He kissed her hair and then carefully pulled her upright so that he could look into her eyes.
“Listen to me, okay? Freshen up in the bathroom here. Take as long as you need. I don’t want anyone to see you this way. It would raise a lot of questions and I don’t want anyone to see you so upset. As soon as you’re ready, I want you to go back to my apartment and stay there until I get home.”
Fear and concern flashed in her eyes.
“Where will you be?”
He put a finger to her lips, indulging in their velvety softness. He traced the bow of her mouth and then followed it with a brief kiss.
“I’m going to ensure that Charles Willis never threatens you again.”
Chapter thirty-six
Gabe got out of the car on Lexington Avenue in front of the small office building that housed Charles Willis’s suite of offices, and he strode toward the entrance, his hands coiled into tight fists.
He’d bundled Mia into a car and sent her home after she’d ridded herself of all traces of upset, and after he’d asked her to describe the photos Charles had shown her in exacting detail.
Charles’s office was on the first floor, space he shared with another company because he wasn’t often in New York City. His worldwide construction company had many offices around the globe, but Gabe would never do business with the man again. If it weren’t for the fact that Charles’s company employed a lot of people—good people who depended on him to support their families—Gabe would utterly shut him down and run him out of business.
As it was, he’d never have anything personally or professionally to do with the man again.
Gabe strode past the startled receptionist and opened Charles’s door with a bang. Charles looked up, startled, from his desk and Gabe saw a hint of fear flash in the other man’s eyes before he rose to his feet and masked his features.
“Gabe,” he said in a cordial voice. “What can I do for you?”
Gabe slammed the door shut behind him and stared intently at Charles as he walked forward. He never lifted his gaze, and Charles was visibly uncomfortable with Gabe’s scrutiny.
“You fucked up this time, Charles,” Gabe said softly. “You touched what is mine. You put your hands on her. You hurt her. You frightened her. You threatened her.”
Charles battled his obvious panic and then arrogantly shrugged his shoulders. “She’s just another whore. What do you care?”
Gabe flew at him in rage, drawing back his fist. He punched the other man in the mouth, sending him reeling into the bookcase behind his desk. Charles’s hand flew to his mouth and when it came away, it was smeared with blood.
“I’ll have you arrested for assault!” Charles raged. “You can’t come in here and hit me!”
“You fucking piece of shit. You’re lucky I don’t kill you with my bare hands,” Gabe seethed out. “If you breathe in Mia’s direction again, I will ruin you. When I’m finished with you, you will have nothing. No credibility. No backing. No contracts. Nothing at all.”
Panic leached all the color from Charles’s face.
“I’ll go public with those photos!” he threatened, babbling out the words like an incoherent drunk.
Gabe went still, his nostrils flaring. “You do that, Charles. Make those photos public. I’ll have you charged with rape. It’s precisely what you tried to do to her, and those photos prove it. I don’t give a shit what it does to me or my reputation. But I won’t have Mia hurt or humiliated by you or anyone else. I’ll nail your ass to the wall and you’ll spend the next several years in prison being a fuck toy for your cell mate. If you don’t believe me, just try me.”
His voice was full of menace. And conviction. If Charles didn’t believe Gabe, he was a fool. Gabe had never been more serious in his life.
Charles paled and realization set in, his eyes flashing with recognition. Gabe was absolute and Charles knew it.
“I will spend every penny I own ensuring that you lose everything you have,” Gabe continued. “And I have a lot of connections. A lot of favors owed to me that I’m more than willing to collect now.”
Charles looked as though he wanted to faint. He tried to pick himself up from where he’d slid down the bookcase, but he wobbled and couldn’t gain his footing.
“I’m sorry,” he blurted out. “I was desperate. I knew you wouldn’t give me the bid after what happened. I need that deal, Gabe. I have to have it.”
Gabe held out his hand to help Charles to his feet. Charles stared warily at him but finally slid his hand into Gabe’s grasp.
As soon as Charles was back on his feet, Gabe flattened him with another punch. He likely broke Charles’s nose. Blood splattered over his face as Charles lay dazed against the bookcase.
“That’s for putting your hands on Mia. For leaving bruises on her skin. If you ever go near her again, there isn’t a rock on this earth you can hide under. I’ll hunt you down, and I’ll take you apart. I can make you disappear, Willis. No one would ever find your body.”
Knowing he’d made his point, Gabe turned and stalked from the office. Charles was stupid, but he was smart enough to know that Gabe was utterly serious. If he made good on any part of his threat to Mia, Gabe would destroy him.
Gabe got into his car and headed for his apartment. He was anxious to be back with Mia so he could reassure her that the matter was taken care of.
It baffled him and brought him to his knees that she hadn’t betrayed him. That her first instinct was to come to him and ask for help. To trust him to solve the matter when she stood to lose so much.
What a gift he’d been given in Mia.
His thoughts were consumed with her as he rode through town. There was a lot he wanted to discuss with her—matters he wasn’t sure how she’d feel about.
But this situation had brought to him in stark clarity how easily they could be discovered. Was such a deception worth the possible consequences?
Before, he agreed wholeheartedly with Mia in keeping their relationship from Jace. It only made sense because he’d known that whatever their relationship was, it wouldn’t last very long. If Jace never knew, there would be no awkwardness. No anger. They could go on as before, pretending his time with Mia had never happened.
Only now…
Now, Gabe was reluctant to think of the agreement between him and Mia ending. He wasn’t sure when it had happened that he’d started looking at her in a new light. As someone he had no intention of walking away from. At least not any time soon.
Jace needed to be told and then Gabe and Mia would deal with whatever fallout ensued. It was becoming increasingly more difficult for Gabe to pretend distance at the office. To pretend Mia was just an employee. Or that she was just Jace’s little sister and someone Gabe viewed with affection.
He wasn’t sure how Mia would feel about them going to Jace with the truth—or rather a simpler version of the truth. No one would ever know of their contract. It was a thing that shamed Gabe now, where before he’d lived by it, would never enter a relationship without one. Now? It seemed ridiculous and useless. A product of his overreaction to the past.