Page 7 of Crime Lord’s Captive

Gavin picked her up with a show of effortless strength that scared her. He settled her on a seat built into the shower and squirted shampoo into his hands. Before she could avoid him, he began to massage it into her scalp. The familiar smell of her favorite shampoo startled even as it soothed her. Lyla sat like a broken doll as Gavin bathed her. Lyla felt as if she were in an alternate reality. This couldn’t be real. She couldn’t be here with Gavin. She didn’t have sex with him and he couldn’t be washing her as if he had every right to. Lyla retreated into her mind because she wasn’t capable of digesting what was happening to her.

Gavin cleaned himself before he stepped out of the shower with her. He engulfed her in a soft cashmere robe and sat her in front of the vanity as he toweled her hair dry and brushed it. She was blessedly numb and didn’t say a word. She examined Gavin in the mirror as he tended to her. The man in the mirror was a far cry from the man she fell in love with. Back then, Gavin had been arrogant and charming and possessed more power than one person should. Most people never witnessed the darkness in him since he was so good at disguising it. Now, it was on full display as if he didn’t bother wearing a mask these days. Although he was tending to her as efficiently as a maid, power emanated from him and kept her still and quiet before him. Once upon a time she loved him without reservation. She had been a fool. It took four years to realize that she was living a lie. Her emotions were a tangle of nostalgia, rage, fear and betrayal. She loathed him and yet... There was a small part of her that still believed he was the boy she’d fallen in love with. How could she love and hate him at the same time?

Gavin seemed harder and colder than she remembered and it scared her. Gavin was so familiar and yet... not. How much had he changed in three years? Lyla reminded herself that Gavin had never been anything but gentle with her, but she knew that could change in a heartbeat. Lyla didn't realize she was crying again until Gavin crouched in front of her. He cupped her face between his hands and brushed her tears away with his thumb. Piercing amber eyes moved over her face.

“Don’t cry,” he ordered softly.

“I don't know how to stop,” she whispered and began to shake.

Gavin gathered her in his arms and carried her back into the bedroom. Panic infused her and she began to struggle as he settled her on the bed.

“I'm not going to fuck you again,” Gavin said.

Lyla took him at his word and curled into a ball on one side of the bed. There was an awful silence and then arms pulled her back against a large body. Lyla made a distressed sound and tried to get away, but her limbs were weak with exhaustion and shock. She could feel his body heat through the robe, which reminded her of the dream and how she ripped “Jonathan's” shirt, desperate to feel his skin against hers. Her eyes scanned the floor and stopped on the buttons scattered over the carpet. She moaned and covered her face with her hands. No wonder he fucked her. She practically begged him to do it. Within hours of being in his vicinity, he fucked her twice. What did this mean? Guilt clawed her insides. She was in love with Jonathan, yet Gavin made her come and played her body as easily as if she'd never been with another man. She hated herself.

“I want to see my dad,” she said. She wouldn't be able to rest until she saw that he was alive. Gavin was underhanded enough to use her father to bring her back and still kill him for embezzling half a million.

“Tomorrow,” Gavin said.

“No.” Lyla rolled and braced herself to face him. “I want to see him.”

Gavin stared at her for a long moment before he rose. “He’s downstairs.”

Lyla’s heart lightened a bit. She slipped out of bed and belted the cashmere robe, which was too large for her. Gavin pulled on a pair of jeans and black T-shirt. She didn't comment as he put a gun in his waistband.

“Come,” he said and opened the door.

Lyla held her breath as she passed him. She stopped in her tracks when she saw movement at the end of the hallway. She flushed with mortification as Gavin ushered her forward. The guards were expressionless, but she knew they heard her being fucked by their boss. She looked like the weak female they assumed her to be. In this world, women were bought and sold to the highest bidder. And there were none more powerful than Gavin. She tasted bile in her mouth as Gavin led her down the staircase and to the basement, the only area in the house that had been off-limits to her.

Lyla’s damp palms slid along the iron railing as she walked down the steps that lead into the basement. It was chilly down here and the smell of blood was overwhelming. There were no windows in the basement, just endless concrete. Florescent lights revealed a figure in the middle of the room tied to a chair. Blood splattered the floor around him and he wasn't moving.

Lyla shoved past Gavin to reach her father. She clasped his head between trembling hands. His face was swollen, discolored and grotesque. His nose had been broken and his lips were ripped from being pummeled against his teeth. Unfocused, dark brown eyes opened.

“Dad?” Lyla said urgently and snapped, “Gavin, untie him.”

“Do it,” Gavin said and Blade appeared with a knife.

Lyla glared at Blade as he cut the ropes. Her father tipped forward into her arms. She fell back on her ass as she took his full weight.

“He needs a doctor,” Lyla said as she held her limp father in her arms. He moaned pitifully.

“No.”

Lyla glanced back at Gavin who had his arms folded across his chest.

“The price for stealing is death. Healing naturally from his beating is small recompense for what he owes me.” Gavin's eyes narrowed on her. “Don’t look at me like that, Lyla. You know how our world works.”

“Your world,” she shot back.

“And you’re back, so it'sourworld.”

“I came back to pay his debt, not stay here permanently.”

“You saved your father’s life by coming back to me. I think its fair to say a life for a life.”

Lyla went cold with fear. “Life?” Was he going to kill her? Torture her? Turn her into a prostitute?

“Lyla?” her father croaked.

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