Total pages in book: 35
Estimated words: 33081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 33081 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 165(@200wpm)___ 132(@250wpm)___ 110(@300wpm)
She didn’t wear any makeup, but she looked stunning. Several men had already admired her, and Gabriel had been sure to wrap an arm around her back to stop them from thinking they had a chance. Faith belonged to him.
The waiter gave them the menus, served them wine, but Faith opted for water, which she got. He joined her in the water, and then they looked over the menu. He couldn’t help stealing glances her way.
“What do you want for dinner?” he asked.
“I have no idea, it all sounds so good.” She pursed her lips and moved them from left to right as she kept looking down at the menu. “You see, this is where packet noodles are so easy.”
He laughed. “Okay, how are they easy?”
“Well after a long day at work, you put the kettle on, pour them over, and give them ten minutes or so, and ta-da, dinner is done.”
“That is gross. I doubt your mother would agree that’s a fulfilling meal.” He watched her reaction and was pleased to see her chuckling.
“Mom hated them. She only ever got them for me when I was sick as I never ate anything else, apart from her chicken soup.” Faith shrugged. “If she was away, though, I’d eat them, and she knew it. It always drove her crazy.”
“You miss her?”
“Yeah, I have a feeling she would have known what to do with Nigel.” She sighed. “I’m sorry. I don’t imagine you like hearing about my family drama.”
“Actually, I do,” Gabriel said. “I’ve never had a family, so I don’t know how it’s supposed to run.”
“What do you mean?” Faith asked.
He had never told another soul about his life, about his past. Gabriel didn’t want to lie to her and his past had helped to define who he was.
“I grew up in the system. I never had parents. I was dumped in a trash can.”
“What?” Faith asked.
“Yep. No way of knowing who I belonged to, so I was put into foster care, and that was where I stayed until I was fourteen.”
“What happened?”
“I no longer would take a beating. I hit back, and in doing so, I upset my foster mother all the time.”
Faith covered her mouth. “You’re not joking, are you?”
“No.”
“What happened after that?”
“I went to the streets. At first I thought the cops were going to come after me. I stayed hidden, begging on the streets. It took me a while to realize that she was never going to tell the cops. She’d have to admit to beating me. I had the scars and bruises myself, and she had done a lot more damage than I did to her.”
“I’m so sorry.”
“It was life. I got over it fast, trust me.”
“I just couldn’t imagine ever going through something like that.”
“It sucks,” he said. “But isn’t that what you stopped Nigel from facing?”
She nodded. “Yes. I didn’t want him to go into foster care.”
“You’re a good sister, Faith. One of the best, I imagine.”
She smiled at him but he saw the tears in her eyes.
“So, after a while, a few months, maybe more, I realized no one was coming after me and it was time to start making a life for myself, so I started a couple of jobs. Cleaning tables that kind of shit, but then I got into a fight one night. I don’t even remember how it started. As I did, a guy approached me, said that I was wasting my life. Next thing I know, I’m fighting for a living, but it’s not long before I realize I don’t like taking orders.” He didn’t need to go into detail about how the same guy that approached one night, worked him, making him fight, until one night after they’d been doing this for nearly two years, he told him to swing a fight to lose.
Gabriel didn’t lose. He refused to.
That night, he had no choice but to kill the man who opened doors for him. That was when his reputation started.
Gabriel knew life was cruel, and he’d been part of that cruelty for a long time. Nothing was going to change. It would never stop. He had to ride that wave. He didn’t take orders from anyone. He was the one giving orders. He was the one who told people to stop.
He didn’t like the way shit was running.
So, he crawled his way to the top, and when he got there, he knocked the guy, Peter Vince, who had been the one running the city. Gabriel took everything from him, and now he owned it all. The difference between him and Peter was he didn’t betray those close to him. He made sure the men were rewarded.
The men on Peter’s payroll didn’t have a good life. Their lives were shit, and they hated him. Peter would rub it in their faces that they were nothing. Gabriel made sure his men knew where their bread was buttered.