Chapter III
ADRIANO
Blood pulses hot behind my eyes as Eva stares up at me, caught between defiance and fear.
I want to hurt her. Fuck, I want to break her for what she's done.
Two days I've been tracking her, barely sleeping, consumed by a rage I haven't felt since I thought she died.
"Why?" The question rips at me. "What the fuck did I ever do to deserve this?"
My hand trembles against her throat, torn between tightening and letting go. I could end this. One squeeze. I've killed for less.
Yet I can't. Even as hatred burns through my veins, something deeper keeps my finger from applying that final ounce of pressure.
"You took my child.” I lean closer, watching fear flicker across her face. "You've made a fatal mistake, Eva."
The day I watched the grainy train station footage, seeing Eva and Mirabella board that southbound train, something inside me hardened.
I sat in that security office for hours, replaying that three-second clip until her movements were burned into my brain.
Alessandro questioned me again about what finding her could mean for the family. “She could be working with Vasiliev. Have you considered that?"
"She's the mother of my child."
"A child she's using to manipulate you."
I remember turning to him then, something in my expression making him step back. "My daughter is out there, Alessandro. Your niece. If you think I give a single fuck about business or the Bratva right now—"
He'd raised his hands in surrender, finally shutting his mouth.
The waiting was excruciating.
But once I knew she’d disembarked in Atlanta, I was on a plane with Marco, a trusted soldier, within the hour.
Just under three hours later, I stepped off the plane into the suffocating Atlanta heat.
"We'll find her, Boss," Marco said, eyes scanning the crowd as we climbed into our rental.
"I know we will," I replied. "And when we do…"
I let the threat hang in the air. Even I didn't know how it would end.
The good news is that I beat the Bratva to her.
If they were even trying.
Part of me wondered if Eva was running according to some script Ivan had written for her.
A double agent all this time?
The thought ruminated in my head over and over.
But no—I'd seen her face when we ran into Ivan.
That was genuine fear.
Three motels and two bribes later, we found them.
A shabby efficiency on the outskirts of town, far enough from the station to avoid immediate detection, cheap enough to stretch stolen cash.
“Does it have an adjoining room?” I ask the manager.
“Yep.” He doesn’t say more.
I hand him another hundred.
“Room next to it. 118. It’s empty.”
I checked in under a false name, dropping my bag on the bed in 118 and pressing my ear to the thin wall.
Mirabella's tiny voice drifted through, asking for a bedtime story.
My heart nearly stopped.
I nearly broke in then.
But some things are done better in the dark of night.
When people are sleeping.
It’s easier to catch them off guard and not be seen by others.
So I waited until midnight. The lock on the adjoining door was child's play.
A slight glow from a smoke detector was enough to see Mirabella in a sofa bed while Eva slept in the double.
For a moment I watched her sleep, remembering how the other night, I’d given her everything.
And now, two days later, here she is, having tossed me aside and stolen not just my money but my daughter as well.
I could kill her, I thought.
She’d never know I was here.
The one who exacted revenge.
But I needed her to know that there was no place she could run that I wouldn’t find her.
And that crimes against me always had to be punished.
So I pressed my hand over her mouth so she couldn’t scream and wake up Mirabella.
Oh, she tried to fight. Even attempted to get to her knife. But she has zero chance against me.
"Stop fighting.” I lean closer to her so she knows it’s me. "Did you really think I wouldn't find you? Did you think I'd let you take my daughter again?"
Eva trembles beneath me, the fight draining from her, replaced by panic. Good. She should be afraid. She has no idea how close I am to shattering.
I haul her up by her arm, fingers digging into soft flesh. She's wearing nothing but a thin tank top and shorts, vulnerable in a way that should satisfy me but only twists the knife deeper.
I'd given her everything.
My protection, my name, my heart, and still, she ran.
"Marco," I call quietly. My right hand appears in the doorway, silhouette dark against the dim light of room 118. "Stay with Mirabella. Anyone comes through that door who isn't me—"
"They die," he finishes. He moves into the room, positioning himself in the chair beside my daughter's bed, gun resting casually on his thigh.
I drag Eva toward the adjoining door, my grip unforgiving. She stumbles, but I don't slow down.
Don't help her.
Every instinct I have screams to treat her with care, but those instincts have betrayed me, just like she has.
We enter my room and I shut the door. Only then do I release her, pushing her toward the center of the room. She glances at the main door.
“Go ahead,” I tell her. “Run again. But you won’t ever see Mirabella again.”
Her eyes close and her body energy deflates.
