Page 123 of Unruly

Catherine didn’t even think about it; she bolted in the same direction Zeke had gone. Andino was right behind her.

All she heard were her heartbeats.

They sounded like someone was whispering, “Cece, Cece … Cece.”

“Mr. Donati, we need you to sit down and have an interview with us about today’s attack. We have every reason to believe that it is related to the one on your—”

Cross put his hand up in the face of the detective, and walked on past, saying only, “You have my lawyer’s number; call him.”

“We have sent for a child forensic psychologist to sit down with your daughter, Cross. You may want to reconsider chatting with us.”

Instantly, Cross stopped walking. He turned so fast, his fucking vision blurred from the speed. Rage and hate filled his heart as he faced the smirking detective and the man’s partner. He didn’t know their names, and frankly, he didn’t give a fuck to learn.

“You will not be questioning my daughter,” Cross said through clenched teeth. “Let me make that one thing perfectly fucking clear. Under no circumstances will my wife or I sign off on anything that allows you to speak with Cece. Not now, and not ever.”

His daughter was too smart, and too observant for her own good. He knew without a doubt Cece likely understood what had happened today. She simply might not have the right vocabulary yet to explain it.

He was not going to allow her to talk to cops. He didn’t fucking talk to cops, for that matter. None of them did.

“She was a witness to—”

“She is barely beyond her third birthday!”

“Which is why the child forensic psychologist was called in. This particular one specializes in Cece’s age group. You cannot impede our investigations.”

“You will not be questioning my daughter,” Cross repeated.

Hatred coated his every word.

The detective barely batted an eye.

“We think differently, Mr. Donati.”

“I said what I said, asshole. This conversation is done.”

With that said, Cross turned on his heel and headed further into the hospital. He heard the detective call at his back. The fools still expected some kind of agreeable response from him, but he had news for them. Holding his hand high over his shoulder, he flipped his middle finger up and left it like that until he rounded a corner.

There.

Let them make of that what they wanted.

He would handle this little issue of the Russians. Today was his absolute last straw, no questions asked. He didn’t even know the whole story about what had happened, as he immediately came to the hospital when he got the call. He didn’t even wait on the phone long enough to ask for details.

The only thing that had mattered was Andino made it perfectly clear Cece and Catherine were all right. The rest, Cross would deal with once he was there.

Well, now he was.

And it was time to deal with it all.

Cross was not going to give the Russians one more chance to mess with his family or organization. As it was, they had already made the streets practically impossible to safely work on for his men. They had put his family into hiding, which had done no good, it seemed. The very first moment Catherine and Cece left the brownstone, they were easily found.

Someone had been watching, probably.

Besides his family, and the Donati men, there was also the constant problems and issues that had been thrown at Zeke and Katya from Vlad, his men, and the one Russian who thought he owned the woman. Timur. Apparently, that one was a lot bolder in his threats and actions, but Zeke had asked that he be allowed to handle keeping Katya safe while they figured out the rest.

So much for all of that, Cross thought as he headed toward the ICU wing. The time for keeping people safe was over, he suspected.

It was time to act.