Besides, it never helped to shoot the messenger, and with Parkinson laid up with a gunshot wound to his shoulder it would fall to this young pup to get him out of this fucking mess.
“I know it’s a shambles, but they got to them seconds before your men arrived. I can only assume someone here talked to…” Delaney glanced up to the camera mounted in the corner of the room and frowned. The light was off, so it shouldn’t be recording—Gabe was allowed these moments of privacy with his legal team—but he appreciated the man’s caution. Ollivanti had his fingers in many pies, and he'd long suspected that the asshole had a mole in the police department.
“Let’s just say, it’s too much of a coincidence that she was nabbed like this.”
“Fucking coppers ought to do their job properly instead of holding me in here on trumped up charges.” Gabe, too, glared at the camera as he spoke, and Jack Delaney gave a humorless laugh.
“We’re working on that, Mr. Henshaw. Bail has been set at a quarter of million pounds, and as soon as the funds have cleared, we can get you out of here. That was the original purpose for this meeting with you.”
Gabe’s churning gut settled somewhat at this unexpected news, and he took a proper look at Delaney. In his late thirties, he wasn’t really a youngster, and he did have the reputation for being a shark. Clearly well-deserved as Parkinson alone would have never achieved that so easily.
“Just like that?” Gabe asked.
Delaney ran a hand over his stubbly jaw, and amusement lit his eyes this time.
“Well, let’s just say with good old James out of the picture I could pull in some not exactly ethical resources. I figured you wouldn’t mind if I brought in some extra help in the form of McLeod Security. They’re not cheap, but they are the best. They have also accumulated quite a file on your competition, shall we say, so their intel is invaluable.”
Gabe pushed his chair back on his legs and whistled through his teeth. He’d heard of them, of course. Crossed paths with some of their operatives on more than one occasion and had been suitably impressed by their professionalism.
“Didn’t think they would want to come to my aid.” He gave a self-deprecating smirk, and Delaney shrugged.
“Zane McLeod is an old buddy of mine, and, besides, they’re not doing it for you, but for your wife. My fiancée Rhonda is the psychologist assigned to assess the accuracy of your wife’s statement, shall we say. She took a liking to her, and Lissandra is the true victim in all this.” He put his hand up in a conciliatory gesture when Gabe slammed his chair back on all fours and growled his annoyance. “Take it easy, Henshaw, I don’t mean she’s your victim, but she’s clearly being used as a pawn, and that doesn’t sit right with any of us. Plus, like I said, McLeod has a file a mile long on the people involved, so we can use their intel.”
Gabe grunted his acknowledgement of this all too accurate assessment and swallowed down bile. He couldn’t think of the implications behind her disappearance. If he did, if he allowed himself to imagine who might have their filthy hands on her right now … fuck.
I’m going to kill the whole fucking lot of them.
Jack, clearly sensing Gabe’s mood, sighed. “I can imagine what you’re plotting, but as your legal counsel I’m going to have to strongly advise against any violent course of action. It’s one thing getting you out of here for trumped up kidnap and rape charges, but murder is another thing entirely.”
Gabe smirked.
“Who says anything about murder, Delaney? Accidents happen, after all.”
The younger man shook his head.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that, and, to get back on topic, your man Stone is working with Zane directly and fully aware of the situation. They’ll find her.” He hesitated and glanced up at the camera again. Still no sign of any activity there, but, man, this guy was good. “You just hang tight for now, and don’t do anything foolish in here.”
Gabe had to laugh at that.
“Define foolish.”
Delaney rolled his eyes and picked up his briefcase.
“I’ll leave that up to your interpretation, Henshaw.”
Gabe, too, stood and held out his hand for Delaney to shake.
“Thank you.”
Surprise briefly registered in Delaney’s eyes, before he took Gabe’s hand in a firm shake.
“Wait until you see my bill before you thank me.”
Gabe laughed, genuinely amused this time, and Jack winced when he punched him in the shoulder.
“Right, I best get going. Want me to pass on anything to Parkinson?” he asked.
Gabe shook his head and released the man’s hand.
