Gabriella's Prosecution [The Black Iris Club 3] (Siren Publishing Everlasting Classic) Read online

  The Black Iris Club 3

  Gabriella’s Prosecution

  Gabriella Maria Delaveccia, Assistant State’s Attorney, works for the handsome and difficult State’s Attorney, Miguel Gatto, a not-so-typical Latin male with control issues. He keeps a tight hand on every case in the office. Although wildly attracted to Miguel, she has been singed by his macho aura and is afraid of that attraction.

  Miguel Juan Carlos Gatto-Alba is a sadist whose roots in Spain go back to the Inquisition. The kinky strain has come down through the Gatto family tree to the present day. As a member of the exclusive and secret Black Iris Club, Miguel has dealt with his sexual kink through the use of BDSM. Miguel has wanted Gabriella from the moment he first saw her.

  When Gatto assigns a gang-related murder trial to Gabby to prosecute, he knows he has put her in the dangerous crosshairs of the Los Mara Toros Rojas gang. Miguel finally takes a chance on happiness with Gabriella, but can they deal with the dangerous case unfolding around them as well as a dangerous attraction to each other?

  Genre: BDSM, Contemporary

  Length: 44,910 words

  GABRIELLA’S PROSECUTION

  The Black Iris Club 3

  Skye Michaels

  EVERLASTING CLASSIC

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

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  A SIREN PUBLISHING BOOK

  IMPRINT: Everlasting Classic

  GABRIELLA’S PROSECUTION

  Copyright © 2014 by Skye Michaels

  E-book ISBN: 978-1-62741-892-8

  First E-book Publication: July 2014

  Cover design by Harris Channing

  All art and logo copyright © 2014 by Siren Publishing, Inc.

  ALL RIGHTS RESERVED: This literary work may not be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, including electronic or photographic reproduction, in whole or in part, without express written permission.

  All characters and events in this book are fictitious. Any resemblance to actual persons living or dead is strictly coincidental.

  PUBLISHER

  Siren Publishing, Inc.

  www.SirenPublishing.com

  Letter to Readers

  Dear Readers,

  If you have purchased this copy of Gabriella’s Prosecution by Skye Michaels from BookStrand.com or its official distributors, thank you. Also, thank you for not sharing your copy of this book.

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  Amanda Hilton, Publisher

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  DEDICATION

  For all of my family, friends and readers.

  I hope you enjoy this new series set in my own backyard, beautiful South Florida. Sometimes we who live here take it for granted.

  Life happens. Enjoy the journey.

  With many thanks to my beta readers, Patricia Walker, Jennifer Torlone, Donnette Hawley and Eileen Dix for all their help.

  The Black Iris Club Series:

  Kaylin and Jack’s story in Kaylin’s Pursuit, Book 1

  Chloe and J.J.’s story in Chloe’s Rescue, Book 2

  Table of Contents

  Title Page

  Copyright Page

  Dedication

  Prologue

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  About the Author

  GABRIELLA’S PROSECUTION

  The Black Iris Club 3

  SKYE MICHAELS

  Copyright © 2014

  Prologue

  The parking lot of the West Sunrise Bodega and Market on West Sunrise Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Saturday night, December 4, 2014

  The illumination from the brightly lit bodega on West Sunrise Boulevard shined out into the pothole-pocked parking lot and lit the rain-slicked macadam. Mrs. Alma Garcia, grandmother and pillar of the blue-collar neighborhood, watched from inside the store as a big, black SUV with four young, Latin males pulled into the lot. She and the few other customers in the store looked out in horrified fascination as the passenger side window rolled down, and a handgun appeared in the opening just as the door opened and another Latin male walked out of the store.

  The flash of gunfire lit the night, and the body of Juan Martinez, leader of the Honduran gang Los Panteras Negras, fell in a crumbled heap. Blood pooled on the wet ground. The gun was dropped from the car window, and the SUV peeled out of the parking lot, but not before the shooter was recognized by Mrs. Garcia. She was horrified. She and her neighbors lived with gang violence every day. She had seen Ramón Gonzalez, head of the El Salvadoran Los Mara Toros Rojas, gun down his chief rival in cold blood.

  Everyone inside the store was in shock. It took the proprietor a few seconds to dial 911 to summon the police. Drive-by shootings were not unknown in this neighborhood, and the hardworking people who lived there were in constant fear of the vicious rival gangs who each claimed it as their territory.

