Arthur
The Cavalieri and I sat around the table, discussing our next move. It was pretty simple: storm the Russo household, get the twins out, destroy everyone who gets in our way, and bring Charles to me. The only problem my men had was that I wanted to be there too. I could not let another man save my girl, that was my responsibility. They managed to talk me out of it.
“What happened to not getting attached to one woman?” Niko asked, and I glared at him. I knew what loving a woman could do to a man, the last one I’d loved had nearly destroyed me, but Gaia was not just any woman. She was everything. The ultimate goal. She was the only reason I was sitting here talking, instead of going over there and slitting Russos throat. These kinds of things took strategy and precision; one wrong move could cost us.
Gabe followed through like I’d thought he would. He had a plan to get his sister out of there when the time came. That grandfather that suddenly materialized bothered me though, and I had a feeling that before the night was through, there’d be more surprises.
“I have got a pretty Swedish chick for you downstairs, boss. Clean shaven and everything.” Niko laughed.
I slammed my fist on the desk. “That is the last thing I want to do right now.”
He shrugged.
“Look, this meeting is over. I have some stuff to do.”
As I walked into my office, all I could think about was her. I lit a cigar and blew the smoke out slowly, closing my eyes and leaning back. The last time she was in here, she was on her knees under my desk, giving me a blowjob while I tried to get an update from one of my men. I’d managed to remain composed until Kay left, then I’d fucked her against my desk as punishment.
I stood and poured a drink, staring out of the window.
“You will be free, little bird.”
She’d told me she was going to leave the nest, but that didn’t mean anything. I had to get rid of Russo, so she’d never have to look over her shoulder again. Niko was right, I’d been the one to tell him not to get attached to a woman. I’d been the one to warn them all against getting attached, yet here I was, putting a woman I’d unintentionally fallen in love with in danger. Being in my life meant that she would always be a target, even after Russo was destroyed. My own daughter was a target because her father and husband were a ruthless criminal. I didn’t think I could do that to Gaia too.
* * *
“Father?” She opened the door, surprised to see me. I couldn’t blame her, this was only the second time I’d visited her home. “Come in.”
She stood awkwardly in the foyer, then seeming to remember that I was there. “Would you like to come in?” She wobbled ahead of me into a parlor. I had no idea how far along she was, but she was obviously pregnant. She looked so much like her mother, my heart ached, but there were also distinct differences. Where Guin was cold, Giuliana was warm. She smiled a lot more, too, something I certainly could not take any credit for. That was all Lance, her husband. In fact, I was the worst father a child could ask for. I never gave her my time, and at the first threat of her being taken from me, I’d packed her off to a nunnery.
“Are you okay?” She asked, sitting on an armchair opposite me. A housekeeper walked in with tea, which I declined.
‘What made you stay? What made you convince Lance to stay at the Tabella, after what I’ve put you through? Sending you to a convent, and then doing everything in my power to keep the two of you apart.”
“This is Lance’s life, I met him here. He was Cavalieri when I fell in love with him, so why would I ask him to change that? Besides, there isn’t anything that scares me, I’m a Calthorpe.”
I considered what she said. This was what she grew up in. But she’d had no choice in it. Gaia does.
“It might not mean much now, but I truly am sorry. For everything.”
Her eyebrows knitted together. “Really, it’s okay.”
I held my hand up. “I’m a monster Giuliana I am not the kind of man that ever deserved you.”
“Father, that is all in the past, all of it.”
“No, I robbed you, of a mother, and then I didn’t have the decency to be a father. Just know that I understand the distance you keep, and I know you’re in the best possible hands.”
I stood and leaned down to kiss her forehead. This was the most affection I’d ever shown my own flesh and blood. I truly was the devil. I don’t know what Gaia saw in me, but she was wrong. She was so wrong, and looking at my daughter, I knew what I had to do.
