That Bad Boy & That Bad Man Duet (Completed)

That Bad Man - 3. Mabel

My head is pounding and my body aching as I start to come round, realising two things at the same time, I'm lying on something soft and my hands are tied.
The morning comes rushing back to me and I remember everything that I had done, creeping through the building, barging in on him, the gun, shouting and falling.
"You're awake," his voice comes from close by and I open my eyes to see him looking at me, seated facing me, my phone in his hand. "How are you feeling?" he asks.
I gaze at him, my mind a blank... "Mabel?" he prompts.

I try to sit up, my head spinning as I raise my hands, noticing absently the red silk tie binding them together. The red striking against my paler skin. "'Mabel?" His voice is softer this time, wanting my attention and I see him holding out a glass of water.

My mouth is dry but I look at it suspiciously, making him chuckle and my body shivers at the sound. "I promise it's safe" he says taking a drink before again offering it to me.
"Can you untie me?" I rasp out, taking the glass, my gaze still on him.
"Not yet, I think first we have to talk, don't you?" His gaze travels over me and I swear I can feel it like a physical touch.

"'I..." I stop not knowing how to start.
"Name, who are you, tell me about you?" He prompts.
"Mabel Rowse, but you know that, how..." I remember he has used my name, the real one, not the fake I gave reception. I pat my pocket as I see my wallet on the side table, open.
"I'm Mabel Rowse, 26, recently unemployed, home...less" I take a deep gulp of air, feeling the tears prickling behind my eyes. I stop talking unable to say more.

"Before you fainted you accused me of ruining your life. You know who I am?" He asks and I nod. "Say it" he demands.
"'Dominic Genovese" I whisper out and watch his body tense.
"Call me Dom" he orders and my eyes meet his in shock. What was happening, I had broken in, I had shouted at him, he was in the mob for gods sake and had pulled a gun on me and now, now he wanted me to call him Dom!

"What's going on?" I ask carefully and he grins at me. This man is my enemy, but my body's reaction to him is nothing like it should be.
"That is what we are trying to find out" he reminds me. "So, as you accused, tell me how have I ruined your life?"

I laugh bitterly, my mind again filling with anger as I think about what has happened to me, "Because of you, I've lost my job, been accused of murder, arrested, released, and evicted and now you say you know nothing, do you think I am stupid, I asked questions, listened and investigated, and all roads pointed to you, you are responsible!"

"Mabel, before you burst into my office I had never heard of you and I have no idea what you are talking about!" He grates back at me, then he freezes and his whole persona darkens and he stands up. "Are you wired?"

"What?" I look up at him, not understanding.
"Get up!" He demands, reaching for me and freeing my wrists, throwing his tie aside, his hand goes behind him, coming back with the gun once again pointing at me.
"Strip"
"What... No!" I argue, shaking my head, unable to get my head around what he wants.
"I need to see you are not wearing a wire, so you either strip yourself or I will do it for you"
"'I'm not" I argue but he doesn't budge.
"Strip!" He grates out making me jump and I let the tears fall as I slowly remove my clothes, the gun trained on me the whole time, his free hand taking each item of clothing and patting through it, till I'm stood in just my underwear...
His breathing has changed and I'm sure i heard him hiss as he saw the reminders of bruising on my body, the mottled purples now fading to yellow and greens but it showed the damaged that had been done.
"All of it" he grates out, anger in his tone, but my gut tells me it's not at me, not now.
"Please don't do this" I beg him, my body shaking and I see a flush of red on his face but he doesn't back down and I wrap my arm across my chest as I let my bra drop, his gaze firmly on my face as I push down my panties, my other hand covering what I can, as I shiver in front of him, disgusted with myself that it's not from cold but from the heat coursing through me at his demands.

"There's a blanket behind you, use it" he tells me picking up the rest of my clothes and moving them away, the gun once again out of sight.
As he turns away I grab the blanket and wrap it around me, tight around my body, covering as much as I can but knowing he has seen it all.
"My clothes?" I whisper.
"Later" he replies "sit and explain, start with your job, who did you work for"

I wrap the blanket tighter around me and glare at him as I sit as far away as I can, before starting.
"I used to work for Deerings" he tenses at the name but waves me on as I hesitate. "I worked in accounts, my cousin Joel got me the job when I finished university, I couldn't find a job in my field and then my parents died and things were... difficult and as he worked there as well, it was a good way of staying close to remaining family.  That was 4 years ago."  I paused and he waited.  "I coasted, it was easy and I was dealing with losing them, time went by so quickly, then two years ago the owners of the company died and their son took over, his wife used to come in and oversee accounts... things changed" I grimaced remembering how bad it got.  "I started looking for other work, I tried to get Joel to look to but I hadn't realised he was caught up with other stuff. Then I found out, he had run up some debts, borrowed against the house, you see Joel had grown up with us, his parents died when he was young so mum and dad brought him up almost as my brother. Then he disappeared, people came knocking... your people" I raise my eyes to him "I ended up in hospital before I cleaned out my bank and savings to pay you, even though it wasn't my debt"

I coughed and he passed me the glass, his gaze locking on my shaking hand as I took the glass and took a drink of the water.
"Who told you it was me?" He asks blandly, and I can't tell if he's angry, calm or what.
"They did, they said 'you cross Dominic Genovese and you pay' before they laughed. I went to talk to my boss, ask if he could help me and he told me Joel had already borrowed from him and he thought it had been sorted, he said he had given him ten thousand just before he disappeared. He also gave your name, told me I was lucky I had payed up, but he couldn't help me" I pause again, using the edge of the blanket to wipe my eyes.
"The men came back, cornered me when I did a bank deposit run, they took the money and I was blamed, the police didn't believe me, work blamed me, they fired me, withheld my final pay so I couldn't meet my loans" my voice was almost monotone now "I defaulted and they took the house, then they found Joel's body, it was buried on the last site I had visited, there was video of us fighting, that was the last he was seen, they said there was money issues, they said we argued over money, your name was again whispered and people either pushed or backed off. I looked you up, I know what your family do, I had nothing, you took it all" I finally finished telling him and sat my head hanging in silence, waiting.

"You worked for Roy Deering?"
"Yes" I replied.
"He gave you my name?"
"Yes"
He gaze caught mine and I was caught as he leans forward his eyes showing his fire.
"He lied"