by K. J. Dahlen
Danton rested his head on the barrel of the rifle in his hand. Glaring over at the man who seemed to have a lucky horseshoe stuck up his ass. If he hated Nikoli before…he really hated him now. Looking around, he noticed that Bella was missing from this meeting. He couldn’t help but feel there was a reason for that and he had a feeling he knew what. She had betrayed him. He shook his head. She had chosen Nikoli over her own kid. He couldn’t believe it. She had put that bastard over her own child, the child she was supposed to love so much. Wow, he could hardly wait to tell that brat what her mother had done. She had condemned the nine year old to a life time of pain and abuse.
Danton shimmied down the tree. Laying the rifle against the trunk, he stepped out of the shadows and made his way to the back patio of the café. He walked over to the table the three men shared. Sitting down at the only empty chair, he glared at Nikoli. He couldn’t look at the other two men sitting there, not yet. “You are a hard man to kill did you know that?” Danton asked him casually. “You just refuse to die.”
“And you refuse to go away and stay away, don’t you?” Nikoli growled. “You should have stayed under the rock where you’ve been living all these years.”
“Maybe I wanted to come out and smell the roses for once.” Danton shrugged. “Speaking of that how the hell did you get caught up in the kid scheme? Surely, you’re a smarter man than to get played by a whore looking for a big payday.”
“Where is she Danton?” Nikoli growled.
Danton glanced quickly over at Sergi and Misha then turned back to Nikoli. “She’s safe and alive for now.” Then he shook his head. “Nikoli you should really know better. Did you even know about the little bitch before the other night? She didn’t know about you. She didn’t even know your name. Kept telling me she didn’t have a daddy. Apparently, the bitch you knocked up didn’t tell your spawn a thing about you, not even your name, or the fact that she was a Bratva princess.” Leaning back in his chair he smirked, “Tsk, tsk, that’s not a good thing in your world is it? I mean anyone could have known who she was and used her to get to you, couldn’t they? But then you do have a habit of losing your spawn don’t you? Why should this one be any different than your son?”
Nikoli shrugged. “My son was stolen but he was returned to me by an honorable woman who taught him to be a good man. And my daughter was well cared for by a woman who has loved me for a very long time. At least when my final day comes, I will have a legacy to leave behind. What exactly do you have to leave behind?”
Danton snarled. “Blyad! I have nothing to leave behind, you saw to that! You took everything I managed to claim as mine within the last few days didn’t you?” Nikoli shook his head as his silver eyes glinted like steel. “I took nothing. Your own actions played out just the way they were meant to. You were willing to lie, cheat and kill to make your stolen way into the Bratva where that sort of thing is frowned upon. The Bratva is honor bound and your actions were not. You would rather lie and cheat than tell the truth and with the Bratva that is unacceptable. ”
“No one would have ever known it had been me if not for you,” Danton argued. “You could have walked away that night and just let things happen but you didn’t do that. You had to stick your nose in my business, didn’t you?”
Nikoli shook his head. “I guess in your mind that’s all you would see but that’s just not true. You would have known with every breath you took it would have been a lie and sooner or later your secrets would come out. You can’t forget your lies and neither can anyone else. Lies have a habit of coming back to bite you in the ass.”
“Now karma will be your judge,” Sergi informed him. Shrugging he added, “Well me and karma will judge you.”
“Where is my daughter?” Nikoli wanted to know.
Danton studied his opponent. For all intents and purposes, he seemed relaxed but Danton could see the signs of his unrest. He noted his tapping fingers, his tightened lips, the throbbing beat of his carotid artery. He smiled slightly. “Your daughter is with a friend of mine. If I’m not back before twelve thirty, he has orders to kill her.”
“Indeed?” Nikoli nodded. “You know I gave you an opportunity to come clean and do the right thing here, don’t you?”
Danton frowned. “What do you mean?”
Nikoli nodded toward the edge of the café. When Danton looked over there he saw Ramon standing there with a young child. It was Nikoli’s daughter. There were three men standing next to Ramon and one flashed a gun at Danton.
Danton knew then he was done for. He had nothing left to offer, nothing left but a certain death. Suddenly, he was tired. Tired of the everyday struggle to draw breath, tired of the fighting for his place in the hierarchy, tired of breathing the dirty air and knowing he was never going to breathe free, clean air.
Suddenly, his mother’s words came back to haunt him. She told him when he was ten years old and had been left behind by his father and older brothers because he took the easy way out and didn’t do his chores, she looked at him and said, “You will never make anything out of your life if you don’t put forth an effort. You have to do the work to gain the rewards.” That her words would come back to haunt him after all this time was something he couldn’t believe. His mother died almost twenty five years ago. His three other brothers had worked the farm day in and day out after their father died so when their mother died they had found a small treasure hidden in her things. With that and the sale of the farm the three brothers started over and they all made something of their lives while he struggled day in and day out.
He looked over at Sergi and Misha. “You aren’t going to give me an easy death are you?”
