Page 162 of Ivory Oath

VIVIANA

Everything happened so fast.

As soon as Anatoly knocked Trofim unconscious, I got my first clear look into the car. I didn’t know the shadowy man in the passenger seat was my father, but I knew he wasn’t a friend. I yelled out to warn Mikhail, but Raoul jumped into action first. The door opened, Raoul leapt in front of Dante, and then…

I can’t bring myself to look, but based on the way Mikhail is shouting, I know enough.

Mikhail was taking cover behind a white hatchback, but he isn’t worried about cover now. He tears across the parking garage like he thinks he’s invincible. Right now, he might be.

“Agostino!” he roars, rage practically rippling behind him as he charges at my father.

My father whips around. His face pales when he sees Mikhail coming towards him. He’s frozen for a second before he ducks behind the car…

And comes back up with Dante in his arms.

No!

I don’t realize I’ve spoken—or moved—but everyone turns to me. I’m stumbling across the garage, my arms outstretched. “Don’t hurt him!”

“Then tell your husband to give me space,” my father bellows back.

Mikhail slows down, but even from this distance, I can see the murder in his eyes.

“I told Trofim this was a stupid plan,” my father mutters almost to himself. “We should have struck when it was just Mikhail and the Colombian, but Trofim wanted Viviana to watch. Now, he’s dead and I’m left cleaning up his mess.”

He wanted me to watch. Watch my husband die. My son, too, probably.

My stomach churns.

“This is your mess,” I tell him. “You got involved with Trofim because you hate me. After all these years, you’re still mad at me. So let Dante go and take me instead.”

Dante is wide-eyed and shaking in my father’s hold, and I can’t look at him. If I do, I’ll collapse. The only way I can save him is to stay strong.

“Why would I want you now?” he spits. “You’re useless to me. You're pregnant with another man’s baby. Trofim is dead.”

“As good as,” Anatoly agrees. He’s standing over Trofim’s unconscious body, gun at the ready. “As soon as he wakes up and knows it was me.”

“Even Christos is losing interest in Mikhail,” my father adds. “Now that Helen is re-engaged, he doesn’t want revenge. I have no alliances, nothing to gain… You are nothing to me.”

“Careful,” Mikhail growls.

My father cackles. “I should be careful? I’m the one with the leverage.” He pats Dante on the shoulder hard enough that Dante winces. “What a way to meet my grandson, huh?”

There’s so much to unpack there, but only one thing matters. “Let Dante go.”

“Not until I know I will walk out of this parking garage alive,” he retorts. “I’m not letting him go until I know you aren’t coming after me.”

Mikhail sneers and starts to say something, but I charge ahead. “We’ll let you go. I never wanted to kill you, Daddy.”

His eyebrow arches suspiciously. It’s been a long time since I’ve called my father “Daddy.” It feels foreign rolling off my tongue, but who needs dignity? Not me. I just need my son.

My father hesitates for a second before a sick smile twists across his face. “That’s the problem with you, Viviana. You’re always lying to me. It makes it impossible to trust you.”

“You can trust me on this! If you let Dante go, I won’t hurt you.”

“What about your husband?” He eyes Mikhail nervously. “Can you guarantee that?”

Mikhail doesn’t turn to look at me. He’s laser-focused on my father’s hands around our son’s neck.

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