Gabriella's Prosecution [The Black Iris Club 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic)

by Skye Michaels

  “Now, sub, remember. You are not to talk or come without permission.”

  Gabriella looked like she wanted to say something but was obviously restraining herself, although Miguel knew that did not come naturally. She was an assertive woman, and true submission was not easy for her. To his mind that just made it all the more precious.

  Miguel ran his hands down her back and over her butt, enjoying the silky feeling of her skin and sleek muscles under his hands. She smelled delicious as well. He patted her butt tentatively a few times. Her legs were spread open for him. He slipped his hand down between her cheeks until he found her moist, hot center. “Good, sub. You’re nice and wet for your Master’s pleasure.” He slid his fingers through her wet cunt and lightly over her clit. She jerked and then tried to rub herself against his questing fingers. He delivered another quick smack to her bottom, and she stopped moving. “I’m in charge here. If you keep that up, your bottom is going to be very red and sore. Submit and accept this punishment and let all of your guilty feelings go.”

  “Yes, Sir. I understand.” He could see she was gritting her teeth but was still excited and getting itchy—just what he wanted.

  He picked up the soft suede flogger and ran if over her back and butt, sensitizing her skin in preparation for the first strike. Miguel could see that she was trembling in anticipation as she waited for him to continue. This was the first time he had used a flogger as well, except for the taste he had given her their first time in the dungeon.

  * * * *

  Gabriella had seen floggers on some of the toy websites she had checked out on the Internet. It was an intimidating piece of equipment. She was a little scared, and her heart was racing. A shaft of dark need spiraled down her spine to her pussy, but she couldn’t close her legs. She was helpless. She knew that while Miguel might punish her, and her butt might sting, he would never seriously hurt her. The first lightly stinging strike landed full across her round, vulnerable butt. He alternated sides, landed several strikes on her upper back and across her thighs before the last one came down square on her butt again with a few of the strips landing between her legs on her wet pussy. An orgasm washed over her like a firestorm. It flowed through her system as she braced helplessly against the cross.

  Before she had completely recovered, Miguel knelt down behind her, spread her cheeks, and slipped his tongue into her hot channel. She bucked against his mouth. He watched as she glanced down at him with lustful, hungry eyes and pushed her hot, pink bottom toward him. Her movement was restricted, and she didn’t have anywhere to go. “Please, Sir, I need…” She was begging for another release.

  * * * *

  Miguel continued the slow torture, tasting and teasing her pulsing pussy and then backing off. He let her stew, knowing that sooner or later she’d blow again. After a few more minutes of his unrelenting ministrations, he felt the quickening of her pulse. “Okay, sub, come now,” he said as she blasted into an all-consuming orgasm. He quickly entered her from behind while playing her clit from the front. She screamed another release as he pounded into her over and over. He buried his face in her neck, trembled as his balls pulled up against his body, and he shot his seed into her tight passage. She pulsed around him as her pussy milked his shaft for every drop, and she hung helplessly from the bars of the cross.

  * * * *

  Gabriella was drained. Her pussy hummed and pulsed with each heart beat and rippling wave of pleasure. She felt Miguel kiss her shoulder as ecstasy continued to shudder through her.

  She knew in her heart that this was the man for her—a man who knew what he wanted and took it without permission or apology. He also knew what she needed and gave it to her whether she wanted it or not. He would always dominate her with his easy, powerful, panther-like grace, but it was a domination born of love and given with care. She knew she would usually let him do it but not always. He was a man who was confident in his own judgment, who would take most of the decisions out of her hands but never the really important ones. She knew it was safe to give her heart to him.

  Chapter Eleven

  The Central Broward Homicide Division, Broward Sheriff’s Office, Broward Boulevard, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Monday morning, February 9, 2015

  Gabriella met with Kaylin, Del, and Chloe at the Homicide Division Offices for an update. “We’re preparing a case for a RICO indictment. Miguel is anticipating that the judge will have to dismiss the current case—which totally ticks me off. Do you have anything new? We need to connect Gonzalez to the Garcia hit.”