Sergi sneered at him. “I will give you the death you planned for my son thirty years ago. The High Council has declared that your punishment will be at my disposal. The Ukraines will stand as witness to the deed and report back to the Council after it’s all done.”
“I see.” Danton nodded. “Convenient, they happen to be in town then huh?”
“They are here on another matter but one that you might want to know about.” Sergi shrugged. “The child’s mother is the daughter of Geno Marchanti. And he’s been looking for her for a very long time.”
Danton paled at the mention of Geno’s name. He looked over at Nikoli. “The girl is Geno’s granddaughter? Are you serious?”
Nikoli nodded. “I see you know the man. Is he the one you were going to sell her to?”
Danton shook his head. In his stunned state, he told the truth, “I had heard that the Butcher amused himself with little girls so I was hoping to start a bidding war. Geno has a man working for him that also likes little girls.”
Nikoli rolled his eyes. “Ivan takes a real exception to that rumor. It was started by Geno’s wife in an attempt to get back at him for rejecting her advances. Too bad you were caught up in the rumors, you should know better than to spread lies by this time.”
Danton snorted. “Like I care about some goon from the Ukraines. He was and will remain nothing to me.”
Sergi chuckled out loud. “You might come to regret those words. He might be upset at the tribunal when he hears that you were one of the rumor mongers. He really doesn’t like lies spread about him.”
Danton felt dread expand to every inch of his insides. He knew this would be his last free breath on this place called earth. And desperate times called for desperate actions. He had one last play and he knew it would be his last. If he was going to die then so would Nikoli. He would take his enemy to hell with him even if he had to do it kicking and screaming.
Shifting in his seat, he slipped his hand into his pocket and wrapped his fingers around the knife he had hidden there. It was one of his favorites and one of his oldest. The knife was something he never went anywhere without. While the Bratva soldiers might not kill with an audience around them, he had no such lofty ideas. In fact, he would be safer in police custody. At least with them he could claim he was mentally ill. Hell, he might even get away with it. Th
ey would put him in a metal cage 8 by 8, give him three hot meals a day and he would live another twenty years while waiting for his death sentence to be upheld.
With Sergi, all he could hope for was a harsh and very painful death. Even though he knew that would never happen, he could always hope for it. Without another thought, Danton flicked open the knife and leaned toward Nikoli. Grabbing the back of the other’s man’s head, he brought him closer to him. Danton puckered his lips and brushed a kiss on the other man’s cheek as he whispered, “I’ll see you in hell cousin.” Plunging the blade into the other’s man side he smiled at the look of intense pain wracked Nikoli’s face. Danton twisted the blade in his side and withdrew the knife then dropped it on the ground.
Nikoli fell forward just as something hard slammed into Danton’s head.
Chapter Twelve
The commotion of people screaming and running away from the café, covered the actions of the men there. Misha lowered Nikoli’s body to the floor as Sergi motioned for two of his own men to drag Danton away.
One of the people standing on the sidelines of the crowd stepped forward and announced she was a doctor and would attempt to assist. They cleaned the wound and once they had done that, they found the wound was superficial. The cut itself was deep however and would require stitches. Sergi assured her he would take care of it. He had his own doctors on call.
The doctor nodded then moved away.
More men came in and helped Nikoli to his feet. They moved in mass to the cars parked on the street. Ramon was allowed to go free but one of the men standing behind him swung the small girl into his arms and carried her off to the cars.
Twenty minutes later the cars pulled up outside the building where Nikoli lived. They had come in the backway so as not to call attention to themselves. Men lined the sidewalks. Between Misha and Kosta they carried him inside the doors.
Nikoli passed out from blood loss half way to his home. The doctor had bandaged the wound but that was all she had been able to do.
Five minutes later the elevator doors closed and Nikoli was whisked upstairs.
When the door was opened, Misha and Kosta carried him into his bedroom. Sergi was calling the doctor in and everyone stood watching as Kosta began undressing Nikoli. When the doctor arrived, he examined Nikoli quickly and determined that the doctor at the café had been correct. The wound he received was deep but the blade used had not hit any major organs or blood vessels. He sewed up the wound and gave Nikoli a shot for the pain.
Nikoli woke up when the doctor began sewing his skin together and he was determined to stay awake and meet his daughter.
Finally, the doctor packed up his items and left the room. Kirill and Kosta were cleaning up after him and trying to get rid of the bloody clothing and towels. Felix was helping Nikoli get changed and Sergi and Misha were standing to one side watching.
Bella waited in the doorway of Nikoli’s room. She was stunned when he’d come home wounded. No one was talking about what happened and she had no idea if her daughter was dead or alive. She wanted to scream and shout but she didn’t. She was too afraid of calling attention to herself. She didn’t have any rights here and that fact was brought home when she found herself being ignored from the moment they had come in.
She missed the door opening again and she missed seeing her child enter the penthouse. It was only when Malina called out to her mother Bella turned and saw her child.
“Baby,” Bella called out as she rushed for her child. Wrapping her arms around her daughter, Bella hugged her close. “Baby, you’re back!”
“Mama,” Malina squealed. “You’re squeezing me too tight.”
