Page 10 of Crime Lord’s Captive

“I can give you what money I have and make payments,” she said.

“I don’t need your money.”

“Then why—”

He reached out and captured her chin in his hand. She resisted the impulse to jerk away. She was extremely vulnerable and at his mercy. She hated the feeling of helplessness that filled her, making her want to lash out.

“I can buy, bribe or steal anything I want,” Gavin said.

It was true. Knowing the power he wielded kept her still and silent.

“Your dad stole a chunk of change he didn’t earn and pissed it away. If he won, I would have charged him interest.”

Which meant he’d known about her father stealing and allowed it to continue until he saw an opportunity to use her father’s betrayal to his advantage.

“In the end, your father’s stupidity and greed worked in my favor. I wanted you to come willingly—”

“I didn’t,” she snapped and he tightened his hold.

“I have the manpower to have you watched day and night, but I need more insurance than that.” He leaned forward until he was only inches away. His eyes seared hers and his hold tightened fractionally. “And I still have yet to discover how you escaped me the first time. Do you want to enlighten me?”

“No.” She would take it to her grave.

“No matter,” Gavin said as if it didn’t matter, but she knew better. “Your love for your worthless father gives me the insurance I need that you will do what I say, when I say. Isn’t that right, baby girl?” His thumb stroked over her lower lip.

She wanted to bite, but was too busy sifting through his statement. “And how am I supposed to pay off my dad’s debt?”

“I told you.”

He had? Lyla frowned and his eyes flashed.

“I want what we had.”

Lyla jerked out of his hold and surged to her feet. She clutched the back of the chair and tried to keep herself from shouting. “What did we have, Gavin?”

“A great life together.”

She wanted to slap him. “I don’t understand you! You have women begging to give you blowjobs. What do you need from me that you can’t get from them?”

“There’s no one like you.”

She wanted to tear her hair out. She released the chair and began to wave her hands as she paced the kitchen. “There’s hundreds, no,thousandsof women like me.”

He said nothing and she wondered if pride made him act impulsively. He didn’t really want her. He wanted a submissive woman who doted on him. That wasn’t her, not any longer.

“I wantyou, Lyla.”

She shook her head. “Youhadme, Gavin. I wasn’t enough for you.” She gave him a sugary sweet smile while her blood began to boil. “Or did I imagine you having an orgy in the club?”

“I told you, that was a mistake.”

“And there were dozens ofmistakesbefore I found out!” she shouted and turned away from him to regain her composure. How could she be so mad after all this time? She thought she put it behind her, but seeing Gavin in the flesh and having him say he wanted what they had made her chest burn.

“That’s over.”

“Yes, it is,” she agreed and desperately tried to rein in her temper. Why were they even having this conversation? Oh, yeah, because he wanted things to go back to the way they’d been three years ago when she was a naive fool. “I’m not the same person, Gavin. Whatever you think you’ll get from me... I can’t. Within a month you’ll be back to your old ways. Maybe there’s another way I can pay off dad’s debt. Maybe I can—”

“No.”

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