Page 11 of Crime Lord's Paradise

“Only now you realize I’m obsessed with you?”

“I know you are, but you’re, like, over the top.”

He tugged her head back and pressed gentle kisses over her throat. “I’m making sure what’s mine stays mine.”

She should be more pissed off that he would manipulate her life from the grave, but it was hard to focus when he was sucking on her neck. To some degree, he was right. No one would ever measure up to him, and how could she go from his absolute possession to anything lukewarm and sweet?

You’re in the underworld where men mark their women by carving or tattooing their initials on her face.Blade’s words drifted through her mind as Gavin marked her. Gavin claimed her in every way possible, but he hadn’t pushed her to get a brand. How would he react if she got a tattoo for him? He would lose his fucking mind in the best way.

He kissed her long and deep. She cupped his face and loved him back. His hands moved restlessly beneath her gown, and she spread her thighs when he growled. She gripped a handful of his hair and pulled back so she could see his face.

“Why do you love me?”

It was a question that plagued her throughout the day. If she told Beatrice the truth about Pat, her mother would condemn her for life. It didn’t matter what her father did. He would get a pass, as he always had. She, on the other hand, would be deemed unforgivable.

Witnessing her mother’s tormented distress hurt her soul. Beatrice didn’t want to live. The nurses said her mother refused physical therapy, which was why she had visited today. Beatrice was being monitored closely because of some recent, disturbing outbursts. It was a good thing her mother would be going into her own home. Maybe she would heal better in a place with her things around her … or not. With Pat gone, her mom didn’t see any reason to get better. The fact that her mom still had a daughter who would care for her and a grandbaby she had yet to meet meant nothing to her.

She risked her life and the lives of Gavin’s men to free Beatrice. She remembered that horrible drive—gripping the steering wheel for dear life and refusing to believe she was too late. The fact that her mother lived through such brutal torture was a miracle. The fact she breathed and could now scream at her was a fucking miracle. Beatrice had been given a chance to build a new life, one free of a husband who had never put her first, but she didn’t want it. It hammered home how grossly inadequate Lyla had always felt. It’s why she clung to the Pyres, who acted as if she was something special. This brutal, ruthless man loved her when her parents never had. Why?

Gavin’s brows bunched together. “What are you talking about?”

“Why do you love me?” she asked with more force than was necessary.

“Because you love monsters.”

He nuzzled her as if she was a cute puppy. She smacked his cheek and shoved away. He wasn’t taking her seriously when she needed a real answer. She slipped off his lap and received a sharp push that landed her flat on her back with him looming over her. The soft mattress made it easy for her to knock him off balance and pinhim. He laughed, which pissed her off.

She bared her teeth at him. “I should elbow you in the throat.”

He didn’t look angry that she was threatening him bodily harm. On the contrary, he looked delighted.

“If you do that, I get anal.”

Her glare should have made him wither on the spot. “Fuck you, Gavin.”

She tried to push off, but his grip on her nape kept her in place above him.

“You want to know why I love you,” he said, and she stopped fighting. “You’re the innocent lamb who gravitated to the most dangerous men in the city.” He smiled as he lifted the back of her nightgown and gripped her ass. “You liked Dad at his worst. You saw him as a harmless old man. You brought him back from the brink and made him believe in something besides death. You saw what you wanted to see in us, and we were happy to give you the illusion.”

She didn’t like the sound of that but couldn’t deny it was true.

“I liked your innocence for the same reason Dad did. You weren’t a part of our world, and you gave us a place where we could be ourselves. I convinced myself that I couldn’t be such a bastard if someone like you loved me.” His hands stopped their playful wandering and pressed on her lower back, flattening her on top of him. “When you left, there was no buffer between me and the world. I didn’t need to pretend for you, so I became who I really am.”

“You said you loved me because of my innocence,” she said quietly.

He nodded.

“I’m not innocent anymore.”

He considered her thoughtfully.

“So why do you love me?” she whispered.

“I fell for the innocent and was obsessed with getting you back so you could make me believe I could be a better man, but you’re innocent only once in life. Once it’s ruined, it’s gone forever.”

“Yes.” She’d never been the same after witnessing what Gavin was capable of.

“This is gonna sound fucked up, but I like that I’m the one who took that from you.” His hand quested down her spine, between her ass, straight to the heart of her. “I took your virginity, your heart, your mind. Mine.” The hand on her nape flexed. “I changed the way you see the world. I took the rose-colored glasses from your eyes and forced you to see me as I am. Sometimes I think you’ll run from me again.” He rolled until she was beneath him and placed his palm over her left breast. “But I have this. I put my stamp on it. It beats for me.”

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