Deadly Seduction (5 page)

“I would love to get out of your space but one, I’m not in your condo and two, I need you to invite me in.” His blue eyes searched my face though I refused to look at him directly because to be honest, I couldn’t.

My short, manicured nails dug into my palms as I balled my hands into fists. “Just…leave it alone and go home, Cillian. You shouldn’t be here.”

“Listen, I would go home and I realize you hate me but…we have to talk.”

The tone of his voice pulled my eyes back to his face and it’s only then I witnessed the pain and anguish within him. He looked miserable as hell and although I despised him with all my might, I knew I never had a choice to begin with if I was being honest with myself.

“Fine, come in,” I reluctantly said before I turned my back on him and walked to my bedroom as I heard the door slam and the deadbolt click into place.

Chapter Three

Cillian

Cillian knew how odd Gisela found it for him to be in her condo but he needed to get all this shit off his chest because if everything went down the way he thought it would, he would need a good attorney.
He’d have to convince her beforehand to represent him and that in turn made her an accessory to his future crime.

He hadn’t gone to law school like she had but he knew enough about the law to know what he was doing was highly dangerous for the both of them. This was a seductive game of cat and mouse and he wanted her so badly, he would have her anyway he could get her, even if it was under the worst circumstances.

The position he would place her in couldn’t be much harder than worst case scenario and he hated what it would do to her but she needed to know.

Cillian looked around her condo and noticed the hard wood floors with liberally spread Persian carpets, understated yet elegant furniture and a view to die for though there wasn’t much to see at the moment except the twinkling of lights that barely illuminated the McMansions on this side of the lake.

Beyond the lake were trees and the wind blew outside, bitter and cold. Soon, there would be snow and he wasn’t looking forward to that. It was a bitch to ride a motorcycle on snowy roads and he would have to rely more on his truck to get him around unless it was official Club business. However, even then it wasn’t safe to drive them and better to load his in his Ford F-150.

He didn’t even have to turn around to know she’d walked back into the living room. She was barefoot and wore a pair of silk pajamas. Her breasts were freed from the bra; he could see her nipples harden as she avoided his gaze and grabbed an ashtray from the kitchen counter.

“Take your shoes off and sit down. Obviously, it’s serious and this is gonna take a while.”

He took off his shitkickers and left them next to the front door before he strolled to the wrap-around sofa and sat beside her but made sure he kept his distance. The last thing he needed to do was spook her.

Her amber eyes looked into his own as she grabbed a joint out of her cigarette case and lit it. She dragged from it before she handed it to him.

“When did you start smoking bud?” Cillian knew he didn’t have any room to judge her—he wasn’t known as “The Killer” for nothing—but something about her was different and it was the first time he’d been able to notice it up close and personal.

It wasn’t like they never saw one another. There were various functions each year that brought them into one another’s vicinity but at the same time, neither went out of their way to talk to the other.

Gisela wasn’t the angry and loud type. She’d always been quiet, innocent and so dangerously beautiful. He felt touching her, he’d tarnished her somehow because he wasn’t fit to breathe the same air as her. She was, without a doubt, an infinitely better person than he could ever hope to be.

It never stopped him from fucking her every chance they’d gotten when they were teenagers and he had to have every inch of her. He needed them to be connected in every way and they were whether they wanted to admit it or not. They shared a child and at one time, they’d been inseparable but that seemed like a lifetime ago.

“Don’t worry about my chronic habit.” Her voice was feminine yet strong. “I don’t do anything harder and I’m not going about flashin’ my pussy to every available man so mind your own fuckin’ business. I already have a father—I don’t need a second one.”

Cillian couldn’t help but smile before he dragged from the joint and held the smoke in his lungs as long as possible before he exhaled.

“I didn’t mean to raise your hackles, darlin’. You were another person when we were together—”

“Yeah that was long motherfuckin’ time ago,
Cillian
.” She smiled wryly as she mispronounced his name on purpose.

The first time they’d met, she stared at him as if he were the devil himself and wondered out loud, “You’re Cillian Cox? My dad would kill me if he knew you were offering me a ride into Pine Bluff.”

“My name’s pronounced Kill-e-an,” he’d told her. “It’s an old Irish name and I get shit from the teachers all day pronouncing it with a soft ‘C’ when it’s pronounced like it would be spelled with a ‘K.’”

Those were fun times, innocent times but certainly not the present. He handed her back her joint.

“Listen, I know you didn’t come here for sex because obviously you and Chiara did more than talk…what’s goin’ on?”

Cillian needed to do something with his hands. He reached into his pocket and grabbed his pack of Camels. After he freed one from the pack, he lit it with his Zippo and dragged hungrily. “Are you sure you want to know? I mean…I don’t even know why I’m tellin’ you when…you could be disbarred.”

“Then don’t tell me.” Gisela stood; he reached out and grabbed her arm with sheer instinct.

Her skin was warm, soft and she smelled delicious, like vanilla and amber mixed together. Her scent was so palpable, he could smell it over the cigarette and marijuana smoke.

