Page 1 of Corrupted

CHAPTER 1

MINA

The door that led down to the basement of the house in Dusk Bay swung open.

I snapped my attention from the view and looked over the back of the couch.

Typically, Gianni's expression was jovial, while Damon's was guarded. The two of them were like night and day. An open book and a closed one.

I adored them both.

"Did you learn anything?" Reuben asked before I could. He was seated at the head of the large dining table, laptop in front of him. He looked every part the successful businessman he was. As well as being a successful mob boss.

"You could say that." Damon leaned against the door frame, crossed his arms and closed his eyes. He looked weary. We all were. The hunt for Kurt Lasalle was taking a toll on all of us.

"Bitch ass prick sung like a bird," Gianni said. He flopped down beside me and put an arm around me. With only a moment of hesitation, he leaned over and kissed my mouth.

I was getting better at not flinching when anyone went to touch me. I'd even let Damon fuck me while the other two watched.

I was still getting my head around that. It was wonderful, special. Especially given I wasn't sure I'd ever be comfortably intimate with anyone. It was gratifying to know I wasn't as broken as I'd thought I was. Healing.

"What did he say?" I leaned against Gianni, inhaling his warm scent, drawing comfort from his closeness.

"He said that Kurt prick-of-the-year Lasalle is right here in Dusk Bay. Apparently," he drawled the word, "he's been here all along." Gianni gestured behind him, roughly in the direction of the city.

My heart skipped several beats. "He's right here?"

What the absolute, ever loving fuck?

"According to Leon Graves, he left Sydney after we found you in the cage and came here." Damon's tone was dark, laced with both thought and irritation. "He's been laying low ever since. He was waiting for his people to grab Mina and take her to him."

He opened his eyes and settled his gaze on me. Even for someone as guarded as he was, rage burned just below the surface. Fury at the idea of Kurt, or anyone else, touching me.

"Of course he is," I said absently, the possibilities tumbling around in my brain.

"No," Reuben said as though reading my mind. "There's no way in the world we would have let him take you, even if it meant leading us to him." He turned to Damon. "Did he say exactly where Kurt is?"

It was Gianni who answered.

"He passed out right before he got to that. Something about a knife in his calf being painful or something." He grinned and shrugged.

"He says he doesn't know," Damon supplied. "He was 'following orders'. Going where he was told to be."

Gianni made a sound of disbelief. "That's what they all say. I'll give him a few minutes, then try again. Otherwise we'll be searching for a needle in a haystack."

"It's a much smaller haystack than the one we had," Reuben observed. His gaze slid to me. "I don't suppose he ever said anything about having a house here?"

"He wasn't particularly forthcoming about his life," I said dryly. He was too busy taunting me, torturing me and forcing himself on me. Conversation wasn't part of the equation most of the time. Not unless he was telling me lies, like my siblings were all dead.

"I know we don't want to consider the possibility…" Damon said slowly.

"We have to," Reuben said. "If there's any chance Daisy Lasalle knew her brother was here in Dusk Bay, we have no choice but to find out."

I shook my head. "If she knew he was here, she would have dealt with him, or at least told us."

I trusted her almost as much as I trusted anyone not already in this room. She was as angry about what her brother did to me as my men were.

Unless she was an incredible actor.