Page 35 of Corrupted Memories
She shudders in my hold. “I don’t know.”
“Do you trust me?”
Her eyes flash with uncertainty and she doesn’t answer.
I laugh. “I guess that’s an unfair question, given our circumstances. Let me ask another. Do you trust I won’t hurt you?”
Gianna’s face softens. “I trust you won’t hurt me intentionally.”
The whispered confession stings a bit, but I don’t blame her. My fingers flex where I’m holding her, and I nod softly.
“Then some secrets are better off left undiscovered. For both of our safety.”
She looks between my eyes, her eyebrows furrowing as her lips pinch into a small frown. “I am afraid, Sebastian. You live a dangerous life, and yet you’re talking about children.”
Anger courses through me and I let go, glaring down at her. “You don’t think I could protect ourchildren?” She doesn’t know the first thing about this life, or about how I live it.
Gianna’s head jerks back, and then she laughs, the sound hollow and mocking. “That’s the point. Protect them from what? You’d be the reason they need protection.”
I get her point, I do, but the years of resentment from her running from me bubble over, encouraging me to be cruel. “You think children with families like mine are the only ones in danger? That children aren’t in danger every day of their lives from the mundane parts of this god awful society? People who hurt children are in schools, churches, and the government programs designed to do the exact opposite. Don’t be a hypocrite, Gianna.”
She scowls. “Don’t be condescending. You know what I meant.”
I shake my head. “I don’t. You know why? Because I have the money to protect our children unlike others. Money talks, more than intentions. That’s just the way the world spins.”
Disgust filters over her face. “I know all about your blood money! That doesn’t comfort me!”
“You’re misinformed. My company merely invests, no blood money involved. So whatever you are searching for, you won’t find it here. Besure to tell your brother,” I say with a sneer. There’s only one person who has soiled the image of me in her mind.
Leaving her there, I head to the bedroom, exhausted from the day. We keep going back and forth, resolving nothing, and somehow it pushes her further away from me.
I pull off my shirt, turning on the shower when I feel her presence. Unbuttoning my pants, I glance over my shoulder. “I put food in the fridge if you wanted some. I didn’t forget just because I had to stop by work to take care of something.”
She doesn’t answer, just stares at me.
“What?” I ask, a little more snappishly than I intend.
She bites her lip before moving closer to lean against the counter. I shove off my pants, and her eyes fall to my swaying cock before looking away with a sigh. “How’d you know about my brother asking me to find things?”
I suppress the smirk that almost comes over my lips, my mood lightening instantly. I do love when I’m right. “I didn’t, just assumed.”
Gianna frowns. “And I just confirmed it. I told him I’d make a horrible spy.”
A laugh escapes me before I can stop it, and I move into the shower, sighing at the warm water. My eyesfall back on her, catching her watching me. Sending her in to spy on me, what a foolish, no, ignorant man.
“What did your brother want?”
Uncertainty and fierce protectiveness storm her face in thick clouds. “You’re not going to hurt him if I tell you?”
I raise an eyebrow. “Was he planning on hurting me? Do you care?”
“No—I mean, yes. Ugh. No, he wasn't planning on hurting you. Yes, I would have cared.” She shakes her head in frustration.
“No, I wouldn’t have hurt him.” I give her that truth. Though depending on what he was looking for, I would have handed him off to others that would. I came to the conclusion a long time ago, that any revenge I seek on her brother could never be at my own hands.
Gianna’s shoulders slump. “I don’t know what he wanted. He just asked me to find something that connects you to the mafia and hand it over to the FBI.”
My head jerks back from the shock, sputtering out the water that’s slipped into my mouth. “Your brother is working with the FBI?”
