Relentless Sinner

Chapter 7

Chapter Seven

Jaxon

“That fucking bastard doesn’t know who he’s dealing with,” I sneer, pressing my phone to my ear.

“Are you sure Salvatore didn’t say anything to Gabriella about what he’s up to?” Micah asks. I’ve just filled him in on what happened with Salvatore.

“Nothing.” At least nothing more than what she told me.

I walk into my office, close the door, and sit in the large leather chair.

I’ve decided I’m working from home today. After what just happened it didn’t sit well with me to leave Gabriella. She’s with Eve now. They’ve gone for a walk in the woods.

I feel responsible for the massive bruise on her face and the terror she must have felt when her father hit her. I wish I’d done more damage to him. No way did I anticipate his behavior. Not here in my house with me here.

“Gabriella didn’t have much to say,” I continue. “Salvatore wasn’t with her for very long. Just long enough to attack her.”

I should have known he was going to react that way. The man is a fucking psycho.

I was in the other room on standby. It wasn’t until he started raising his voice that I knew he was getting worked up.

“We need to keep watching him.” Micah’s voice sounds stern.

“I don’t know if that’s enough. He’s fucking planning something, Micah, and I need to put a stop to it. He told Gabriella to stay put—as in stay with me—and I don’t think that was because of our deal.” Salvatore sounded desperate. I didn’t hear anything he said before that but I’m sure there was some hidden clue there about what he’s up to. “I want to lock his ass up until after the wedding.”

“I don’t think you should do that, Jaxon.”

“Why the fuck not?”

“Because then we won’t know what he’s planning. All we know so far is that he’s desperately trying to figure out a way to replace the money he stole from the Castellanos and pay off the other fuckers he owes.”

“I don’t want any problems from him. I already have enough with my family trying to take my bride.”

“Then it’s best to watch Salvatore so we have a trail to follow. The worst thing you could do is disrupt that trail. It may leave you hanging dry, then all he’ll do is reconvene after the wedding. Gabriella will still be an asset to him whether or not she’s married to you.”

Fuck . I hate to admit it but he has a point. “I don’t like feeling like I can’t handle my business. That’s not me.”

“I know but sometimes you have to take a step back and observe.”

Observe? Me? Fuck. I’ve never been one to do that. Truth be told, if Salvatore weren’t Gabriella’s father I would kill him. I nearly did earlier and I meant what I said to her about not stopping me next time.

What tamed my rage was her. That means that as bad as her father is, she still feels some love for him. I don’t want her to see me as the man who killed her father. She’s already scared of me. Part of me doesn’t want her to be.

“You need to cool off,” Micah says in his levelheaded voice. “I’m still checking things out and we both have men watching Salvatore.”

“Alright. I’m just impatient.”

“I know. I’ve got to run. I have a meeting with my father. Are you still seeing Cillian later?”

“Yeah. He’s stopping by tonight. I’ll be talking to him about our ideas.” I miss these types of ordinary discussions. Micah wants to go into business with Cillian and me. His ideas align with my ethos of growth.

“Great. Fill me in later and hopefully I’ll see him in Italy.”

“I’m sure he’ll say yes. Cillian is a lot like me.” That’s why we get on so well. “Speak to you later.”

“Sure.”

I hang up and set the phone on the desk.

I stare out the window, wondering if Gabriella is okay. I know she’s not. How could she be? Her father hit her. He would have done it again if I hadn’t stopped him.

It was foolish of me to leave him with her but I wanted to give them some privacy. That might be the one time when I should have stuck around.

Gabriella wasn’t her fiery self with him. Most people aren’t how they usually present themselves when they’re with their parents but she was completely different. She was afraid.

I can only imagine the type of shit she must have gone through living with him. I just hope her father was kinder to her than mine was to me. Many of the scars I still have physically and mentally come from him. Some will never heal.

I have to find a way to deal with Salvatore. He’s on my mind because I know that he knows the only way he’s getting his daughter away from me is if I’m dead.

The only way he can kill me is if he finds some motherfucker crazy enough to come for me.

