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CHAPTER 5

NAVY

I caught Gianna just as she was about to hit the floor, sweeping her up in my arms.

“I’m taking her up to my room,” I informed the table. A few people from the tables around us were whispering. “Rea, can you come and check on her for me?” I asked.

Rea nodded, walking towards me with Onyx not far behind her, “Of course, let me just stop at my room and get my bag.”

Turning, I followed them out of the ballroom. I knew my brothers and their Old Ladies would smooth things over as would Hope and Bas.

We’d booked all of the MC into rooms on the same floor, so when we got to my door, Onyx took my key card to open my bedroom door before going a few doors down to where Rea was waiting for him.

Walking into my room, I went straight to the bed and gently deposited Gia on it. Stepping back, I finally took a good look at her. I was a little taken aback at how young she was because I was guessing she was around her mid-twenties, which was a helluva lot younger than my forty-two. Taking off her shoes, I smiled when I saw her toes were painted a deep blue. I don’t know why that amused me, but it did. It was so different to the dress she was wearing, making me wonder if the gold was really her style or something she’d been forced to wear. I had a feeling it was the latter.

Gia was just starting to stir as I covered her up with the spare blanket when Rea knocked on the door. I went to let her and Onyx in, moving out of the way so that Rea could examine her.

To give them some semblance of privacy, Onyx and I stood in the small passageway just off the bathroom to wait while Rea examined Gia. We could hear them murmuring but not what was being said.

“Are you sure about this, brother?” Onyx asks me.

“Yeah, brother, I am. There’s something about her. I know she’s younger than me and might not want anything to do with me. Even if she doesn’t, I’d still help her. There’s nothing I hate more than men bullying the women in their family. And her stepfamily seems to be right arseholes.”

Rea calls out to us to come back in. Onyx nods, clapping me on the shoulder as he walks past me murmuring, “Okay, brother. We’re here for you both.”

Gianna is sitting up in bed. Rea’s helped her into one of my shirts and fuck, but don’t I just love the fact that she’s wearing it. A possessiveness like I’ve never felt comes over me. But like I told Onyx, I’d be moving at her pace. I was well aware that I tended to bulldoze my way through life and that I may not be able to this time.

Gia gives me a small smile, but I don’t like how pale she looks. “How is she?” I ask Rea a little abruptly, not that she took offense, just gave me a smile and patted my arm.

“She’s fine, other than she needs to eat and drink something. I’ve called room service and ordered some soup and tea.”

“Thanks for the save,” Gia says with a shy smile at me. “I was wondering how I was going to raise an alarm when you swooped in. I need to call my Gram and make sure she got out okay.”

“What do you mean?” Onyx asks gently.

“You better tell them,” Rea says with a smile. “It will be quicker and cleaner that way.”

Gia just shakes her head at us as if she can’t believe that we’d be interested, but then proceeds to tell us what has been going on in her life the last months. Every word that comes out of her mouth makes me angrier and angrier.

I have to wonder again. What the fuck is wrong with people that makes them so greedy they treat their family so abysmally. By the time she’s finished, Onyx is on his phone, filling Reaper in.

Rea had disappeared when there was a knock on the door, leaving just the two of us alone for a little while.

Gia looked at me with big eyes that suddenly filled with tears as she watched all this unfold around her. Sitting on the bed next to her, I pulled her into my arms, and she buries her head against my throat and sobs.

Running my hand through her hair, gathering her closer, I whispered to her, “It’s okay, sweets, it’s going to be okay. Cry it out. When you’re done, we’ll call your gran and then your brother and get this all sorted. I promise you’ll be okay.”

Rea put the tray with soup on the table, her lips compressed into a thin line as she listened to Gia cry. I was just happy it was Rea in here with us and not Molly. I had a feeling Molly would be out for blood if she’d heard half of what Gia had to say.

Gia and her grandmother had basically been kept prisoner with little to no food. What food they did have they’d had to make stretch as far as they could because they were never sure when more would be delivered. It made my blood boil, and I wished I’d kept hold of the little prick. The abattoir could do with some use, it had been a while since we’d used it.

“I’ll check in a bit later,” Rea whispers to me. “If you need me before that, give me a call.”

“Will do,” I agree. The click of the door sounds as they leave the room. They both knew that I’d make sure Gia was looked after.

