AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Gia...” I tried to sit beside her, but she scooted away from me.
“You really did it, didn’t you?” she snapped.
“That? You think I had anything to do with that?” My eyes softened for a moment.
“Didn’t you? You threatened it...” Her voice lost its momentum, trailing off at the end.
My shoulders fell forward. If anyone was going to get in Gia’s pants, it would be me, not my fucking uncle. The timing of the threat was just a poor coincidence. “That wasneversupposed to happen.” When I reached my hand out to touch her arm, she pulled it away from me. “He didn’t...did he?”
“Why the fuck do you care?” she asked, finding the power of her voice again.
My eyes darted. I wanted to say more, I should have said more, but I couldn’t bring myself to speak those words. I rubbed my hand over my mouth and let it wipe down my beard. An audible exhale slipped past my lips. “I can’t apologize enough for this, Gia,” I said as I stood and put my hands on my hips.
Her body trembled, and her hands scrambled for a blanket as if she couldn’t pull enough fabric over her. “I don’t believe a word you say. You’re just like the rest of them. I thought for a moment, for a single moment last night, that you were different.”
“Of course I’m not different. Are you different from your father?”
“My family doesn’t use their dicks as weapons!” She sat taller and stared at me. “Please enlighten me. How was what he did any different from what you threatened me with last night?”
“You don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand just fine. You’re a family of fucking pigs, and you have the nerve to call me a dog. At least you can share a home with a goddamn dog.” She stood, tossed the blanket aside, and squared off to me. My muscles tensed as I looked down at her.
“I don’t know how I can prove I had nothing to do with this.” I reached out and grabbed her arms, holding them at her sides. Her muscles trembled as if she was ready to sock me in the mouth again. My touch made her flinch as I brushed a lock of sweaty hair out of her face. “I’ll figure out how to prove it to you, but I’m not leaving you here alone.”
I looked around the room and spotted her bag. She shifted her weight as I dug through it, my hands racing through the fabric, lifting random articles of clothing and tossing them aside. I threw a pair of shorts to her, and she slipped them on without looking at me.
“Come on,” I commanded as I grabbed her arm and dragged her into the hallway.
“Where are we going?” she asked, digging her heels into the ground.
“My room.”
ChapterThirteen
Enzo
My heart raced in my chest as I brought Gia toward my section of the house. It was somewhere no woman had seen outside of the family, but here I was, bringing an enemy into my den. Her light footsteps shuffled along the carpeted floor leading to my bedroom. She looked around at the walls in the hallway, made of wooden squares intricately carved into an interlocking pattern. Lights hung from the ceiling, dotting the path toward my room. I’d left the double door open in my haste to get to her, and the camera view was still open on my phone on the pillow. Her bed was clearly visible on the screen, and her blanket was still strewn on the ground from her assault. I grabbed it before she could see it.
She looked around with wide eyes. My room was as big as some people’s homes. The moonlight spread across a large, multi-paneled picture window. Beside it, a door led to the balcony overlooking the property. Her eyes landed on the pool table and her shoulders relaxed a bit.
“Really? A pool table? Do you even know how to play?” she said with a snarky tone I didn't appreciate. She knew very little about me.
“Actually, I used to be quite good. I even made it to the semi-finals in a tournament in Las Vegas.” I puffed my chest a bit, the corners of my mouth rising slightly.
I walked to my bed and grabbed the black .357 revolver off the bedside table. Gia looked at me with tight lips as I put it down the back of my waistband. Most people in our business shied away from revolvers, but I loved them. I was accurate, making every bullet count, and there were no casings to leave behind. That gun had been my best friend.
My block-headed rottweiler leapt from the floor beside my bed when he heard us come in. He charged toward Gia, who showed no fear at the giant beast barreling toward her. Her eyes lit up as she knelt and allowed my dog to tackle her. He licked her face, his big pink tongue lolling from his mouth as he sat and stared at me. I reached down and rubbed his head.
“What’s his name?” she asked, pulling herself back to her knees.
“Atheist.” I rubbed my hand through my hair.
“Really?” As she rose to her feet, Atheist wagged his nub of a tail, his big, meaty body wiggling with excitement.
“He’s a guard dog.” I smirked at her.
“Clearly,” she said as she wiped the drool off her face.
