CHAPTER 69
CHRISTIAN ‘VICIOUS’ VOLKOV
Allagra Pallis is bleeding on the floor, smearing the tiles with more blood.
Blood that I have spilled. Blood that I will continue to spill until the ticking bomb that’s my brain pounding stops.
Ginnio La Monda Junior’s body lies cold on the floor.
Eyes open, bullet between that brain that wasn’t going to contribute jack shit to the world.
I rid the world of an idiot today and that little information does nothing to dent my conscience. Oh, my conscience is clean as ever.
And it will be even cleaner when I pull the trigger and call this a day.
Athena stands in her fancy pantsuit, a few feet away from me.
Eyes bloodshot from sobbing, hair all over the place, blood-her mother’s blood in her hands, she has accepted her fate.
And her fate is to die.
Motherfucking damn it, she should die.
Except one bystander blocks the way.
My nurse, always the bloody pacifist.
Always the savior.
Always the woman who sees the good in people.
Maybe that’s where I lost my brain.
Falling for a woman whose goal is to take lives and preserve them.
And right now, she does just that.
She stands between Athena and me. No scratch that, she stands between Athena and the gun.
A gun she knows I’ll fire.
Not because the bitch deserves to die.
Not because I’ve had enough of this nonsense.
But because of the dried blood on my woman’s head, the bruises on her wrists, the tears running her cheeks.
The only good thing that came out of this, other than the La Monda bloodline going extinct, is those baby blue eyes that gaze at me.
That beg for me to spare her shit of a family.
Eyes that can see me.
“P-please”, her lips wobble.
I groan a loud ‘fuck’ for being this weak.
Beckoning her with my gun, I grunt into the small space that reeks of bitches and blood.
“Come here.”
She smiles. A smile that has no right toppling my heart but it does.
You undo me, woman and that’s new.
Everything about you is new.
Alexia walks on wobbly legs as Nico stands behind her ensuring Athena doesn’t hurt her.
I know who Athena Pallis is. She’s the kind of psycho that needs a straitjacket and a mental hospital picking at her brain.
I’ve seen her type before and no sudden ‘my sister has spared me from death’ will make her wash her sins and turn her ways to sweet baby Jesus.
Athena gazes at me for a second before her eyes fall back to her mother and she kneels on the floor.
“I’m sorry, mom. I’m…I’m sorry.”
Then the woman takes out her phone and calls someone. A doctor? A bodyguard? Who cares?
I meet my woman halfway, taking her in my arms, lifting her off the ground and kissing the top of her head because she has no idea how much the thought of her being in danger does to me.
I killed Ginnio La Monda for her.
I shot her mother for her.
I shot Junior for her.
And if she showed up crippled or God forbid, dead? My insanity would have made sure no one walked out alive not even me.
“Christian”, she sobs in my chest.
I start moving not giving a fuck what more she has to say.
I don’t let her see Allagra. I don’t think I’ll ever let her see her mother again after today.
“Clean this up. Call the guys to bring Millie home.”
“Yes, boss”, Nico replies.
My feet are already outside the room, headed to the lift and a few minutes later in my car.
She attempts to move but I hold her still.
“Don’t even try, little nurse. Don’t even fucking try.”
I drive us both with her in my arms.
I can finally breathe when her scent hogs my nostrils.
My heart, the damn organ, can finally release that tension once my woman and my child are safe in my arms.
She cries all the way home.
I don’t console her. I should. I know it was hell.
But I was in hell too when she disappeared, when she trusted Junior to get her out of my house and worse, stood between me and the gun.
What if I shot Athena without seeing her first?
She’d be dead.
My child would…
They would both be…dead!
***
I called in a few doctors as soon as I dropped her in her room.
Then for the next few hours, I’m shacked up in my office nursing my own demons.
It hasn’t even been a month in this damn country and I’m on the verge of spiraling.
Cat was right.
This is too much.
The ironic thing is I have always been one to like a challenge. And being the Cosa Nostra heir from today on means more challenges to take on.
All I have to do is keep my woman from having the same fate me and my sister had.
I’ll marry her alright.
And I’ll treat my child right. He will never have to be forced to take the throne if he doesn’t want to.
As for my wife, she’ll be a queen and I’ll worship the very ground she walks on whether she makes me mad at times or not.
