Untamed: Bad Boy Fighter Romance (Fighting for Gisele #2) by Emily Jane Trent Page B

a business.”
    Her friend didn’t say anything.
    “I’ve been sheltered, Abby.”
    “No, your brother’s overprotective way has crippled you. Or you think so, anyway,” Abby said. “I guarantee that you’ll be fine once you get out there. You just don’t know that you can do it, that’s all.”
    Gisele envied her friend. Abby had lived on her own since she’d graduated from high school. She hadn’t needed help from anyone, and was able to face the challenges life handed her. It hadn’t been easy breaking into an entertainment career, but she’d persevered.
    “I’m sure you’re right,” Gisele said. “And I want to break free…really I do.”
    “But?”
    Gisele proceeded to confide in her friend, saying things that she didn’t even want to think of in private. But time was running short, and soon she’d have to either carry through with her plans or resign herself to many more years of living under her brother’s rule. She already knew that she couldn’t do that.
    “But something’s up…I’m telling you.” Gisele let out a breath. “My brother has been tracking my phone, for one thing.”
    “And you’re surprised?”
    “Not really. I should have guessed he watched my every move.” Gisele tried to think of how to put this. “It’s odd, but I sense that my birthday is a lot more important to him than he lets on.”
    “Because he knows that you’re going to leave?”
    Gisele thought about that for a moment. “Yes, partly…I’m sure it’s difficult for him to back away and let me lead my own life.”
    “It has to be. After all, you were raised together and he’s been responsible for you since you moved out here.”
    “Look at it, though, Abby. Does my brother act like a normal brother would?”
    Her friend wrinkled her nose. “Alek is not a normal brother. He’s the son of a Russian mobster. You can’t be normal when your father is Yuri Danilov.”
    “And what does that say for me?” Gisele frowned. “You think they are just going to let me walk out of here, and say, we wish you the best ?”
    “It won’t be that easy, will it?”
    Gisele gnawed at her lower lip. “I’m worried, but I can’t say exactly why. I’m not really afraid they’ll hurt me.”
    “But you think your brother will stop you from leaving?”
    “That is a definite possibility,” Gisele said. “Whenever I bring it up, he ignores me. But I can’t figure out why he doesn’t want me to go. It’s not like he wouldn’t see me, or I wouldn’t speak to him again.”
    “What other reason could there be?”
    Gisele felt a little ill. “I know things…some things. And I’ve seen a lot more than I’ve told you. It’s just the mob, the way they operate. Even as much as they’ve tried to shelter me, they can’t completely.”
    “So you think you’re a threat? That you might reveal information they don’t want you to?”
    “I’ve thought about that,” Gisele said. “But I can’t pinpoint anything. There was no vital information I was privy to. They made sure of that. And my father and brother must know that after all these years I wouldn’t turn against them.”
    “Do they trust you?”
    Gisele’s heart fell. As much as she’d like to believe they did, she wasn’t sure. “I hope so.”
    “Do you trust them?”
    Gisele swallowed hard. “I want to.”
    Abby looked at her, and for a moment didn’t speak. “I think you have your answer,” she said. “But even if they give you a hard time, you can leave.”
    Gisele remembered something that made her feel better. “You’re right. And I have the trust my father left for me. I have access to it when I turn twenty-one. He told me about it before he went off to jail.” Her hands trembled. “He said, ‘I’ve taken care of your future, in case something happens to me, sweetheart.’”
    “Was your father afraid that something would happen to him?”
    “It’s not that, but he was sent to prison, and he didn’t know when he’d be