Chapter 32
I Want My Daughter
Tess to Carina: Too much is going on. I miss you. [delivered]
Tess
"Excuse me?" My mouth opens and closes like a damn cartoon character, my bewilderment so absurd it practically begs for exaggeration.
Enzo’s chair scrapes violently against the floor as he pushes to his feet, his face a storm of shock and rage. "How is that possible? And also… What. The. Fuck."
My father—dad? Massimo? Max?—exhales sharply, shoving away from the table.
"It was years ago, obviously. I didn’t know who she was at the time.
I was young. She seduced me, then disappeared.
I thought that was that. And then… Tess shows up.
The adoption records you uncovered list me as the father, but the mother? A woman I’ve never met."
"Are you sure you didn’t just forget fucking her?" Enzo sneers.
Max's eyes flash. "Watch your mouth." His voice is a low growl. "I know exactly who I fucked, and it wasn’t the woman named in those records. It was only when you sent me that photo of Anastasia that I realised the truth."
"Then why the hell would someone else be listed as my mother?" My voice is strained. I barely notice Kai’s fingers tracing slow, grounding circles over my hand.
My father and brother—still getting used to that—exchange a look before turning back to me.
"Because she—Anastasia—didn’t want anyone to know about her," Max says grimly. "She must have known you might eventually uncover the closed adoption. So, she covered her tracks."
"But why?" My pulse thunders in my ears. "Why give me away? Why come after me now? Why did the Russians try to kill me? Was she behind that?" My voice pitches higher with each question, my mind racing in circles.
Kai squeezes my hand, yanking me toward him. I land between his thighs, and he cups my face, forcing me to meet his steady blue-green gaze.
"Hurricane," he murmurs, his voice a low anchor in the chaos. "Breathe."
I suck in a shaky breath. Then another. When I step back, my spine straightens.
"Okay," I say, forcing the storm inside me to settle. "The why isn’t important right now. Do we think she’s coming after me?"
"Yes." Enzo doesn’t hesitate. "But I don’t think she was working with all the Russians who wanted you dead. I think she’s been having secret meetings with Petrov, but no one else is aware."
My stomach knots. "So, she and Petrov have some shady side deal? And she somehow found the safe house while you were dealing with everyone else. Coincidence?"
Enzo shakes his head. "Doubt it."
Max's phone rings. The room goes still.
He answers, then pulls the phone away and puts it on speaker, his jaw tight. "Hello?"
A woman’s voice purrs through the speaker. "Max, long time no see."
Ice slides down my spine.
Max's face hardens. "Anastasia."
She laughs, a sound devoid of warmth. "So, you’ve figured it out."
"What do you want?"
"I want my daughter."
The air in the room turns electric.
"Why now?"
"She turns thirty soon."
My brows knit.
"And?" Max says, his tone bored though his face betrays his worry.
"She is betrothed. It’s time for her to fulfil her legacy."
A sharp inhale lodges in my throat.
Max's voice drops to a dangerous pitch. "You’re not even on her birth certificate. You have no hold over her."
"Her adoptive parents were aware of the arrangement," Anastasia says smoothly. "They signed the papers agreeing to raise her outside of this world until it was the right time. That time is now. I had planned to tell her on her birthday, but fucking Mikhail got greedy when he found out you had another child. He’s dead now, by the way. You’re welcome. "
There’s a wicked satisfaction in her tone that makes my skin crawl.
Max's expression is carved from stone. "You think you can just demand her back?"
"You can hand her over, and I’ll leave your organisation alone," Anastasia says, all honey and poison. "Or I will kill every last one of you until I have her."
A deadly silence.
Then Max speaks. "Why are you so desperate for her?"
The words that come next shatter everything.
"Because she was promised to Nikolai Ivanov."
The room drops into a suffocating silence.
Enzo and Max pale.
Anastasia’s voice is calm. "He expects his bride on her birthday. I can give you until then. If she isn’t his by the twenty-fourth, he will kill me. And then he will kill all of you."
The line goes dead.