Page 14 of Crime Lord’s Captive

“I warned your father about stealing from the Pyres.” Lyla’s mother leaned against the counter and wrapped her arms around herself. “I suspected he was stealing from them. I knew it meant his life when they caught him, but he wouldn't stop. He's addicted to gambling, always has been, always will be. I knew when Gavin's men showed up what it meant.” Tears sparkled in her eyes. “I never thought I'd see him again and now you're both here.”

Lyla tried to respond to her mother's watery smile, but she couldn’t.

“I know you don't want to be here, but I'm glad you came home to save your father's life.”

Her mother loved her father beyond all reason. It was the way Lyla had once loved Gavin—fathomless and irreversible. Her father was brilliant with numbers and had never been able to stay away from gambling. He would go through a streak of luck that resulted in her mother being showered with gifts before he hit a bad streak and then everything went to hell. Her father had a hard time keeping a job because of his addiction until he accepted a job as an accountant for the Pyre Casinos when she was sixteen. She visited her father at work one day and met Manny Pyre, the CEO of Pyre Casinos and Gavin’s father. Lyla felt an instant connection with Manny. Despite her father’s warnings, Lyla dropped in on Manny throughout the summer and helped with minor administrative tasks. In her senior year, Manny hired her as a personal assistant. She shadowed his every move when she wasn't in school. Manny introduced her to Gavin and the rest was history. Despite the fact that Gavin was eight years older than her, they began to date, much to her father's displeasure. It took her a year to realize something wasn't right with the business. Gavin never talked about it, but she wasn't stupid. Gavin pampered her and moved her into his mansion. She quit her job at Pyre Casinos and became a kept woman. She slipped her mother part of the allowance Gavin gave her when her father was on a bad streak. Life was good... until it wasn’t.

Lyla stared at her mother who had yet to address the darker parts of her story. Although it had never been discussed, they knew there was a dirty side to the Pyre fortune. It was an unspoken rule that it should never be discussed.

“Gavin's going to kill me.” The words burst out of her mouth before they materialized in her head.

Her mother waved a dismissive hand. “He won’t.”

Lyla stared at her mother and gestured to her injuries.

“What did you do?” Mom asked, a thread of accusation in her voice.

Lyla surged to her feet and didn't notice the mug totter off the table and shatter when it hit the ground.“What did I do?”

“Gavin loves you,” Mom said in a consoling tone. “He wouldn't have hurt you unless you made him angry beyond reason.”

“So it's my fault that I look like this?” Lyla demanded. Her mother always stuck up for her father and now, it seemed that she was sticking up for Gavin, the man responsible for her father’s nearly comatose state. “Did younothear me say that he cheated on me and killed a guy with his bare hands?”

“He’s a Pyre,” Mom said as if that dismissed Gavin’s sins. “You should be grateful that he still cares for you. You have to keep him happy, Lyla, for all our sake’s.”

“I should be grateful,” Lyla repeated dumbly. She should be grateful that Gavin was so furious that she left three years ago that he wanted to punish her? Her world was caving in around her and her mother was figuratively clapping her hands in delight. The feeling of homecoming and safety faded and the nasty taste of betrayal filled her mouth again.

“You didn’t mention how you escaped,” Mom said casually as she stirred the pot on the stove.

Lyla went cold as her intuition pinged. Her mother would tell Gavin who helped her escape and that person would die. Lyla had no doubt about that. “I made my own connections through the Pyres,” she said mildly and got to her feet. “I want to rest.”

“Of course, honey. Let me—”

“No, Mom, I got it,” Lyla said and escaped upstairs. She went to her old bedroom and found it untouched. The room smelled musty, but she didn't care. Lyla collapsed on the bed and heard her father yelling several doors down. Lyla covered her ears with her hands, buried her face in her pillow and screamed.

***

Lyla must have dozed off because she was asleep when the second assault came. Someone straddled her middle. As Lyla lost her breath and transitioned from sleep to frightened wakefulness, the person grabbed her by the shoulders and shook her while screaming a torrent of profanities. Lyla opened her eyes and tried to focus on her assailant as her head snapped back and forth. She reached out for leverage and encountered bare, silky skin. The person stopped shaking her and bounced on her tender tummy. Lyla finally recognized the slim woman on top of her and couldn’t hold back a delighted shriek. Lyla wrapped her arms around her cousin and hugged her tight.

“Bitch, you roll back into town and forget to call me? What the fuck?” Carmen demanded, voice thick with tears.

“Got back yesterday,” Lyla said, voice muffled by Carmen’s surgically enhanced bosom.

Carmen released her and sat back on Lyla’s thighs. Carmen wore a fire engine red dress that barely covered her ass with large cut outs on the sides. Her blonde hair had fine streaks of fuchsia and her face looked airbrushed, it was so perfect. Carmen’s eyes flared as she took in Lyla’s bruised throat, arms and scabbed lip.

“What the fuck happened to you? Who hurt you?” Carmen leapt off the bed and didn’t bother to brush her dress down to cover her girly bits. Carmen braced her legs apart like a superhero ready for take-off, gold glitter hooker heels shining in the light. “I’ll tell Vinny. He’ll kill whoever did this to you.”

“Vinny's going to kill his boss?” Lyla asked sardonically and gingerly touched her swollen lip.

Carmen’s eyes bugged comically wide. “Gavin did this to you?”

“Yeah.”

“But Gavin loves you. He’s been looking for you for years—”

“And he’s pissed enough to beat the shit out of me,” Lyla said and brushed a hand over her tender throat.

Carmen flushed with rage. “What the fuck? What else did he do to you? I’ll kill him myself!”

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