Page 159 of Viper

“But I can’t find my—”

“It isn’t here,go.”

“So rude.” Lou must have gone up on his tippy toes, because his head appeared in Ella’s line of sight as he waved at the baby again. “Bye, bye, Lilibeth. I’ll see you very—ow, kid, that hurt.” Rubbing at his cheek, he disappeared once more.

Lilibeth’s small mouth hitched up, and she let out a high-pitched coo of what might have been amusement.

Viper gave her a look of approval. “Yeah, we don’t like him, do we? So if he comes back, feel free to slap him as many times as you want.”

Ella blinked. “You’re actually encouraging our daughter to attack the devil?”

“Do youwanther to be like Asher and call him ‘Uncle Lou’?”

“Not for a second.”

“Then we keep up the hostility.”

Ella snorted. “Fine. But I’m not so sure he’ll be bothered that much. He seemed to find her antics supremely entertaining.” She smiled at Lilibeth and then kissed her downy cheek. “We all do. How could we not?” Ella looked back at Viper, finding him staring down at her wearing the most intense but warmest expression. “You okay?”

His lips tipped up. “Never been better, baby. Never been fucking better.”

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