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Chapter Thirty-Nine

Vinny

M y thoughts are consumed with Bonnie on the way to the ranch. The way her momma cares for her is what makes me love her all the more. She’s everything I would have wanted for my boys, and I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect mother than the one she is.

It’s what is keeping my anger at bay. I’m barely holding it together, but their safety is paramount to me, so until I have them back in our home, I refuse to give in to the darkness inside me.

But she will receive it; every fucking inch of her will receive it.

It’s clear I’ve been too gentle on my little pet, treated her with such tenderness she’s forgotten who owns her.

As we turn into the ranch, I lean forward and take in the rolling hills. This place is secluded. I’d have security on the gate, brick guard houses, and electric fencing.

The ground crunches beneath the tires as we roll up the driveway. The wraparound porch makes me want to roll my eyes at how quintessential this little hidden gem is.

A man standing at the doorway to the house looks our way, and I wince when Gracie’s distraught expression comes into view. I drag a hand through my hair. Shit, this is going to be harder than I anticipated.

“Good luck,” Massio grunts as I step out of the SUV and head toward them.

My anger dissipates with the tears streaming down my girl’s cheeks. Her chest rises rapidly, and she looks two seconds away from having a full-blown panic attack.

A strangled wail leaves her throat, and her eyes widen on my approach.

Bonnie cries out for me, lifting her arms in my direction as she tries to scramble out of Gracie’s arms, and that does something to me.

Seeing my girls in such anguish has me wanting to right the world of every damn wrong ever committed.

“What’s the problem?” I turn toward the man holding onto the door like it’s his lifeline.

“She won’t leave,” he grunts.

“Vi-Vinny, I have the papers. I have papers for the ranch, it’s mine.” Gracie sobs uncontrollably.

“Lady, I told you before and I’ll tell you again, this isn’t your damn ranch. I purchased it over a year ago.”

Another wail erupts from her.

“Papa!” Bonnie cries as she wrestles to get out of Gracie’s arms.

I step forward and hold my arms out for Bonnie, and she shocks the shit out of me by lunging forward, causing Gracie to stumble.

I grip her arm to right her, and the devastation swimming in her eyes has me wanting to profess my undying love for her.

I want her to tell me she chooses me, she wants me, Mafia life be damned.

But as the sounds of the nature filter through my senses, I know the chances of her choosing the life I can offer are slim.

Am I really prepared to pull her away from everything she’s ever wanted?

How will she truly ever be happy? Satisfied with me.

Will she always crave the freedom she so desperately needs?

“I have the papers,” she whispers, and I snatch them from her hand, pissed she chose this before me. Took my daughter from me. Lied to me. Betrayed me.

I turn them over somehow while rocking Bonnie from side to side with hopes to settle her.

My eyes scan over the paperwork, and I don’t know what the fuck Gracie thinks this is, but all I see are her signatures signing the property deeds over to her father.

A heavy huff leaves me, and I turn my attention toward the prick in the doorway. “Can you give us five?”

“Sure.” He slams the door, and I hear the lock engage.

Great.

Gracie falls to the floor in a heap, her sobs are barely contained as she tucks her knees under her, the action making her appear smaller than ever. I lower myself to the floor and sit on the porch step.

“Come.” My tone somehow remains calm, and I pat my lap. With Bonnie resting on my hip, Gracie crawls into my lap, and my arm bands around her to hold her in place.

“I’m going to ask you some questions, and you’re going to tell me the truth, Gracie. ”

I breathe in her peach scent, the realization that I may never have smelled her again causes a crushing feeling inside my chest.

“I promise,” she whispers, sniffling.

“You lied to me.”

“I’m sorry.” Her shoulders bunch as she cries deeper into my chest, clinging to my shirt. “I’m so sorry.”

“You kept my baby from me, Gracie.”

“I didn’t want to. I swear it.”

“But you fucking did,” I snipe out, unable to help myself.

Bonnie presses her finger to my mouth, and my rage there a second ago is eradicated by her soft touch to my lips. “Papa,” she mumbles, and her head falls to my shoulder and her eyes close. I place a kiss on my little girl’s forehead.

“You didn’t think I was worthy.” I keep my tone low despite wanting to shout.

