Page 22 of Daddy's Little Mafia Princess
“Sorry for the interruption, but I thought you’d want to take this.”
He was right. Alviero had rotten timing, but I’d known he would make contact tonight as soon as he came to. Personally, I’d given it a fifty-fifty chance he would either show up in my apartment lobby or call me. That he doesn’t measure Clara’s worth enough to fetch her back in person doesn’t surprise me, but it pisses me off.
Taking the phone, I step out into the bedroom and close the bathroom door behind me. What I have to say to this man is for his ears alone, and whatever he says back to me, I don’t want her to hear.
She’s with me now, and I will protect her—even from that.
Chapter 9
Clara
The moment he shuts the bathroom door, I get out of the shower. I grab a towel and wrap it around me as I rush to press my ear against the door. The tenor of Viktor’s voice is easily heard, although not the words. He sounds calm, but I know he really can’t be. I know my father. Every time Viktor pauses to listen, I know what my father is threatening. He’ll come for me. He’ll storm his way through this hotel, and if he has to kill people to get me back, he will. Not because he wants me, but because he’s insulted anyone would try to take what’s his. That includes the daughter he never wanted, born from a woman he hated and who I resemble so closely that when he’s angry enough to beat me, he sometimes called me by her name.
I hear Viktor laugh, but his reply is so low, I can’t make it out, and it’s killing me. I need to know what’s being said. I need to know how much time I have before he comes for me.
Cracking the bathroom door, I peek out, but all I see is the wall, the nightstand, and a sliver of the bed. My belly tightens, then flushes warm as I notice the fresh sheets. He’s alreadystripped it down and made it up again, good as new after my accident, as though it never even happened.
“If you think for one second, I’d ever let her go back to your abusive household, you’re out of your mind. I made you a fair offer, one you agreed to.”
My father’s shouted reply is soft as a hum from this distance. I can hear the anger in his tone, but the words all run together.
“I don’t care,” Viktor drawls, still calm, blissfully unaware of the danger his actions have put us both in.
My father is shouting again.
“That will not happen,” Viktor cuts in firmly. “You have no leverage. I’ll send a runner to your casino with a packet of papers you will sign turning over your interest in the Crown to your daughter. Call it a wedding present, but you, your family, and your company will no longer hold ownership of any kind over her or it.”
I think I hear my father laugh, but Viktor ignores it, giving instructions over the top of it.
“You’ll do it because I have men positioned within five minutes of your top five investors with copies of your fraudulent profit statements and proof of your embezzlement. With what I’ve provided, I doubt they’ll waste any time before hunting you down. You want to stay in Vegas, you want to stay alive? Then sign.”
I can’t hear the faintest hum of a reply coming through from my father’s end of the phone. I have never in my life heard anyone give my father orders. Pushing the bathroom door open farther, I search for where Viktor is and find him sitting on the foot of the bed, looking right at me, holding the phone to his ear.
My stomach knots at the look he’s giving me, then flushes hot. It’s more than just embarrassment being caught eavesdropping. He doesn’t invite me out, but he doesn’t send me back into the bathroom, either. After a moment, he takes the phone from hisear and hits the speaker button. My father’s low, furious voice spews into the room.
“…built that fucking place. Me! No one else. You think I’m going to let some Russki pervo take my daughter? Fuck you! That cunt belongs to me. I’ll kill her before I let you have her. You hear me? I’ll fucking kill h—”
Taking the phone off speaker, Viktor puts it to his ear again. His voice is still calm, but his expression is the coldest I’ve seen him wear as he rises from the bed. Turning his back to me, he walks a short distance away.
“Never threaten her again. Do you hear me? I’ll fucking destroy you.”
I believe him.
I believe him every bit as much as I believe my father won’t, or perhaps he just won’t care. He’s coming for me, and the safest place I can think to hide is right here, in Viktor’s home. Anywhere else, I’d have no protection. No money. No friends who could hide me, and even those I hadn’t seen in years, I wouldn’t dare ask because they’d be risking their lives just by trying.
I was trapped.
No, not true. Trapped is what my life used to be, but if Viktor keeps his word, I would have a car, money, and after a year, my freedom if I want it. I could go anywhere I wanted, and by then, perhaps my father’s wounded pride would have lost its sting, and he wouldn’t look for me. That was an awfully big ‘perhaps,’ not to mention, a year could feel like an eternity if stuck with the wrong person.
Like a person who insists I call him Daddy and who wasn’t at all shy about spanking me or sticking a ginger plug up my ass if I disobeyed.
But he wasn’t above bringing me water to drink when I was thirsty or cleaning up after me when I made a mess.
I don’t want to marry, especially not someone like my father, but I’m not stupid. It’s not freedom I’ll gain by resisting Viktor but abandonment. I’ll be back in my father’s keeping before the elevator takes me from the penthouse to the ground floor lobby. Would he keep me to himself, or would he give me back to Miguel? Miguel, with his promises to make me scream for ruining his life.
I cover my face with both hands.
“Bring it,” Viktor says, snapping me out of ‘what ifs,’ back into the here and now. I can’t afford to keep doing this. I have to decide. No matter which option I choose, it’s like looking down a gun barrel at the bullet chambered for me.
