Page 110 of Unlawful Seduction

“Somewhere in the middle, Doc. I’ve never done anything the conventional way.” The haunted look in his eyes returned.

“Tell me about your family.”

He lifted a single eyebrow and dared taunt me by nibbling on my earlobe. “My mother was a saint, my father an asshole, and my brother is living somewhere in Tahiti the last I heard. Maybe Africa. At least my uncle was a solid force in my life.”

I laughed and he snickered. “What does that mean? You don’t talk to your brother?”

“Nope. We weren’t close. He joined the Peace Corps right out of high school. At first, I wondered why. It wasn’t long before I realized why he’d escaped.”

“Your dad.”

His sigh was filled with remorse as well as the same irritation I’d heard so many times before. “Yep. Dad was a fucking piece of work. Everything was good while I was growing up. He was an attorney and we lived in a beautiful house. I had all the toys a kid could want. I don’t remember when it happened, but he wasn’t around much and Mother was growing very unhappy. She finally left him and us, embarking on a new life of her own. I didn’t learn until years later he’d tossed her out, telling her he’d destroy her and her children if she returned. Can you believe that?”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Yeah, dear old Dad was the attorney for the Valenti Crime Syndicate. I guess Mother didn’t like that very much. From what I learned, she threatened to go to the police.”

“Do you talk to her any longer?”

The second he laughed, I knew she was dead. “A strange accident claimed her life. I bought it at the time because dear old Dad had convinced both his sons our mother was a shyster and had never loved us. I guess I was just too stupid or naïve to catch what was going on.”

“He allowed you to leave for the military.”

“I didn’t lie about how he’d handled that. I was into petty crimes at that point and I guess he had a hint of humanity left, not wanting his kid to follow in his footsteps. That didn’t last. He had a hero as a son and that made his fake practice look very good. Yet when I returned, I realized just how bad everything had gotten, the house in foreclosure. The fucker promised my servitude to the Valenti family in exchange for clearing his gambling debt. It was a win-win for everyone since the Valentis acted as if they wanted to clean up their act, but that’s all it was.”

“How did you get lured in?”

He took several deep breaths as he rubbed his fingers down my arm. “Because Don Valenti was more of a father to me than my own father had been. I respected him and the power he wielded. It became easy to look past the horror and I came to realize I wasn’t unlike the man. He groomed me from the start, hoping one day I would take the helm when he retired.”

“One woman and her son really changed everything?”

“Not everything, but it was the icing on the cake.”

“What else? You mentioned there was a woman. Was she special in your life?”

He rolled me over again until my head was hanging off the bed. “Did anyone ever tell you that you ask too many fucking questions?”

“My mother always did.” I struggled in his hold, but the man was relentless, refusing to allow me to get up.

“You do. But it’s time to stop. Right now.” He gave me a playful yet stern look.

“Why?” I shifted back and forth under the covers, biting my lower lip when I realized he was already hard as a rock all over again. The man was insatiable.

Just before he dropped his lips against mine, he whispered in my ear, “Because there are some things you don’t need to know.”

“Not good enough.”

He laughed at my level of defiance.

“Alright then, Doc. How about this? Because I told you to.”

CHAPTER 28

Beckett

“You’re serious about staying in this town,” Mike said, scoffing at the decision I’d made. He’d been incredulous the night before, staring at me the entire time I’d been talking with the owner of the construction firm. At least he hadn’t been given a chance to try to talk me out of my plans.

Yet.

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