“I’m not part of the deal.” I stared at Gabriel sitting on the other side of his desk. “You can send Lev or David or anyone else to work for him.”
“Yes…” My father laughed under his breath, puffs of his cigar smoke escaping before he blew the rest out. “Because that’s exactly what he wants you for, isn’t it? To clean toilets in his dojo and to chauffeur his ass around.”
I tipped my chin up at his sarcasm. “He doesn’t want me for…” I breathed out, hesitating. “For that. And if he does, he’s not getting it.”
Kai might very well want me to wait on him hand and foot, but my father had other ideas. In his head, if Kai was demanding me in particular then he wanted me for nothing less than a little fun.
And he wasn’t fucking getting it.
Gabriel didn’t know that I’d met Kai before. Gabriel didn’t know that I’d already played Kai’s version of fun. I refused to be his tool. Or his toy.
“You’ll do what you have to do,” he told me.
“I won’t—”
“You’ll do exactly as you’re told!”
Every muscle tensed, and I locked my jaw together, shutting up. A sudden light sweat covered my forehead where my hat sat.
Damon.
This was all for Damon. He was the only reason I stayed in this house. Remember the end game. Find him, get him home, and keep Kai and the rest of those pricks away from him.
My father’s dead eyes stared off, barely paying me any mind now. Kai was right about one thing. I was only as valuable as what I was good for to Gabriel Torrance. I knew it the moment I’d left Kai’s office tonight at the dojo. I knew it when I stepped into this office an hour later. I always knew my value here.
A woman wasn’t good for much in this house, so I did everything I could to make my father and brother forget that I was one.
Gabriel rose from his seat and slowly walked around his desk, the night wind howling outside his office windows. Coming to stand in front of me, he leaned back on his desk, slightly more relaxed as he offered me a patronizing look. “You’ve been useful,” he said, blowing out smoke and turning to set the cigar down in the ashtray. “You’re smart, and it took a long time for you to earn my trust, but you did. I know I can count on you. Your entire world is Damon.”
Even though it was true, it wasn’t flattering to hear. My brother was my world. But while I loved him more than I loved anything else in my entire life, I hated the way my father said it.
Like I was Damon’s pet dog.
“But now,” Gabriel continued, “you have an opportunity to prove yourself invaluable. Irreplaceable.”
Important.
Despite my hatred of my father, my loathing of Kai Mori, Michael Crist, Will Grayson, and Erika Fane, I couldn’t help the shred of pride that seeped in.
I was irreplaceable. If my father didn’t see that yet, he would. Even if it’s the last thing he ever sees.
Gabriel inhaled a deep breath and stood up, his expression turning somewhat pleasant.
“This is actually perfect,” he said as he walked back around his desk, sounding almost chipper. “You’ll be able to keep an eye on him. You’ll get his house ready for Vanessa when she arrives. You’ll spend time at the dojo, working for him, training, whatever... You’ll be where he is and let me know if there’s anything I should worry about. With him or the rest of those little cunts.” He picked up his cigar and took a few puffs. “And if you’re brother comes out of hiding and provokes them again, you’ll protect him. Right?”
I averted my gaze. Of course, I would. I always did. But I didn’t want to do this. I couldn’t be around Kai every day.
Anger boiled under my skin.
I could argue. I could even leave. I didn’t love my father, and I was probably better off for it.
But I could best protect Damon with a seat at the table, and if I left I had nothing, goddammit. He needed me. Whether or not my father ever admitted it, he knew that.
When Damon got arrested in college and was sent to prison, I was on top of the situation before Gabriel. I bought all the muscle I could on the inside to make sure no one touched my brother, and when he got out last year, I cleaned up all of his messes. And whenever our father tried to rein him in and he couldn’t be controlled, I did what I always did. I exhausted my older brother and broke him until he collapsed and all the anger was gone. For a while anyway. It always came back.
Damon, Gabriel’s only son and sole heir, was only at his best when he had me taking care of him. Only when my brother had his keeper.
Gabriel stood there, looking at me with a rare interest all of a sudden. “How many men have you been with?” he asked.