Eight
Maxim
I jolt awake as something soft smacks me in the face, and I jerk upright halfway. The second I crack my eyes open, sunlight burns like hell, and a sharp, brutal pain stabs through my skull. I squeeze my eyes shut, groaning, then force them open again.
First thing I see is Carlo’s smug face grinning at me, standing next to the bed with a coffee mug in hand.
He sets it down on the nightstand and says way too cheerfully, “Perfect timing. You’re up.”
I glance at the pillow lying on the bed and glare at him. Dragging myself to the edge of the mattress, I grab the coffee and take a sip. One gulp is enough to snap my brain into gear. I’m in my own room, back at Carlo’s mansion, wearing nothing but a pair of pants.
Carlo drops onto the two-seater couch by the fireplace.
“If I were you, I’d stay out of Brando’s sight for a while.
Word is, you pulled a gun on him when he tried to yank your hand out of some girl’s panties.
Then you mistook him for one of the girls and tried to kiss him, and to top it all off, you puked on him. ”
I drag a hand through my hair, trying to recall anything from last night, but all I get are vague, scattered flashes. The godawful stench of vomit clinging to me makes it clear he’s not bullshitting.
That’s when my whole body tenses. I shoot to my feet.
“The carrot! Is she okay?!”
He squints. “Carrot?”
I dig through my foggy brain, panic rising with each second. I’ve got a daughter. A daughter. And I can’t even remember her goddamn name. “Aurora.”
He nods. “Carrot and Strawberry are both fine,” he says and I get it, he means Carrot’s mother too.
I barely know a damn thing about the woman I had a kid with. But right now, knowing they’re both safe is enough.
The breath trapped in my chest finally escapes. I sit down next to him. “They here?”
“No. First I had to figure out who this girl was and why there’s a bounty on her head. I didn’t want to risk Emily and the kids. So I took them to your place.”
I just nod, waiting for him to lay it out.
“Her name is Ava Wilson.”
Ava. Even her damn name sounds pretty.
“Nico Fidenco’s after her. Apparently, she’s the daughter of one of his old slaves, and he’s been hunting her for years. Nico killed her mom. The girl ran, linked up with some nun, managed to swap out her ID, and started working with her help.”
So, Ava lied to Carlo during her job interview. My hand curls into a fist before I even realize it.
“You’re not gonna make her pay for lying to you, are you?”
If there’s one thing Carlo doesn’t take lightly, it’s his wife and kids, and that dumb girl put all of them in danger. Maybe she deserves to have her skin peeled off, but little Carrot needs her mom.
“No, Maxim,” he says without hesitation. “It’s your call whether Ava gets punished.”
My shoulders loosen a bit. Then the memory of that day hits me.
“Brando knows too.” It’s not a question, it’s a statement. And Carlo doesn’t deny it.
“How long have you known the kid’s mine?” My tone turns bitter despite myself, but Carlo brushes it off.
“Remember a few days ago in the game room when Emily walked in acting all weird?”
I nod. He goes on.
“During Ava’s interview, she told me she had her kid from a one-night stand with some stranger she met at a bar.
A few days ago, when Emily went to see her, Ava opened up about the night she spent with you.
This time, she mentioned Heaven and your name.
She didn’t think Emily was related to you.
Emily told me, and I sent your glass and a few strands of the girl’s hair to the lab. Results came back this morning.”
He pulls out his phone and shows me the report. Ninety-nine percent match. No doubt about it, the carrot’s mine.
I frown. “So, when they snatched her, you still weren’t sure she was mine?”
“I couldn’t take the chance. When I sent her to her mom, I slipped a tracker necklace on her. Didn’t know a psycho was after them back then, or I’d never have let her out of my sight. Even if there was a slim chance she was yours, Maxim, I wouldn’t have rolled the dice on her safety.”
I rest my hand on his shoulder in silent gratitude. Just imagining what could’ve happened if Aurora had been taken sends a cold shiver down my spine.
I rub both eyes with my thumb and forefinger, disbelief pouring out of me as I mutter, “How the hell is this possible? I used a condom.”
“You know those things aren’t a hundred percent guarantee.”
I gape at him. “If that’s the case, I might as well start scouring Italy for kids who slipped through my condoms.”
“Don’t be dramatic,” he says. “You’ve either been with our whores or with famous models and actresses.
Trust me, every single one of them would’ve jumped at the chance to have your kid and live easy for the rest of their lives.
