by Mia Knight
Contents
Title
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Crime Lord Series
Author's Note
About the Author
Crime Lord’s Captive
Crime Lord Series, Book 1
Mia Knight
Copyright © 2016 Mia Knight
All rights reserved.
DEDICATION
To my dogs who put up with my odd hours, emotional outbursts and love me anyway.
Chapter One
“Do you have to go?” Morgan asked her boyfriend.
Jonathan grinned as he wrapped his arms around her. “Gonna miss me?”
“Yes.” There was a ball of dread in her stomach that she couldn’t get rid of.
“I have to travel for work,” Jonathan said as he stroked her back. “I haven’t traveled since you moved in. I can’t put it off any longer. Three months is a long time.”
“I know.”
Jonathan brushed a kiss over her mouth. “I love that you want me here, but I have to go. If we moved to the West Coast, I wouldn’t need to travel as much.”
Morgan’s stomach jittered. “I like it here in Maine.”
“Then we’ll stay in Maine,” he said.
Jonathan leaned down and gave Morgan a deep kiss. She clutched handfuls of his jacket to prolong the moment. She didn’t realize how much she depended on him until he announced his business trip. It was just her luck that her boyfriend was an IT consultant that had to travel for work. Jonathan pulled back, eyes warm.
“At least I know you’ll be here waiting for me,” he said.
Morgan gave him a weak smile. “Yes, I’ll be here. Hurry back to me.”
Jonathan shouldered a laptop bag and pulled up the handle of his small suitcase. He opened the door and paused to look back at her. “You’re going to be okay, right?”
He didn’t need this, Morgan thought and felt guilty for making him worry about her. “Yes,” she said and tried to sound confident.
Jonathan blew her a kiss before he walked out of the apartment. Morgan stared at the closed door for a long minute before she forced herself to get a move on. She could survive a week on her own. She’d been alone for two years before she met Jonathan. He traveled a lot for work. She had to learn to deal with his long absences.
Morgan went through her morning routine as the world slowly began to light up outside of her window. She styled long honey blonde hair into a french twist and smoothed a hand over her conservative black skirt and white blouse. Morgan surveyed herself in the mirror and was satisfied with her image. She looked competent and boring. Morgan did everything in her power not to draw attention to herself.
Her phone chimed, signaling that it was time to leave for work. She grabbed her bag and gave the tidy apartment a cursory glance before she walked out the door. Morgan walked two blocks to the bus stop just in time to see it pull up to the curb. She claimed the seat she always did and scanned the faces on the bus out of habit.
Morgan tried to shake off her unease as she entered the bank and was greeted by her co-workers. Just another day, she reassured herself. Morgan put her things in the break room and began her daily routine of setting up her desk and counting her money.
It was an uneventful day, which reassured Morgan that she was overreacting to Jonathan’s absence. She felt restless and on edge, but a call from Jonathan on her lunch break made her feel better. Morgan had become very attached to Jonathan since they started dating a year ago. Jonathan’s easygoing personality was a balm to her uptight one and she couldn’t wait for him to come home. Before Jonathan entered her life, she had been a nervous wreck. Now, she felt a little more like her old self every day.
Morgan left the bank at the end of the day, walking briskly as the sun set. She reached the bus stop precisely on time and leapt up the steps with a nod to the driver. Her normal seat was taken so she settled for an aisle seat in the back and tried to settle her nerves, which were taut now that night had fallen. Jonathan would be back in six days. No big deal.
Morgan hopped off the bus and approached her building, climbing two flights before she reached her apartment. She knew her neighbors by sight, none by name and that’s the way she liked it. Morgan glanced both ways as she unlocked her door and swiftly entered. She knocked the main light switch with her elbow, set her keys and purse on the stand beside the door and froze.
A man sat on a stool in her kitchen. Even as she took a step back and slammed into the door, mouth opening to scream, he shook his head in warning. The small gesture made the scream die in her throat. Morgan stared at the man in the black business suit with an awful sense of doom clawing at her throat. He had merciless black eyes and a scar through his left brow.
“Lyla, come away from the door,” Blade said.
Lyla. She hadn’t heard that name for three years. Panic grabbed her by the throat. Her past couldn’t be sitting in the apartment she shared with Jonathan.
“It’s a good thing your boyfriend is away. I had orders to kill him,” Blade said calmly.
She took two unsteady steps forward. “Jonathan has nothing to do with this.”
Blade cocked his head to the side. “You think not?”
“I’ve been gone three years,” she rasped. She thought she was safe.
“And yet, here I am.” Blade withdrew a phone from his pocket. He swiped his finger over the screen and jerked his head at her. “Come, Lyla, say hi to Gavin.”
Nausea churned in her stomach as she watched Blade dial. She was torn between running or snatching the phone to break it into pieces. She did neither. Instead, she watched with her heart in her throat. Even though she knew running would be pointless, she took a step backwards and watched Blade’s eyes narrow into slits.
“Don’t, Lyla.”
