Page 84 of Second Chance Daddy

Trade my daughter… for Cassie’s silence.

For the rest of her life, Aria and the rest of the world is supposed to believe that bastard Gino’s her father. That I’m nothing but some nameless shadow in the wings.

My daughter for her mother’s silence. Aria for Cassie to suffer for the rest of her life. The ultimate fuck-you from a man who knows exactly where to press to draw blood.

I call Viktor back.

“What’s the location he wants to meet at?” I demand when he picks up.

“Abandoned airstrip. Ten miles west of Cedar Falls.”

“Other terms?”

“No cops. No feds. And...” Viktor hesitates, which means whatever comes next is worse. “He says Cassie has to sign papers. Full custody to him because his family’s askingquestions about why the kid doesn’t show, and it hurts his pride. And she promises to tell the kid that Gino’s her father. Forever.”

The rage that rips through me is primal. Base. The kind that could burn cities to ash.

“Boss?”

“Tell him I agree to talk. Face-to-face. Just me and him.”

“You can’t seriously?—”

“Viktor? I want eyes on that airstrip now. Every angle and approach. I want to know if a fucking bird lands there.”

I hang up, clenching my fists so tight they cut.

I may be a lot of things, but I’m not a coward.

Still, I let him believe I’ll entertain the deal. Let him think I’m desperate enough to crawl for the crumbs he’s offering. Desperate enough to agree to his bullshit narrative.

Because getting close to the devil means you have to play along… right until you put a bullet between his eyes.

Twenty minutes later, I’m in the basement garage beneath the building that acts as our crisis control room. Six of my best men wait beside black SUVs with grim faces, checking their weapons a final time.

These aren’t just security guards. These are men who’ve killed for me before. Men who know how to make problems disappear.

“Boss,” my second-in-command nods as I approach. “Perimeter’s set. We’ve got three snipers already in position at the airstrip.”

“Good.” I scan the assembled team. “Let’s stir some shit up. But remember, boys, the kid comes first.”

The SUV hums steadily beneath me as we cut through the backroads outside Cedar Falls. Rural stretch of nothing but fields, abandoned barns, and bad intentions. Exactly the kind of place Gino would pick for this circus.

My guys are in formation. One tailing us, another a few clicks out, snipers hidden along the ridge in case this goes south, which it will.

It always does.

The weight of the gun at my hip is the only thing keeping my pulse in check. That, and the glimpse I caught of Aria on the grainy video call earlier when Gino called to strike a bargain.

Sedated.

Unharmed.

For now.

If he so much as laid a finger on her…

I grip the steering wheel tighter, leather creaking under my hands.