“Just tell the old coot to get better, and I’m glad it’s only a flesh wound.”
Jack’s eyes again lit up in surprise, and in truth Gabe surprised himself with the concern for his solicitor. Yeah, he’d known the guy for years, but they hadn’t ever seen eye to eye. He used him because he was the best, and he needed the respectability Parkinson and Co. represented. What the hell was going in with that hollow feeling in his gut at the thought of the man getting hurt while in his employ? He was getting soft in his old age, dammit.
“I’ll be sure to pass that on.” One last searching glance from Jack Delaney later, he rapped on the door to be let out, and Gabe himself was led back to his cell. It left him plenty of time to plot his revenge on the fuckers involved, and by the time he was finally released on bail, he was baying for blood.
“Boss.” Stone slid a thick file across to him, when Gabe got into the SUV and his second in command drove off. “That’s all the intel we got from McLeod. Some interesting stuff in there regarding Ange. Looks like she’s been double timing us for some time. No idea how we missed it, to be honest. Think we need an overhaul on our security procedures.”
Gabe nodded and swallowed a growl. That bitch was the least of his concerns right now. She’d made her bed, and she could fucking lie in it.
“Figures, but nothing an accidental overdose won’t take care of. Where is Lissandra?”
Stone’s hold on the steering wheel grew white knuckled, and Gabe’s damn chest hurt with the effort required to keep on breathing. If Ollivanti harmed one hair on her body…
“He hasn’t put her up in the auctions, we know that much.” Stone threw him a glance as Gabe released a long breath.
“Thank fuck for that.” He punched the dashboard in frustration when he drew a blank in the file regarding her whereabouts.
Stone sighed.
“I’ve got all our contacts on it, as has McLeod. She can’t just disappear, and—” He smirked, and Gabe glared at him.
“What’s so fucking amusing, Stone?”
“We got Andrini. Figured you’d want to conduct that interview yourself, boss. He’s at the docks.”
“Fuck, yeah. Put your foot down.”
Stone grinned.
“Figured, you’d say that. He claims no knowledge of anything, of course. There’s a copy of his TV interview in there, where he pleads for the return of Lissa. Fucking pathetic, I tell you, but it complicates matters somewhat. We can’t just kill him, or you’ll be back in prison faster than we can say wanker.”
Gabe only half listened as he opened up the laptop and Andrini’s ruddy face filled the screen. The asshole was actually crying.
“Should have taken up a career in acting,” Gabe grumbled, and Stone laughed. “Still, a man that distraught wouldn’t think twice about jumping off a building, right?”
That comment made his second in command grin.
“Like your way of thinking, boss. Are you sure Lissa would be on board with that, though? He’s an asshole, but he is her father.”
Gabe scrubbed a hand over his face and sighed. Stone had a point, but he couldn’t let that fucker live. For as long as he did he represented a threat to Lissa, and Gabe would do anything to protect her.
“Doesn’t matter. He’s fish food, just as soon as he tells me what I need to know.”
Stone whistled through his teeth, and Gabe ignored the ache in his gut. He wasn’t at all sure Lissa would forgive him for what he had to do, but he was going to do it anyway.
Andrini reeked of fear, piss, and sweat when Gabe entered the abandoned warehouse where they’d strung him up. One eye already swollen from the punches his men got in before him, he hung from the meat hook in the ceiling like the pig he was. Too bad Gabe couldn’t gut him like one.
It would be fun indeed to see his entrails all over the floor, to be eaten by the rats which scurried in the corners.
“We meet again, Andrini.”
The man’s head came up, and a stain appeared in his crotch when recognition dawned in his one good eye. Stone spat on the floor in disgust and handed Gabe his favorite hunting knife.
“I don’t know anything. I don’t. I’ve already told your goons that. I—argh.”
The stench of urine got stronger, as Gabe pressed the knife to the fucker’s throat and then slowly slid it down his meaty body, until it rested on the guy’s balls.
“You don’t speak unless it’s something I want to hear, or I’ll cut those puny things off and make you eat them. Where the fuck is my wife?”