I don’t know anyone like that but, just like Jacob, I’m not invincible.

Cillian takes a drag on his Cohiba cigar and stares back at me. I’ve just laid out the business ideas to him with the forecast of the profits and assets we stand to gain if we become partners with Micah.

We’re in my office. I’ve practically been in here all day. I only took small breaks here and there to see how Gabriella was doing but didn’t actually speak to her. I kept my distance because I felt I should give her some space.

I contemplated leaving her alone for the day. It’s almost ten. I have to head out later on some business my father wants me to attend to. It’s Bratva business, so I could be out all night and won’t see her until tomorrow.

Cillian blows out a ring of smoke and pretends to consider my proposal when I know he’s already decided.

“Diamonds, you say?” He taps his temple with the cigar and smiles.

“Yes, diamonds.” I nod. “Micah will be taking over the company in a few months. He thinks we’d be great as a trio of investors because of our innovative ideas. And your shipping company would be an asset if you joined us. Of course, we’d be looking for an additional contract for the shipping services.”

“I’m liking the sound of this.”

Micah wanted me to speak to Cillian because I’m closer to him. Outside of the Creed meetings, they don’t know each other on a social level.

Cillian has also been part of the Creed for longer than Micah. Micah got his membership two years ago when his uncle died, whereas both Cillian and I have been members for close to nine years. I got in when Jacob died.

“Come on, Cillian, you know you’re in.”

He takes another drag and laughs. “Yes, I’m in. I just like to think first, or look like I am. I have one question, though, before I sign on the dotted line.”

“What’s that?”

“Will your father have any part of this venture of yours?”

I understand why he’s asking that question. My father raised hell when I enlisted Cillian’s services for Bortsov Tech. Then he almost killed my ass months ago when two weapons shipments were stolen by one of Cillian’s employees.

If my father wasn’t sick I’d be dead. And it would be because he was stronger than me or because of his authority. He’d be able to kill me because he got close enough. I drop my guard substantially when I’m around him. Not always but often enough to leave myself open to attack.

“My father is not part of it. This is just Micah and me doing business outside of the family. We’re starting something new and we want you to be part of it.”

Cillian looks pleased. “Okay, then I’m definitely in. Not that I would let your father stop me. I just wanted to know.”

I grin back at him. “Perfect. And just so you know, this isn’t the kind of thing I would have involved my father in, or anyone from my family. They’re all as close minded as each other with no desire to grow, yet they hate me for being ambitious.”

“That’s always the way. There are some members of my family who are like that but they love money more than being difficult.” He chuckles. “What happens now?”

“You join us in Italy next week.”

He smirks. “Okay, I guess I will. My wife won’t be too pleased with the short notice but I’ll make it up to her.” He gives me a proud smile. The kind he reserves for his wife, Chloe.

“I’m sure you will. Didn’t you just take her to Ireland?”

“I did, but I was planning something else. I can never spend enough time with her.”

“Must be nice.”

Cillian uses any excuse to be with his wife. I was with him when they first met. Her family owed him a debt and it was her stepfather who stole my weapons.

We went to her house and I knew from the moment he looked at her that he was going to find a way to keep her.

He’s the only one of my married friends who seems to have the work/life balance under control. I think that has a lot to do with his love for his wife. He’d never allow work or his duties in the mafia to form a wedge between them.

I’m also sure he’d never force a woman to marry him. Not like me.

“How is your dearly beloved?” Cillian gives me a curious stare. “You haven’t mentioned her once since I’ve been here. Is she okay?”

“She’s here.”

He lifts his brows questioningly. “Your lass is here ? Is that all you can tell me?”

He knows the details about my arrangement to marry Gabriella and the shit with Salvatore that made that possible, but I’ve kept the recent shit with my family between Micah and me.

Given the fact that it was Cillian who helped me get Gabriella back, there’s no reason to keep anything from him. Like Micah, Cillian knows way more about my family than I’m sure he’d like to.

“There’s a lot more going on,” I begin.

“Like what?”