  Kaylin spoke up. “I’ve been watching the courtroom video over and over. Gonzalez definitely gives some hand signals. I think he was communicating with his younger brother, Rafael, who was in the gallery with some other gang members. I have an idea. I’ve been trying to mark down his movements in order. It would help if Del could print some stills of those frames, one by one. This may sound crazy, but I think he’s using the American Sign Language alphabet.”

  “I can do that for you, Kay. Do we know anyone who knows sign language?”

  “I’ll ask around, but the alphabet is available online. I’ll print it out.”

  * * * *

  That afternoon Kaylin had the prints of the video frames laid out on the conference room table. She knew Gabby was hurting and that she felt personally responsible for Mrs. Garcia’s death. It was not her fault, but that didn’t mean she didn’t feel the pain. Kaylin wished there was something she could do to help her. Finding a way to connect Gonzalez to the crime would go a long way toward that end.

  Kaylin culled out the duplicates until she had each separate hand signal isolated. She then attached a sticky note to each one. She carefully went through the sign language alphabet and the pictures frame by frame until she had identified each different hand signal. Gonzalez appeared to be saying, “mata la hija de puta hoy.”

  “Hey, Del, you speak Spanish, right?”

  “Yeah. Why?”

  “What does ‘mata la hija de puta hoy’ mean?”

  “What the fuck? Are you kidding me? Let me see that.” Kaylin showed him the string of time stamped video frames. “Are you sure he’s spelling out ‘mata la hija de puta hoy’?”

  “We would have to get a real sign language speaker to confirm it, but I believe so.”

  Del translated the phrase. “He’s saying ‘kill the daughter of the whore today’ or more colloquially ‘kill the bitch today’ in Spanish. I don’t believe it. We’ve got the bastard. Call Gabby and tell her we’re coming over. Tell her to set up a meeting with Miguel Gatto. This is big.”

  * * * *

  The State’s Attorney’s Office in the Broward County Courthouse, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, late Monday morning, February 9, 2015

  Miguel was still feeling a little raw from his confrontation with Gabriella on Friday. They had driven into the office together that morning holding hands, and they seemed to have patched things up. Nonetheless, he had been upset by her threat to leave even though she had not gone through with it. He didn’t want to take any chances with their relationship. It was much too important to him. Not to mention he didn’t think it was safe for her to be staying at Gabby’s Nest alone right now. The defendant, Ramón Gonzalez, and the Los Mara Toros Rojas were serious business.

  When Gabby brought Kaylin Gallagher and Del Lord into his office, he could see that they were all very excited. Gabby jumped right in. “Miguel, Kaylin has found something that ties Gonzalez to the Garcia murder—and we have it on tape.” She told him that the motions she had seen Gonzalez making to someone in the gallery were apparently hand signals from the American Sign Language alphabet, but in Spanish. He looked the pictures over carefully, compared them to the notes Kaylin had made, and then the translation. “You’re right. He’s definitely saying ‘mata la hija de puta hoy.’ This is amazing. Congratulations, Kaylin. Good work.” He smiled a satisfied smile. “Gabriella, have your team finalize your presentation of the RICO charges for the grand jury. I’ll do what I can to ge
t you on the calendar as soon as possible. I would really rather Ramón Gonzalez did not get released on bail. What are you guys doing about surveillance on the rest of the gang? Especially Rafael Gonzalez?”

  “Chloe is handling that through Strategic Investigations, BSO’s own undercover spook unit. She also has a CI close to the gang.”

  “Excellent. I’ll let you know about a date for the grand jury. We’ll try to go for the end of this week or early next week at the latest. Keep me in the loop.”

  The three filed out of Miguel’s office. Kaylin said, “Can you get away for a quick lunch, Gabby?”

  “Only if it’s not in the courthouse cafeteria!”

  Del spoke up. “Am I invited, or is this a chicks-only lunch?”