She heard the threat in his voice and froze. She was well acquainted with Blade, Gavin’s personal bodyguard. Blade was unflinchingly loyal to Gavin and would carry out any task, legal or illegal.
“Blade, please,” she whispered.
Blade gave her an unreadable look before he focused on the phone in his hand.
“She’s here. Come, Lyla, Gavin wants to talk to you,” Blade said pleasantly.
Blade turned the phone towards her. Gavin Pyre looked back at her. Her heart beat so hard in her chest, she was afraid she might have a heart attack. Gavin hadn’t changed. He wore a deep V neck shirt that showed off his defined chest. He was otherworldly handsome with shoulder length black hair and stunning amber eyes. Gavin’s intense gaze skewered her. The boyish charm he used to fool everyone into believing he wasn’t dangerous was alarmingly absent.
“Lyla.”
Her name rolled off his tongue. The sound of that deep voice, the one that haunted her dreams made her take a step back in self-defense.
“You're more beautiful than I remember,” he said.
She shook her head wildly. “Gavin. Please, don’t,” she said in a choked voice.
“Why, Lyla?”
She shuddered and whispered, “What do you want?” Gavin wouldn’t send Blade to track her to Maine after three years for a friendly chat.
“Why, Lyla?” he demanded.
&nb
sp; She didn’t answer. She couldn’t. Three years did nothing to lessen the impact of his presence. She didn’t realize she was moving until she hit the counter in the kitchen and could retreat no more.
Blade followed her with the phone. She turned her face to the side to avoid eye contact with Gavin who watched her silently.
“Come back to me, Lyla,” Gavin said quietly.
“No,” she choked and glanced at the screen in time to witness Gavin’s expression smooth into unyielding lines. Dread morphed into full blown terror as she witnessed the change. She knew how ruthless Gavin could be.
“You might find this interesting,” Gavin said coolly as he disappeared off screen.
Against her will, she eased forward to get a better look while her mind tried to process what she was seeing. A man was bound to a chair. His face was so swollen and disfigured that she wouldn’t have been able to guess his identity, but she recognized the bloody crucifix around his neck. She clutched the countertop for balance as her head swam.
“What have you done to my father?” she whispered.
“He’s been stealing from me,” Gavin said as he strolled into her line of sight. Gavin pulled a gun out of his waistband and pressed it to her father’s temple. Her father came alive, bucking at the ropes, eyes rolling madly. She felt her world tilt sideways as she listened to her father’s stifled screams through the gag.
“Gavin, no!” she cried as she took the phone from Blade who let it go easily enough. She held the phone in her shaking hands, willing Gavin not to pull the trigger.
Gavin raised a brow in mock surprise. “You care if he lives, Lyla?”
“I have money,” she said and tried to keep the phone steady as her hands shook like crazy.
“You have half a million?”
The bottom dropped out of her stomach. “Half a million?” she whispered, aghast. Her father was a fool. She didn’t have more than five thousand in her bank account and that was because Jonathan didn’t let her pay rent. Maybe she could get a loan—
“Your father knows the consequences of stealing from us,” Gavin said.
Everyone knew not to fuck with the Pyres. The Pyre men weren't known for being merciful. They were hard, cruel and calculating.
“What are you willing to do for him?” Gavin asked.
She broke out in a cold sweat. Gavin knew what she was going to say. “I’ll do anything,” she whispered.
“Blade will bring you to me,” Gavin said.
“Gavin, I can’t—”
“You want your father to live?”
She couldn’t speak so she nodded.
Gavin lowered the gun and walked towards whoever held his phone. Gavin’s face filled the screen. Her breath seized. The force of his personality reached through the phone and grabbed her by the throat.
“Didn’t you miss me even a little bit, Lyla?”
She wanted to hurl the phone to make him disappear. Gavin’s voice was soft and seductive as if he wasn’t blackmailing her and hadn’t just held a gun to her father’s head! She glared at him mutinously and his expression darkened.
“Blade tells me your boyfriend is out of town. Count yourself lucky or you would have come home to a bloody surprise.” Before she could react he continued in a much calmer tone. “Go with Blade. Don’t give him any trouble. Come to me, Lyla, and I'll let your father live.”
The screen went blank and her legs gave out. She crumpled to the kitchen floor, hyperventilating.
“We don’t have time for this,” Blade said impatiently and hauled her up. “The jet is waiting and so is Gavin.”
“J-jet?” she wheezed, mind whirling.
“Pack what you need. You have ten minutes,” Blade said shortly.
Her life just turned upside down and he was giving her ten minutes? She ran to the bedroom and slammed the door. Three years she’d been on the run. Three years she planned every step only to end up caught. In a matter of minutes Gavin crushed the normal life she built for herself into tiny pieces. She wanted to believe that Gavin was lying about her father stealing half a million, but she knew better. Her father was a gambling addict, always had been. Gavin didn't make idle threats. He would kill her father if she didn’t go to him.
Blade pounded on the bedroom door. “Five minutes.”
