Chapter 24
EVA
I stare at Adriano, barely recognizing the man before me.
Those gray eyes that once looked at me with tenderness now gleam with fury.
It feels surreal that the man who held me gently just days ago now threatens to take everything I love.
I've always known what he is, what he does.
The enforcer.
The monster other men fear.
But never once did I fear him myself. Even when we first met, when I should have been terrified of the dangerous Dante brother, something in me recognized him as my protector rather than my enemy.
"You won't hurt me," I whisper, though uncertainty creeps in for the first time.
A typical Mafia man would have beaten the truth from me by now. Would have made me bleed, made me scream.
Adriano has only used words, hurtful and scary, but still only words.
Still, as he stands before me, radiating rage, I wonder if I've finally pushed him too far.
After all, he said I killed whatever positive feelings he might have had for me.
His laugh sends a chill through me. “Physically? Maybe not. But I have no qualms about making you suffer emotionally, just as you’ve done to me. And what do you think you’re doing to Mirabella? At some point, if you survive on the run, she’ll resent you for this life.”
He’s right.
"I never wanted this for her."
My mind races to Mirabella sleeping in the next room, innocent and unaware that her world is blowing apart. What kind of mother am I? Running, always running, dragging her from place to place, never giving her stability. And now I've angered the one man who might have protected us both.
"I'm sorry.”
His jaw tightens. "Sorry doesn't explain why you ran. Why the Russians want you dead. I mean, who the fuck are you? Is anything I know about you real?”
“Yes.” I say the word as full of truth and conviction as I can, but I know he doesn’t believe me.
“Doesn’t matter. Mirabella comes with me. You do whatever you want.”
I close my eyes, and suddenly, I see Mirabella, five years older, dressed in expensive clothes, sitting in the Dante compound.
Men with guns flank every doorway.
My daughter learns the sound of gunshots.
I see Alessandro teaching her that family means vengeance, that loyalty means killing.
I see her beautiful, innocent eyes growing hard, untrusting.
Will Adriano be able to keep the darkness from consuming her? Will he protect her from being forced to spy or enter a marriage for business purposes?
I can’t allow that to happen, but how can I stop it? If I tell him everything, I lose her to this life. If I don't, I lose her anyway.
"She deserves better than both of us," I admit. "But without me there to shield her from your world, she'll become something neither of us wants."
Hurt flashes across Adriano's face before anger replaces it. He moves closer, looming over me with growing fury. "You think I wouldn't protect my own daughter? You think I'd let her become a monster?"
I've wounded his pride as a father, a role he's only just begun to embrace. A role that he’s very good at.
"That's not what I—"
"Was my father even the one who threatened you?" The question explodes from him. "Or was that another lie? Did you just want her for yourself?"
The accusation stings because there's a kernel of truth in it.
Part of me did want to keep Mirabella away from this life.
Away from him.
Not because I didn't love him, but because I feared what she might become surrounded by violence and death.
"Adriano, please—"
"Four years," he cuts me off. "Four years my daughter grew up without me. And now I learn you ran because you thought I wouldn't be a good father?"
“That’s not true. Your father threatened me.”
"I'm done with the excuses." His entire body has gone rigid. "You've had your chance." He checks his watch. "I'm leaving in ten minutes. Mirabella is coming with me."
My heart stops.
"No." The word tears from my throat. "You can't take her.”
"Watch me." He moves toward the connecting door, and panic floods my system.
"Adriano, please." I struggle against the restraints, the zip ties digging into my wrists. "She doesn't know your world. She'll be terrified."
He turns, eyes flashing. "More terrified than hiding behind a dumpster in a back alley as men prepare to kill her mother? Because that’s all you have to offer her.” He shakes his head, and I don’t blame him. I don’t make any sense. “You’re a piece of work, Eva. I can’t believe I fell for you.”
"She's just a little girl," I plead. "She needs me."
The thought of my daughter waking up without me there sends waves of nausea through my body. Adriano is a good father, but there are a thousand tiny details that only a mother knows.
"What will you tell her when she cries for me?” Tears stream down my face. "She won't understand why I'm gone."
"I'll tell her the truth," Adriano says, his voice so full of disgust it makes me recoil. "That her mother didn't want to come home with me. That she didn't care enough to be honest."
The room spins around me as I imagine my daughter hearing those words.
