AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Rossi…
The name was met with either fear or the kind of respect that bordered on a desperate hunger to know all the dark, dangerous things my husband did. The wordMafiahad that effect on people. I tried to ignore it, pretending to smile, laugh and divert any attention away from Lazarus.
Still, I’d take the scrutiny of my name. I’d take the sneers and the jokes; anything was better than the name I previously carried. A name I wanted to scrub from my memory. VanHalen. The name was of opulence, money, and power to everyone else who didn’t know the truth. But to me that name conjured terror and darkness. The kind of depravity that broke you. One that almost broke me. And it would have, if not for Lazarus.
I climbed out when we pulled up, wishing I was anywhere else except here. I shouldn’t have let myself be talked into this. It’d been a moment of insanity and excitement that made me share my private moment with Monica when she called about Nieve’s birthday party that’s three months away. I didn’t want to go to that, and I didn’t want to go to this. But I was here, trying to be normal.
Still, excitement hovered on the horizon. The weekend with Fin and Anna would be vastly different to this. With them there was no pretense, and no lies and no secrets. They knew the real me, my name, my past and still none of that mattered. With them, I was just Kat.
Gareth hauled the stroller out of the rear of the Range Rover, then turned, giving me his back as he watched the traffic. Leaving me to load my bags of diapers, wipes, feeds, and a thousand other things I hauled around when we went out. Then, I opened the door, smiled at her happy face, and reached for her.
I had her loaded into the pram and strapped in in an instant. Gareth closed the doors, locked the car, and then we were moving crossing the street to the café. The waitress took one look at the pram, before curling her nose. “Sorry we’re fully booked.” She had the nerve to meet my gaze as she said the words.
“Kat!” The squeal came from the table near the window.
I turned back to the waitress. “That’s fine, I can find my own way.”
The waitresses’ gaze widened, turning to Monica as she rushed over to me, grabbing me in a panicked embrace. “Oh my God, you should see Stewart Hamilton’s new Maserati. I’m justdyingto tell you about it.” She gushed, never once looking at Sophie.
She pulled me from the waitress and towards a table where three of my former friends sat watching me. I called themformerbecause they really didn’t have any effect on my life. They were the people of my past. Ones I was desperate to cut away from, I just needed a reason.
“It’s green. Can you imagine that?” Monica droned on.
I push the pram over, removing a chair and placing it against the wall to make room. I smiled at the others, took a seat, and pulled Sophie out of the pram. They looked at her with distaste, brows risen, arms folded across their body, as though having a child was nothing more than some viral disease they wanted no part of.
“It’s hideous.” Monica slumped into the seat across from me. She glanced at Sophie then, and for a second, I thought she might smile and ask about her. But all she did was scan the restaurant behind me and mutter. “So where is the nanny?”
“There is none,” I answered, and gave a sigh, knowing what was about to come. This was the second time she decided to lecture me about my parenting. “I’ve explained this before.”
“I just don’t think that you can be a proper parent without at least some hired help. I mean how can you have time for yourself, time to be attentive to your husband. You and Lazarus are still together, right?”
There was hope sparkling in her eyes. Did she think that she had a chance with someone like Laz? If she knew how he really saw her, she’d never mention his name again. Still, she was shameless, leaning forward to touch the back of my hand. “It’s okay, you’re amongst friends. You can tell us.”
I just chuckled and shook my head. “Did you forget the reason we’re having brunch at all? Lazarus and I are expecting another baby. I’m pregnant, remember?”
Monica just glanced at Sophie. “Oh, that’s right, I totally forgot.”
I wanted to get up from the table then, grab my daughter and walk out. This was a waste of my time and a waste of my energy. I sighed, then glanced around finding the waiter hovering near. “Coffee, black, please.”
He smiled, trying is best not to look at my daughter sitting on my lap. Christ, this place was pathetic. “Will that be all?”
“Katerina.”
I stiffened with the voice, holding the waiter’s gaze before slowly turning my head. Monica’s cheeks grew red, and she looked away. From between the tables my father strode toward me, adjusting the buttons of his jacket, that chilling, emotionless gaze shifting from me to my daughter. Ice plunged through me as my hold tightened, pulling her against my chest.
“Mr. VanHalen,” Monica mumbled, not once lifting her gaze.
She didn’t need to, did she? Because she knew…
“What the fuck is this?” My voice was cold, and stony.
“Don’t blame Monica,” he murmured, stopping in front of me. “I was the one who asked her to contact you.”
My heart thundered. Panic roared as I glanced toward the front of the café finding Gareth discreetly at a distance. But I didn’t need him at a distance in this moment, I needed him here standing between me and the monster in front of me.
I rose, lifting Sophie back into the pram.
“Katarina,” he murmured.