When Gia is down to hiccupping sobs, she lifts her head and wipes a hand down her face, removing the last of her tears. Sitting up, she takes the tissues I offer her, “Sorry,” she apologises shakily.

“No need to apologise, sweets. You’ve been through hell the last months, we get it. Now, how about some soup then you can call your gran?”

Getting up from the bed at her nod, I pick up the tray and wait until she shuffles up the bed and leans against the headboard before placing the tray on her lap. I wait until she’s taken her first sip and will my cock to go down at the moan she lets out at the first taste.

Knowing I need to get out of the room because the last thing I want to do is make her uncomfortable with the hard-on I’m starting to sport every time she moans around a mouthful of soup.

“I’m going to grab a quick shower while you eat,” I let her know. Going to my bag find a pair of tracksuit pants and a clean T-shirt to take to the bathroom with me.

“Okay,” Gia replies with wide eyes at my abruptness.

I don’t have time to be polite as I hurry to the bathroom to take things in hand.

Twenty minutes later, I walk back into the room to see that Gia’s finished her soup and is at the table in the corner of the bedroom making a cup of tea. Holy fuck, this woman is gorgeous, and seeing her in my shirt is making me feel all sorts of possessive. I’d never in all my years felt like this.

Over the years, I’d watched one brother after another fall and find their one. Always wondering when it was going to be my turn. But as the years passed, I’d given up wondering, and accepted that it probably wasn’t going to happen and just enjoyed spending time with my brothers, their Old Ladies, and the children they continued to have.

The shirt that Gia wore was long and hung down to mid-thigh. She’d taken her hair down and it hung in long, thick tresses down her back to just above the bend in her knees.

Gia turns as soon as she hears me come into the room and fuck-me if I don’t have a woody again. My girl is large in the chest area and the shirt is straining against her breasts. I can tell she’s not got a bra on from the shadow of her dark nipples against the white of the shirt. Averting my gaze, I take a deep breath. Picking up my phone from the desk, I walk over to hand it to her.

“Here, sweets, call your gran,” I tell her, taking her mug of tea from her and walking her back to the bed. I need to get her covered up again and fast. Once she’s settled, I place the tea next to her on the bedside table, walking away to give her as much privacy as possible.

Seeing another mug on the tray, I make myself a cup of tea while she chats. The relief in her voice when she hears her gran’s voice makes me smile. I listen as the two of them chat and she assures her gran she’ll see her tomorrow and they’d get somewhere safe. Not liking the idea of her worrying about her gran overnight, I interrupt their conversation.

“Sweets, where is your gran now?”

Gia looks up with wide eyes, “Um, she’s at our cook’s house in Somerset.”

“Darling, Somerset’s a big place. I need a town name and address.”

“Oh,” Gia blushes, lowering her eyes, “hang-on I’ll get the address.”

I write the address down as she repeats it. It’s not far from our family property in Frome.

“Thanks, sweets.”

Taking the address, I tell her I’ll be right back. Leaving the room, I walk down the passage to where I know Bas and Hope are staying and knock on the door.

It doesn’t take long for Bas to open the door. “Hi, Alan, is she okay?”

“Yeah, Bas, she’s fine. Can I ask you a favour?”

“Of course,” Bas answers. “What do you need?”

Handing him the slip of paper with the address of where her grandmother is staying, “Can you have Derek go to that address and pick her gran and the cook up who got her out of there? He needs to do it tonight and have him take them back to yours just until this is all sorted. Gia doesn’t think that Julian will know who helped them, but I don’t what to take any chances.”

“No worries, leave it with me,” Bas assures me. “And let us know if there’s anything else we can do for her.”

Once again, I’m thankful for my family, both blood and not, that rallied around, no questions asked even if I may have brought danger to all of us. Wanting to get back to Gia, I thank Bas and hurry back to my room.

Gia’s just finishing up on her call with her gran, and I interrupt again, asking if I can speak to her gran before she ends the call. Gia tells her gran that I need to speak to her and hands over the phone.

“Hello, Mrs. Wallingsworth.”

“Hello, young man. Thank you for looking out for my granddaughter. I appreciate it greatly. Now don’t take this the wrong way but I wouldn’t be doing my duty if I didn’t ask who exactly you were and what you do. My girl is worth a considerable amount, and I don’t want her to be taken advantage of.”

