"Gemma!" Angelo and Bobby said her name at the same time. Innocent, sweet little Gemma. Along for the ride, didn't have any idea what was going on, Gemma.
Scapegoat
Gemma sat on the bed terrified, the predator Vitali stalking back and forth above her. He looked at her from time to time, his deep brown eyes searching her frantic face as she stared at him in horror.
His energy as he'd entered the room was enough to terrify her. Angelo was not someone she wanted to be alone in a room with. This was about her worst nightmare come to life.
He was angry about something. Was angry the right word? No. He was absolutely furious. She could feel it crackling off his body as he paced, somehow surrounding her on all sides while remaining just one man.
"What's happening? What's…"
Angelo let out a growl. Like an animal. Gemma scrambled back on the bed, looking for a way out, but he had all exits blocked, and the effect he had on her was to make it hard for her to move any further. She froze like prey in his stare, not knowing why he was so furious or why that fury was directed at her.
"It wasn't me!"
"What wasn't you?" Angelo whipped around and gave her a vicious stare, triumphant and aggressive at the same time.
"Whatever this is. Whatever I'm supposed to have done. I swear I didn't do it."
"Of course it was you. It was you all along, wasn't it, Gemma. A sweet innocent, submissive to the aristocrats she serves slavishly. A silly brat with no motive, no interest, no intention. Quite the cover, little girl."
Was that a fucking gun he'd just pulled from his waistband? It was. It was a fucking gun. Angelo Vitali was furious and armed and blaming her for fucking something….
"It's not a cover! It's me! I don't know about any of this. I came as tech support for Willow. I ran the cameras. That's all. You have to believe me."
Angelo sat down on the bed beside her and tapped the nose of the gun against her cute snub nose. "I don't believe a word you say."
She fell silent for all of a second, her eyes welling with panicked tears.
"Please, don't hurt me."
"Oh, I'm going to hurt you. We both know that. The only question is how much I hurt you. Tell me what I want to know, and you will recover."
"Recover?" Gemma started to cry. Sob, really. "Please, Mr. Vitali. I'm not part of this; really, I'm not. I know everybody in your world is a mastermind of one kind or another, but I'm not. I came here to back Willow up. That's all."
"A one-year-old baby was the subject of a raid by remorseless criminals because of you," Angelo purred, his tone cold and cruel.
Gemma's curls flew as she shook her head effusively. "No… not because of me. Wait. What baby? Does Tilly have a baby? Who is the father?"
Angelo's face twisted in fury as he realized he'd fucked up. Gemma's expression performed a similar, mirrored contortion of fear as she realized she now absolutely met the definition of knowing too much.
"You've been sending information out of this house. You discovered the location of Tilly Braybrooke, and you transferred that information to your conspirators. You played us all for fools. I have to give you credit; we all underestimated you."
"No!" Gemma screamed the word, panicked by the weight of all she was being accused of. "It wasn't me!"
"It was you!" Angelo snarled the true darkness of his soul showing on his features. "And you will pay."
Gemma let out a sob, then took a deep breath and did her best to be like Willow. If Angelo Vitali was going to kill her, then she was going to make it difficult for him.
"You're an asshole. You don't point a gun at someone you don't intend to kill," she said, her voice shaky and wavering. "And if you're going to kill me, you're waiting way too long to do it. I could do anything. I could…"
She did not finish her sentence because she was too busy using two hands clasped together to knock the gun away from her. That left Angelo's body open, and her sharp knee was driven up into his solar plexus as hard and as brutally as she could. Gemma was not under the illusion that a small woman was going to have the strength to beat up a man. But she could hurt him before he hurt her, and she might be able to get away.
With Angelo temporarily doubled over, she ran for the door and hauled it open.
"BOBBY!"
"He won't save you," Angelo snarled, pouncing on her from behind like a big, angry cat. He dragged her back into the room, screaming all the way, and threw her face down on the bed. She landed sprawling, her loose shirt flying up to reveal the bare length of her thighs and her ass. Angelo was atop her in an instant, tearing from the back of the shirt all the way up to the collar. Now there was no protection at all. She was naked, exposed, and about to be punished more harshly than ever before.