“Spit it out, Cillian. Is it Club business?”

He nodded as he exhaled cigarette smoke from his nostrils. “I gotta tell you somethin’ and I know you’re bound by attorney-client privilege—”

“The Club employs Jackson and Hughes but I’m not
your
attorney.” She dragged from her joint and sat back down. “What’s up?”

Cillian reached into his pocket and peeled off twenty one-hundred-dollar bills. “It’s all the cash I have on me.”

“Fine, I’m now your attorney and whatever you tell me falls under attorney-client privilege.” Gisela glared at him with annoyed amber eyes. “So, what the fuck is goin’ on?”

“Tomorrow night…I’m gonna kill a man…and eventually, his death will lead back to me. Promise me, you’ll represent me in court.”

She dragged on her joint one last time before she put it out in the ashtray and ran her hands through her hair. “You don’t have to do it—”

“Yeah, I do.” He took another drag on his cigarette before he stubbed it out in the same ashtray. “It’s the only way Dizzy will allow me to leave Brianna.”

The look on Gisela’s face was priceless as she met his eyes with her own inquisitively. “You’re…leaving Brianna?”

“It’s no secret she’s the biggest Saint Slapper and she happens to be married to me, Gisela. I look weak with her by my side. She won’t get the kids but she will be leaving Northern Nevada. I’ll relocate her ass to Vegas or L.A.—wherever the fuck she wants to go as long as it’s not around here.”

For a moment, he thought he saw a look of relief in her eyes but it was short lived as she stood and began to pace. “Why are you telling me this if you want me to represent you? Is this some kind of emotional blackmail?”

“What?” Cillian watched her body as she continued to pace before she stopped and looked directly at him with tear-filled amber eyes.

“You know
exactly
what I’m talking about!” she exclaimed before she threw herself against the sofa. “I have to save you because I have no choice. You are our son’s father after all, even if we don’t have him. What kind of…biological parent…would I be if I allowed my own kid’s father to go to prison for the rest of his life?”

He scooted closer to her and wrapped his arm around her shoulders. He expected her to pull away from him but she didn’t; she held her face in her hands and shook her head repeatedly.

“I’m not doin’ this ‘cause of Conan, Sela.” It was his pet name for her and he hadn’t used it in over thirteen years but he thought it was fitting now. “He doesn’t know us therefore all we were…all we
are
in his eyes are sperm and egg donors. Kian and Alannah are his parents—not
us
. I would never guilt you into doing something you didn’t want to do.”

Gisela buried her face in the crook of his neck. “Then why did you tell me? I would have defended you if you said you killed Christ himself and I hate myself for that…but I hate you more.”

Cillian didn’t know what to say as the wetness of her tears felt warm before they quickly cooled and felt cold against his skin. “I know you do, darlin’…and you have every reason to…doesn’t mean I don’t love youse with every bone in my body. I would still take a bullet or catch a fookin’ grenade for you, baby. That’s how much I still think about ya and love ya.

“I know…I use women. I just got done fuckin’ Chiara but I would take it all back to spend just one night in your bed. You know I would. You’re the one who made it clear to me you wanted nothing to do with me—with us. I did what any sixteen year old kid would do. I moved on and Brianna was there, wantin’ me and seducing me with those gorgeous gray eyes and that dark ginger hair. How was I supposed to know you’d ever speak to me again when I betrayed your trust?”

“We hurt each other.” Gisela pulled away slightly and he felt her eyes on his profile. “I can’t let you take all the credit. I just wanted out…I thought at one time that it was possible. I was stupid and naïve. I didn’t want to live this…
life
…and I sure as hell never wanted it for my children. I wanted to live what I thought was a normal one with parents who were executives and
respectable
. The problem is our way of life enables white-collar criminals to skate by and they never pay for their crimes but our kind
always
do.”

“What do you mean by our kind?” He turned toward her and though he didn’t move his arm. Who knew when she would be vulnerable enough to ever let him hold her again?

“I mean people like your dad and my father. We’re considered the scum of society because of what we do. I release drug dealers, murderers, pimps and gang members back into society. I am actively fighting
against
the war on crime, and I don’t see anything wrong with my job what so ever. You’re more than an ‘ordinary decent criminal,’ Cillian. You are part of an MC and murder people like you take a dump. In fact, do you ever think about the lives you’ve ended?”

Cillian’s crystal blue eyes stared into hers and with coldness and precise calculation, he said, “No, never. If I did, I’d drive myself mad. I have to think if there is a…God…maybe I’ll get what’s comin’ to me one of these days. But until that day happens, I’ll do what I do best and whether you believe me or not, Sela, I’m the
best
. There is a reason why they nicknamed me ‘The Killer.’ I am one and I have no qualms about what it is I do. It’s not on me to fix what’s fucked up with society and yet, I don’t see how I personally make it any worse either. The people I’ve murdered…most were infinitely worse than me and the world doesn’t mourn them. They got what was comin’ to ‘em.”