CHAPTER ONE
If Gabriel Finch was standing inside her parents’ sitting room, this wasn’t a good thing.
Faith Appleton knew her brother wasn’t home. The cops had refused to go find him because he was a known problem. She’d been trying to take care of him for the last seven years, but since he turned eighteen, that had been impossible. He dropped out of school, began to hang around with the wrong crowd. He’d stolen, not just from shops, but also from her and their parents.
Their parents had died in a car accident when she was eighteen and Nigel was eleven. It was tough, but she’d been able to care for him, so he didn’t get taken from her. In the beginning it had been fine. They got along well, but then, they were brother and sister. Peace hadn’t lasted, though.
The man before her wasn’t a good man, or a kind man. She knew Nigel had several encounters with Gabriel before, and none of them ended well.
There was no point in calling the cops as he had them on his payroll. There was no point in alerting anyone. Gabriel ruled this city with an iron fist. You either had to stay under his radar, or bow down to him.
She’d stayed under his radar for a long time, until her brother attempted to steal from him. Then she’d become very much a beacon for these visits. Tonight wasn’t good. She hadn’t seen Nigel in three days. She had tried to call him, but he wouldn’t answer his cell. He’d not returned home. There had been no contact.
Now Gabriel had come to visit her at midnight.
She was still dressed, even though she had gotten in from work nearly five hours ago. After their parents passed, she had gotten a job at a fashion boutique. She loved the job, and had gone from a sales assistant, to personal assistant, to manager, helping run the shop in an ever-increasing struggle. They were thriving while other shops had started to fail.
Faith knew she made a good living, not a great one, but she made enough for herself and Nigel so they could continue to live in the city, with a few luxuries. She didn’t need anything else.
This was the first time Gabriel had stepped foot inside her home.
She had thought her parents’ modest, three-bedroom city home was rather spacious but with Gabriel inside, it no longer felt big. It felt small.
Rubbing her hands together, trying not to show him he unnerved her, or that she was ready to throw up, she looked at him and waited.
“What’s happened?” she asked.
He’d not spoken a word. She didn’t know if this made her appear weak, but she really didn’t care. She needed him to answer her.
“How long has your brother been addicted to meth?” Gabriel asked.
Faith opened and closed
her mouth, startled. She knew Nigel dabbled, and she hated how her thoughts even made it seem like she was okay with him taking drugs. She wasn’t. All she had ever wanted was the best for him, but now, that seemed almost impossible.
“I … no, he … no,” she said, pressing a hand to her stomach, and the other to her lips. What did she say? “Where is he?”
“Why do you want to know?” Gabriel asked.
“What do you mean, why do I want to know? He’s my brother.”
“Are you going to punish him? Smack him on the ass? Ground him?”
“He’s … nearly nineteen years old.” And she’d never smacked her brother.
“Exactly. He knows there’s no firm hand coming.” Gabriel looked around her sitting room.
She hadn’t put away the pictures of her parents, their family. She and Nigel hadn’t taken many in recent years. There was nothing new or exciting around her family home.
She folded her arms across her chest and glared at him. “Do you know where Nigel is?”
“Yes,” Gabriel said.
His blue gaze turned to hers, and Faith felt frozen to the spot. She had blue eyes as well, but hers were not quite as sharp as Gabriel’s. This man had seen and done a lot of bad things.
Nibbling her lip, she waited for him to speak. This was bad. Everything was telling her that this was bad.
“I was at a card game tonight and your brother came in. He was a mess. Sweating, pale, he looked like he hadn’t eaten a decent meal in weeks. He stunk bad, but he was there to beg for money. Telling me he would give me anything I wanted. In fact, he turned his attention to the whole table of men and said he needed a loan.”
Faith couldn’t believe it. Her brother begging for money.
“What did you do?” she asked.
“I asked him what he would give me in return. He said there was this house. He could
give us the deeds, and when none of us showed any interest, he said he had a sister who was still a virgin.”
“What?” Faith asked. She had the deeds for the house locked tight in a safe deposit box. When Nigel began to act irrationally, she had made arrangements so he couldn’t steal the deeds and take the house from her. Their parents had paid for the house and left each of them a small trust fund. Faith still had some of hers left, but Nigel had spent through his within weeks. It wasn’t a large amount of money, which is why Faith had always been cautious about spending hers. She’d wanted it to last.
Not only had he offered them the house, he’d offered them … her.
“You can’t be serious?” she asked.
“I’m very serious,” Gabriel said, taking a step toward her.
She refused to back down.
“Did you … refuse?” she asked.
“No.”
What the hell did that even mean?
“Where is he?”
Gabriel was right in front of her now. He made no move to touch her. “Nigel is in a safe place, but he will only remain in that place if you agree to my conditions.”
What was happening? Where was Nigel? What did he mean by safe?
“What conditions?” she asked.
He smiled. “For the next month, you agree to be mine. You don’t argue. You don’t fight. You are mine, and if you think to act dumb, then know, when I mean mine, I mean, you’re mine to fuck, to play with. Your body is my toy and I can use you any way I want.”
“And if I refuse?”
She knew, deep down, refusing wasn’t an option. If she refused, it would mean bad things for Nigel.
He smiled and it
wasn’t a kind smile, it was deadly.
“Nigel has been a rather difficult boy, and he owes a lot of people money. If you refuse, it’s simple, I don’t pay his debts. I’ll let them take it out on him. I’m sure a pretty boy like him would earn a good living working the streets.”
Faith looked at him. “I hate you.”
“I don’t care. I told you it would come to this. I warned you. You’ve got until tomorrow to make your decision.”
“How do I know Nigel is safe?”
“You’ll have to take my word for it.”
With that, Gabriel left her alone. The sound of the door closing seemed to echo around her home.
Staring across the living room to the mantel, she saw the picture of herself, Nigel, and their parents. They were all laughing. They’d gone to the beach. Faith hadn’t wanted to go, but her parents had insisted she come along with them. They didn’t like that she always seemed to put off having fun. It wasn’t that she hated having fun, but she always felt that work, studying, and responsibility came first.
Their parents had always told her to take care of Nigel, to make sure he was safe. ..
We hope you are enjoying the book so far. To continue reading...
Copyright © 2024 All Rights Reserved
Please log in to recommend or discuss...
