“You gonna keep hiding all night or you gonna come out?” She shakes her head causing Gage to chuckle. “I’ll make you a deal, you come out and put your big girl panties on––” I snarl at the fucker but he ignores me. “And face my brother.” I glower at him for telling her that before I could. “Yeah, I know you were awake the whole time and heard every word, you little shit.” She burrows against him and hides her face in shame—I hate that Gage knows her so well. “You face him and when my hand is healed, I’ll go three rounds with you.” She scrambles out of his hold and rests back on her haunches, rubs her eyes and pushes her hair out of her face as she stares at him.
“You have to swear not to pull your punches.” I glare at the fucker and grind my teeth. If he thinks he is laying a single finger on her I’ll break both his fucking hands.
“Deal, let’s make it interesting though.”
“Okay?”
“Loser of each round has to lose a piece of clothing.” That’s it, I’m on my feet and snatching her off the bed and placing her beside me on Carlina’s whilst Gage throws his head back and laughs. I sneer down at her when she joins him and laughs at my expense.
“Get the fuck out.” Her laughter dies off and she tenses beside me. Gage clamps his mouth closed and looks straight at her. She gives him a small subtle shake of her head and I just know he is going to fight me on this. “Kiara?” She closes her eyes and turns her face away from me. Gage sighs and climbs to his feet, she snaps her eyes open and shoots him a pleading look. He reaches out and clasps her hand in his, giving it a gentle squeeze. He places a kiss to her forehead and I want to break his teeth for that move.
“As soon you fell asleep, I called him. He dropped everything and came here to you when I told him you needed him, doll. Let him explain his reasons for why he didn’t tell you. He’s an overbearing ass but you know I wouldn’t walk out of here if I thought he would hurt you.” My eyes widen, my respect for him has grown. I thought I would have to throw him out of here.
“I-I… Gage.”
“Shhhh, you have nothing to be scared of. Let him explain, doll.” He cuts his gaze to me as he speaks again. I see the warning in his eyes. “He will not push you to speak about what happened with Tony.” I nod stiffly, I’ve seen what happened but I don’t know if I have the strength to hear her recount the events that she lived through. I couldn’t even watch the full video, after a few seconds I emptied the contents of my stomach in the trash. I thought I had destroyed all the copies of those fucking things, until today. She scoots forward and shocks Gage when she wraps her arms around him and holds on, he deflates in her hold and returns her embrace.
“Thank you,” she whispers.
“Just because you’re with him doesn’t mean I won’t always be here for you. I love you, doll.” I watch her melt against him and avert my gaze, I can’t stand to see her touch another man like that.
“Love you to, G.” Hearing those words out of her mouth is like a spear went through my fucking chest! Gage pulls back and heads out of the room. She climbs to her feet slowly and I wait to see what she is going to do. Her face is covered in tear stains and her eyes are all red and puffy from crying. “Can… I need a shower and then… we can talk.” She still won’t meet my gaze and it pisses me off. She turns on her heel and heads for the bathroom. Sitting here waiting for her to finish is fucking agonizing, so I pull my phone out and hit dial on Luka’s number.
“Boss?”
“Have you found him?”
“I’m rerouting the IP address and trying to pin its location now. I’ll try break it down for you, but he has a blocker in place that makes it so he is sending it from fifty different locations. I’m running it through my program now to pin point his exact location.”
“Keep me posted. I want to know the second you find out.” I end the call and dial King next.
“Bish?”
“You got the men ready to dispatch?”
“Yeap, we’re all locked, loaded and ready to roll out as soon as Luka lets us know where to go.”
“I would like him alive.”
“If I can’t make that happen?”
“Make it fucking painful then. I want the cunt to suffer for what he has done.”
“You’re not coming?” I sigh. Normally I always ride out with my brother when things like this happen.
“I can’t leave her. Gage told her about the videos and he might come after her. The IP address could be a set up––”
“I get it, Bish.”
“King?”
“Yeah.”
“I’m sorry for making you leave Christine. I was wrong brother.” A beat of silence passes before he finally answers.
“Bygones and all that shit. Keep your girl safe and I’ll see you when this is over, B.”
“Bring our sister home.” I disconnect the call just as she walks in her towel and heads to her drawers. She pulls out a pair of black panties and a shirt. She drops the towel and just the sight of her naked and still dripping with droplets of water has my cock getting hard. She slips the panties on and then slips the shirt over her head.