Page 5 of Inked in Devotion

“Okay, hand it over, Mama,” Dora chuckled. “Don’t be a tease.”

I laughed harder.

Sebastian kicked his feet as if reacting to my laughter, and a small bubble of mirth escaped his mouth. That merriment inflated my heart with a glimmer of self-confidence that maybe my baby might like me. I didn’t dare be the one to release him from his high chair yet. His eyes still sought Dora more than me, but I had to remind myself that it had only been a day and I was less hormonal now than I had been all those months ago.

We ended up with a messy tray and grubby little hands. He started throwing his food when he’d had enough, but I was too elated to care because I’d crossed the first hurdle of feeding my child.

The tenant station in the apartment rang, so I went to answer it.

“Hello.”

“Miss Brown, there’s a gentleman here to see you.”

My heart stuttered. Who else knew I was here? Was Theo going to push his case? But no, he was too busy with his empire to come down here, and I heard his assistant mutter about his packed schedule.

“Who is it?” I should tell Hudson. I had the option to switch to video with the concierge, but a wisp of danger prevented me from doing so.

The voice that came over the line sent chills and weakness through my limbs; I had the hysterical desire to push the end call button.

“Princess, is there something you want to tell me?”

Sebastian’s father.

Chapter

Two

Kolya

“I…how did you find me?” she whispered. Did it bother me she sounded scared? Not really. She should be scared. Especially if I proved she had hidden an unforgivable secret from me.

Although, could I blame her?

I wasn’t father material. I was a criminal. Kolya the Killer. The bratva hit man. Even accused of being the Mistress Strangler serial killer.

“It isn’t hard. Now, I’m handing the receiver to this nice gentleman, and you will tell him to send me up.”

Silence.

There was a commotion over the line, and I heard voices. A man. He'd better be her security and not a man she was fucking.

“Chloe?” I gritted.

The phone went dead.

Fine. I returned the receiver to the building concierge, drew my gun, and pointed it at his head. “You will take me to her apartment.”

Poor man turned as gray as his shirt's color. It almost looked as if he was going to throw up. I didn’t care. If he were an obstacle, he became a number.

“Drop your weapon!”

Movement behind me called my attention. Without lowering my gun, I turned around and sighed. Building security. He had his gun pointed at me, but his hand was shaking. The thing with rent-a-cops is they lacked real-world experience, and when faced with actual threats, they choked.

But I was cognizant of the fact that if I killed these two idiots, then I had no way of accessing Chloe’s apartment.

The concierge's phone rang again. “Can I answer this?”

“Go ahead.”