If it happened, they’d have come running with baby announcements and glitter. ”
“Then why didn’t Ava do that?”
“She grew up in a closed-off world. To her, men are split into two categories: those like her father and those who aren’t.
For four years, she built you up in her mind as some honorable hero.
Then, after that night with you, when she learned who you really are, she shoved you into the ‘hell’ category. ”
My eyes narrow. “What do you mean she built me up as some honorable hero for four years?”
“You two met long before that night.”
I strain my brain but nothing comes. Carlo lets out a short laugh. “You know what’s funny, Maxim? You and I met the mothers of our kids on the same day.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Montrano village, seven years ago.”
Something clicks in my head. “I saved a girl from being raped.”
His eyes gleam. “And we tied her attacker’s body, along with two of our traitors, to horses and dragged them through the dirt all the way home. That was the day I met Emily, and you met Ava.”
My memory races back to that girl, bruised and battered, sitting on a bed. “Shit. I gave her my card that day. And that fool showed up four years later.”
He smirks, amused. “Knowing you, you can size up a woman’s panties with one glance. How the hell didn’t you recognize her?”
“Because that day, she was just a kid, beaten to hell, face black and blue.”
I let out a sharp breath, plant my elbows on my knees, and cradle my head in my hands. The image of Carrot’s innocent face and scared black eyes flashes before me, and panic crawls under my skin.
“I can’t be a fucking dad, Carlo. I just can’t,” I say quietly.
I straighten up and look at him. “I can skin a man alive. I can cut off his dick, cook it, and make him eat it while he’s still breathing.
I can fuck a woman until she passes out.
I can put a bullet in an enemy’s head from miles away.
But being a dad? I’m not built for this shit. This is a goddamn nightmare.”
He meets my gaze, his voice steady and reassuring. “You don’t have to do anything you’re not ready for.”
“So what happens to the Carrot?”
His eyes light up with that look he gets when he’s cooking up something wicked. “Leave her to me,” he says after standing up.
“What’s your plan?”
“Do you trust me, Maxim?”
“You know I do.”
He claps a hand on my shoulder. “Then let me handle it.”
***
The first finger I slice off fills the warehouse with the bastard’s screams. I dangle the severed finger in front of his face and sneer, “Not feeling so tough now, are you?”
I move to the second finger, and he starts begging again. “I swear, I didn’t know she was connected to you! Nico said they were his daughter and granddaughter!”
I cut off the second finger then let his ear-splitting wails die down. “Where’s Nico now to save your sorry ass?”
“Please, don’t kill me. I’m begging you.”
I glance at the two corpses sprawled on the floor nearby. “Relax. You’re not gonna die. Not yet.”
I lean in close, my voice dropping into a deadly whisper. “You’re staying alive to deliver my message to Nico. If that bastard even thinks about getting near my girls again, I don’t give a shit if he’s in Sicily, and Giuliano backs him. I’ll come for him myself and shove his balls down his throat.”
He cries and sobs, squirming in agony. “I swear I’ll tell him. I swear! Please, let me go!”
I slice off the third finger. “You’re a message too. No one messes with my daughter and walks away clean. But don’t sweat it. I’ll hand you all ten fingers in a box, a little keepsake from Maxim Moretti.”
After I’m done with the bastard and deal with the bodies, I hit the shower and head to Heaven.
I’ve spent seven straight days tearing through these bastards trying to get any intel that could lead me to Fidenco.
But it looks like he’s out of our reach for now.
Doesn’t matter. Sooner or later, for what he did to Ava and Aurora, I’ll find him, and I’ll settle the score.
I still can’t wrap my head around the fact that that cute little carrot with those big dark eyes is mine.
I won’t lie. Her existence flipped something in me.
Just a mention of her, a flash of her sweet face, makes my chest feel like it’s splitting open.
Maybe it’s better to say I finally realized I’ve got a heart after all.
Carlo and I grew up together, clawed our way through hell side by side, always had each other’s backs.
My loyalty to that man is absolute, I’d lay down my life for him without blinking.
But this pull, this fierce protectiveness I feel for that tiny girl? It’s something I’ve never known. In one night, every priority in my life got turned upside down. Nothing and no one comes before Aurora, not even Carlo.
Deep down, I know I’d sacrifice everything and everyone for her in a heartbeat. Maybe I won’t be part of her life in the open, maybe I’ll never be the kind of father she knows—but as long as I’m alive, I’ll protect her.