“This is fucking insane,” he grumbled then his unusual silence had me rotating my chair to look at him. “I might have a solution for you.” His wicked smile was back in place. I frowned, not sure I wanted to hear what he had up his sleeve. “D’Angelo wants a baby, right?” I lifted a brow. “What if you had a baby to give them.”
“I’ll pretend I didn’t hear that.” I took a drink and ran a hand through my hair. “I’m a drug lord, not a fucking child trafficker.”
“Jesus, Renz, would you hear me out.”
“How?”
“Zena Sen,” he said, looking at me like he expected me to understand what the fuck he was getting at.
“What about her?” The night of Bianca’ death almost three years ago, was the last I’d seen Zena and I wasn’t interested in a repeat performance.
“She has a baby.”
I choked on the next sip and coughed hard to ease the burning ache in my throat. Blinking to clear my watery vision, I squinted at Remo. “Rayden’s a father?” Slowly, he shook his head and my brow creased. “What the fuck are you saying? Spill it.”
“You’re a father.”
For one stupid moment, I just stared, my usual calm blindsided by the divulgence. Every muscle in me tensed and my stomach lurched. The glass in my hand cracked with the pressure of my grip. I stared at the broken pieces, aware of how well it resembled my heart and not caring that blood dripped from an open wound. “Get the chopper ready.” I stood as Remo handed me a tissue.
“We can’t leave yet. I need to make some arrangements first.”
“What arrangements?” I dabbed at the blood. “Granger Valley is—”
“Not that kind of arrangement?”
“What are you up to, Remo?” My brother was the most secretive son of a bitch to walk the planet. With good reason. He merely shrugged. “Does Rayden know it’s mine?”
“He’s going to find out now.”
Even though I frowned, that showdown would either be momentous or fucked-up. “How long?”
“You have the board meeting, remember?”
Rossi Holdings and all its subsidiaries was a front for our real business. Its legitimacy registered everything from shareholders, board of directors to an actuarial team that maintained the financial records. Corporate Investment and Mergers and Acquisitions being the core functionality, kept the IRS off our backs and presented an authentic façade to the FBI if they came snooping.
As the CEO, I had to attend the monthly board meeting. “Fine,” I didn’t hide my impatience.
He chuckled, walking out then glanced over his shoulder. “You’re not going to Granger Valley, brother.”
Baffled, I opened my mouth to ask him why, he was already striding out the door. I could’ve sworn the universe was out to get me or maybe Remo was right. It was time to lay my claim to what was rightfully mine—repercussions be damned. Only this time, I felt the whispered warning at the back of my head, a voice I chose not to recognize as mine, murmuring words of caution, reminding me that something could go wrong, of what had previously gone wrong when the intensity of my impulsive temperament took over, twice before.
But doubts always peeked in at the most inopportune time. The fate bringing me to this precise moment where I no longer had the strength to battle my callous indifference was sealed the second I decided to let a young boy and girl live. And now, with just four words Remo had me dangling at the end of that fucking pathway, ready to give in and take what I deserved. This time, though, I might not be able to stop the hurt, the pain, the indecision.
