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“It hurt so much when I found out about the wedding, and I spent months trying to get over it and get rid of the pain in my chest. Then I found out I was pregnant—” she trailed off as her breath hitched. “And I wouldn’t have survived it a second time.”
I felt sick with the pain in her voice and hearing how she’d felt after she’d found out.
Grinding his jaw, Bruce looked from her to glare at me. A lesser man might piss his pants with how he was looking at me, but I held firm. I’d faced worse, including the loss of his daughter, and I’d face down anything to get her back.
“And did you call her a liar when you found out they were yours?” The tone of his voice dared me to say yes.
Not looking away from his eyes so he could see how honest I was being, I replied, “Not once. I knew before Nell even had them, after you told me how many weeks pregnant she was.”
Something flickered on his face like he was thinking of something, but I continued, “I didn’t even have to see them to know they were mine.”
“That explains it,” he muttered, not expanding on that comment. “And thinking about it, they look like you, too,” he sighed, sinking back down into his seat. “Fucking goddamn it!”
“Dad—” Nell whispered, and he raised his head, looking at her.
“You’re almost twenty-three, Nell, but you’ll always be my baby. One day, when those boys come home saying they might have knocked a chick up, or saying they’ve met a girl they love, you’ll know the pain I’m feeling. I wanted you to have it all and for it to be perfect, not for you to be tied to a married man, who’s part of the fucking Russian mafia.”
A low growl left me at how he referred to my family, but he didn’t even blink.
“I know he can look after you, but I also know he left you for another woman, and every fucking thing inside me wants to get you and those boys, and hide you where he’ll never find you.”
“I’d go to the ends of the earth to find her,” I warned him, my anger bleeding out into the words. “I’ll stop at nothing to get her back, Hamilton, so don’t stand in my way.”
His eyes cut to me, and he watched me for a moment.
“You need to do better, Fedorov. I don’t give a shit about your duty right now, but I give a lot of shits about my daughter and the grand babies you put in her. I don’t know what your plan is, but I know your priority is keeping them safe and making sure none of the shit going on touches any of them.”
“Of course.”
Not looking like he believed me completely, he let out a frustrated breath and shook his head. “Is there anything else?”
“I have an update that you all need to be aware of,” I told him, keeping it vague for Nell’s sake.
“I need to get back to the boys,” Nell whispered shakily, getting to her feet.
“I’ll get Rider to take you,” he replied, striding around his desk to the door and calling for him. “You don’t go anywhere without a brother, Nell, you hear? I don’t care if it’s to go to the bathroom at the hospital, you keep a man with you.”
“What about the boys?” she asked, still whispering. “They’re on their own.”
Closing the distance between us, I cupped her neck with my hands.
“I’ve got men on them, they haven’t been without them since they were born. We’ve also got people loyal to the Bratva who work in the hospital, and some of them are on the floor they’re on. I’ve got you all safe, malysh, and I’m going to do everything to keep you all that way. None of this will touch you.”
Rubbing her lips together, she tried to get control of her emotions. It took a moment, but eventually she nodded slowly. “Okay.”
A new voice instantly had irritation flowing through me. Rider.
“You ready to go, baby?”
Reluctantly letting her go, I turned to glare at the asshole as she walked toward him. He waited until she’d passed him, and then shot me a smug smile as he followed her.
It was immature, but every time I saw him, all I could think of was the way he’d been beside her before the bomb went off, the easy banter they’d had between them when they were talking, and how he’d been the one to take her to hospital.
I was a hypocrite given what I’d put her through—what I was still putting her through—but I’d cut his heart out if he so much as kissed her.
“She don’t see him that way, son,” Bruce told me, still standing by the door as he waited for me to come back in, before closing it again.