  “You can be an honorary chick, Del.” Gabby gave him the first genuine smile she had felt on her face in days.

  “Never mind. I’ll see you back at BSO, Kay.”

  * * * *

  Gabby and Kaylin sat down at a table in the back of one of their favorite hole-in-the-wall lunch places near the courthouse. “So, tell me girlfriend—what’s up with you two? I have to admit, that guy makes my heart pound. I love Jack, but…” At Gabby’s horrified look, she laughed and said, “Just kidding! But he is completely hot, especially when he gets that seriously stern look on his face. Wow.”

  “Now you know what I’ve been struggling with for two years and didn’t want to acknowledge, even to myself.”

  “I bet he is a force to be reckoned with in the dungeon. I haven’t seen you guys at The Black Iris.”

  “We haven’t gone to the club yet. He said he would take me, but we have been so wrapped up in this case there just hasn’t been time. About that? How do you and Chloe deal with seeing each other in the dungeon?”

  “We just decided to respect each other’s privacy. We don’t acknowledge each other in the dungeon, but Jack and I frequently have dinner or drinks with Chloe and J.J. at his apartment before we go over to the club side to play. You know that Jack’s apartment shares the penthouse floor of the JDB Building with the club, right? I know Miguel and Jack are friends. You guys will have to come over for dinner or one of his Sunday afternoon cookouts on the terrace soon. The view out over the city and ocean is stunning from that high up.”

  “That would be fun. We haven’t had a chance to socialize with anyone here since we started dating. I have to say he was quite the party animal in Puerto Rico. We went to several clubs and at least three house parties on New Year’s Eve, and he knew everyone.”

  “Sounds like you had a great time.”

  “We did. He even gave me some surfing lessons on the beach at the bottom of the mountain below his folks’ place. Truthfully, Kay, I would rather people at the office didn’t find out we were seeing each other. I don’t want them to think that’s why he gave me the Toros case.”

  “Oh, come on. Everyone knows how good you are, and people were beginning to wonder why you were still his second chair.” She grinned. “Well, spill it. How is it going?”

  “It’s going well for the most part. We had our first fight—or disagreement I guess you could call it—last Friday. He was worried because I was so upset about Mrs. Garcia.”

  “Well, Gabby, the rest of us were concerned as well. That tragedy was in no way your fault. There are bad people out there, and they do bad things. We try our best to stop them, but we aren’t always going to be successful.”

  “I know that logically. I still…well, anyway, Miguel dealt with it in his own way.”

  “Paddled your butt, did he?” Kaylin had a supremely amused look on her face.

  “You could say that, smarty. Anyway, we seem to have worked it out, and are still together. I did threaten to leave, and he got very upset. The look on his face when I said that made me feel like I’d kicked a puppy—or at least kicked a very unhappy Dom.”

  “Gabby, take this in the way it’s meant—with love. Don’t make threats that you don’t want to keep. Don’t back yourself into a corner when what you want most is to be in his arms. It’s a dangerous game to play. You could go too far and do or say something you can’t take back.” Gabby thought Kaylin looked sad for a moment before she continued. “One ill-chosen word had Jack and I separated for a couple of weeks, and I was miserable before we worked it out.”

  “I hear you. New relationships are very fragile and easily broken.”

  Chapter Twelve

  The grand jury hearing room in the Broward County Courthouse, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Tuesday morning, February 10, 2015.

  Gabby was standing outside the grand jury hearing room nervously re-reading her notes for what seemed like the hundredth time and waiting for her witnesses to arrive. Miguel had worked a not-so-minor miracle and gotten them on the docket for an emergency hearing in the next available slot, which turned out to be the day after the meeting in his office. The rush was due to the fact that the judge in the Gonzalez trial was scheduled to hear the motion for dismissal the following day. Gabby couldn’t imagine what political favors Miguel had pulled in to get on the docket that quickly, but she was grateful.