Bella giggled and loosened her hold. Forehead to forehead with Malina she whispered, “I’m never letting you go again, baby girl.”
“Mama, I’m so very glad to see you again. I thought that nasty man was going to kill me.” She shuddered and held her mother tightly. “Don’t ever let go of me again. I was so scared mom. But I didn’t cry. I wouldn’t give him that satisfaction. I didn’t cry. He kept talking about how much he hated my daddy. But I don’t know who that is.”
“Oh…” Bella sighed hard as tears rolled down her cheek. “I never thought this day would come but yeah baby, you do have a daddy. He’s a very nice man and when he found out about you he wanted to meet you.” She hitched her daughter up in her arms and told Malina, “Let’s go over here and talk about this. You have a right to know about him.”
She took her daughter over to the sofa, away from the noise and the chaos in Nikoli’s bedroom.
When they were seated, Malina looked at her mother. “Mama why did that bad man take me and hold me for three days?”
Bella tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and searched her daughter’s face for any clue to what she was really asking. When she didn’t find anything, Bella took a deep breath and tried to explain, “That man, his name is Danton. He came over her from Russia, actually he ran away from Russia after he tried to kill someone. You’re father, Nikoli stopped him and wouldn’t let him do it, and Danton blamed his own downfall on Nikoli. He couldn’t get to Nikoli any other way until he found you. He knew Nikoli was your father and wanted to use you and me to get to him.”
Malina asked. “Is that man they carried in earlier really my daddy?”
Bella felt her heart stop briefly. Now it was time to tell her the truth. “Yes, Malina Nikoli is your father.”
“Where has he been all my life?”
“Oh, sweetie…” Bella took a deep breath. “He never knew about you. He never knew you were born or where we lived.”
“But why?” Malina asked with tears in her eyes. “Didn’t he love us?”
Bella knew her day of reckoning was here. Even if Nikoli didn’t want her, he would have want their daughter and she knew he had the power here. She couldn’t fight this anymore. She didn’t want to. She had almost ten years with Malina and now it was Nikoli’s turn. It wasn’t fair or just but she couldn’t deny he had the same rights here she did. “Baby girl, you know I love you very much, right?”
Malina nodded.
“Well, I love your daddy just as much. I’ve loved him for a very long time, but you see he never loved me. I wanted you so much but I did something wrong. I never told him about you and that I shouldn’t have done. He had every right to know you too. You, he will love forever. You are his child.”
“But mama, if you never told him about me maybe he could have loved you too?” Malina reasoned in her child mind.
Bella shook her head. “It’s too late for that now but I hope he will want to know and come to love you as much as I do. You deserve so much more than I am able to give you.” She sobbed. “He deserves to know what a wonderful little girl you are and to watch you grow into a beautiful woman one day.”
“Mama?” she asked, “Is my daddy a good man? Will he love me or hate me?”
Bella hugged her daughter to her. Malina’s questions broke her heart. She knew and understood now what kind of man Nikoli was but in the eyes of her child, she couldn’t lie. “Honey, your daddy is a good man. The best man I know and while I love him and you, he would never love me. And that’s ok, do you know why?”
Malina shook her head.
“We all hold a secret place in our hearts.” She wrapped her arms around her daughter. “He filled that place in my heart but I never filled that place in his heart. Your father has honor and with that honor, he’s bound to tell the truth. He told me once that he’s only ever loved one woman in his life. That was his Bethany. When she died, he lost that place in his heart where love lived. Now that’s not to say he won’t love another woman, it’s just not going to be me.”
“Are you okay with that?” Malina asked.
Bella smiled. “I’m okay with that. Love is never wasted. My love for him allowed me to have you. Someday, another man might come along and take his place in my heart but I’m not looking for that right now. Until that day comes though, I’ll be very happy with
the way things are. I can share you with him now and I want you to let him in, let him see the amazing girl you are. I want him to imagine what a wonderful woman you will become.”
“What kind of man was that Danton? He wasn’t a good man.” Malina commented as she frowned. “He scared me.”
Bella shook her head. “No baby, he wasn’t a good man, but I don’t think you have to worry about him anymore. He won’t ever bother us again.”
Malina laid on her mother’s chest. “I was so scared,” she whispered. “I didn’t know if I would ever see you again.”
Bella tightened her arms around her child. “I know baby, I was scared too. I missed you so much but you’re back now and everything is going to be better.” She kissed the top of her daughter’s head. “I’m so glad to have you back.”
“What’s going to happen now?” Malina asked.
“I don’t know,” Bella admitted. “But whatever it is, we will face it together. It’s always been you and me against the world but baby, now its you, me and your daddy. You have to give him a chance ok?”
Malina nodded. “Ok as long as he treats you decent, I’ll give him a chance.”
Bella closed her eyes. “Oh sweet girl, I do love you so much.”
Then someone sat down next to them. Bella knew without a doubt it was Nikoli. She wanted to scream and shout at the man to leave her alone, but she knew she couldn’t do that. She now had to share her daughter with this man and to do that she had to acknowledge his position.
