Page 5 of Plunge into Obsession

Any moment now…

I stayed well past the time the club closed.

Lucinda never showed up.

1

GABRIEL

Five YearsLater

Men sat near me,their voices drowned out as I kept my eyes on the curvy little waitress walking around the strip club in what could only be described as a skimpy little teddy.

The black dress—if we could even call it that—left little to the imagination. I didn’t know why I felt a surge of irritation through me as I watched Bianca, especially when I noticed other men were also watching her.

I didn’t fucking blame them.

She was beautiful.

Even in a place filled with women who were taking their clothes off on stage, she outshined them all, and men gravitated toward her no matter where she went.

She had on a face full of makeup, but beneath all those layers of foundation and color was a natural beauty.

Her blue-eyed gaze moved about and stopped when it landed on me.

She tensed when she noticed I was watching her, then stumbled in those five-inch heels.

A man reached up and stopped her from falling, and though the touch was innocent enough, I still saw red, which only intensified when the innocent touch used to keep her from falling turned not so innocent, and thebastardolet his hand skim down her body and settle on the curve of her ass.

My fist clenched, especially when her eyes widened, and she tried to move away from him.

He squeezed her with a fucking sleazy smile, and she pushed his hand away, hurrying to the bar without looking back.

“Gabriel, are you listening to me?” Raphael Bardales—my right-hand man, and the person I trusted the most aside from the three men who headed the Vasiliev Bratva on the East Coast—said to me.

“No,” I answered, looking around for my guard. I nodded toward the man who had grabbed Bianca, and Johnny nodded back, moving toward him. I barely paid attention when thebastardowas taken out of the club. Johnny covered the man’s mouth with one huge hand so he wouldn’t draw attention.

After the problem was taken care of, my eyes sought Bianca.

She might be in the back, refilling drinks.

I didn’t know why my heart felt so fucking… unsettled to not have her in sight.

“Gabriel.”

I turned to Raphael, trying not to let my impatience show through.

Not well enough, obviously, because he let out a long exhale. “Why don’t you just fuck the girl and get it out of your system? Maybe then you might pay attention to me.”

“Are you feeling neglected, sweetheart?” I asked with a sarcastic twist to my lips.

He rolled his eyes. “I need you to pay attention.”

I took a sip of my scotch and turned to him fully, to indicate I was paying attention to him.

He lowered his voice, as if he was afraid someone might overhear us over the loud music in the strip club.

I doubted anyone was sitting close enough to listen in, and Raphael wouldn’t say anything that could potentially harm us and the cartel in a public place, even if I owned the place.

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