The tapping of my office door from the other side earns a ‘get in’ from my lips as one hand cups the glass of scotch and the other hand swings the bassinet holding Millie, who’s asleep.
Nico and the other guys brought her half an hour ago.
Allagra Pallis was taken to one of the hospitals she owns in Sicily and Athena was seen accompanying her.
I’m keeping my watch on the wench.
And if she tries anything, that final bullet will kill her and her mother.
She knows this so let her try. Try, Athena.
“A few bruises on her, all of them can be healed with the few ointments I left for her.”
The other doctor speaks.
“Her sight is back. I stitched the cut on her forehead and I’m pleased to say she has no concussion.”
“The baby?” I ask.
What about the baby?
“In good health, sir.” The third doctor says then I turn around facing all of them.
“That means I can fuck my wife without harming the baby, right?”
The one with the wide glasses, coughs.
Then the other doctor with a balding spot, clears his throat and says, “Yes of course, sir but I would recommend at least a week’s rest for her. She needs to keep her energy levels up.”
“Sure”, I say blandly.
The three doctors take their exits with contented faces. I’ll be wiring in a couple of thousands of dollars to their bank accounts just for tending to her for one night.
Placing my glass on the desk, I pick Millie up.
God, she’s gotten big.
“I’ve missed you, baby girl. This is the part where I say if you both ever leave me again, I might just burn the world trying to find you. Mommy can’t feed you today, but I’ve got a few bottles for you. Want to warm them up?”
She responds by lunging at my chin and trying to suck it which earns a chuckle from me.
Millie and I barely make it to the kitchen island when three pairs of eyes lock on me.
“Jesus Christ, shoot me now”, I mutter.
My sister pushes the men breathing down her neck as she runs to me with a smile and a carrot in one hand.
“Christian!”
“What are you doing here?” I glance at her and the two men tainting my kitchen.
“I’m here for Alexia after everything she went through.”
“And them? What are they doing in my house?”
Demetri grins, that awful Russian accent in his voice, “We are here for malyshka.”
Shoot me again.
“Hey, baby. Remember me?” Cat speaks in babyish noises picking Millie from me,”Yessh I am, Mills. I’m your aunt. Aunty Cat. You must be hungry. Come on let’s feed you, baby.”
Millie and Cat walk to who knows where.
Demetri the lovesick six-foot three, bulky man follows them.
I huff moving to Maximo as we both lean against the marble that encompasses the kitchen island.
“You are chopping carrots now?” I ask.
“I’d chop peppers for life just to spend time with her.”
I grunt.
“That’s my sister you are talking about.”
“Doesn’t mean I’ll stop loving her.”
I know.
“How does it work? With Demetri?”
And the fact that Cat went and got herself two men will never not piss me off.
“I hate him most of the time but he loves her, I love her and she loves both of us. That’s enough I guess.”
“Ring me up when you get tired of that Russian fuck and we’ll kill him together.”
That earns a chuckle from him.
I chuckle with him and it feels like old times.
“How’s your nurse doing?”
“Good, so I’ve heard. Haven’t seen her yet.”
“You destroyed the Five families, the ones that have been established for generations for her and you are telling me you are here getting pissed about Cat’s love life instead of seeing her.”
“Yes.”
“You’re an asshole.”
“Says the asshole who took my sister away from me.”
“And your sister came back to you, she’s here for you no matter what she says. We all are. So get your ass upstairs where you belong.”
“Don’t try anything with Cat. Not in my house for God’s sake.”
Maximo smirks, patting my shoulder.
“I promise but I can’t promise you Demetri won’t want to fuck her tonight.”
I make my way upstairs, washing my brain with bleach after Max’s words.
He was joking of course but what if he was not?
Fuck.
By the time I make it upstairs into Sunshine’s room, her body is covered by the white comforter on the bed, her little snores filling the room.
I want to wake her up and spank her for everything she just did.
But she needs rest, per the doctor’s yammering.
I’ll let her rest.
I’ll let her sleep like Sleeping Beauty and I’m her awaiting prince with the kiss.
I’m no prince though.
I’ll punish her for every little action she did when she took Junior’s hand and left the room.
I’ll deny her the very thing she wants most till she comes crawling back.
Me.