  When the Broward Sheriff’s Office cruisers arrived on the scene followed by the Medical Examiner, Crime Scene Unit, and BSO detectives, all of the customers had scattered except the intrepid Mrs. Garcia, who waited for the BSO deputies to take her statement. She knew she was putting herself in a dangerous position, but she was sick and tired of working hard all her life and having to live in fear in her own neighborhood. It was time to stand up to these punk kids who thought the world and everyone in it owed them something.

  Chapter One

  At Timpano on Las Olas Boulevard in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Monday afternoon, December 15, 2014

  Gabriella Delaveccia sat across the tab
le from her boss, Miguel Juan Carlos Gatto-Alba. Normally she loved the ambiance and the great food at Timpano. The restaurant was located on the beautiful tree-lined shopping street in downtown Fort Lauderdale where a mix of high-rise office buildings, quaint shops, boutiques, art galleries, and restaurants delighted tourists and residents alike. The well-known street was a gathering place for people strolling in the evenings and congregating along the Riverwalk for jazz and art festivals.

  Gabby shifted in her seat. Having to sit so close to Miguel made her stomach jumpy. He both frightened and excited her. She usually kept as much physical distance from him as she could manage without being rude. She had worked for him for over two years—ever since his election as the Broward County State’s Attorney. She had been surprised when he had kept the current staff on and hadn’t brought in all of his own people. To date she had been unable to figure out just what it was about him that made her so nervous. She had stared down murderers and drug dealers in the courtroom, and not a lot scared her. Something about Miguel…

  Was it his stunning good looks or the fabulous body that was not disguised by his custom-made European suits? Was it the testosterone that seemed to roll off him in waves? She could never quite put her finger on it. The man was seriously gorgeous with slightly wavy black hair and ice-blue eyes one wouldn’t expect to see on a Latin male. And, goodness, the way he filled out a pair of slacks.

  Miguel ordered a bottle of wine, and they glanced at the well-known menu. When their lunches had been ordered, he sat back, and she felt his gaze running over her body. He wasn’t undressing her with his eyes as the romance novels said, but his glance felt like hot fingers running over her skin. Maybe she was just hypersensitive to anything that had to do with Miguel Gatto.

  “Gabriella, you did an excellent job sitting second chair on the Baker trial. I know you thought you were ready to handle it all on your own, but I did not agree.”

  “Sir…”

  “Gabriella, let me finish. And, please, call me Miguel. This is a social occasion after all. I now think that perhaps you are ready to handle the next big case solo. You can bring in your own second chair, of course. The Mara Toros Rojas trial is coming up in February. Do you think you are ready to prosecute that one on your own?”

  “Yes. I know I’m ready. That is going to be a very high-profile case. Are you sure you…”

  “Gabriella, I know everyone thinks I jump on the big cases as a form of self-aggrandizement, but in fact, that is not true. I have not felt any of the Assistant State’s Attorneys in the office have been ready to try the big ones alone. It is a political fact of life that I have to keep my face out there. As a prosecutor, I have to maintain my reputation for being tough on crime. I do have to get re-elected after all. If I don’t, all of you ASAs might find yourselves out of jobs when my replacement brings in his own people. I chose not to do that, but to take the office as it was. Also, our win-loss ratio has some bearing on our funding. Success begets success. The higher-ups won’t admit that, but that is another fact of life.”

  “I know you have pressures that the ASAs don’t share.”

  “I’m glad you recognize that fact.” He smiled at her. When he smiled a genuine warm smile it changed his face from slightly forbidding to truly stunning. He had the most striking bone structure. His campaign literature had disclosed that his family had been in Puerto Rico for over four hundred years but traced their lineage back to Medieval Spain.

  “I’m going to let you take over the Toros Rojas prosecution, but I am going to oversee the file. I’ll expect you to keep me in the loop as the case progresses. You will have to be on your toes on this one, Gabriella. The defendant, Ramón Gonzalez, is a very dangerous man, and the Toros will pull out all the stops to hamper our prosecution. Also they have some cartel backing and a nearly unlimited budget for his defense. If we can put him away, the power of the Toros will be severely compromised for the foreseeable future. His only possible successor is his younger brother, Rafael, and he is not seasoned enough to command the respect of the other gang members. They don’t have another capo ready to step up and take Ramón’s place if he is convicted, just a rag-tag bunch of thugs.” Miguel frowned and continued. “We might be able to sweep them all up. I am reluctant to let a woman take over this case.”

  “That is entirely unfair and unjustified, Miguel. I can handle it.”

