Chapter 7

• GIDEON
• Gideon’s meeting was not going well.
• Mostly because he hated these people and they hated him just as much as he hated them.
• And here they were in his house, trying to control him.
• Where the hell was Tyra? She was supposed to have returned with Alessa five minutes ago.
• Gideon smiled across the table at Gabriel. “I'm sure our deals will go off without a hitch. Would you prefer to sign the document now or wait until later?”
• He wanted them to sign the damn documents right then and get out of his house. He had things to do.
• Gabriel smiled back, his dark eyes completely empty of emotion. “No, Gideon. We'll sign the documents when The Syndicate sees evidence of just how you mean to operate within their territory.”
• Gideon nodded. “Then shall we move on to breakfast?”
• Darius pulled a letter from his suit pocket. He looked like a cross between an evil twin and a demon. His left eye was sewed shut from a knife fight when he had been eighteen. The wound had healed but the holes made by the stitches had never completely healed.
• He handed the letter to Gideon. “You'll find there all the rules you'll need to obey.”
• Gideon scowled across the table at them. “I don't obey anyone but myself.”
• Darius shrugged. “You'll have to take that up with the boss. I am not the boss. You will sign the document now. “
• Gideon picked up the letter, read through it and tore it down the middle. He dropped the shredded letter on his desk, holding Darius eyes. “No, I will not.” He smiled again, forcing himself to stay calm. He refused to lose his temper with his siblings in the same house. “Now, we will eat. There will be no more business talk.”
• Gabriel looked from the letter to Gideon's face. “Are you sure you want to do that?”
• Gideon stood, pushed back his chair and walked out of the office. They would follow him because they didn't have a choice. Gideon did not kneel to any one. Neither did he allow himself to be threatened.
• He found Ricci standing outside. He nodded back at the men inside his office. “When they're done, you lead them into the dining room. I'll be back.”
• Ricci nodded and stepped into the room. The Syndicate was trying to take over his businesses, trying to control his territories just because he needed a billion dollars for an investment into a new business he wanted to pursue.
• He wouldn't give it to them.
• He followed the hallway to Alessa’s room. He needed her to be ready to meet Gabriel and Darius before they left. The Syndicate wanted to meet his new wife to be certain he wasn't lying about being married.
• He heard voices before he reached her room. Tyra was shouting something at someone. What he saw when he rounded the corner, made his blood boil.
• Alessa’s mouth was open and even from where he was, Gideon could see that her cheeks were red where Tyra had slapped her.
• Alessa stumbled into her room and Tyra walked into the room after her. Gideon hurried to the door. “Don't you dare!” He barked at Tyra who stopped with her hands in the air where she had been about to slap Alessa again.
• Tyra turned, her face crumbling as she ran to Gideon. She fell into his arms sobbing. Gideon’s hands wrapped around her as she sniffled into his shoulders. “Oh, Gideon, she called me a slut. She said I'm a slut for sleeping with you. I had to punish her.”
• Alessa was curled up on the bed, her hands covering her face. She was crying too. Gideon felt his hands squeeze Tyra, patting her waist. “Go to your room and clean up, Tyra. I'll deal with her.”
• Tyra glared at Alessa as she pressed her lips to Gideon’s face. “Thank you, my king.” She murmured sweetly before turning and leaving the room.
• Gideon folded his arms across his chest. “Stand up and dress up.”
• Alessa stood, her hands falling away from her face to reveal her red face. She scowled, twisting her lips. “I'm not wearing any dress that bitch bought for me.”
• So she did call Tyra a slut. Gideon nodded. “If you do not wear the dress, you will be punished.”
• She fisted her hands at her sides, stamping the ground with her feet. “I'd just love to see you try.”
• Gideon sighed. He had guests waiting on him. He didn't have the time to waste.
• Also, did he need to remind her that she belonged to him legally? He could do whatever he wanted with her and there would be no one to tell him no.
• But it wasn't the time to start teaching her a lesson. She would regret ever stepping foot in his house by the time he was done with her family.
• “Get dressed, Alessa. Stop behaving like a child.”
• “Maybe you should have thought about that before marrying a child.” She snapped back, sitting on the bed and looking away from him.
• Gideon chuckled, his patience slipping away. He was finding out that his new wife was in fact very stubborn. “You're twenty-three years old, Alessa. You're definitely not a child.”
• She rolled her eyes and laid back. Gideon grunted, dropped his hands to his belt and started removing it. The sound of the clanging buckle made her lift her head.
• She looked up at him, her eyes widening as she crawled up the bed, her fingers clenching the sheets hard. He could just imagine the way her heart was pounding away in her chest. He almost smiled. “What the hell are you doing?”
• He ignored her, pulling the belt from his pants loop. He bent the belt in two and started towards the bed. He needed to change for the breakfast meeting too. “Changing for breakfast.”
• She looked so small like this, pressed against the bed, her wide eyes flicking between him and the leather in his hands. She was afraid, but she was also furious.
• Good. Let her be both.
• A part of him expected her to beg, to crumble under his eyes. But she didn’t. Instead, she clenched her jaw, her chest rising and falling quickly, her nails digging into the sheets like she was holding herself back from attacking him.
• His blood heated.
• She had no idea what she was doing to him. No idea that every second she fought him only made him want to break her more.
• Not in the way she feared.
• In a way she wasn’t ready for.
• Damn her.
• He forced himself to take a slow breath, running his tongue over his teeth. She wasn’t ready for him.
• Not yet.
• Gideon kept undressing, pulling his shirt off, then his pants and his shorts. Alessa was pressed up against her headboard by then, her eyes wide and dark like an ocean.
• She gasped and swallowed when he stepped towards her. Gideon leaned forward. “Now change, or I'll spank your ass until you can't think of anything except how to stop the pain.”
• Alessa went pink, her cheeks on fire as her eyes dropped over his body. Gideon walked over to the door that divided their rooms and into his own room, slamming the door shut.
• He was almost hoping she would disobey him so he could get his hands on that round ass of hers.
• This was supposed to be a business arrangement. So why the hell did he already want to break his own rules?
• His heart did a weird little flip. He wanted her, and wanting her was not part of the deal.