Page 12 of Possessive

I could have stayed in there for hours, but the water was turning brown, so I stood while he averted his eyes, and took the towel. I wrapped it around myself and stepped out of the bath.

"I'll leave you for a few minutes," he said. "I'll ask Terry if he can find you some clothes." He hurried out the door and closed it behind him.

I pulled off the towel and quickly dried myself. A quick glance in the mirror showed my filthy, matted hair was now gone, replaced by a cute bob. Gianni saved more of it than I expected.

I still looked like a stranger to myself. How long would it take before the woman in the mirror looked like me?

CHAPTER 5

REUBEN

I glanced up from my glass of whiskey as Damon stepped into the room. As always, his expression was guarded, closed. I trusted him more than most, but I gave up trying to read him a long time ago. He got the job done, that was what mattered.

He lowered himself into the leather chair opposite me and sat with his ankle resting on his opposite thigh.

"She wasn't what we were expecting to find," I said.

"No," Damon agreed. "Should we have?"

"I don't know." I scrubbed a hand over my face. "We've kept close track of all the members of the DiMarco family. Not close enough, apparently."

It wasn't guilt I was feeling, but rather irritation at not knowing something I should have known.

Men like Kurt Lasalle shouldn't be able to keep a woman chained up in their basements without my knowledge. Especially one I'd known all her life. What was that ridiculous nickname her family gave her? Mina Sunshine, because she was always happy and smiling. When was the last time she was either of those things?

I struggled to reconcile the girl I once knew, with the woman we found only a handful of hours ago.

"Wild guess the DiMarcos had no idea," Damon remarked. "Not unless there was something in it for them."

"What?" It was a pointless question, he had no more answers than I did.

"Are we going to tell them?" he asked.

"Not yet." I sipped my whiskey, savouring the way it burned down my throat. "I want to talk to her first. She may be able to shed some light on the situation. If any of the DiMarcos knew she was there, they may try to act against us if they learn we have her here."

Damon made an indeterminate sound in the back of his throat. He wasn't scared of them either.

"What are you planning to do with her?"

That was the question I'd had running through my head since I recognised the filthy woman with the big, blue-green eyes. Leaving her there wasn't an option, but I hadn't decided what happened next.

I'd speak to her and make my decision based on that conversation. No doubt Gianni would try to influence me. He was treating her like an abandoned kitten, in need of food and attention to nurse it back to health. But kittens grew into cats and cats had claws. Especially ones with the last name DiMarco.

"I'll decide that when the time is right." I didn't have to explain myself to him or anyone else. I hadn't had to for a long time. That was how I liked it.

"The boss is probably in his library." Gianni's voice came from just outside the doorway. That was followed by him looking in and smiling. "Here he is."

He stepped into the room. My breath caught in my throat as Mina followed him in.

She'd never been tall, but she was all but swallowed by the grey track pants and T-shirt she wore. Clothes that used to belong to the twins, if I had to guess. Neither Hunter nor Parker fit into them since they were ten or twelve, but they'd remained stashed away in a box somewhere until now.

Even in old, borrowed clothes, she was stunning. Even with the wary, on-edge look in her eyes. No one would blame her for that, least of all me.

"Sit down." Gianni waved towards a chair. "I'll see how Terry is going, heating up some food for you." He actually gave me a warning look before slipping back out the door. He was protective of our little stray. That better not cause a problem.

Damon looked at me questioningly, but I nodded for him to stay.

Mina stepped carefully into the room, looking around the shelves of books that covered the walls. Some of the shelves weren't filled yet, leaving spaces here and there that I tried to avoid looking at. They looked untidy. If there was anything I hated, it was mess.