“No offense taken, Mrs. Wallingsworth. My name is Alan Goode, my cousin and family own property not far from where you are at the moment. The name is Bancroft, and they own Bancroft Estates. Our other cousin Derek will be with you shortly to take you and your cook back to our estate. I don’t think your grandson knows where you are, and he certainly doesn’t know who I am, so you’ll be safe there. I’ll bring Gia down tomorrow and we can make a plan from there to get all this sorted.”

There’s silence from the other side of the phone, but I have a feeling she’s busy processing everything that I’ve just laid out for her.

“Bancroft you say?”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Are you Eileen’s grandson, the one who gave up his right to the estate to his cousin?”

“Yes, ma’am, that’s me.”

“Right then, I have no more worries. Now Gia, tells me you told Julian you were married. How is that going to work?”

“Well, now ma’am, I’m not sure you want to know that.”

“Mmh, okay, so that means you have someone doing stuff on the internet. I don’t need to know the ins and outs of how you are going to do it, just know that if you need help, I still have connections that I can call on. Thank you for helping. I wasn’t sure what to do and she wouldn’t leave me to find help. Hetty and I’ll wait for your man. Tell my granddaughter we’ll see her tomorrow and we’ll call Tristan then.”

“I will,” I promise, ending the call. Turning to look at the bed, I see Gia’s eyes drooping, but they shoot open as I end the call.

“Is she okay?”

“Yeah, sweets, she’s fine. I’m sending my other cousin to go and pick her and Hetty up. He’ll take them back to my cousin’s estate; I’ll take you there tomorrow.”

“Thank you,” she whispers softly.

Lowering my hand to hers, I squeeze it gently where it’s lying against the covers. Going to the wardrobe, I take down the extra pillows and the blanket, throwing them on the floor next to the bed. It’s been a while since I’ve had to sleep on the floor and my body is going to hate me in the morning, but I wasn’t going to make Gia feel uncomfortable by expecting to share the bed.

Laying down, I pull the blanket over me, closing my eyes, very aware of every move the gorgeous woman in my bed makes. We’re going to have a full day tomorrow. Make that a full couple of weeks because I had a feeling that Julian Wallingsworth wasn’t going to go quietly. Made no difference to me. I’d make him go quietly if I had to.

I’m just drifting off, when Gia whispers softly, “You can sleep in the bed.”

Opening my eyes, I look up into her warm brown eyes as she peered down at me.

“I’m okay down here, sweets, it’s not the worst place I’ve ever slept.”

She wrinkled her nose before imploring quietly, “Please come sleep in the bed. I feel guilty enough for ruining everyone’s evening, I don’t want you to be uncomfortable. I trust you; I know you won’t do anything. Rea vouched for you too, but even without her vouching for you, my gut told me I could trust you. And my gut has never been wrong.”

Our eyes meet and hold. I’m trying to figure out if she means it or if she was just being polite. It’s her small, “Please,” that decided it for me.

Getting up from the floor, I picked up the pillow and blanket, intending to sleep above the covers.

Gia shifts to the other side of the bed, making room for me. Settling myself on the bed, I let out a deep sigh; this was much better.

Gia gave a small giggle at my sigh. “What?” I grinned at her. “This is much nicer on my old bones.”

“You’re not old.”

I turned on my side so that I could see her better. Her brown eyes are tired. Some of that was because she was coming down from an adrenaline crash and the rest was probably because, for the first time in months, she didn’t have to worry about anything. It took a little while for her brain to settle and switch off. I was happy to keep her company until she got tired enough to fall asleep.

“Older than you, sweets.”

“Not by much though,” she argues softly.

I chuckled, “I’m at least fifteen, maybe sixteen, years older than you.”

Her eyes widened, “No way, you don’t look like you’re nearly forty.”

Smirking at her, pleased with the compliment. Our training regime must be doing its job.

“I’m forty-two.”

“Wow,” she muttered, “Good genes.”

I couldn’t argue with that, I did have good genes.

We talked for a little while, I let her ramble until she eventually stopped mid-sentence and fell asleep. Turning on my back, I switched off the bedside light. There was enough light from the bathroom to light the way if we needed it to.

I woke only once during the night to find that Gia had moved and was snuggled into me, head tucked into my neck, leg over my hip, arm thrown over me.

Content with having her in my arms, I allowed sleep to claim me again, knowing that my life was going to change, and I hoped it was for the better.

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