Page 111 of Cinderella and the Daddy
I laugh softly. "She's your daughter. Of course, she's going to be trouble."
"Our daughter," he corrects, pressing a kiss to the top of my head. "Our perfect, beautiful, wonderful daughter."
32
LUKA
Icut the engine in front of the shop. Cindy sits in the passenger seat, staring at the place she called home for half of her life. I know it holds a lot of terrible memories and a handful of good ones.
The paperwork came through yesterday, signed and notarized, officially transferring ownership from Charles to Cindy.
I wasn't exactly thrilled when she first brought up the idea of running the garage. The thought of my wife—the mother of my infant daughter—spending her days in a place that once housed betrayal and violence didn't sit well with me. But watching her face light up when she talked about rebuilding the business and working with her hands again, I couldn't deny her.
Charles signed over the garage from his exile in Moscow. He’s doing all he can to get back into Cindy’s good graces. She’s allowed him to see Sofia via video chat on two occasions.
Two times too many in my opinion, but I’m letting her control the situation. She needs that control. Her entire life, she’d been a product of her circumstances.
“Ready?” I ask softly.
“Can we go in?” Leo asks from the backseat.
Grigori pulls his SUV to a stop on my right. Tony parks his on my left.
The Kozlov organization is scattered to the winds, but I will never take a chance with my family’s safety. I systematically eliminated Adrian and three of the top lieutenants in the organization over the past several months. I will keep cutting off the head of the snake until there is zero chance the Kozlov organization will ever rise again.
My father's approval of my methods came in the form of a promotion—head of American operations. It’s a position that carries both power and prestige as well as a target on my back.
Cindy and I talked about it for hours before I accepted. More responsibility means more danger. More enemies and more reasons for someone to try to hurt my family. But it also means more power to protect what's mine. I have more resources to keep the remnants of hostile organizations from ever rising again.
“Let’s check it out,” Cindy says and opens the door.
I push open the side door of the garage with one hand while holding Sofia's carrier in the other. I can't help but feel satisfied with how things have turned out. Cindy follows behind me with Leo, both of them chattering excitedly about the possibilities for the space.
The garage renovation has been my project for the past three months, starting when Cindy was too pregnant to argue about accepting such an expensive gift.
I hired the contractors the day after she mentioned missing working on cars, her hands unconsciously miming the motion of turning a wrench while Sofia kicked inside her. Every week, while she focused on growing our daughter, I focused on rebuilding her dream.
"When did you do all this?" she asks now, turning in a slow circle to take it all in.
"Started the week after the warehouse burned," I admit. "Viktor oversaw most of it while we were dealing with the baby."
She stops spinning, fixing me with those sharp eyes. "Luka, this must have cost?—"
"What good is money if I can't use it to make you happy?"
The renovation wasn't just cosmetic. New reinforced walls rated for explosions. Bulletproof glass in every window. Safe room hidden behind the tool cage. Security measures disguised as modern updates. She doesn't need to know all that. Not yet.
"It's perfect," she breathes, and I know she means it. The shadows that haunted this place have been exorcised by industrial lighting and fresh paint. No more ghosts of Drew's cruelty or Anna's betrayal. Just clean lines and possibilities.
New lighting, fresh paint, state-of-the-art equipment, and enough security measures to make Fort Knox jealous. Two of my men are already positioned outside—visible deterrents to anyone stupid enough to think this place is an easy target.
"It's so much brighter," Cindy says, running her hand along one of the pristine workbenches. "I can actually see what I'm doing now."
Leo races ahead, exploring every corner with the boundless energy of a six-year-old who's been promised he gets to help with "real car stuff." Sofia makes a small sound from her carrier. I adjust the blanket around her sleeping form. At two months old, she's already got me wrapped around her tiny finger.
"There's something else," I tell Cindy, unable to keep the anticipation out of my voice any longer.
She turns to me with raised eyebrows. "Something else?"
