Page 95 of Beauty and the Daddy

Room after room after room, I end up empty.

Panic flutters at the base of my skull like a trapped bird.

"Where are they?" I snap at the nearest guard.

"Miss Belle took Sofia to the theater room, sir."

The home theater. Of course. Belle knows Sofia needs distraction after the night we've had yesterday.

Belle isn't even supposed to be permanent. At least, that's what I told myself when I first brought her here. But now? She's burrowed so deep under my skin that the thought of losing her makes my chest feel like it's caving in.

I feel like I'm hers, hook, line and sinker, and wonder if she even knows the half of it.

I reach the theater room, but don't yet enter. I just stand at the doorway, and watch my girls in action. Belle, bless her heart, has Sofia cuddled up next to her, occasionally kissing the top of her head as they watch some flick on the big screen.

Every few minutes she slides a piece of popcorn to my kid without looking away from the movie, and fuck, domestic's suddenly the only thing I've ever wanted.

They look... right together. Like they belong. Like this is how it's always been.

I move a step closer, slow enough not to break the spell. Belle's soft in the light—bare knees tucked, hair loose, focus all for the girl pressed against her. She laughs at some stupid joke and the sound low-key wrecks me. I've bled for less.

The way she cares for my kid? Knife through warm butter. My heart goes soft and dangerous.

Sofia's just a child in the safest place in the world: under the arm of a woman who'd take a bullet with no questions asked. I know it. I saw it in her eyes when I handed her that gun. She would have put herself between Sofia and harm without hesitation.

Just like Elena would have.

The thought of Elena doesn't hurt the way it used to. She would have liked Belle, I think. Might've laughed at how fast I folded.

I don't go in. I stand there and let myself be a man with a view: counting the tiny giggles, the breaths, the proof of life I can't afford to lose. My fingers curl against the doorframe like they're holding the whole house up.

"I'll burn this world down before I let anyone touch them," I tell the dark, and if God's listening, he can consider that a promise.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, quiet yet wild. I answer without taking my eyes off Belle and Sofia.

"Moretti."

"Boss, it's Vito. I've heard rumors."

My grip tightens on the phone and I walk out, whispering to not be heard. "What rumors?"

"Word came in from my ears that we have enemies coming for your load at Pier 86 tomorrow. You never looped me in—how'm I supposed to cover for goods I don't know about?"

Well, I'll be damned. Ladies and gentlemen, we have ourselves a leak.

"Must have slipped my mind." I smile. "Don't you worry, Vito. It's nothing precious."

But Declan's just proved he can't keep his big, fat mouth shut and that's the real treasure in the picture.

21

BELLE

The floorboard outside my room creaks like a gunshot, and I freeze like I've been caught smuggling state secrets.

Act normal,I command myself.You're just a woman going to see her father. Not a pregnant woman sneaking to a prenatal appointment while living in a fortress full of armed men who report your every breath to their boss.

Normal. Right. Because nothing about my life qualifies as normal anymore.