She wanted to curse, cry and rage, but she didn’t have the time for such a luxury. Blade was here to carry out Gavin’s wishes and he would do whatever it took to see it through. She snatched a handful of clothes off the hangers and shoved them in a duffel before she grabbed a piece of notebook paper and began to write. She didn’t need a crystal ball to know that she would never see Jonathan again.
Jonathan,
I will never forget what you’ve done for me. You’re an amazing man. I’m sorry for leaving like this. I hope you find a woman worthy of you.
Morgan
The pen shook in her hand. She stared at the name she scrawled. She had been Morgan for three years. A new identity hadn’t been enough to stay hidden. She didn’t tell Jonathan that she was on the run from Gavin Pyre. Morgan had a fictional background that didn’t include a former relationship with the crime lord of Sin City.
“Open the door or I’ll break it down,” Blade ordered.
Lyla unlocked the door and barely avoided being hit when it slammed open and Blade charged in. He saw the note immediately. He read it, sneered and tossed it on the bed.
“You’re lucky it’s me that came instead of Gavin,” Blade said.
Lyla said nothing as he grabbed her duffel.
“Anything else?” he asked.
She lifted her chin. “Is it true? Dad stole half a million?”
“Your dad’s always been a dumb shit,” Blade said and towed her towards the front door.
She dragged her feet to buy time, terrified to leave the safety of the apartment and the life she built for herself. “But half a million?”
“He’s a greedy fuck.”
She managed to wrench out of his hold and stood in the middle of the apartment, wringing her hands. “What does Gavin want with me?”
Blade surveyed her coldly. “What do you think?”
Her throat began to close. “He’s going to kill me for running from him?”
Blade snorted as if her fear was unfounded. “If he wanted to kill you, I would have done it.”
That didn’t reassure her. Maybe Gavin wanted to do the deed himself. “Why now? Why after all this time?”
“You’ll have to ask him that.” Blade opened the apartment door. “Let’s go.”
Lyla’s eyes brimmed with tears as she looked around the apartment that had become a short-lived haven. For three months she allowed herself to believe in a happily ever after with a good man. What would Jonathan think when he discovered her note? The only way she could ensure that Jonathan wasn’t touched by her past would be to leave without a trace. Jonathan was no match for Gavin Pyre.
Lyla followed Blade out of the apartment and found a taxi waiting at the curb. Blade held the door open for her. Lyla stopped, raking her mind for a way out of this, but in the end, she had no choice but to get in. She and Blade sat side by side in silence. There really was nothing to say to one another. Blade wouldn’t reveal anything that would help her. Lyla focused on keeping her rocking stomach under control.
The taxi dropped them off at a private airstrip where a Pyre jet waited. Lyla paused, eyeing the sleek black and gold jet. Blade ushered her up the steps where they were greeted by a beaming flight attendant who offered warm cloths for their hands and champagne. Lyla took the cloth before she collapsed in the nearest seat and closed her eyes. Most people would have been thrilled to be surrounded by such luxury, but Lyla knew it was a gilded cage. There was a heavy pressure on her chest that made it hard to draw in a normal breath. There was no one else on the jet aside from Blade and the staff. She heard lowered voices and tried to act as if she were sleeping, but Blade wasn’t fooled. She felt the impact of his stare.
L
yla tried to wrap her mind around the fact that she was going back to Las Vegas, back to Gavin Pyre. Her body tingled with fear as she conjured up Gavin’s face. Cold, beautiful, cruel. Once upon a time she loved him with every fiber of her being. She would have done anything for him and then her world imploded like a hotel on The Strip. Gavin shattered her heart into pieces. It was self-preservation that made her run. Rage drummed through her. Lyla turned her face towards the window to hide the tears she couldn’t hold back. What did Gavin want from her? Why use her father to force her back to him? How would she pay off her father’s debt? The thought filled her with mind-numbing terror.
***
Lyla saw The Strip appear, a beacon of lights in the middle of the desert. She spotted several Pyre Casinos, towers of gleaming black with a bold stripe of gold. Despite the fasten seat belt sign, Lyla lurched out of her seat and barely made it to the bathroom in time to vomit. The flight attendant handed her a miniature bottle of mouthwash, which she took gladly. Even after two ginger ales, her stomach rocked as if she were seasick. She hadn’t been able to eat a thing.
Blade gave her an amused look, clearly enjoying her fear. He was in a better mood now that they were here. They’d been delayed in Chicago due to an unexpected storm. Blade had several terse conversations with Gavin who was clearly displeased. Lyla wished they’d been delayed days instead of hours even as the suspense of not knowing what lay in wait consumed her. Lyla hadn’t been able to sleep and was now sick with exhaustion. Lyla muttered prayers under her breath as the plane landed and taxied. When it came to a stop, she didn’t loosen her death grip on the armrest. The door of the jet opened. She held her breath as she waited for Gavin to barge in. Blade impatiently unbuckled her seatbelt and shuffled her towards the door, ignoring the flight attendant’s appalled gaze. Lyla was too tired to elbow him in the stomach for his rough handling.