“More shit I never saw coming.”

I quickly fill him in. When I’m done he puts out his cigar and stares at me, looking stunned.

“Jesus. And I thought I had things rough when I took over the clan.” He bites the inside of his lip.

“I can assure you my family are of a different breed. And then there’s the shit with Salvatore.”

“I’m not sure who you have to worry about more. Your people are dangerous motherfuckers but Salvatore is a very influential man with links to some groups the Creed don’t align with.”

“I know. That’s what worries me. I’m just counting on the fact that he might not be willing to risk telling anyone about what he did to the Castellanos.”

“It depends on whether that person is in a worse situation than him and thinks they have something to gain by working with him.”

“Oh, they’d have something to gain, alright. Two hundred billion.” And her.

If anyone takes me down, they’ll marry Gabriella. She is Salvatore’s leverage, even now that she’s with me.

“Please tell me you put all your men on this.”

“All the ones I can trust and the men Micah has offered up to watch Salvatore. In total I have about forty people, most of them guards or soldiers who are loyal to Micah and I to a fault. I don’t want any extra risks. My cousins have a lot of influence. I need to stay one step ahead of them.”

“Well, now you have me and mine. You know you can trust me, and we both know your family would sooner kill me than ask me to do anything .”

I dip my head and grin. “Thank you, old friend.”

“No worries. Wouldn’t want you to lose your girl before you even get to the church.”

Neither would I.

I make my way upstairs when Cillian leaves.

I decided to check on Gabriella before I head out. It feels like the right thing to do.

When I open the door to the bedroom the light is off and she’s not in the bed but I notice the wooden arched doors leading out to the balcony are open.

I head out there and find her curled up, asleep on the chair with a tartan blanket nearly falling off her. She has a book in her lap— Wuthering Heights .

In the moonlight her pale skin looks silver. I can’t see the bruise on her face but I’m sure it’s still there.

She looks so frail and vulnerable asleep. Quite unlike the woman who seems to be on guard all the time.

There’s also an innocence about her that not even her seductive, very feminine body can shake. It makes me want to place her in a glasshouse and stand guard so no one can get in and hurt her. Not even me.

I’m not a fan of her sleeping out here but Gabriella looks so comfortable I don’t want to disturb her.

Deciding I won’t, I fix the blanket instead. Just as I lift the corner her diary slides out from under it. A folded piece of paper drifts out onto the ground and I catch it before the wind sweeps it away.

I unfold it and notice it’s a printout of an email. I would never normally cross that line of privacy but when I spot Natasha’s name on the bottom of the email I decide to read it.

Dear Gabriella,

I’m so sorry I had to leave you. I fear for my child’s life and Alessandro’s.

I know without a doubt that Dad will kill them both. Then I wouldn’t know what to do and I couldn’t live with myself.

Please don’t worry about me. I will take care of myself. Please, please try to stay safe. Dad has clearly lost his mind.

I wish I could have taken you with me and I hope you don’t hate me for leaving you behind. I hope that once you go to med school you’ll get away from Dad.

I’m not sere when I’ll see you again but pray for me like we did that summer with Mom.

All my love,

Natasha

It doesn’t surprise me that her sister contacted her after she left. I heard they were as close as sisters can be.

But there’s something about Natasha’s words that lures me to study them further and look a little deeper. Like right there in that last paragraph:

I’m not sere when I’ll see you again but pray for me like we did that summer with Mom.

I narrow my eyes and read it over, something whispering to me that there’s more here than I can see. The paragraph doesn’t seem to fit the same emotion as the rest of the note. Like Natasha was trying to convey something more. Or tell Gabriella something different.

Sere.

I get the feeling that’s not a typo and the word was written that way on purpose. The moment I think that, a pang in my gut tells me it could be some sort of hidden message.

Fuck. What if it is?

Scratch that. My gut has never, ever failed me. Not once.

So what is this hidden message?

The only thing I can think of is a location.

I glance back at my wife-to-be and wonder if my little krasota knows where her sister is.

Hidden messages are designed in ways so that only those who get it know what they mean.

