Page 166 of Plunge into Obsession

He looked at me curiously. “What is it?”

“Can you promise me that the young girls at the club won’t be forced to dance… unless they want to. And perhaps, only when they get a little older?”

His eyes hardened, and I almost wanted to take the words back, but this was too important. I stood my ground.

“What kind of man do you take me for?”

I swallowed and looked away from him briefly before I met his eyes.

“Maybe not you, but the managers there…”

I trailed off.

He didn’t say anything for two long seconds. Then, “Is that how Coreyconvincedyou to get up on stage and dance? To reveal to other men what was mine alone?”

I didn’t answer him, but my husband was an astute man. He already knew the answer.

“The girls you’re talking about. They’re the ones you and Kaia helped by setting them up in your house, no?”

“You know about that?” I asked, surprised. Was there anything he didn’t know?

He smiled a little at that.

I nodded. “Yes. They’ve all been through hell, and we just… we just wanted to help them in any way we can.”

“You have a kind heart,” he said softly.

I glanced off to the side, not knowing what to say to that. I didn’t think that was the reason I helped them. I just…

“If there’s a chance Lucinda could have escaped Luis, I hoped there would be someone there to help her.”

He nodded, his brown eyes set in understanding.

“I hope that’s the case, too,” he said, making my lip tremble. “I’ll make sure the girls are well taken care of. You have my word.”

“Thank you,” I whispered, afraid to make my voice go up any higher than that. Afraid I might lose it, and that was the last thing I needed in this fancy restaurant.

We finished lunch, and I waited for Gabriel to pay, not even bothering to glance at the bill.

I was sure it wouldn’t be an amount I wanted to know.

Gabriel helped me out of my seat.

“Where would you like to go next?” he asked me.

His brown eyes appeared light today.

I thought about his answer. “Can we go shopping for some baby clothes? You probably have people for that, but it would be so impersonal to have strangers buy stuff for our baby, don’t you think?”

I still didn’t feel pregnant, save for some pregnancy symptoms I had been experiencing lately, but I was getting used to the idea, more or less.

It was still daunting to think I would be a mom in about seven months.

“Of course,” Gabriel answered easily.

I snuggled closer to him, and he wrapped his arm around me, holding me to his side and keeping me safe and warm.

He’d said the world he lived in was a dangerous one. I wasn’t naïve when it came to that, but being by his side…

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