Page 29 of Bound By Sin
“So, what happens now?” Tara questioned, breaking our silence. “You are still who you are, Valentino, which puts Nia in danger.”
“I vow on my life no one will touch a hair on her head or yours. You two are my family, and I will kill any motherfucker who would dare try to take either one of you away from me. Do you understand?”
“Yes,” she responded.
Even the thought of harm coming to either one of them sent rage rushing through me. Everyone will know who they are to me, and all my men will protect them with their lives. If not, I had no problem ending theirs.
“Come to Philadelphia with me.”
“What?” she asked with surprise in her voice.
I know this wasn’t the perfect time to ask, but it was where they needed to be to be safe. Chicago was enemy territory. I’d even have to get permission from Don Rizzo for my child to be in his fucking territory, and I wasn’t ready to reveal I had a family. Not yet.
“I want to have a life with you and Nia. I want both of you with me. I can’t move here, and I’m already on borrowed time in Chicago. But I want a life with both of you.”
“Valentino…”
“You don’t have to give me an answer right now,” I said, cutting off her statement. I wasn’t sure what she was going to say, but I knew I was asking a lot. She’d made a life in Chicago, and so had Nia. I didn’t want to uproot either one of them, but I also wanted them with me. It was something we’d have to sit down and discuss together. As a family. However, it wasn’t possible for them to stay here. She would have to see things my way.
I looked up at the scoreboard, and time was ticking down.
“Are you ready?” she asked, a small smile lifting at the corners of her mouth.
I missed her so much. She was the person I could tell anything to and not be judged. This was one of the things I missed about her. About us.
“I’m so fucking nervous,” I admitted, rubbing my hands together. “What if she doesn’t like me?”
The small smile that had lifted the corners of her mouth spread across her face, and the way her eyes softened made me realize how much I loved her even more. How much I’d missed her looking at me like I was the only person in the room.
“She’s gonna love you, Valentino.” She caressed my cheek. “I told her I wanted her to meet someone very important to me.”
“She probably thinks I’m your boyfriend or some shit.”
She chuckled. “I don’t do boyfriends.”
That was nice to hear. I was so fucking happy she hadn’t been able to replace me.
The referee blowing the whistle and the crowd’s thunderous cheers garnered our attention. Nia was hugging her teammates and jumping up and down, screaming, celebrating a win with her team and coaches, and I was absolutely enthralled by her. I watched in total fascination as the person I’d helped to create ran toward the bleachers with a huge smile across her beautiful face. She was absolutely gorgeous, just like her mother.
When she made it through the crowd of fans on the field to the sidelines, she hugged the big motherfucker who’d blocked my path earlier. My body vibrated with rage.
Is this the person she thinks is her father when it should have been me? Is he the one she calls dad?
“Valentino?”
Tara called my name, but I couldn’t take my eyes off my daughter’s arms wrapped around another man. She was my daughter, not his.
“Calm down, Valentino.” Tara placed her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. “Nathan has been her guard since she was four years old.”
“That doesn’t mean shit to me, Tara. He was there, and I wasn’t. That should be me she’s hugging after winning one of the biggest games of her high school soccer career, not some random motherfucker.”
“But you’re her father, and nothing will ever change that,” she said. “She’s going to love you just as much as I do because of the person you are. We will make her see that what happened was a mistake on our part, and it had nothing to do with her.”
Before I could respond, Nia barreled toward us, and all my anger drained away. The anxiousness from earlier returned full force. I couldn’t believe my child, who was a beautiful young woman, was standing in front of me.
“Ma! Ma!” I watched as my daughter jumped into the arms of my woman, and it felt like my heart was going to burst out of my chest. “We won!”
“I know.” Tara kissed her head and stepped out of her embrace with the biggest smile across her face. “You did great, sweetie. I’m so proud of you.”
