Page 54 of Surprise Quadruplets for the Mob

I stand and slam my fist down on the desk, sending papers flying. “Get the fuck out,” I yell, pointing at the door. “Get the fuck out and let me deal with this!”

I can hear his footsteps rushing away, but the anger and hurt and disappointment is already bubbling over. It’s like a switch has been flipped and everything is suddenly red.

How could she? How could she do this to me? I never doubted her when she told me about the babies, not even for a second. Now it’s like my world is crumbling apart.

I grab a lamp from my desk and hurl it against the wall, letting out a guttural yell. I can feel the blood pulsing through my veins, the adrenaline surging through my body, and it’s all directed at the woman upstairs with my kids.

Herfucking kids. They aren’t mine.

What game is she playing at? It almost doesn’t make sense. Is she after protection? Trying to ensure I’d do everything to keep her and the children safe? But I’d have done that for her anyway, children or not. I think she even knows that.

Is it money, then, that she’s after? A monthly child-support check to set her up for life?

That doesn’tfeellike Abby, but what else could she have been lying to me about? I grab the sheet and re-read everything thatAlyosha just said to me, to make sure. But it’s all right there, I can’t ignore what the evidence is telling me.

There’s nothing of me in those children. It’s been vetted by one of my most trusted men.

I can’t stand to think about it, and I scrunch the paper in my fist and throw it to the side. The pain is like a knife in my gut, twisting and cutting, and I can’t believe how blind and stupid I’ve been. Too caught up in the idea of being a dad, of the future that could be, that I’ve always dreamed of but could never believe would happen to me.

Too caught up in her.

But not anymore.

Fuck her and her bullshit. I was an idiot to trust her, and now she’ll be lucky if I don’t kill her myself.

Chapter 25

Abby

Ican hear yelling and the sound of things being smashed against the wall downstairs, and my anxiety ratchets up through the roof, despite having no idea what’s happening. Are we being attacked? Did someone receive bad news? I have no idea, but my heart is punching against my chest all the same.

When I hear footsteps thundering up the stairs, I immediately jump to my feet, my body flipping into fight or flight.

“Abby!” I hear Maksim’s voice boom through the hallway, seemingly shaking the entire house as the door handle jiggles.

Instinctively, I move to put myself between the bedroom door and the babies’ cribs, hoping to hold off whatever is about to happen. Because he sounds angry. Angry atme.

One look at his face as the door bursts open tells me he isn’t here to protect us.

“What’s going on?” I demand, terrified and angry at the same time.

“I was just about to ask you the same thing,” he says, taking a step toward me and making me instinctively back up. “You have a hell of a lot of explaining to do, and not much time to do it.”

“Maks, what—” My words turn into a startled yelp as he grabs my arm and roughly pulls me out of the room. “Stop!” I yell, jerking away from him. “What the hell are you doing?”

“Treating you a lot better than you deserve.” He practically spits the words at me. “You’ve lied to me. Manipulated me. You’ve made a fool out of me.”

“What?” I whisper, terrified as he practically throws me into the adjacent room and slams the door behind us. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, I’m sure you don’t,” he scoffs, his expression dark and twisted, and a bubble of anger bursts up through me along with my fear.

“You have to at least tell me what’s going on, if you’re going to scream at me like this.” The words came out of me much more confidently than I feel, as I watch him advance on me.

“I don’t have to do anything for you, Abby. I don’t have to protect a whore like you.”

My eyes immediately fill with stinging tears. “Whore?”

“In fact,” he continues as if he didn’t even hear me, “I’m going to enjoy doing the opposite.”

---