Gracie’s head pops up from my chest to face me. Her eyes are red and full of anguish and utter devastation. Full of pain. I want to take it away and replace it with nurture.

“Of course, I do.” She closes her eyes, and when she reopens them, she straightens her shoulders.

“When my mom passed away, I was sent to live with my father. He wasn’t kind, Vinny.

” I nod in understanding. “Then one day he declared he wasn’t going to sell my virginity like he’d always tormented me with.

I was ecstatic, I thought he’d seen the light.

” A humorless laugh leaves her. “He told me I had to go to a Halloween party and sleep with the man in the photo he gave me. He said he’d be watching, and he’d know.

” She licks her lips, then her cheeks heat.

“When I saw your picture, I knew I’d rather sleep with you than the men he brought to the house.

He said if I did that, he would give me the deeds to the ranch my mother left me in her will. ”

She glances up at the house behind us, and another tear leaves her.

“He was always moving the goal posts, and when I realized I was pregnant, he was really nice to me. For the first time in my life, he was nice.” I can see the need for affection radiating from her, and my fingers find her silky hair to give her just that, and my touch gives her the strength to continue on.

“He said he wanted to help me with the pregnancy, and he did. He was good.” She nods several times like she’s convincing herself of her words.

“You didn’t think to inform me,” I grit out.

“My father said you were dangerous, that he discovered you were a part of the Mafia. He changed when I had Bonnie. He was mean, but he wasn’t abusive.

” I scoff at her words, locking her in a fucking basement is abusive.

How can she not see that? “He said I needed to stay at your house until he was out of rehab, then he would bring us back to the ranch. But I had no intentions of waiting. I knew the moment the opportunity arose, I’d take it and come home.

I just didn’t think it would be so difficult to leave you, and the longer I stayed, the harder it was to leave. ”

“But you left,” I grind out. “You left and took my little girl, Gracie.”

“You never would have let me leave if you knew.”

“Damn fucking right I wouldn’t. ”

“I-I just want to be free, Daddy. And safe, I want to be safe, and I want Bonnie to have the childhood I did. The freedom I grew up with. The childhood I had.”

“You can’t read.” I don’t know why I bite that out; is it below the belt and cruel?

Yes, but given the circumstances, I have every right to use it.

How the fuck dare she think this life is a better one than the one I can offer.

Still, the niggling feeling of her being right has my shoulders falling.

“I have dyslexia, Vinny.”

My laugh lacks amusement as I shake my head. “You shouldn’t have signed the contract, Little Pet. You didn’t know what the hell you were signing.”

“I didn’t care,” she replies with steely determination. “I wanted you.” Wanted?

A lump of foreign emotion gathers in my mouth, making it difficult for me to swallow.

“I love you, Vinny. Leaving you made today the worst day of my life. But I needed to do this even if I have failed.” She looks back at the farmhouse. “He sold it, didn’t he?”

“He did,” I confirm, and the guilt that lances through my chest is an odd sensation.

“I’m sorry,” I say, even though I’m unsure why.

I’m not the one who has kept secrets from her and stole the first months of my child’s life, stole the chance for me to see her pregnant with my child, but I find myself wanting to comfort her, make everything right.

Bonnie’s head springs up from my bicep, and she points to something. “Swing, mamma.”

Gracie stares at the apple tree, with a forlorn look shimmering in her eyes.

“My mamma used to push me on that swing. Shall we go see?” She slides off my lap and holds her hand out for Bonnie, and I watch as she carries her toward the swing.

Then she scoots her ass onto the swing and maneuvers Bon-Bon onto her lap.

The breeze blows Gracie’s hair, and the soft giggle Bonnie emits lights up her angelic face with each motion.

As I step toward them, my heart constricts. Can I really do this to them? Take away their freedom.

“Time to go home,” I grunt out, motioning toward the SUV. Gracie’s shoulders slump, and she gives the farmhouse one final glance before sliding off the swing with Bonnie in her arms.

A lone tear trickles down her cheek, and I step up to swipe it away with the tip of my thumb before sucking it into my mouth.

“You need punished, Little Pet,” I mumble for her ears only, kissing her neck.

Her blue eyes light up, and her pupils flare with expectation. “Yes, Daddy,” she says as smooth as silk. “I’m ready.”

Truth be told, I think it’s me who isn’t ready.