Page 57 of Cruel Master

“So violent, Gaven,” she chastised. I lifted my gaze to hers. She was smiling, amused. Of course, she was. She knew that Angel was in the States, and more than that, if she wasn’t asking me any questions, that meant she knew more than that. She was already on the hunt. She likely had men searching for her. “I used to like that about you, you know,” she continued. “All that volatile heat of you could have been used for so much more.”

“Where is she?” I snapped. “You’re not asking me anything—so that means you already fucking know.”

“Angel?” She tapped her chin again and hummed in the back of her throat. “Maybe I do, and maybe I don’t. Whatever the case, though, it doesn’t concern you anymore. My father might have been willing to hand over his family business to someone like you, but I’m not so stupid.”

Raffaello Price had known something about his eldest daughter that the rest of the world didn’t. Not yet, at least. When I’d chosen Angel as my bride, he’d seemed almost … relieved. A father wasn’t supposed to have favorites—or so a man like him had believed. It was clear, though, that Jackie still held some hateful grudge for the man. All her crocodile tears from his funeral five years ago were nothing but window dressing. This woman was fake, from the nails on her fingers to the smile on her face. I’d bet good fucking money that if I cut into her flesh, I’d find nothing but stuffing and plastic. Perhaps now was the time to find out.

I moved forward, causing the man in my way to put out a hand. “Don’t even think about it,” he warned.

“Remove your hand,” I said through clenched teeth. “Or lose it.” He withdrew his hand from my body but still refused to move out of the way—a pity. I would have liked to rip his hand clean from his body at this moment.

“She’s mine, Jackie,” I said, directing my gaze back to the woman behind him. “I will handle Angel.”

“No.” Jackie shook her head and then lifted a hand, flicking it towards the door. “Now, you should be on your way. I have a guest arriving soon.” The way she leveled me with a look of utter self-satisfaction told me that she was pleased by this new turn of events. I needed to get closer to her if I had a chance at wrapping my hands around her throat.

“I’m warning you now, Jackie,” I said, my voice dripping with venom. “If you hurt my wife, I won’t let it go.”

A laugh arched out from her throat as she tossed her head back. The sound echoed up to the rafters of the old mansion. A hard hand touched my shoulder, shoving me back. I didn’t think. I didn’t even hesitate. I reached up and gripped the man’s hand, and as I looked him right in his face, I bent it straight back until a snapping sound echoed in my ears and his knuckles were pressed into the back of his wrist. For extra measure, I locked onto his fingers and snapped two of them to the side, effectively breaking them as well.

The look of shock that crossed his face was almost comical. His mouth opened on a shout, but I pulled back and punched him in the face. He went down in a heap on the floor—knocked out cold with a bone protruding from where I’d broken his hand clean from his arm. I had warned him and that was more than others would do.

Immediately, four sets of guns were trained on me. Fingers on triggers. Safeties off. I froze and glared at Jackie. She didn’t even seem that concerned that I’d probably made one of her men permanently disabled—because there was no doubt in my mind that he’d struggle with that hand for the rest of his life. In fact, her eyes sparkled with delight rather than insult.

I should have snapped her neck when she’d been touching me earlier. Before anyone had been aware. I could have. I could have seduced her life from her. Run my fingers up her sides and then choked her. One small twist was all it would’ve taken. It would’ve been easier even than breaking that man’s hand.

“You’re a smart man, Gaven Belmonte,” she said instead of commenting on my actions. “You’re outnumbered here. I could have my men kill you with a snap of my fingers.”

“Then why don’t you?” I pressed. We were entering dangerous territory. Each of us daring the other.

“Because, Gaven, I still think we can be useful to each other. Once my little sister has been taken care of, you’ll have no one else to rely on but me. I’m still unmarried and unlike a man … I don’t care if you’re a virgin.”

Rage pounded through me. I could feel my muscles straining beneath the fabric of my suit. “Gaven.” Matteo’s voice pulled me back from the edge—literally—of losing complete and utter control. “We should go.”

Jackie grinned again. “Yes, Gaven. Listen to your pet. Go … before you make a mistake you can’t take back.”

Matteo moved forward, taking my shoulder firmly as he pulled me back. One step. Two. Three. The four guns of her guards remained on us as we backed toward the front door. Matteo opened it and grabbed the keys that had been left on the table along with the guns. “Remember, Matteo,” Jackie said as he reached back for our phones as well, “leave the guns.”

He was silent in his response, but he did nod as he scooped up the cells and pocketed them both. I, however, was too far into my head to do so. It wasn’t until we were outside with the doors shut behind us that I felt a fresh breath of air in my lungs. It burned through my throat.

Kill. I wanted to fucking kill her. Slice open her insides, wrap her intestines around her throat, and watch the life drain from her. Murder had become a way of life long ago, but I’d never wanted to enjoy it as much as I did at that moment.

A cell phone rang, and as Matteo and I headed for the car we’d left parked in front of the mansion, he pulled it out and answered. “Yes?”

He paused, grabbed ahold of me, and shoved the phone into my hand when I turned to him. “I’ll drive,” he said. “It’s for you.”

With gritted teeth, I snatched the phone from him and put it to my ear. “This better be fucking good,” I snapped into the receiver. “What?”

“You have a fucking problem.”

I frowned at the voice. “Hadrian? What the fuck do you mean?”

“Your wife is here in New York, and she’s in trouble.”

Things just got better and fucking better.

27

ANGEL

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