didn’t make idle threats.

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