Sociopath's Revenge (7 page)

Kristina exhaled heavily and pouted her lips as Lucky barked loudly for another bite of the bacon she kept feeding him under the table, obviously thinking I hadn't noticed. When would kids learn that when their parents really loved them, it was impossible to fool them? "I wanted to buy some presents."

I furrowed my brows. "For who?"

She rolled her eyes and gave me
the look
. My little drama queen. "For the neighbor who gave us Lucky. Shouldn't we thank him for the gift, Mama?" And just like that, the subject of Damian came up again.

Neighbor.

How strange it was to hear my daughter talk like that about her father? I ignored the pang of guilt in my heart. I was doing the right thing by cutting us off from him until he figured out his revenge. What if he was dead again as a result? Kristina would be crushed, and I never wanted her to experience such pain. In addition, if he told me it was safe to introduce him as her father, I would do it right away. I was hesitant about our relationship, but not about his place in our daughter's life. My heart would have to accept whatever choice he made. After all these years, I'd mastered weeping into a pillow, so no one heard or knew. Misery didn't love company in my case.

I patted her head gently, grabbed a napkin to remove the leftover milk on her upper lip, and smiled softly at her. "Of course, sweetie, it's a great idea actually. Let's buy him something tomorrow, all right? We can go to the mall, eat some ice cream, grocery shop, and find a gift for him. How does that sound?" If there was one thing my girl loved more than candy and puppies, it was shopping.

Kristina squealed in delight and stood up on her chair to circle her arms around me. "I love you, Mommy." I sighed and held her just a bit tighter than usual, soaking up all the warmth and softness I could get. In moments like those, our life in hiding and everything I went through was worth it, because it gave me her. I never understood how selfless love could be until I had a baby. Someone on your mind constantly, and from the moment your child was born, you were never alone in your heart or mind. Moms didn't have time off.

"Now go wash your face and brush your teeth. Wear the clothes I put on the bed, and you can watch cartoons for—" I glanced at the big, white clock on the wall. "—an hour. Then you'll read a book, okay? Mommy has to work, and then we can go have some delicious barbecue," I said, tickling her lightly on the ribs. She giggled and with a nod, sprang to go to her bedroom. Lucky would have followed her if I hadn't grabbed him. "Not so fast, little man. Time to go potty." I pushed my finger into his muzzle as we faced each other. "No shitting in my house." He whimpered at my pointer finger, but I wouldn't budge. I let him go to the small alley behind the house, and I stopped in the doorframe to block his reentry. Sneaky little thing. "Lucky, you aren't entering this house until you do your business." He barked but then ran toward the grass, made a few circles around the bush, and finally raised a hind leg and started peeing. Seriously, I never felt stupider in my life. The last thing I ever expected in life was to stand there watching closely to see if a puppy peed on the grass, considering dogs had always been out of the question. Finally, he ran back to the house. I wiped his paws and let him follow the noises Kristina was making.

After I cleaned up the kitchen, I went to my office, sat on my chair, opened the laptop, and forgot myself in my characters.

Somehow, their stories silenced my inner voice, which called me all kinds of names for ignoring the man I loved.

A romance writer whose real life love story sucked.

Oh, the irony of it.

Damian

My elbows rested on the sink as my eyes gazed out the window, studying every part of Sapphire as she waited for Lucky to finish his morning routine. She wore a white sundress that highlighted her tanned skin. Her ebony, wavy hair was in a thick braid, and she had on big, black-framed glasses that gave her a sexy librarian look.

My cock hardened at the idea of her riding me while wearing them, and I shook my head to concentrate on something else.

Sapphire pushed me away and asked me not to ruin her life. My chest still burned from the hurt and yes, betrayal. She was supposed to be the one person in this world who would never refuse to be with me. But I forgave her because she had good reason.

Kristina.

