Page 83 of Brutal Secrets
Dante pulls himself up to his full height, throws his shoulders back, and glares at me. “Let me make myself very clear,” he bites out. “I didn’t threaten anyone. You should be thanking me.”
I raise the gun and shoot at the bookcase past his shoulder. He keeps entirely still, and his eyes don’t move from my face. Despite myself, I’m impressed that he’s unruffled.
“And what the fuck should I be thanking you for?” I ask.
“Uncovering Danni and Nadia’s crazy plan to go missing, make you worry, and get you to come running to find her. It could have gotten them both killed or worse. There are a lot of sick men in this city who would love to get their hands on those two. They didn’t even know how to behave, because Nadia doesn’t understand that she’s the daughter of a mafioso.”
“Oh really? And your sister didn’t have a part to play in this?” I say.
He swallows, and I watch his Adam’s apple bob as he looks away from me for the first time. “My father did an equally poor job. It’s something I can remedy once he’s out of the picture.” He sits down slowly, clasps his hands in front of him, and regards me and Sasha with an unwavering stare. “These girls can be assets, but they’re liabilities if they’re blind to the consequences of their actions. That happens when they don’t know what’s at stake. When they make a misstep.” He looks toward the door. “Like the two little girls upstairs.”
“And your sister. Alessandra? Wasn’t defying your father a misstep?” Sasha throws the questions out with a sneer. “She shouldn’t have been in that brothel. It’s complicated all of our lives.”
“Alessandra had nothing to lose. She was desperate, and he forced her into a corner. I would never make that mistake.” He looks over at me. “I won’t tell you how to bring up your daughter, but I can see the errors my father made, and I’m not about to repeat them with my younger sister once he’s out of the picture.”
He picks up the phone and sends a text, and then footsteps pound on the stairs. Nadia appears in the doorway, looking scared. She twists her fingers together when she’s nervous, just like her mother does.
I stand and open my arms to her, and she steps into them. She smells of hot baked bread, sunshine, and hope. I wrap my arms around her and breathe her in. My heart is in my mouth as her narrow shoulders tremble against me.
“You, little girl, are in trouble.”
“Really? How much trouble?” Her eyes search mine, and I pick her up and crush her in a hug.
“A lot of trouble,” I say. “You now have two parents to get in trouble with. And I’m going to have to answer to your mother for this mess.”
I might have gotten our daughter back, but will that be enough for Kesera to accept me as well? If the tables were turned, I wouldn’t want anything to do with a man who brings so much chaos and darkness with him.
Chapter Fifty-Two
The elevator opens and Nadia steps in front of Vadim, jutting her chin at me defiantly. I hold back the impulse to scream at her when I meet Vadim’s crystal-blue gaze behind her. He smiles at me as he puts a hand on her shoulder.
“What on earth were you thinking, Nadia?” I step toward her and her chin wobbles before she hurls herself into my arms. Her voice is muffled by fabric as she buries her head in my chest.
“I just wanted Daddy to come home.” She wraps her arms tighter around my midriff.
“It worked.” Vadim moves toward me and pulls us both into the circle of his arms, and I finally let myself sink against him. I can feel my shoulders shaking as he wraps one arm around me and another around Nadia. He leads us both across the hardwood floors to the couch.
He pushes Nadia into the cushions, and her eyes widen as he removes his gun from its holster and places it on top of a stack of books on the coffee table.
“Nadia, do you realize that a stunt like that could have gotten you killed?” He sits on the coffee table, facing her as I look down at the two of them.
“It wasn’t real. Danni and I thought that if we pretended to get kidnapped, then you would come and find us.” She looks up at her father through long lashes. She and Danni were obviously experimenting with mascara while pretending to get abducted.
“And what did you plan to do on the streets of New York?” Vadim leans his forearms on his knees, forehead creasing with worry.
“Well, Danni said that her dad owns some bars and we could go and hang out in the back room for a night.”
Vadim blows out a whistle through his teeth and looks at the ceiling. “My god, this keeps getting worse. Why did she think you could go there?”
“One of her dad’s security guys likes her. He said he could look after us if we needed somewhere to hide, but Danni’s brother found out, and he said he was going to kill him. But that was just a joke, wasn’t it, Dad?” Nadia looks at the gun and back at me, her lip twisting. “He wouldn’t really do it, would he?”
Vadim looks over at me and reaches for my hand, twining his fingers around mine and squeezing. “Your mother and I think this is really serious. If Dante hadn’t overheard you and called me, I can’t imagine what could have happened. Those kinds of bars and clubs are not a place I ever want you or Danni to hang around. The kind of men that go there...”
He closes his eyes and swallows, shaking his head, and I rest my hand on his shoulder.
“Kesera.” He looks up at me, eyes pleading. “What do I do now?”
“Why don’t we all sleep on it, and we’ll talk about it in the morning. In the meantime, Nadia, you are grounded and there’s no screen time for a month.”