Keep Her From Harm (The Denton Family Legacy 4)

Gabriel sighed. “It actually sounds quite amazing. To have someone in the entire world be yours.”

“There is a catch. Did Dad tell you about that?”

“I should have known there was a catch. Go on, what is it?”

“The women don’t feel the same way. They don’t look at you and know that you’re destined to be together. They don’t know you. You’ve got to take the time, get them to fall in love with you. I look at Mia, and she is it for me. I love her more than anything else in the world, and I know there would no one else for me. She sees a guy who has helped her. Who took her away from the monster that hurt her. I’m her friend. One day, I do hope that she’ll feel love for me, but again, we’ll have to wait and see.”

Gabriel nodded. “A two-sided curse. We’re plagued to know love, and to fight for it. They only know they’ve got some freakishly obsessive man who’ll do anything for them.”

“Told you it wouldn’t be easy.”

“You did. Is there any other reason you wanted to talk to me?”

“I wanted to apologize for my behavior. I’m not always a total asshole, and how I’ve treated you, it was fucking wrong, and for that, I apologize.” He held his hand out.

“Thank you.”

“How are you finding it? The whole Denton thing?” he asked.

Gabriel looked toward the house. “It has been strange. Charlotte is a wonderful person, a bit of a bitch at times, but I don’t think Maddox is the best husband.”

“What was it like for your mother? For you?” Damian asked.

Gabriel smiled. “My mother was always trying to please my father. I think when she realized that Maddox wasn’t coming back for her, she had to make the most of a bad situation. That situation created me. I wonder if he knew? There were times when he looked at me I’m sure of it. He made her pay for any indiscretions anyway. She’d always tell me when I caught her with a new black eye, or there were times I’d see belt marks on her, peeking out from clothing. She’d always tell me not to worry, that she deserved what he gave her.”

Damian was horrified. “I knew your father was an asshole.”

“It’s kind of nice to know I didn’t come from him.”

“Yeah, but our actual father was the one that put him in that place. It couldn’t have been good.”

Gabriel merely shrugged. “We live with what we have to. I tried to protect my mother, but my father was intent on hurting her every chance he got. There are times I think that she’s at peace now, dead. I hope he’s rotting in hell. Anyway, enough about me. You haven’t called back. You don’t want to deal with Ivan?”

“I do want to deal with Ivan. He hurt my woman, and now I need to hurt him. First, we’ve got to make sure that we don’t show any weakness. The Denton name is only as strong as those who stand by it.” Damian stared at the other man, and it got him thinking. “Do you hate the Denton name? Would you do anything to destroy it?”

Gabriel threw his head back and laughed. “I should have seen that coming. I have no intention of taking the Denton family down. I’m part of it, and as much as I don’t like Maddox, I’ve found friendship with Jacob and with Abel. Even Uncle Stuart isn’t so bad.”

“I had to check,” Damian said. “I’ve heard rumors of a possible attack.”

“How did you hear that?”

“Because I know of the places to listen. The dives where people talk or people brag.” He had a knack of finding out information. It was something he’d always been able to do. “I’m going to check them out. They could be related to Ivan, but I don’t know.”

“The thing about being the shark in the city, there’s always a lot of babies who think they can take over. You could go up and down the streets and find hundreds of men who have some beef with the Dentons.”

“Something tells me you’ll know exactly where to find the men who think they can overthrow the Dentons just because we’re having a few disagreements.”

“I might,” Gabriel said.

“Then on Monday I want you to take me to them. I want to find out exactly what people are saying about the Dentons.” He loved his family. There were times he just wished he had a different name. He wouldn’t change who he was though, or his brothers and sisters. As if on cue, Tamsin came to the door, and waved at him. She was growing up so fast. There was a time she would have run out, and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him. Now, he got a wave. Behind her was Owen, and it made him tense. Owen and Wyatt Colton were related to Gabriel, but were they on their side. “Do you keep control of your siblings?”

“Don’t even go there, Damian.”

“You’ve got to think about how they feel about us, Gabriel. They wanted us all dead.”

“Owen and Wyatt adore Charlotte and wouldn’t do anything to hurt Tamsin either. My brothers are not like that.”

Damian didn’t need to point out that he only mentioned women, none of the men.