God, what a beautiful little angel. I was amazed at how something so exceptionally pure could have come from the seed of a man such as me. My hands twitched to scoop her up in my arms and never let go, to protect her from all the evil in this world, so she'd never know fear. The idea of her being hurt made me want to destroy everything in my sight.

So I understood Sapphire's desire to protect our daughter from my revenge, from the promise I intended to keep. S and his brother had to pay for what they had done to me and so many other innocent children. The lid of the cup in my hand cracked when I squeezed it too hard as Connor's words from last night's conversation came back to me.

"According to my source, they want to open another business. We finally have the names, Damian." The boy wronged so many years ago rose inside me and roared with fury.

"Who?" I barely contained the desire to crush the phone in my hand from the power of my emotions. Connor exhaled heavily and then groaned in frustration.

"You know I can't tell you that, man. You'd go after them." What the fuck?

"Fuck yes, I would go after them. They deserve nothing but death." How could Connor even try to withhold such vital information from me? He was one of the kids they'd screwed, although not literally. At least he was lucky in that department.

"Damian, we need to catch them in action. We need to know their partners, how they operate, get the bigger picture. They probably already have some kids to play with. We need this information, and you going after them and killing them will not bring good to anyone right now." Was he fucking kidding me? Allowing those guys to do their dirty work while we did nothing brought only despair to humankind. I laughed, but it lacked humor. It probably would have frozen the air even in the hottest places on the planet.

"Names, Connor. You've fucking lost your mind if you think I'll sit and do nothing."

Connor growled, "Damn it, I knew I shouldn't have told you about it. Why can't you put your feelings aside and think rationally like Do—" He stopped abruptly, and my senses went on high alert. What wasn't he telling me? "Like my informant. He was one of us too, but he will work for the greater good." Something wasn't adding up here, with his voice and the almost slip of the name. "Think about Sapphire and Kristina, Damian. They need your presence now. I give you my word, when the time is right, and it will be pretty fucking soon, I can guarantee you will have your revenge and do to those sick fucks whatever you want," Connor stated, and if he hadn't mentioned my woman and daughter, I wouldn't have listened to a damn thing.

But they came first, no matter what Sapphire thought.

"Fine. But it better be soon, Connor. You don't want me to go Sociopath on your ass."

Lucky's loud bark brought me back to the present, just in time to see Sapphire close the door as she cleaned the puppy's paws.

Gorgeous.

I barely restrained myself from going after her. I had visions of pushing her into the nearest tree, hiking that poor excuse of a dress up, and wrapping her legs around me, as I entered her hot, tight pussy in one hard, swift move. She would moan and groan in pleasure, her nails would leave marks on my back, but I wouldn't give a fuck as long as I was inside her. My lips would trail down to her collarbone, right above her perky nipples, and then….

"You weren't home last night." A soft voice interrupted my thoughts, and my eyes focused on the young woman standing nearby, resting her side on the doorjamb. My brows rose as I pushed myself back and sat on the couch in the living room.

"I don't have to explain my actions to you." She huffed and then joined me on the couch with a big jump. She landed with a solid thud and giggled loudly. I had to roll my eyes at this. Seriously, she acted like a five-year-old instead of a twenty-two-year-old woman. She punched me on the arm.

"Aww, don't be such a grump, Damian. Did you have some hot sex?" She wiggled her eyebrows at me as I felt my cheeks heat up. Blushed. I fucking blushed! "Was she happy to know you're alive?" She propped her chin on her hand and looked at me expectantly, awaiting my answer.

"Rosa, why in the ever-loving hell do you think I'd share with you?"

She sighed in annoyance. "Damian, really, you're the only human conversation I have. I'm dying to know something about sex. At least then I can live vicariously through you."

"What?" Her words were disturbing on so many levels.

