Page 102 of Inked in Devotion

“Hey, baby.” Lorenzo De Lucci sauntered from the end of the bar and kissed his wife’s temple. He had noticed his daughter “harassing me” but he figured with me looking after my son, she was safe.

“He’s Sebastian’s dad,” Sam introduced me to De Lucci.

His mouth twitched. “I know, pumpkin.” He playfully wrapped an arm around Sam and pulled her against him. “And you’re causing trouble?”

“Am not.”

De Lucci’s eyes lifted to mine. “Can I get you anything, Mr. Petrov? On the house. Chloe is a close friend, and Sam here has been bugging us to see Sebastian.”

“Thank you, but I’m good. Just waiting for Chloe. I’m taking her out to lunch.” My eyes fell on Sam. “So you see, I have money.”

“How much?” she wanted to know.

“All right, kiddo.” Lorenzo appeared appalled at his daughter’s questions. “Let’s leave the man alone.”

But she was stubborn and pulled away from her dad. “What do you do for a living?”

Her father rolled his eyes and exchanged a look with his wife that signaled he was returning to the coffee bar and to keep an eye on Sam. Would Chloe and I develop that secret language?

“I’m a troubleshooter,” I told her.

“What kind of job is that?”

“I fix problems for the company if something is broken.”

Her mother snorted, but I could tell she wanted to drag her daughter away just in case I revealed a fact that no eight-year-old should be hearing.

“Does that pay a lot?”

“Samantha,” her mother chided. “That’s rude to ask people about how much they make.”

“But I need to make sure I can tell him where to go for lunch,” she explained. “If he can afford it.”

I’d give it to Sam. I chuckled, and it was a genuine one. Uncertain if I wanted to take lunch suggestions from an eight-year-old, I decided to humor her. “Where should I take Chloe and Sebastian?”

She launched into a list of restaurants. Not their names. But a general direction of where they were relative to the café and the type of food they served.

“…of course there’s always Eamonn’s,” she added after giving me a rundown of seafood, meat, and loaded baked potato pointers. “That’s my family’s pub.”

Yes, I know.

“…they’ve got Fish and Chips Fridays. That’s where Mommy and I are heading. I don’t like fish that much, only Eamonn’s. Duh, because Grandma makes the best.” She glanced at her mother. “Maybe they can come with us. Except…” Her mouth turned down. “I’m hungry already.”

Elizabeth laughed and hugged her daughter. “Come on, munchkin, you’ve taken enough of Mr. Petrov’s time.”

They were halfway to the door when Sam turned back. “Wait, you didn’t tell me your name.”

“Kolya.”

She grinned and waved. “Bye, Kolya and Sebastian. Bye, Dad!” she hollered.

The café was relatively busy with the after-lunch crowd wanting coffee or dessert. Sebastian seemed to have fallen asleep on my lap, so I rose and put him in the carrier across the booth I was sitting in. That was when I noticed a phone pointed my way. Lowering my head, I gritted my teeth. I wasn’t used to being a public dad. I had enough trouble trying to evade my Mistress Strangler fandom, although Maksim said the fan mail and packages had dwindled.

Except for curiosity the first few times in prison, the guards inspected them anyway. I told them to send them all to the incinerator. Some guards who’d become my friends were brave enough to tease me about the women’s thongs that came through the mailroom with a note that said, “Choke me with this.”

I could be perverse in my desires. Breath play? The only woman I wanted to explore it with was Chloe. But first…

When I found out she left the shelter to go to The Grindhouse, I was concerned with her security. She had five guards on her. They were outside right now and probably giving the De Lucci soldiers something to do.