In a rare and foolish show of defiance, Andrini spat in his face. Gabe simply grinned, wiped the spit off his face, and slammed the handle of his knife in the guy’s balls.
Andrini yanked on his restraints and howled in pain, and Gabe stepped back.
“Wrong answer, asshole. Where is she?”
“Don’t … know … fuck … aaaargh.”
A well-placed kick to the knee cap shattered that part of Andrini’s anatomy, and the sickening crunch echoed around the empty space.
Gabe waited until Andrini’s agonized screeches stopped before he spoke again.
“Like I said, wrong answer. I can keep this up all day, and I’ll break every bone in your fucking body if I have to.”
He got right into Andrini’s face, drinking in the man’s desperate fear. It soothed the raging beast inside, the one that needed to inflict some serious damage, to make the assholes pay for daring to take what was his.
“Don’t … Ollivanti … no, don’t—argh.”
The fucker’s collarbone snapped under Gabe’s hands this time, and Andrini bit through his tongue. Blood spattered down his front, and Gabe shook his head in disgust.
“I fucking know he’s got her. Where is he keeping her, Andrini?”
By the time Lissa’s father finally passed out, there wasn’t much left of him to break, and Gabe swore under his breath. He cut the rope holding Andrini up, and the guy fell to the floor in a gloopy mess.
“Throw him off the top of his house.”
He slumped against the wall and frowned at his bloody hands. Far from making him feel better, Andrini’s punishment left a hollow feeling in his gut, not least because they were none the wiser.
“Guess, he really didn’t know, eh? Who next?” Stone asked. “Ange?”
Gabe shook his head and shoved his hands out of sight. Lissa would be disgusted at the state of him. Right now, he looked like that damning picture she’d painted of him at the start of their relationship.
“That bitch won’t know. Why is she still alive anyway? Get her dealt with already.”
Stone’s whistle brought several other members of his team out of the shadows and together they bundled up Andrini’s broken body and carted him off.
“Don’t wanna do it yourself, boss? I thought you might?” Stone asked.
Bile rose in the back of Gabe’s throat, and he shook his head.
“If I go near that cunt, I’ll fucking strangle her for her duplicity.”
Stone nodded. “I get that, but she might know something. Bitch has been in deep with Ollivanti for the last six months, and…” Stone’s brows drew together as his phone rang and he answered it.
“Zach, what’s up?”
Gabe pushed away from the grubby wall.
Stone’s expression grew murderous as he listened.
“Right, gotcha, yeah, that makes sense. We’ll meet you there.” Stone ended the call and grinned at Gabe.
“What?”
“That was Zach, one of the McLeod Operatives I’ve been working with. He’s got a lead on Lissa’s whereabouts, and I bet he’s spot on. Ange used to meet up with one of Ollivanti’s men in a seedy strip club in Soho, on occasion. Well, several different clubs, but the one Zach’s been staking out has a cellar. They use it as a play party dungeon type thing. Been to a few when I was bored out my skull before they closed the place down. It’s soundproof and… Fuck, he’s right, she’s gotta be there.”
Gabe swore under his breath.
“Bring the car round.”
“On it, boss.”
****
Lissa drifted in and out of consciousness, only dimly aware of her surroundings. This last place they’d brought her to, chaining her up against the wall like some fucking animal, seemed to be some form of sex dungeon. Her stomach rolled anew, threatening to bring up the little water they’d allowed her to have as her imagination went into overdrive. What would have been an exciting place under Gabe’s dominance now seemed menacing, dirty, perverted, not least because the man assessing her from under hooded lids gave her the creeps. Similar in age to Gabe, and impeccably dressed, he had cruel, merciless eyes, and she knew without being told that this was Ollivanti himself.
A woman cried softly somewhere in the room, and the sounds of flesh slapping on flesh as someone else had sex registered over the ringing in her ears the last slap to her face had caused. Her cheek burned, and she tasted blood from her split lip. When had he hit her?
Time had lost all meaning, not helped by the drugs they’d pumped into her system.