  “Again, Gabriella, you didn’t let me finish. I am reluctant only because the rivalry between the El Salvadorans and Hondurans is vicious. Their turf war has been heating up for a couple of years now. It could be dangerous, and I don’t like to put a woman in their crosshairs. It goes against my grain, even if that is not politically correct.”

  “I’ll be careful. I want this case, Miguel.”

  “Yes, I can see that, Gabriella. I am assigning this case to you against my personal better judgment because of the danger involved.” He paused as if gathering his thoughts and abruptly changed the subject. “I was wondering if I might ask you out to dinner one night soon. I would like to get to know you better.” He reached across the table and took her hand and squeezed it briefly.

  Oh, no. This was what she had felt coming for a while now, and she had done her best to keep out of his way. She had to admit she found him dangerously attractive—sort of like getting too close to a volcano and looking over the edge into the lava pool. It was hot. It was mesmerizing, but a girl could get burned. “Miguel, I don’t know if that would be a good idea given that we have to work together.”

  “I think we are both adult enough to handle any problems that might arise. Give it some thought. I’ll ask you again in a few days.”

  * * * *

  Miguel sat back in his chair as the waiter served their lunches. He could see he made Gabriella nervous. He would have to be an idiot and blind not to be aware of her doe-in-the-headlights look whenever he got too close. The problem was that he wanted to get very close to her. His beautiful ASA was a sexy Italian-American with thick, wavy, almost black hair, a warm Tuscan complexion, great body, and killer, thick eyelashes that surrounded big, dark-brown eyes. Just her presence in a room, her scent, the way her hair brushed against her shoulders the few times she wore it down, gave him a massive hard-on that he could no longer ignore. Sometimes he ached for her. It was ridiculous really. He had never felt this way about a woman before. They came and went in his life without creating too much of a disturbance—be they subs or just the occasional vanilla partners. Gabriella was different. He hadn’t been able to analyze exactly why. Maybe there was no logical answer to that question.

  He knew that if he managed to get her out on a date, to get her to relax and let down her barriers a little, he could charm her. The Gatto men could be charming—as well as dangerous. They had been what current culture called Doms for hundreds of years beginning in Spain and continuing since their arrival in the New World. A sadistic trait ran in the bloodline of the males of the Gatto family with few exceptions. He had a feeling that the men who were not Doms were bastardos, not legitimately of the Gatto blood.

  He had been a member of Jack Dalton Brown’s Black Iris Club since it had opened. The confidentiality afforded by the club was mandatory for a man in his position, and his name did not appear on any list of members. His kinky sexual tastes were not something he wanted to publicly acknowledge. He could see the headlines in his mind’s eye. Sadist elected to Broward County’s Top Prosecutor’s Job.

  Of course, he was considered to be a bastardo by criminals, their defense counsel, and his staff as well on occasion, but that wasn’t the same thing. He thought now would be the optimal time to make his approach to Gabriella. Two of her friends were currently regular guests at the club. With Kaylin Gallagher and Chloe Carlton engaged to Brown and Temple, she might be more open to that type of a relationship right now. If there was ever going to be a good time to broach the subject of a BDSM relationship with her, this was it. He knew he would have to tone down his sadistic tastes if he hoped to form a rela
tionship with her, at least to begin with. He would have to give her time to learn to love it if she was going to. If she didn’t, he would have to let her go. That was one thing that differentiated him from his ancestors. He didn’t force his lifestyle on a woman. It was all consensual. He had fought his less than politically correct inclinations all through his youth until he had met some friends in college who introduced him to BDSM, and he had finally been able to understand it and put a name to his feelings. He had learned there was a better way to be who he was. It wasn’t a choice like a jacket he could take off or put on. It ran deep in the blood. Ah, well, that is a philosophical question for another time. But in the meantime, he wouldn’t want to scare her off. He wondered if she would make a good sub.

  He had not given her the Toros Rojas trial as a bribe to get her to go out with him. That case assignment had been based solely on her abilities as a prosecutor. She was good at her job—tough and focused with a sharp legal mind. He would give her some time to think about dinner and get used to the idea.

  Chapter Two

  The State’s Attorney’s Office in the Broward County Courthouse, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Monday afternoon, December 15, 2014

  Once she was back in her office, Gabby closed her door and pulled her cell phone out of her handbag. She dialed Broward County Sheriff’s Office Homicide Detective Kaylin Gallagher. “Hi. Are you at BSO?”