  Thank goodness they had been working on their RICO presentation for almost a week. She had been able to locate a Spanish speaking sign language expert to testify, and the IT department had quickly put together a PowerPoint presentation of the stills from the courtroom video with the corresponding sign language signals. It was really very impressive for a rushed job. The purpose of a grand jury is to determine if there is sufficient evidence to charge a defendant with a crime. If she was successful, she would be able to get them to issue a “true bill” or indictment against Ramón Gonzalez and various members of the Los Mara Toros Rojas for the murder of Alma Garcia, arson, as well as racketeering and conspiracy under the Federal RICO Act.

  Miguel was standing beside her in the hallway. “Relax, querida. You are ready for this.” She certainly hoped so. She had presented cases to the grand jury before, but Miguel had made most of the presentations in the bigger felony cases. She was proud that Miguel trusted her to present this evidence against Gonzalez. Gabby was relieved that the twenty-three member special grand jury that had been empaneled to investigate organized crime in Broward County met in secret. The defendant and his counsel would not be present. Gonzalez had a habit of staring at her that made her extremely uncomfortable. The members of the grand jury as well as the court reporter were sworn to secrecy, and the records of the proceedings were sealed. The secretive nature of the grand jury gave the proceedings a mystique. If she was successful, Gonzalez and his attorney, Bradley Levine, would have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them after tomorrow’s hearing in the Toros trial.

  When her witnesses arrived, they entered the grand jury chamber and set up the PowerPoint presentation. They also prepared to screen the actual video of Gonzalez ordering the hit on Mrs. Garcia. Gabby’s hands were shaking as she stood in front of the podium. “Ladies and gentlemen of this special grand jury. I would like to thank you in advance for your attention and deliberation in this matter. We will show that Ramón Gonzalez, the head of the El Salvadoran Los Mara Toros Rojas, ordered the execution of Mrs. Alma Garcia, a witness in the case of The State of Florida versus Ramón Gonzalez, which is currently being heard in the Broward County Circuit Court, Criminal Division. I will let the evidence speak for itself, and I am confident that upon viewing it, you will issue a true bill against Ramón Gonzalez, Rafael Gonzalez, and various members of the Los Mara Toros Rojas for first degree murder and arson, and for racketeering and conspiracy under the Florida RICO Act. I call Detective Kaylin Gallagher as my first witness.”

  Kaylin was sworn and took the stand. “Detective, can you give us the background of the evidence you are about to present?”

  “The accused, Ramón Gonzalez, was observed by numerous parties, including myself, making hand signals to a person or persons in the gallery after the opening statements but before the noon break at his trial in this courthouse on Tuesday, February 3rd. Mrs
. Garcia’s residence was fire bombed at twelve thirty the same day. The body of Mrs. Garcia, who had been shot twice in the head execution-style, was found in the debris of the burned out house later that afternoon. Mrs. Alma Garcia witnessed the defendant shoot Juan Martinez outside a bodega on West Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale on January 4, 2014.”

  “What evidence do you have to present, Detective?”

  “The accused was recorded on the video cameras in the courtroom ordering the hit via sign language signals to members of his gang who were present in the gallery of the courtroom.” Kaylin proceeded to explain the contents of the video and how the significance of the hand gestures was determined. The video of Gonzalez turning to the gallery and catching the eye of his brother, Rafael Gonzalez, and then making the covert hand signals was shown to the jury.

  “Thank you, Detective Gallagher. Please remain outside in case the jury members have any questions for you.” Gabby took a breath. “Next I am going to call Alicia Fuentes to the stand.” The slight woman in her forties took the stand and was sworn.

  “Mrs. Fuentes, please advise the jury of your qualifications to interpret this evidence.”

  “I am a certified Spanish-English translator, and I also teach American Sign Language at Broward College.”

  “Have you reviewed the original video and the slide presentation prepared by Detective Gallagher and BSO showing the accused communicating with members of the gallery via sign language at his trial? And can you take us through that presentation?”