A slap to her other side jerked her head ‘round, and she winced at the resulting jolt of pain.
“Answer Mr. Ollivanti when he asks you a question, bitch.”
Spittle flew in her face, and she tried her best to focus on the cruel face of the musclebound asshole who seemed determined to wake her up by beating her. Blood pooled in her mouth, and she spat it into this asshole’s face.
“Fucking cunt.”
The punch to her belly winded her, making her see stars, and she hunched over as much as she could in her restraints. The cuffs dug into her wrists, shooting yet more pain up her dead arms and into her strained shoulders. She almost wished for the oblivion of the drug induced sleep—almost. They’d clearly decided they wanted her awake for this, and disgust cramped her insides, as the unseen woman’s sobs got louder, and the scent of sweat and sex assaulted her nostrils.
Yes, oblivion would be preferable to all of her senses coming back on line. Whether it was a by-product of the drugs they’d given her, or simply the adrenaline coursing through her system, everything seemed brighter, more vivid in that moment.
“Take it easy, Gordon. You damage her too much, we won’t be able to sell her. I want her features recognizable when we film me fucking her brains out. That should get Henshaw going, eh?”
Ollivanti’s smooth, cold voice slithered into her senses, and Lissa gagged. So that’s why they wanted her awake then? Well, fuck them. He could take her body, but he would never own her. She blinked back tears and swallowed hard when his cologne invaded her nostrils. It was the same scent Gabe used, but on this man, it made her gag. It also brought Daddy’s beloved face into the forefront of her mind, and she forced herself to look Ollivanti in the eye.
“He’ll kill you.”
Ollivanti’s black eyes crinkled up at the corners seconds before he laughed in her face, brought his hand around her throat, and squeezed off her air supply.
“Bitch got spirit, I give her that. Henshaw might let you get away with that mouth, but I won’t. Let’s see how verbal you are when I’ve filled every one of your holes, shall we?”
He stepped away, releasing her throat, and Lissa gulped in enough air to whisper her response.
“Fuck you!”
Anot
her punch, to her side this time, sent a renewed wave of pain through her body, and she bit her tongue in an effort not to cry out at the agony left behind.
“Show the boss some respect, cunt.”
Alcohol-laced breath blew in her face, seconds before the goon ripped her top, exposing her lacy bra.
She closed her eyes, determined to block out what was happening to her. A sharp pain to her nipples forced her eyes open to see Ollivanti’s cruel hands holding them in a tight grip.
“Impressive tits, I give you that.” He pulled harder, forcing Lissa on her tiptoes to try to alleviate the pain, and he laughed. “That’s better. I have ways to make sure you know exactly who’s fucking that lush pussy of yours.” He kept hold of one of her breasts while he pulled her leggings down and cupped her mound. “Nice and dry, just how I like it. I’m going to make you scream, girl…” He laughed and winked at her. “And bleed.” He licked up the side of her face, and Lissa used the last of her waning strength to headbutt him. More pain exploded in her head, yet she had the satisfaction of seeing his nose bleed.
Ollivanti’s dark eyes blazed in fury, and he raised his arm to hit her. Lissa braced herself for a punch that never came, as a door burst open and Daddy’s deep voice boomed around the dank room.
“Get your fucking hands off of her.”
Oh, thank God.
****
Gabe saw red, seeing his precious girl strung up against the wall, with Ollivanti’s filthy hands all over her. He yanked the asshole off her and sent him crashing against the opposite wall where one of his goons was raping a girl far too young to be caught up in all of this. Track marks marred her skin in the same way as they marked Lissa’s pale flesh. He wrapped his arms around her to hold her up and bellowed his instructions to cut her loose.
She was too pale, too still in his arms, as though she’d fainted, but then again, that might be for the best as his men filed in, knives drawn and slit the throats of Ollivanti’s men one by one. Stone had Gabe’s rival pinned against the wall, knife to his throat, but he wouldn’t kill him. Not yet. That would fall to Gabe, once he’d tortured the evil slime and made him pay for what he’d done to Lissa.
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