Page 93 of Santa Daddy
A secret that would change everything between us when it came out, whether we wanted it to or not.
I held that new truth inside me.
It pulsed in my mind like a heartbeat.
Sooner or later, Konstantin was going to discover that the woman he’d pulled out of a Christmas tree lot and turned into his Christmas Eve bride was carrying his child.
God help us both when he did.
18
DEATH THREATS AND DEVOTION
KONSTANTIN
The photograph landed on my desk like a quiet bomb.
I was in my tower office three floors below the penthouse, pretending to care about shipment reports, when Lenny knocked. Once. Short.
“Boss.” He stepped in, set a manila envelope down. His hand shook just enough for me to notice.
Bad news, then.
“Who brought it?” I asked.
“Runner. Building front desk. No name. No return address.”
Of course.
I opened the envelope the way you handle explosives—slow, careful, ready to move.
One photograph. High resolution. Framed too neatly to be a coincidence.
Dani.
Sitting at the café from her “taste of freedom.” Christmas lights blurred behind the window. Latte in both hands. Head tilted at something out of frame, mouth curved. Dark hair falling over her shoulder.
First real smile I’d seen on her since the tree lot.
My chest tightened. I ignored it.
Then I saw the crosshairs.
Two faint red lines, digitally overlaid, crossed dead center on her forehead.
A target painted on the woman who’d somehow become my weak point.
They knew.
They knew exactly where to hit.
“When?” I asked. My voice stayed level, but I felt the temperature in the room drop.
“About twenty minutes ago,” Lenny said. “Messenger left right after. Cameras got nothing clear—hood up, head down.”
Twenty minutes.
Plenty of time for someone with a rifle and a plan.
