Chapter 23
Chapter
Twenty-Three
Kolya
“So you’re Sebastian’s dad?”
A blonde girl about eight years old interrupted the numerous ways I framed Daniel Wu through my sniper’s scope.
She was a carbon copy of Elizabeth De Lucci.
Sebastian was on my lap, and he was busy drooling over a teething cracker.
Her blue eyes investigated me with the curiosity of a ferret.
That she just jumped in front of me, told me she hadn’t been taught not to approach strangers.
Strangers who especially looked like me.
“I am.”
“I’m Sam. Can I hold him?”
“He’s heavy. You might drop him.” She was skinny. She reminded me of Aralina, who had been all arms and legs when she was the same age as this girl. “How old are you?”
“Eight.”
“I figured. Didn’t your parents teach you not to talk to strangers?”
Her brows furrowed. “But you’re Sebastian’s dad.”
“You didn’t know that when you approached me.”
“You can’t do anything to me. My dad is going to beat you up.”
I chuckled. This little girl was amusing.
I wondered if Chloe and I would produce the same sassy offspring.
But from our file on the De Luccis, Elizabeth De Lucci was the most congenial member of the family.
Soft-spoken and gentle. Then there was the fiery McGrath side, and I’d had my own heated exchanges with Lucy, so I could pick one or the other.
“I don’t want to hurt your dad, little one.”
She scowled at me. “You won’t be able to. I have uncles too.”
“Is that so?” I taunted. “I don’t see them around and the boxing gym was empty.”
Her forehead creased and her eyes squinted some more before she squared her shoulders and crossed her arms. “We have guards around. You’re surrounded.”
Sebastian took that moment to reach for Sam.
“Ew, your hands are dirty, Sebastian,” she said.
I reached into the baby bag and handed the girl a bib. “Why don’t you wipe his hands?”
Sam accepted the towel from me and started wiping Sebastian’s grubby fingers and dabbing his mouth for crumbs and saliva. “You’re not a very good dad.”
“I’m learning,” I deadpanned.
“My dad is a great dad.” She finished cleaning up Sebastian and left the dirty bib on the table. “He helps Mommy all the time.”
“You must be a handful.”
“Am not.”
I was about to rib her some more, but then I realized I was arguing with an eight-year-old.
“Samantha De Lucci, are you bugging Mr. Petrov?” Her mother walked in from the side door, which was the throughway in the building. She called out to her husband. “Renz! Your daughter is harassing a customer.”
“Am not,” Sam protested. “And he’s not a customer.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “Why are you not eating or drinking?”
Besides chancing getting poisoned? Although it was a long shot, one couldn’t be too careful.
“I’m not hungry.”
She frowned again. “Don’t you have enough money? Mommy said children are expensive.”
Elizabeth laughed. “I’m really sorry, Mr. Petrov. Sam can be outspoken.”
“No problem. She’s entertaining.” And I wondered if I was going to regret saying that. She did distract me from plotting Daniel Wu’s demise. So, that was a plus, especially since I should be watching Sebastian, and all this negative and murderous energy couldn’t be good around a kid.
“Hey, baby.” Lorenzo De Lucci sauntered from the end of the bar and kissed his wife’s temple. He had noticed his daughter “harassing me” but he figured with me looking after my son, she was safe.
“He’s Sebastian’s dad,” Sam introduced me to De Lucci.
His mouth twitched. “I know, pumpkin.” He playfully wrapped an arm around Sam and pulled her against him. “And you’re causing trouble?”
“Am not.”
De Lucci’s eyes lifted to mine. “Can I get you anything, Mr. Petrov? On the house. Chloe is a close friend, and Sam here has been bugging us to see Sebastian.”
“Thank you, but I’m good. Just waiting for Chloe. I’m taking her out to lunch.” My eyes fell on Sam. “So you see, I have money.”
“How much?” she wanted to know.
“All right, kiddo.” Lorenzo appeared appalled at his daughter’s questions. “Let’s leave the man alone.”
But she was stubborn and pulled away from her dad. “What do you do for a living?”
Her father rolled his eyes and exchanged a look with his wife that signaled he was returning to the coffee bar and to keep an eye on Sam. Would Chloe and I develop that secret language?
“I’m a troubleshooter,” I told her.
“What kind of job is that?”
“I fix problems for the company if something is broken.”
Her mother snorted, but I could tell she wanted to drag her daughter away just in case I revealed a fact that no eight-year-old should be hearing.
“Does that pay a lot?”
“Samantha,” her mother chided. “That’s rude to ask people about how much they make.”
“But I need to make sure I can tell him where to go for lunch,” she explained. “If he can afford it.”
I’d give it to Sam. I chuckled, and it was a genuine one. Uncertain if I wanted to take lunch suggestions from an eight-year-old, I decided to humor her. “Where should I take Chloe and Sebastian?”
She launched into a list of restaurants. Not their names. But a general direction of where they were relative to the café and the type of food they served.
“…of course there’s always Eamonn’s,” she added after giving me a rundown of seafood, meat, and loaded baked potato pointers. “That’s my family’s pub.”
Yes, I know.
“…they’ve got Fish and Chips Fridays. That’s where Mommy and I are heading. I don’t like fish that much, only Eamonn’s. Duh, because Grandma makes the best.” She glanced at her mother. “Maybe they can come with us. Except…” Her mouth turned down. “I’m hungry already.”
