Indebted - Piper Stone Page 0,34

then rolled over, fighting the urge to ask any additional questions.

No answers would matter, if they would even be the truth.

His heavy sigh was one of exasperation. I’d won a point for myself in my own mind.

I heard the slight shift of the papers I’d folded and placed on the small dresser. I’d been forced to resist the urge to shred them into little more than scraps. One day they’d come in handy as I fought the situation. One day.

As if that day would come.

Right now, my life was at a standstill.

After a few minutes, he walked toward the door, stopping after only a few steps.

“I’m sorry I left you alone. I had business to attend to.”

I held my breath, trying to calm my nerves. “That wasn’t fair.”

“No, it wasn’t. For that I apologize. I’ve done things in my life I’m not proud of.” His words were clipped, stated under his breath. “There are many people who would call me evil, but I’ve been forced to be practical and I’ve worked diligently to build everything I have. This house. My business. My world. No one is going to take it away from me.”

I could hear the worry in his tone. How could my father have taken away anything from him? Gabriel had more money than God.

“Why are you here in this country?” I asked, still clinging to the blanket as if the thin material was going to protect me from his wrath. I didn’t expect him to answer.

But he did.

“I came to this country because...”

When he hesitated, I knew the pain had come from his past.

“I came to honor my family and I intend on continuing to do so. There have been many who attempted to stop me. Unfortunately, they learned the hard way that crossing me wasn’t in their best interest.”

“Does that mean you killed them? If anyone crosses your path, do you simply annihilate them?”

He sucked in his breath. “That is not necessary. There are other methods of keeping people in line.”

The soft drawl of his accent was even more stimulating tonight, no longer fueled by the contempt he’d shown me earlier.

The crack in his armor was growing.

I chuckled, risking another round of his fury. “You mean by imprisoning them?”

He sighed again, taking his time to respond. “To answer your question, Alessandra, I am doing this because believe it or not your father wanted me to take care of you. He knew I was the only man who could keep you out of harm’s way.”

“Harm’s way?” I snapped, jerking up from the bed. What the hell was he talking about?

“I believe your father was working with some unscrupulous men who would stop at nothing to potentially harm you because they didn’t get what they wanted.”

I laughed, my entire body shaking. “You mean like yourself?” I wasn’t certain I wanted an honest answer.

“I have no intentions of harming you, Alessandra, but you will be punished. You will also show me complete respect and that does include calling me sir. I thought I made that clear.”

“You can remind me how often I’ll be punished, but I will not call you sir. Never.” I was drained from the rhetoric as well as the bullshit.

“Then you will be punished again and again.”

“What do you call what you’re doing to me? I might have signed a contract, but I certainly didn’t expect to be forced into a cage, reduced to an inmate in an entirely different manner.”

“What did you expect?” he asked, shifting his head just enough I was able to see his scars crawling up the side of his face. “This is my home. I don’t know you and I certainly can’t trust you. I have no doubt you are innocent of the crime, but it is not a widely held opinion. Plus, you have every reason to be enraged about what happened to you, including the murder of your father.”

Hearing him say the words so coldly was almost too much to bear. A sob pushed into my throat, strangling me. I couldn’t believe someone had taken my father’s life. “I wasn’t told anything about his death.”

“He was executed,” he whispered, hissing afterwards.

Executed. What in God’s name had my father been involved with? What?

“You think I’m going to seek revenge for my father’s death. Don’t you? That’s why you have me locked away like an animal. Does that mean you killed my father, a man you considered your enemy? It’s funny that he never talked about you or his job. Maybe he