BooksBarbecue
Back Deceptive Innocence
Chapters (48)
  1. Cover
  2. part one
  3. prologue
  4. chapter one
  5. Four years later
  6. chapter two
  7. chapter three
  8. chapter four
  9. chapter five
  10. chapter six
  11. chapter seven
  12. chapter eight
  13. chapter nine
  14. chapter ten
  15. chapter eleven
  16. chapter twelve
  17. chapter thirteen
  18. chapter fourteen
  19. part two
  20. chapter fifteen
  21. chapter sixteen
  22. chapter seventeen
  23. chapter eighteen
  24. chapter nineteen
  25. chapter twenty
  26. chapter twenty-one
  27. chapter twenty-two
  28. chapter twenty-three
  29. part three
  30. chapter twenty-four
  31. chapter twenty-five
  32. chapter twenty-six
  33. chapter twenty-seven
  34. chapter twenty-eight
  35. chapter twenty-nine
  36. chapter thirty
  37. chapter thirty-one
  38. chapter thirty-two
  39. chapter thirty-three
  40. chapter thirty-four
  41. chapter thirty-five
  42. chapter thirty-six
  43. chapter thirty-seven
  44. chapter thirty-eight
  45. acknowledgments
  46. About Kyra Davis
  47. Copyright
  48. contents

My eyes snap back to him, my heart suddenly beating hard against my chest.

“Why are you working for Travis Gable?”

The question confuses me. Why the interest in my new job with Travis? I’ve never discussed the Gables with Micah. I’ve thought about it, many times. Micah became a regular visitor of my mother’s after he realized that she was guiding his niece in a direction that he approved of. He had made promises to her about being there for me if I needed him. On my birthday and at Christmas he always gave me a few grand to help keep me afloat. I know who Micah is. I know what he does to people, and there have been many nights when I lay in bed fantasizing about what he could do to the Gables. But then I want to be the one to throw the knockout punch. I want that satisfaction more than I want anything else in this world.

Besides, Micah’s unpredictable and he can’t be controlled. I know he’s sincere about the importance he puts on debts. But the debt he seems to think he owes my mother is flimsy and unsubstantial. If he were to help me with the Gables, not only would that debt be paid, but I would owe him.

I like Micah, I really do. But I don’t want to be in debt to a mob boss. And while I don’t worry about getting myself killed, I do worry about pain.

Micah acknowledges my silence with a nod. “Just tell me this, then,” he says, cocking his head to the side. “Should I be investing my money with HGVB right now or not?”

I smile wanly. “I think you could find safer investments.”

Again Micah laughs, softer this time. “You’re a tricky one. All right, but just remember, you abandoned your mum when she needed you. You can only make up for that by living the life she wanted you to lead.”

“Really,” I say flatly. “Are you living the life your mother wanted you to lead?”

“My mother wanted me to be KGB. What I do now is a step up.”

“How is everything?” a chipper voice says, and both Micah and I look up at the same time at the waitress who is smiling down at us, her blond hair cut pixie style to frame her face.

Micah gestures to our plates, indicating that we’re done. “I believe we’re ready for cognac.” His eyes twinkle as he adds, “Nothing better than getting fucked-up on digestifs.”

I smile and try to look relaxed, but memories are coursing through my veins, making my skin itch and my soul ache.

It’s memories that push me to finish off the last of the wine and rush through my cognac, hoping and praying that I can find amnesia at the bottom of a glass.

chapter twenty-one