"You have one chance," I say. "One chance to tell me why you keep running from the only person willing to die to protect you."
Her arms wrap around herself. I hate that I notice the goosebumps rising on her skin. Hate that some part of me wants to wrap her in warmth despite everything.
"You don't understand.” She shakes her head.
"I'm so fucking tired of hearing that.” I close the distance between us. “Make me understand why I’ve had to endure your running from me. Twice.”
She backs away until her spine meets the wall. Good. Let her feel trapped. Let her feel a fraction of the helplessness I felt when I realized she was gone again.
"I thought we were building something. Was it all a fucking game to you? Making me fall in love with you again? Letting me believe I could be a father to Mirabella?"
Her eyes glisten with tears, but I’ve seen this before. I won't be manipulated again.
She still says nothing. Not even those lying excuses she’s made before.
Fine. Play it like that.
"You can hate me all you want.” I place my palms against the wall on either side of her head, caging her in. "You can run from me until your legs give out. But Mirabella?" I lean closer. "My daughter stays with me."
The tears spill over now. “You can’t just take her from me.”
"Yes. I can.” I shake my head because I can’t believe she doesn’t get what she’s done. “I can't fucking believe you. You took her from me. I didn't even know she existed. And then the moment I find out, the moment I start to love her, you rip her away again. What sort of monster are you?"
I drop my hands, stepping back before I do something I'll regret.
“I don't care if you don't want me. I can live with that. You’ve killed whatever could have been between us.
But you don't get to decide that my daughter grows up without a father.
Not anymore. And especially not when the Bratva would easily sell the two of you. "
I grab a zip tie from my pocket and secure Eva's hands behind her back, not gentle but not cruel either.
My fingers brush her skin.
A touch that once sparked desire now kindles only anger.
She looks up at me, eyes wide with fear.
I push away the guilt at putting it there. I'm done being played.
"Please, Adriano, I was trying to protect—"
"Stop." I cut her off, pushing her to sit in a chair. "I'm not interested in more lies. You made me look like a fucking fool in front of my family, in front of my men."
She shakes her head frantically. "That's not why—"
"Shut up." I pace the small room. "You know what Alessandro said? That I shouldn't bother looking for you. That my judgment is compromised when it comes to you."
I laugh derisively. "He was right. I've been weak. But not anymore."
I stop directly in front of her, watching her recoil from me.
For years, I've been the monster other men fear, the last face they see before meeting their maker.
Yet with Eva, I've always been gentle.
That ends tonight.
"If you want this to end differently, tell me why the Bratva wants you," I demand. "What does Ivan know that I don't?"
She turns her face away, shoulders trembling. "I can't."
"Wrong answer." I grab her chin, forcing her to look at me. "You're going to tell me everything, or I swear to God, Eva…"
The threat hangs between us, even as I’m not sure I could carry it out. What would I do? Cut her? Beat her? I couldn't, not really.
But one look at her makes me realize that she doesn't know that. For all she knows, I’m going to end her tonight. I can use that to my advantage.
"You think I'm still the man who loved you?" I lean in close enough to feel her panicked energy. "That man died the night you left my bed."
I wait, but she remains tight-lipped.
I don’t get it. “Do you think what you tell me will make me mad? I mean, look at me, Eva, could it really be worse than what’s happening right now?”
“I wish I could—”
“Stop the bullshit!” I grab an empty plastic vase sitting on the table and throw it against the wall.
Eva jumps.
“Either you tell me everything or Mirabella and I leave without you. Forever."
Her eyes widen in genuine terror. "You wouldn't separate us."
"Wouldn't I? To protect that little girl, I'd do anything." I pause for effect. “Anything, Eva.” I release her face, stepping back to survey the wreckage of the woman I thought I loved.
“But I’m her mother.”
"You're a danger to her. You can't protect her like I can. You know it. You've made your choices, Eva. Now it's time to face the consequences."
I stare at Eva thinking how fucking na?ve I was to fall for her. I circle her like prey, watching her body tense with each step.
“You can keep your secret. I don’t give a shit anymore. But Mirabella is mine. My brothers, my sister, my nieces and nephews, they become her family while you become a distant memory."
I stop in front of her, crossing my arms. "Or perhaps I will send you back to Alessandro. He's wanted to interrogate you properly since day one. Unlike me, he has no emotional attachment clouding his judgment."
I watch her for a moment, in some ways in awe of her ability to keep her secret, in other ways pissed off that she never trusted me enough with it.
“The choice is simple. Tell me everything now or face consequences you can't imagine."