Page 20 of Die for You (Kiss or Kill #2)
“So why the sudden change of heart? You’ve kept my daughter from me for this long, what’s another few years?” He’s livid and lashes out, punching a bag so hard that it swings high and almost comes loose.
“Our daughter, Lettie…she’s been kidnapped.”
Lenny pales and wavers on his feet. He holds the punching bag for support. “Lettie?” he whispers, touched by her name choice as it’s so close to her father’s.
I give him time to digest this.
“How old is she?”
“She’s just turned five.”
He does the math in his head and realizes she was conceived that fateful night.
“I’m a father?”
I nod, quashing down a new tsunami of tears.
He stares off into the distance, likely replaying everything I just shared.
My brain refuses to process the revelation about Gianna. Deep down, I hope that this is all a bad dream, but I know Lenny would never lie about this.
He’s been fighting for me for so many years. He never gave up on me when he had every right to.
He retrieves a folded piece of paper from his pocket, offering it to me. “Francesco gave me this before he left.”
I accept, and when I unfold it and see that’s my birth certificate, in some macabre way, I finally am free.
Free of the shackles of my past.
Free of whether something was wrong with me, because what mother abandons their child on the steps of an orphanage?
And free of the guilt which has forever plagued me that I was to blame for any of this.
This is my mother’s fault; Gianna Ricci whose name I read before my eyes.
She is my mother.
And she is really fucking dead.
A thought hits me and I gasp, covering my mouth.
“What if…what if Gianna has her?”
Lenny’s jaw clenches. “She knows about her?”
I shake my head.
But this possibility makes sense. Perhaps Gianna has her to ensure I don’t betray her. She did the same thing to me, didn’t she?
“We have to find her.”
“Gianna aside, who else could have her? Who else knows about her?”
“I don’t know,” I reply, unable to process any of this. “I’ve gone over this a million times. I’ve kept Lettie out of sight for this exact reason. Nico has—”
The moment I say his name, Lenny closes his eyes and exhales slowly. “That fucker has been raising my daughter?”
“Lenny.”
“Answer the fucking question, Valentina!”
“Yes,” I reply, full of defeat.
Something in Lenny snaps, and he goes into a rage, tearing the gym apart.
I stand aside, watching in horror at the pain I’ve caused, making me hate Gianna even more than I do.
“How could you?” he pants, dropping to his knees in front of me, tears in his beautiful eyes. “You robbed me of my daughter.”
I can’t hold back my tears and sob. “I did what was right. I did everything to protect her. She doesn’t belong in either of our worlds.”
“You don’t get to decide that! I’m her father!”
“We’re fucking criminals, Lenny! We kill people like it’s nothing! I didn’t want our daughter to see both her parents as the bad guys.”
“We are the bad guys, Valentina, and shielding her from the truth would never change that! Instead, you took a choice away from me which you had no right to do! If I knew, I would have—”
“You would have what?” I cry, spreading my arms out wide. “This is your life!”
“As it is yours.”
“I did what I had to do to protect our daughter.”
His anger soon turns to sorrow. “And I would have done the same thing.”
I could stab back and point out that he too sat on a secret. But he’s right in thinking I wouldn’t believe him.
I knew this wouldn’t be easy, and I accept whatever decision he makes. I would be angry with me too. But anger aside, he will soon realize why I did what I did.
But I failed because Lettie is gone.
“I have so many questions, but for the first time in my life, I’ve run out of words.”
I’ve broken him, that much is clear.
I am riddled with so many emotions, but at the forefront is that we need to put our differences aside. Lettie is depending on us.
“I won’t insult you by apologizing.”
“Thank you.” He nods in gratitude. “You need to tell me everything, from start to finish, because that’s the only way we’re going to find her. But get this clear, Valentina.”
He steps forward, towering over me, his anger suffocating. “I am only doing this for a daughter I didn’t even know I had. When we find her, and we will find her, this won’t end in a happy family reunion. I intend on getting back the years I missed out on.”
I stand my ground even though I’m trembling on the inside.
“I didn’t think you could hurt me more than you already have. But I was wrong. This is the ultimate betrayal. We find Lettie. And…we kill Gianna—together.
“What happens after that is that you go the fuck back to Italy because you are dead to me.”
Lenny and I have fought countless times, but this is different.
There’s no coming back from this.
He’ll never forgive me.
But I never expected anything less.
“If you think I’m leaving my daughter here, you’re sorely mistaken,” I state very clearly.
Lenny laughs, and the sound has my entire body breaking out into goose bumps. “You need me, Valentina. You wouldn’t be here if you didn’t. So be very careful that you don’t end up missing too.”
I smack his cheek, fury animating me. “Threaten me again, and you’ll never see her. I promise you.”
I’ll make a deal with the devil himself, and that devil is Gianna even though I know the truth. I’ll put my revenge aside if it means Gianna will help me find my daughter.
And Lenny knows that.
It seems we’re finally on the same side…fighting for the same thing.
But this doesn’t mean we’re united.
If anything, this means war, and our feud is so much worse than any before it.
Let the best man, or rather, woman win because I won’t lose.