Six #2
The surprised look on her face fades back to normal, her voice thoughtful and hesitant. “Have you ever thought about telling him he has a daughter?”
The thought alone sends a shiver through me, and I jump to defend myself. “He’s a vile, dangerous man. Someone who exploits women and makes money off their bodies. I don’t want my daughter tied to a father like that.”
She looks at me for a moment and just nods. Standing up from the chair, she changes the subject. “They’ll take out your stitches the day after tomorrow, and you can come back to us, darling.”
I stand too. “Could Aurora stay with me tonight? She won’t cause any trouble.”
She takes my hand gently. “I think Carlo’s influence can make that happen.”
***
The nurse pulls the last stitch and leaves the room. I adjust my blouse and walk over to Aurora, who’s been trying to put her teddy bear to sleep in her arms for the past few minutes. I sit beside her, stroking her arm.
The cute bear-shaped necklace Emily gave her dangles over her dress. When she flashes me a smile, I lean down and kiss the adorable freckles under her eyes.
“Bear’s asleep, Mama,” she says.
I kiss the top of her head. “We’re going home today. What does Bear want me to make for lunch?”
Without a glance at the poor bear snoozing in her arms, she raises her voice with excitement. “Strawberry ice cream!”
I tickle under her chin, making her giggle uncontrollably. “Strawberry ice cream’s not food, sweetie, it’s dessert. But since you’ve been such a good girl lately, we’ll have it for dessert tonight.”
She lets out a delighted “Hooray!”
The door swings open, and a hulking man in an ill-fitting doctor’s coat steps in.
His thinning hair is combed up, his skin thick and sunburned.
My body instantly goes on high alert, and I pull Aurora into my arms. There’s no way a man like him, tattooed knuckles and all, is a doctor.
Shouting erupts outside the room, confirming my fear.
He hears the noise, lunges toward me, and before I can react, I feel the sharp prick of a needle in my neck, and everything fades to black.
***
Shouts and gunfire jolt me awake from the drugged haze I’m trapped in.
My cheek stings, and another hard slap lands across my face, making me realize where the burn’s coming from.
I struggle to open my eyes and see the same hulking man looming over me, yelling in my face, “Who the fuck are these people? Who’s chasing us? ”
His words don’t make sense. I blink, disoriented, and the moment I spot my daughter unconscious on the floor of the van, I snap fully awake. I shove the man aside and scramble for her, scooping her up into my arms.
“What did you do to her, you bastards?” I scream.
“There’s four cars now. No way we’re shaking them!” the driver shouts over the chaos.
The man next to him, firing like a maniac, swaps out his clip and barks, “Then what the fuck are you doing? Floor it!”
I shake Aurora in my arms and turn to the big guy in the back of the van. “What did you give her? What did you do?”
“She’s just knocked out,” he snaps. “We got paid to deliver her alive and in one piece. Now, if you want us to keep our deal and get you both out of this alive, open your fucking mouth. Who are these motherfuckers tailing us?”
“I don’t know!” I shoot back. “I don’t even know who you are!”
That’s true. I don’t know who they are, but I know who’s sent them to me. My piece-of-shit father.
The van lurches violently, tires screeching on the asphalt as it grinds to a halt. When they realize the shooting’s useless, they use me and Aurora as human shields to save their own skins. That’s when I see him, the man leading an army of armed men to rescue me: my boss, Carlo Bruni.
But the shocks keep coming. After the chaos dies down, Carlo carries Aurora toward a van, and I’m still too dazed from the drugs to stand on my own.
Strong arms catch me, pulling me into an embrace.
I look up and for one second, the entire world stops spinning.
I’m in Maxim’s arms. In the arms of my daughter’s father.
Why is he here?
He recognizes me too, his widened eyes give it away. Carlo snaps at him to get in the van. As we settle in the back, I reach out and take Aurora from Carlo, clutching her to my chest.
Maxim’s gaze darts between me, Carlo, and Aurora. His face looks like he’s just seen the reaper itself. He stares for a few long seconds, then finally, voice tight with disbelief, he turns to Carlo and points at Aurora. “Is this my kid?”
Ice floods my veins. I don’t understand what’s happening, and I don’t have the strength to figure it out. Right now, all I care about is my daughter’s safety.
When Carlo doesn’t answer, Maxim repeats, his voice a furious growl, “Carlo, answer me, is this my fucking kid?”
Carlo, decked out in a bulletproof vest and armed like he’s heading into a war zone, takes a deep breath and nods. Maxim stares at Aurora again, his pupils huge.
“Stop the car,” he whispers after what feels like an eternity.
His face is going pale, ashen, almost blue as he shouts at the top of his lungs, “Giorgio, stop the fucking car!”
The van jerks to a halt. Maxim leaps out like he’s escaping the fires of hell and slams the sliding door shut behind him.