Page 28 of The Price of Power
I looked her dead in the eye. “I didn’t rise to the top of the New York underworld because of my sense of humor.”
That seemed to get through to her. Her gaze broke away, her eyes frantically flicking back and forth as she worried her lower lip with her teeth. Her shoulders rose and fell dramatically with each breath. But it wasn’t until her head started to bob up and down in an agitated nod that I knew I truly had her where I wanted.
“Okay…okay, this is really happening, Liv. This is really fucking happening,” she muttered to herself before looking back up at me. “So what are your terms?”
I raised a brow. “I already told you.”
“No, you gave me an overview,” she said, shaking her head. “I need specifics. Like, how long do I have to stay with you?”
I hadn’t thought that far ahead. I didn’t know how long it would take me to grow tired of her. Usually, I never stayed with the same woman for more than a few nights. Still, I wanted to make sure I got my money’s worth. After all, Theo owed me a hell of a lot of money.
“Three months,” I said. Through the summer—that ought to do it.
“Okay.” Liv swallowed down hard. I could tell that was longer than she’d been hoping for. But she was still clearly smart enough to know it could have been a hell of a lot worse. “I’ll need to tell my family what’s happening. Oh, and I’ll also need to call my boss and make up some kind of excuse. And then there’s the problem of my things. I only brought enough for an overnight trip, so I’ll need to fly home and get more clothes.”
That was a long list of things that weren’t going to happen.
“No,” I told her.
She looked up at me, eyes wide. “What do you mean no?”
“I’ll inform your brother about our deal. Your job will hire someone new. And I’ll take care of your wardrobe.”
“But—“
No more buts.
“You asked my terms, Liv, and I’ve told you,” I said plainly. “The only thing left for you to do is answer yes or no.”
For a minute, the only sound in the room was the shaky tempo of her breath. I watched her try to mentally work a way out of the impossible situation I’d created for her. Then, I watched in triumph as her gaze fell to the floor, utterly defeated.
“Yes,” she said, her voice a broken whisper.
“Good choice,” I said, walking the few steps across the floor to take her hand. “Then come with me to see your new home.”
Chapter Eight
OLIVIA
There it was—Gabriel’s house.
I shook my head as I stepped out of the passenger’s seat of the same Bentley I’d ridden in last night. House wasn’t the right word to describe the towering four-story limestone building. Mansion was the only word that truly fit.
Well, that or prison.
I craned my head back to take in the large, arched bay windows and decorative stone columns looming over me. If I hadn’t been so terrified, I would have had to admit that the place was magnificent. A true masterpiece of nineteenth-century architecture.
And this was just the back entrance.
I’d only spied a glimpse of the front facade as we drove up 91st Street. I’d been too caught up in my spiraling thoughts and fears when Gabriel had sped past and didn’t get a good look. It wasn’t until he’d pulled past the back gate and into the rear driveway that I got a true sense of how magnificent and massive the place truly was.
I must have been standing there staring up at it with my jaw hanging open for a while because when I looked back down, Gabriel was already standing at the back door, patiently holding it open for me. Like an inmate stepping inside Rikers for the first time, I did my best to swallow down all my fear as I slowly shuffled forward.
But if I was a prisoner, then there was no denying I had the most luxurious cell in history.
“Welcome home,” Gabriel said as I stepped past him into a sprawling modern kitchen, the most beautiful and impressive that I’d ever laid eyes on.
A short, older woman carefully watching a trio of bubbling pots and pans on the gas stove turned around as we entered her space. She turned and gave a friendly smile as she wiped her hands on the kitchen towel hanging from her belted skirt.