But there are also those like me who try to figure it out if they can. If they want to.

It’s very clever. Very clever, indeed.

Since I’m so taken with my wife-to-be, finding her sister would be of no use to me. I’m sure it would also wreak all sorts of havoc that I don’t want to be part of, so I place the note back in the diary.

I also decide to give Gabriella some grace and file the information I’ve just learned in the back of my mind for the moment. It may come in useful for another time. For something else.

I set the diary next to her on the seat and cover it over with the blanket. Just then she stirs and Wuthering Heights slips off her lap.

I catch it before it hits the ground. When I look up Gabriella’s eyes are open and she’s staring at me.

She has that wary look on her face and I notice the leap of her pulse under the smooth skin of her neck.

“Late-night reading?” I hold up the book, deciding to make light conversation.

“Something like that. I didn’t mean to fall asleep out here.”

“You can fall asleep wherever you want.” I hand her back the book. She eyes me cautiously, probably wondering if I’m going to order her to bed like that first night. “Did you read much?”

“A few chapters. I’ve read it several times before. There are sections of the grounds here that remind me of the moor in the book.” She straightens, pulling the blanket closer as the wind picks up the ends of her hair.

I glance out to the vast expanse of shadowy landscape before us and nod. “Let me guess; it’s over there.” I point to the darkest area I can see. “Where there is no moon and everything lies beneath a mist of darkness.”

I return my gaze to her knowing I’ve shocked her with my quote from the book.

“You’ve read Wuthering Heights ?” She sits straighter and stares at me with open interest.

“Several times before.” I borrow her words.

I won’t tell her the horrible parts of that story where I had to hide in the library at home as a boy to escape my father when he got angry with me.

I’d stay there all night reading the books from my mother’s classical literature collection. They were the one piece of her that I had to keep me sane.

“It doesn’t seem like a book that you would read.”

“What kind of books do you think I read?” I grin at her.

“I don’t know. I can’t imagine you reading, let alone quoting parts of my favorite classic to me. It’s not very…”

“ Beast like ?” I raise my brows and level her a hard stare.

“Yeah. I guess.”

“Maybe I want to be the beast with everyone else. But not with you.”

The moonlight is just bright enough for me to see the slight hint of rose creeping into the pale skin of her cheeks.

“How is your face?” I ask, changing the subject.

She touches her cheek. “Better. Eve gave me this cooling cream so the bruise is nearly gone.”

“Good. It shouldn’t have happened.” Today is the last time I’ll underestimate anybody. I stand and set my shoulders back. “I’m going out. If you’re going to stay here try to keep warm.”

“Where are you going?”

I’m not used to people questioning my whereabouts, but I like it coming from her. “Work.”

“At this hour?”

“Time works differently for men like me. No rest for the wicked, Krasota . See you in the morning.”

I dip my head and she stares at me.

“Jaxon.” She stops me as I’m about to walk away. That’s the first time she’s ever said my name.

“Yes.”

“Thank you for today. For stopping my father.”

“You’re welcome.”

An uneasy look invades her eyes. “What did you say to him that made him so scared?”

I think for a moment, deciding on whether I should tell her that I threatened to flay the skin off her father’s body in my trademark way and hang him out on the lawn for the crows to eat what’s left of him. It sounds bizarre. Like something only a savage would do, but the reason Salvatore nearly shit himself was because he knows I’ve done it before.

“It’s best you don’t know,” I tell her instead, deciding that I don’t want to scare her any more than she is.

“I don’t want him to walk me down the aisle. Or ever touch me again.”

I was going to ask her about that so I’m glad she mentioned it. “Done. Just remember what I said about next time he gets out of line.”

“I remember.”

When I leave her I feel like something just happened between us to draw us closer. Something more than the fascination that’s overpowered my mind enough to stop me from drilling her about her sister.

If nothing else I seem to be breaking down those walls Gabriella raised to keep me out.

What would it feel like if she let me in?

If she did I know I’d never leave and I wouldn’t allow her to leave me either.