Her tiny face crumpling, her eyes filling with tears as she tries to understand why Mommy left her.
"You wouldn't.” But I know he would.
He said he wants me to hurt as badly as I hurt him.
This is how he’ll do it.
"She deserves the truth," he continues mercilessly. "That her mother would rather run from her secrets than let her father protect them both."
"Please," I beg, pride abandoned. "Don't tell her that. Tell her anything else."
Something flickers across his face. I want to think it’s the man I once knew, but I see in his eyes that it’s leverage.
"Then give me something better to tell her," he says coldly. "Start with the truth."
“Adriano—”
“Bye, Eva.” He turns toward the door adjoining the two rooms.
"Wait!" I cry out, rising from the chair. "I left because Alessandro threatened to kill me!"
His hand freezes on the doorknob. He doesn't turn, but I can see the tension in his shoulders.
"One night, I ran into him in the kitchen," I continue, words tumbling out. "He told me he knew I was hiding something. Said when he found out what it was, he'd destroy me."
Adriano turns slowly, his expression guarded but attentive.
"He said if I hurt you again, he'd kill me." My voice cracks. "Then Ivan shows up at the ballet, looking at Mirabella like—" I can't finish the thought, the memory of Ivan's predatory gaze making my stomach clench.
Adriano steps away from the door, his focus entirely on me now.
"Don't you see? I'm trapped between two monsters who want me dead," I say, hoping this will work. "Alessandro waiting for any excuse, and Ivan hunting us down."
He doesn’t say anything, so I continue.
"You promised you could protect us, but what happens when Alessandro convinces you I'm the enemy? When he turns you against me? I ran because I couldn't bear for Mirabella to watch her father choose his brother over her mother."
Adriano steps closer, his expression darkening. I shrink back instinctively.
"So you ran because of Alessandro. You didn't trust me enough to handle my own brother?" The flash of anger in his eyes unnerves me.
"What would you have done?" I challenge, finding courage in desperation. "Chosen me over your family? Your blood? Alessandro is the Don—"
"Alessandro doesn't decide who I protect." His words cut through mine like a blade. "I do. You’re still alive because of me. Living in the comfort of my home, because of me. Wearing new clothes and eating your fill, because of me—”
“Alessandro said—”
“He doesn’t trust you, but he hasn’t touched you, has he?”
I shake my head, stepping back until the backs of my legs hit the chair and I fall into it.
“He’s protecting me, and maybe I should have listened because you’re poison to me.
” He wags his finger at me. “And once again, you’ve avoided the real answer to my question.
Why did my father mistrust you? Why is Ivan after you?
” He tilts his head. “The only reason I can think of is that you work for the Bratva. Then and now.”
“I don’t—”
"I'm tired of the half-truths." He leans down. “If you want to keep our daughter, you need to give me everything. No more bullshit."
His face is inches from mine, and I see the flecks of silver in his gray eyes. "Tell me now, or I walk out that door with Mirabella, and you’ll never see either of us again."
I stare at the man I've loved and feared and realize I've reached the end of my path. There is nowhere left to run.
"I'll come back with you. Please, just don't take her from me."
"That's not what I asked for." He shakes his head at me, and I think he’s going to follow through on his threat. “If you want to come with me, you can. Mirabella needs a mother and I’m not so cruel as to deny her that.”
It’s a dig at what I did to him, but I don’t point that out.
“But you’re nothing to me. You’re just a nanny. And whatever Alessandro wants to do, he can do it. If you’d rather run, I’ll understand. Maybe you can ask Ivan for protection.”
I’m dying inside that my life has come to this.
I didn’t set out to betray anyone.
My father got in trouble and I was forced to pay the price.
And since then, my life hasn’t been my own.
I’d wanted to go to college.
Maybe become a teacher.
Instead, I’m the shell of a woman who has no options left.
“I accept that.”
He studies me. "If you run again—”
"I won't," I cut him off. "I can't lose her." And the truth is, I don’t want to lose him, either. How crazy is that? He’s threatened me and I still care for him.
He cuts my restraints. “We leave in ten minutes.”
As feeling returns to my hands, I realize what I've done. I'm walking back into the lion's den. Back to Alessandro's suspicion.
Back to a world where Ivan can find me. Back to the place where my secrets will eventually come to light.
But I'll be with my daughter.
I'll see her smile every morning.
For that chance, I'll face whatever waits for us in New York.