Page 42 of Crime Lord’s Captive

“I love—”

Gavin clamped a hand over her mouth. “What did I say?”

She glared mutinously at him. She loved Jonathan, didn’t she? But, why had the ache of leaving him behind gone from a relentless pain to a distant pang?

“Don’t test my control where he’s concerned. He never should have touched what was mine. Be grateful I’ve had you since you arrived and that allows him to continue living his pathetic life.”

Gavin dropped his hand and she stared at him.

“You really are obsessed.”

“I claimed you at eighteen.”

“You claimed me when I was too youngand stupid to know anydifferent!”

Gavin snorted. “You’re an old soul, Lyla, and wise beyond your years. You knew what you were getting into with me.”

Lyla hated that he was right. She had known what she was getting into with the Pyres. She suspected that there was a dark side to Gavin and his business, but she chose not to focus on that and put her head in the sand.

“I didn’t know everything,” she mumbled.

Gavin eyed her for a minute before he said, “I can protect you from that shit. It’s not an issue.”

“Not an issue?” she repeated incredulously and thought of Eli and his poor mother who was now in the hospital.

“There are safeguards in place to make sure the Pyre Casinos continue even if the other side of the business is questioned.”

“You have enough money from the casinos. Why bother with the illegal stuff?”

“If we don't run the underworld, someone else will and there would be another asshole to deal with. It’s easier to run it all.”

“I don’t want to be a part of that, Gavin.”

“You aren’t,” he said, his voice clipped and impatient.

“I am.”

“How so? You don’t know what I do.”

“I do.” The words were out of her mouth before she could stop them.

“Explain.”

Lyla stared at him, mouth dry. She couldn’t retract her words and she didn’t havea hope in hell of distracting him. Gavin’s eyes pierced her through the dim light. Something dark unfurled between them. She saw suspicion and then comprehension in his eyes a moment before they went expressionless.

“I always wondered why you left when you did. You didn’t run because of the girls, did you?” Gavin murmured.

Lyla reached behind her for the door handle. Lyla could taste violence in the air. The taut silence and the way he watched her made her heart skip with fear. This was the man capable of strangling her, the one who terrified her. This was the man she fled from.

“You saw what happened in the basement, didn’t you?”Gavin’s flat voice scared the crap out of her.

“Gavin—”

“Answer me.”

The car stopped and Lyla bolted. She ran into the mansion and heard Manny call her name as she streaked past the living room, but she didn’t stop. She couldn’t. Fear had her by the throat. Lyla ran into the guest bedroom and bolted the door. She wrung her hands before her eyes fell on a dresser. She pushed and heaved with all her might until it was in front of the door, an extra barricade. When that was done, Lyla escaped into the bathroom and locked that door too. Nothing would stop Gavin. She knew that, but she wouldn’t make it easy on him. What would he do now that she knew his secrets? She was a liability. Oh, fuck. Oh,fuck. How could she be so fucking stupid to let that slip? He was too sharp not to figure out that her timing was suspicious.

Lyla searched the bathroom for a weapon, but there wasn’t anything that would protect her from a gun or fists trained by UFC fighters. Lyla sat on the lip of the tub and waited for pounding fists on the door or a chainsaw, but there was nothing. Lyla paced and when she couldn’t stand the suspense, got down on her stomach and looked beneath the door into the bedroom. The dresser was still in place. Lyla waited for what felt like hours. Her anxiety didn’t wane. She decided to take a shower. She wrapped herself in a robe and waited. No sound. No entreaty from Manny to open the door and no forceful entry. What did that mean? Lyla didn’t have the energy to figure it out. She made a nest of towels on the ground, curled into a ball and waited for whatever came next.

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