She gestured her hands chaotically as she continued to babble. "I'm a twenty-two-year-old virgin, and with all the protection and restrictions you have for my safety, I can't get laid or go to a bar to get rid of it." Her voice rose in pitch. "Do you know how frustrating that is? No one stays a freaking virgin that long!" The idea of her having sex with anyone made me nauseous, and my hand fisted with the desire to punch the future fucker who would do it. No fucking way was Rosa going to have sex on my watch. The kid became my little sister, so automatically no fucker was good enough for her in my opinion.

"You're still not old enough for this."

Her eyes widened. "Are you insane? I'm too old." She folded her arms and glared at me. "I'm never going to have sex as long as I live under your roof, am I?"

Fuck, how did my life come to this? Arguing with a young girl about her sex life, when I was Sociopath who tortured and killed men who deserved it? The woman I love refused to be with me or allow my daughter to know me.

Connor had better fucking give me those names soon, or I'd do what was necessary without his permission.

Rosa continued to speak about chauvinistic ways and unfair situations, but I just ignored her. Here she had more freedom than with her dad, and we both knew it. She'd never leave my side, and she was another thing I needed to talk about with Sapphire.

Rosalinda became my responsibility the day she saved my life. No matter that we had a strictly platonic relationship, and she was like a kid sister to me, I dreaded talking about this fucked up situation with my woman.
Mine
wouldn't be happy about it.

Bratva Headquarters, Moscow, Russia

My hands methodically, with well-practiced movements, cleaned the guns and put them back in holsters. Each one of them was a thing of beauty and required special attention. I glanced back at my collection on the wall, and my mouth widened in a smile.

The room, lit with bright lights, had a pool table in the middle, black marble floors, and soundproof walls covered in red and black velvet. Against two walls in the far corner stood glass cabinets, and within each were close to a hundred guns. I found them in the oddest places: sometimes during gunfights, on the black market, or bought from people who collected them. No one refused me; everyone valued their life too much. Near the pool table was a small bar with easily accessible glasses and things to make a cocktail should I feel the need.

After Vasya died, I decided to claim the basement as mine and redecorated immediately. Before that, everything here had to do with Vasya's hunting hobby, all his trophies and photos. His hobby repulsed me, so I ordered everything to be burned and stopped all hunting on my property. Only my trusted men knew the password to enter here, one I changed daily because you never knew who would come to stab you in the back. Bitches or business associates had no access, even though Sasha tried.

At the thought of the blonde woman, I frowned and almost spat on the floor. The whore came to my office earlier, right after my American "friends," wearing nothing but a short dress hiked up to show off her legs. She propositioned me again, and her screams of rage when I tossed her out roughly were heard in almost every corner of the mansion. Fuck, but the woman had one annoying-as-fuck voice.

Women generally didn't interest me unless I needed to relieve some tension. I didn't much care if they got off. Once it was done, it was done. Sasha had some huge plans for my dick, but she repulsed me so much I could never have fucked her stupid ass.

She agitated my already foul mood. Usually during those I had to fuck, but there would be no fucking until I found my Rosa. Hence the solitude in the basement.

A deep possessive feeling I had never felt before swept over me. I let go of the gun in my hand and rested my elbows on the table, trying to control the desire to hunt down and kill everyone who had hurt her. I needed to hold her in my arms, to touch her, and be consumed by her. I didn't know how it had worked for my brother, but if he'd felt the same emotions for his Sapphire, no wonder the man kidnapped her and impregnated her within a month.

"You aren't seriously considering this deal with child trafficking, right?" Michael's careful yet angry voice snapped me out of my thoughts about my beautiful Rosa, and I leaned back on the chair, studying him.

Michael held two cups of steaming coffee in his hands. He put them on the table and sat on the nearby chair. "Drink, man, you spent the whole night here. It's morning." Since windows were out of the question, I never knew what time it was when I was lost in thought. Michael had on a cotton shirt and some shorts, along with pink flip-flops. I just shook my head and took a sip of the heavenly drink. I closed my eyes for a second, enjoying the taste, and then I answered his question.