Page 89 of Beautiful Broken Vengeance

The more confident and stronger spine she grew in dealing with Presley and Don, the more submissive she became in private at home. Milos and I discussed it and decided if Phoenix wanted to remain an FBI agent, it wouldn’t be the worst thing for us. John Hart and I spoke and came to an agreement. Phoenix will work on cases as needed from our home. They’ve only contacted her twice in the last two months.

I’ve hated every time she dug into a ring. It fucks with her, turning her weepy and clingy. The sight of tears in her eyes always fucked me up. I ordered her not to do any more until she cried. I gave in, as long as she agreed to the two weeks off after. Valdez is happy to take it and handle the retribution if the FBI or local government doesn’t.

I set her up with a desk in front of mine in my office, both at the condo and my office at the club. Aside from her working on busting rings and her therapy appointments, we rarely spend time apart—it’s the way we both want it. Even her therapy appointments were something I kept my calendar clear for, in case she wanted me there. I always cleared my calendar after, as many times she needed cuddling or extra care. A few times it was even harder because she didn’t want to be touched at all. For an entire day she asked for space, until that night when she clung to me so tight I could barely breathe.

Milos’s phone goes off. “I love my wife, but I swear she loves to push it. I need to see this.”

“What has she done now?” I’m amused how now that Celia is aware of how Milos will do anything to make her happy, she’s gotten a little heavy-handed with giving away to cat shelters and taking in more cats than her own rescue can often handle.

“She approved the delivery of ten kittens today. There is no way her rescue can handle them,” Milos mutters as he leaves.

I shake my head. I check the time, I need to leave myself in order to pick up Phoenix from therapy. It takes a few minutes to shut down what I was working on when Milos came by then to settle Garcia down again on her cat tree where she prefers to sleep.

Arriving at the building, I’m surprised to find Milos leaving. “What did you do?” I sigh.

“What she needed me to do. I killed Ray, the way she hoped I had. It wasn’t pretty, but he’s gone. And now you can both live happily ever after. You’re welcome.”

Inside, I find Phoenix outside Charlie’s office. Her eyes are wide, filled with tears she’s trying not to shed. I catch her tight. “I’m sorry, baby.”

She clutches me tight. Charlie appears. “Mr. Levin. Your brother just left. Your wife hasn’t wanted to discuss it until you arrived. Please, have a seat.”

The moment I’m sitting down, Phoenix climbs into my lap. I hate Milos right now.

“Phoenix, do you want to share your thoughts and feelings right now?” Charlie asks.

A sniffle. “Ray is dead. Will I be able to sit down across from Milos and pretend he didn’t kill the only person who loved me? Probably not completely, but if it means I get to wake up every morning with Daddy, I’ll do it. And the only reason I can is because I have Daddy. For him, I’ll do anything. I love him.”

Hearing her say it, I fight not to squeeze her until she can’t breathe, but my baby is still talking.

“As badly as it hurts to admit, while I believe Ray loved me, it didn’t always feel good. He yelled at me for not keeping the house clean, he constantly complained I couldn’t cook, and he said things that felt like taunts about those years withhim. I flinch from the memory of Ray’s face when I told him how I wanted to stay with him while going to school. For a solid five minutes I did wonder if he had left me behind to flee from prosecution. Hearing Milos confirm it was about him leaving to leave me behind, that he never even told Milos I was his niece, hurt. It also freed me a little from feeling guilty. Then I remembered, not all good people do good things and not all bad people do only bad things. Daddy taught me that.”

She strokes my cheek. “Thank you for loving me, Daddy. I love you and I don’t want to let you go. No matter what.”

Holding her tight, I hope she never changes her mind. Because there will be nothing but hell for the both of us if she does.

* * *

Phoenix

Our wedding day is a dream. The best kind, a dream that’s come true. I never thought I would be one of those women who cared about every little detail for my wedding. And I’m not. Only because Mother and our wedding planner are. Both were so patient and sweet with me.

Mother has explained things like what a charger is for setting a table, and how I should buy Daddy a gift for our wedding day. She even helps me find the perfect gift. I thought of it after Milos had a painting delivered he was calling a wedding gift, but Daddy said was the result of a lost bet he should have paid Daddy weeks ago.

I’m grateful there are only about twenty people here. Presley is with her husband and Don with his wife. Otherwise, the only other people who aren’t family are Lydia and her husband, Dominic Sabatini, Tony Sabatini, and Luca Sabatini with their wives. Over the last few months, I’ve been lucky enough to grow closer with the women I met through Lydia. Celia also swore the women were wonderful. Daddy explained there was a reason mafia married among mafia: the women were comfortable with business and needed other women to talk with about issues they struggled with in their marriage. He was so right, I shared with them often my fears of Daddy’s safety and stress.

Daddy is so happy. A few times he demands I say it again. Guilt fills me for not saying it all these months. I told myself I didn’t need to, he knew. I was afraid the minute I said it he would be bored. But none of it was true—like a child, I held it as my escape card. If I didn’t say it, I could keep it as an out—I could deny I was in love with the brother of my uncle’s killer. Because there is no way it isn’t completely fucked up. Except it was all bullshit.

Milos walking into my therapy without a flicker of apology was scary enough. When he said he killed Ray because Ray attempted to blackmail Milos so he could have enough money to flee Chicago with, I was oddly relieved. Finally, the things we were hiding from were being said. Not only were they said, the sky didn’t fall. It was out and I could move past it. I could and I would. Because it didn’t matter if I walked away from Daddy, I loved him. Whether he killed Ray or not, but thank god he didn’t.

Arriving to our home on the family compound, I sigh with relief. I love the updates. Daddy picks me up and carries me up the stairs with a hungry smile.

The gift is waiting in our room above our bed. I forgot about it until Daddy gasps.

“Do you like it?” I ask, worried he won’t.

“How the hell did you sit for this?” He reaches out to touch the edge of the painting.

“I didn’t. Lydia’s husband is extremely talented and he worked from a photograph.” I’m on the yacht on the deck with the lake around us. As the subject I’m so crisp and clean I’m almost a photograph, but around me the yacht and even the water are in heavy strokes and blurry like Monet. “Do you like it?”

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