Page 95 of Corruption

“Don’t worry, daughter. I’d let you keep your child if you wanted to. They would be Fantoni blood after all…”

“You can stop the act. I’m not your daughter. Everyone here knows it.”

“Word of advice, Kiya,” Adrian says to me. “Don’t argue with a mobster when he insists on a truth that only benefits you in the long run. If you’re going to be the partner of a mob boss, you'll do well to learn that sooner rather than later.”

He and Addy stand at the same time and begin to leave. But then Adrian looks back at me and says, “Come along.”

I frown. “Why—”

“I’m sure Alik and Nadia have a lot more to do tonight than they expected they’d have to do. People to kill. Bodies to get rid of. Best you stay with us for the night. We’ll come back in the morning and discuss what our story is going to be.”

I look to Alik and Nadia. Nadia is the one that responds.

“You should go. You don’t want to be around for this next part. It’s going to get messy.”

“Messier than having Vaughn’s brains all over my clothes?” I ask.

“We’ll see you in the morning, Kitten,” Alik says definitively.

I reluctantly follow Addy and Adrian out the house and try not to be nervous once I’m in the car with them. The last mob boss who decided I had outlived their use took me to the outskirts of the city and tried to have me killed. But Addy and Adrian wouldn’t risk that. Not when the new boss of the Russian mob is clearly invested in having me alive… Not unless they plan to kill Alik and Nadia too. But that makes no sense. Above all, Addy and Adrian are business people. It doesn’t make sense to kill two people willing to ally with them and do business with them in the future. More importantly, why kill people who aren’t going to give them problems in the future?

Still.

They’re the mafia. I’ve learned not to underestimate the cruelty and conniving involved in this lifestyle.

“No need to be so nervous, Kiya,” Addy says. “You’re going to live. And so is your baby. And so are Alik and Nadia.”

“Excuse me if I won’t be confident in that until I see it in writing with Adrian’s signature on it, witnessed by a judge that you don’t own.”

Adrian chuckles.

“I’m not laughing,” I say pointedly.

To my frustration, Adrian only chuckles again. Then he smiles. It’s small, but it lacks the arrogance and smugness of the smirks he sometimes sends Addy’s way, so I know for sure it’s a smile.

“I have to say, Kiya. You’ve exceeded my expectations. Solved a murder, uncovered a mobster’s conspiracy, enthralled another and his wife, and cleared my wife’s name in just a few short weeks. Worthy of being my daughter and the Fantoni name.”

“A child shouldn’t have to prove herself to be worthy of her father and her family’s name.”

“No. But it doesn’t mean you didn’t anyway. Besides, our father-daughter story has unorthodox origins.”

Addy’s face is as impenetrable and calm as ever, but something tells me she has something to say to me. Something she wants to say without Adrian there. I’m proven right when Adrian gets out the car as soon as we’re home, and Addy tells him we’ll be along soon.

She gets right to it as soon as Adrian closes the door behind him.

“I know you don’t think very highly of my husband. I understand. But you remind him a lot of himself. He sees the same zeal to survive and make a name for yourself despite the odds. A girl from a small Georgia town shouldn’t have been able to make it on her own from nothing in New York City. A boy from a small town in Texas shouldn’t have made it on his own when he was orphaned.”

“Sounds like a story there,” I comment.

“Maybe one day we’ll gather all the children around to tell it. Now, let’s talk about what we’re going to do about Alik and Nadia. Hm?”

“Shouldn’t we talk about this with Adrian?”

Addy smirks, and I wonder if she knows it looks identical to the one her husband frequently gives.

“Contrary to popular belief, Adrian doesn’t make the big decisions around here. I do, and he is my enforcer.”

“I thought the Viper was the Fantoni family enforcer.”

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