Elizabeth laughed and hugged her daughter. “Come on, munchkin, you’ve taken enough of Mr. Petrov’s time.”
They were halfway to the door when Sam turned back. “Wait, you didn’t tell me your name.”
“Kolya.”
She grinned and waved. “Bye, Kolya and Sebastian. Bye, Dad!” she hollered.
The café was relatively busy with the after-lunch crowd wanting coffee or dessert.
Sebastian seemed to have fallen asleep on my lap, so I rose and put him in the carrier across the booth I was sitting in.
That was when I noticed a phone pointed my way.
Lowering my head, I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t used to being a public dad.
I had enough trouble trying to evade my Mistress Strangler fandom, although Maksim said the fan mail and packages had dwindled.
Except for curiosity the first few times in prison, the guards inspected them anyway.
I told them to send them all to the incinerator.
Some guards who’d become my friends were brave enough to tease me about the women’s thongs that came through the mailroom with a note that said, “Choke me with this.”
I could be perverse in my desires. Breath play? The only woman I wanted to explore it with was Chloe. But first…
When I found out she left the shelter to go to The Grindhouse, I was concerned with her security. She had five guards on her. They were outside right now and probably giving the De Lucci soldiers something to do.
Even if Lucy and Kirill’s marriage united the bratva and the Italian mafia, it didn’t mean our soldiers were automatically best friends. In fact, there was competition. Like the Italians couldn’t forgive the bratva for stealing their princess. Kirill and Dom were tolerant of each other.
Their businesses rarely intersected.
“Hey.”
My peripheral vision clocked Chloe entering from the side door.
The scent of clean floral soap and her citrusy shampoo preceded her appearance.
My nostrils flared. It’d been a long time since I fucked her.
It reminded me of the rage that suffused every muscle and sinew when I saw Daniel Wu with his arms around her.
With their sweaty bodies plastered together.
The only thing stopping me from leaping on that mat and ripping Daniel away from her was my son.
There would have been bloodshed. I’d studied Daniel Wu’s background extensively.
There was truth that he indeed fought off five Triad assailants, but the legend made it seem that he emerged unscathed.
The truth? He lost a lot of blood and coded on the operating table.
That fact was hidden from his sister, but I had my sources in Hong Kong who verified it.
Daniel Wu wasn’t invincible. If he bled, I could kill him.
“Was he good for you?” Chloe’s soft voice asked. I finally allowed my eyes to consume her. It’d been a struggle not to drag her into my bedroom and fuck her into submission. She couldn’t hold my gaze and dropped her eyes. My mouth twitched. She wasn’t unaffected.
“Our boy is a champ. I gave him one of those teething cookies.”
Her hair appeared damp within the confines of her ponytail. Sweat already beaded her forehead. Chloe hadn’t properly cooled down from her workout before she took that shower. “You didn’t need to rush.”
“Oh, but I had to.” She collapsed in the booth I vacated. “I’m. Starving.”
Maybe I could work off some of my aggression, otherwise it would be that suffocating wall between us if I didn’t get it off my chest. I caged her in the booth and leaned forward.
She scrunched her brows. “What are you doing?”
“If you need self-defense lessons, no matter what, sparring or shooting, you come to me.”
“It’s for the shelter program. I was testing it out.”
I narrowed my eyes. “With Daniel Wu?”
“He was available and suitable.”
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“I don’t have your résumé; how do I know you’ve taught self-defense before? Daniel’s a black belt. A practitioner of Wung Chun too.”
“You have his résumé?”
“Of course.”
I brought my face closer to hers until there wasn’t any doubt I was breathing her air. “I don’t have a résumé. I prefer to show you in person what I’m capable of.” My gaze dropped to her heaving chest and back to her eyes. “You didn’t have complaints before, did you?”
She emitted a nervous laugh, and I allowed her an inch of space.
“That’s exactly it. I don’t think we’ll get any self-defense work done if you teach me.”
I straightened and left one hand leaning against the booth. “Are you saying you have no control?”
“I’m saying you’re going to seduce me.” Chloe lowered her voice into an irritated whisper.
Her eyes were adorably shooting daggers at me; it was hard to hold on to my self-righteous jealousy. Because it was self-righteous. I didn’t have any right to be jealous, but here I was claiming that right.
“No more Daniel Wu,” I said finally. “If you don’t want anything to happen to him—”
She gasped. “You’re not threatening him.”
“I’m not. Not saying he won’t encounter an accident.”
“You’re impossible, Kolya!”
“Where do you want to eat?” I’d made my point and picked up Sebastian. “If you’re starving, Sam suggested a steak place and a burger joint.”
When Chloe didn’t answer, I looked at her. “Both are walkable.” I pointed to the right. “Burger that way.” Then pointed to the left. “Steak that way.”
Chloe was looking at me strangely, then she gave a shake of her head. “You’re taking lunch suggestions from Sam?”
I chuckled. “She was helpful.”
She burst out laughing. “Just how chatty did you two get?”
Shrugging my shoulders, I pushed the stroller. “She was entertaining.” She kept me from my murderous thoughts. “So where do you want to go, baby?”
“Burger. I want a big, juicy burger.”
“You got it.”