Page 66 of Daddies of the Underworld

God. The way he said my name still had power over me. And yet, the tone itself made every protective instinct I possessed bare its teeth. I stepped sideways, putting myself between them and the wall we shared with Mrs. Whitaker’s apartment. Stupid. The wall was not a door, but my body didn’t care. Sofia was on the other side, and I would put brick, stone, blood, and bone between her and anyone who dared come for her.

“Nina, we did not come to take Sofia from you.” Luca remained by the door, preventing me from bolting.

Could I shout loud enough for Mrs. Whitaker to hear? She could call the police. And then I’d be staring down the idea of having to write a report while three powerful, influential men argued their side of the story.

All the years of preparing, and I never expected it would come down to this. “If you’re not here to hurt me, or to take Sofia, why corner me in my own apartment?”

Dante glared at Luca while answering. “We know you’re getting ready to run again. We knew if you had a chance, you’d slip away. You left us once, with nothing more than a letter. Forgive us if we no longer trust you.”

“You don’t trust me?” I laughed, but the sound came out reedy and thin. “You’re the ones who said you had to eliminate the problem and that my feelings in the matter were of no consequence.” That wasn’t exactly what they said, but close enough.

Matteo’s eyes flicked to me, then the door, and he went very, very still. “Nina, tell me exactly what you mean by that.”

Holy shit the man was intimidating. Five years away from him had dulled that part of my brain until I stood staring at him again. “If we do not solve the problem before it destroys everything, the alliance breaks.” I repeated the words on autopilot. “Then Dante asked about me, and you said that I couldn’t be the reason you hesitated.” I adjusted my grip on the knife. “I was pregnant, terrified, and you’d essentially put a hit out on me after they found the drive in my locker.”

“I was talking about Marco.” Matteo’s voice came out icy.

The door opened, and Sofia walked in carrying her stuffed rabbit. Floppy gray ears smashed beneath her chin, and her eyes widened when she saw me. She spun, taking in all three men with a glance.

Damn it. I dropped my hand, folding the knife and putting it away. It was too late to spill blood, and I doubted I could anyway.

Sofia had always been cautious more than frightened, and too observant. She lowered the stuffed rabbit to her side and tilted her head to examine Dante.

Luca closed the door behind her but didn’t lock it. “Hello, Sofia. We’re friends of your mother’s.”

“Friends usually don’t make her point the knife at you. She only does that when she’s scared.” Sofia’s chin came up. “So, you’re either the bad men I’m supposed to run away from, or you scared her. And if you scared her, you’re still bad men.” Her head swung around to take in Luca, then Matteo. She stopped there, her eyes going too wide. “Why do you have eyes like mine?”

22

DANTE

Sofia stared up at Matteo, waiting for an answer he did not know how to give. I’d seen Matteo talk men out of war, money, territory, and occasionally their own stupidity–myself included. I’d seen him negotiate while bleeding through his shirt.

I had never seen a five-year-old with glitter on her cheeks knock the words clean out of him.

Sofia waited another second, then shrugged like she’d decided grown men were disappointing and moved on.

Straight to me. Oh shit. She marched toward me with her stuffed rabbit clutched beneath her chin and one sock sagged around her ankle. She stopped close enough for the light to catch the gold flecks in her eyes. Fuck. Just like Matteo’s. Christ.

“Are you a friend or not?” She asked it with such sass that Luca slid down the wall and into the floor.

His shoulders hunched, and I couldn’t tell if he was laughing or crying. Maybe both.

My jaw unhinged, pushing out a gust of air at her simple but impossible question. “I would like to be. We are not here to hurt you. Not you or your mother.”

Nina’s hand shifted close to her pocket, her body angled toward me like she might dart forward and snatch Sofia back. I was surprised she hadn’t already, but a quick look at her face showed her frozen shock.

Nina would have to go through all three of us to get to Sofia and run again. She did not know that I would tear the world apart to find her again.

I lowered myself to a knee. Standing over Sofia felt wrong. Everything about this felt wrong. We’d made a mistake in our approach, but based on Nina’s first reaction, we’d been right to eliminate all chances of her running.

Sofia frowned at me, her fingers trailing over the rabbit’s ears. “That’s not an answer.”

“No.” My throat worked hard around the word. “No, but it’s the truth.” I reached into my jacket pocket and pulled out the book I’d tucked there. “I brought this for you.”

Sofia’s eyes went wide at the sight of the book cover. “You know about Peter Rabbit?”

“Know it?” I smiled at her and extended the book. “I memorized the first three.” It had given me something to do as I researched her favorites. Books. Music. Colors. We knew she loved purple, glitter shoes, the Peter Rabbit books, pop rock, and science. The rest would come with time.