Hitman Daddy by Aster Rae

10

Nikolai

Two weeks later

"Fuck."

I stand in front of my smoldering Russian restaurant with fire in my veins.

My brand-new business has been decimated.

Bombed. Destroyed. Ruined.

Luca, my mortal enemy, has struck again.

"Was it the Riccis?" Igor clenches his fists.

"Who else could it be?" Rage pummels me. "This is Luca's handiwork. You can smell the burning gasoline from here. It's his calling card."

Luca’s burned down too many of my business fronts to count.

Last year he paid low-level criminals to throw Molotov cocktails into my tiki bar on the West Side.

He also doused my luxury jewelry business in gasoline and tossed a Zippo lighter with the Ricci family crest through a window.

We captured his heinous acts on surveillance cameras but the flames turned them to molten plastic.

We called in reinforcement but our soldiers arrived too late.

Timofey hired the best lawyers to hit Luca with the Zippo evidence but nothing stuck.

His brigade came, saw, and conquered before we could stop him.

Now the bastard has struck again.

"He's not getting away with it this time." Anger grabs me by the throat as I walk into the smoking building with Igor.

I take in the charred booths and ember-ridden walls still smoking from the damage.

We head to the kitchen and a wave of disgust pummels me.

There's a man on the floor.

He's cowering behind the dishwasher with his hands over his face.

With a roar, I grab his neck and slam his head against the wall.

I punch his jaw hard enough to smash it.

"Where is he?"

Blood flows out of his nose. "I don't know who you're talking about."

"Luca Ricci.”

"I don't know who—"

Rage unfurls.

I drive my fist into his cheek and crack his skull.

The man screams.

I lash his wrists together and tie him to the wall with a burning metal cord that fell from the ceiling.

I grab a butcher’s knife and bring it to his neck.

"Tell me where Luca went."

"I don't know."

"Who do you work for?"

"Marco Amelio. I work with five other guys."

I press the blade of the knife against his pinky.

"Where’s Marco?"

"I don't know.” Blood drips down his cheeks and pools on the floor. "You have to believe—"

Too fucking late.

With a snarl, I drive the blade into his pinky and slice off his finger.

He screams as fresh blood spurts from the wound.

His finger falls to the floor and clatters at his feet.

"Tell me where to find Marco."

"He contacted us in Midtown. He said it would be an easy job. He paid us half upfront. We're picking up the rest tonight."

"Where is he?"

"You have to believe me. I don't know."

Igor approaches the man. "Do you have a phone?"

"Yes.”

"Where?"

"In my pocket."

Igor retrieves an iPhone with a busted home button and a cracked screen from the man's front pocket.

Igor slides the phone into his suit coat, then turns to me. "Finish him off."

Adrenaline pounds me.

This is what I was born for.

Murder. Killing. Death.

A piercing scream fills the air as I drive the knife into his chest.

Blood leaks from the wound and gushes to the floor.

Crimson liquid bubbles between the man's lips until his knees give out and he collapses.

I let him fall.

I turn back to survey my kitchen.

Luca’s men stole everything. The sinks. The industrial-grade stoves.

Not even the artwork is left.

Not even the hundred-thousand-dollar stainless steel appliances I bought with a personal loan from Goldman Sachs.

"Is it insured?" Igor narrows his eyes.

We walk away from the body.

I shake my head. "AIG won't fuck with me after I cooked the books on my beauty parlor in Midtown. I have meetings with private insurers scheduled for next month. But now there's nothing to insure."

Luca destroyed my most beautiful restaurant and left it in ruins.

"He’ll pay." Igor puts his hand on my shoulder. "There's no more dicking around now. We’ll track this bastard down and put a bullet through his head."

"I’ll kill him myself."

Fantasies of tying Luca down while I torture him in the most brutal ways barrel through my head like lightning.

I want this man to suffer and I want to drag out his death.

I want to brutalize him worse than I did to his soldier.

"Father won't be happy," Igor says.

"I'll come up with an excuse and say I was too caught up to adequately guard my restaurant."

"Is that true?"

"Yes." I shoot Igor a glare.

Igor needs to stop pressing me.

The truth is I assigned the brigade I had guarding this restaurant to Christian.

I took them off watch duty and paid them to tail my beautiful fake boyfriend around to make sure he's safe and sound.

Three armed men follow him wherever he goes.

They pretend to be customers at his ice cream shop and sit for hours.

I even pay them to stay outside his apartment with Tristan to make sure no one comes in.

So far, no one has.

But you can never be too careful.

Now I'm reaping the consequences of removing my best guards from my front.

Cursing myself, I wonder what the hell possessed me to protect Christian at the expense of my business.

It was a mistake. Plain and simple.

But it's also a lesson.

It's why men like me can't have boys like Christian in their lives.

Igor reads my mind. "You're still thinking about that boy from the club.”

"No." My voice is deadly. But Igor is right.

This has everything to do with Christian.

If not for Christian, my restaurant would still stand and I wouldn't sully the Antonov name by failing to protect my property.

If word that I let Luca destroy another business travels through the city, my neglect will make a mockery of our family.

But how could I risk harm coming to Christian?

A shudder of horror zaps my spine.

The thought of anything happening to sweet little Christian is too horrible to bear.

I picture his beautiful blue eyes, floppy blond hair, and I can feel my heart racing despite the smoldering ruins around me.

A deep fissure opens in my chest as I picture Luca kidnapping Christian and hurting him in brutal ways.

Luca could do anything to that boy. I'd be powerless to stop him.

That's why I diverted funds away from the restaurant.

That's why I risked my family’s name.

Just the thought of my darling baby boy in danger causes a wave of anxiety to crash into my chest.

Daddy's little angel.

Call me naïve but I think Christian is the most perfect boy in the entire world.

I've grown closer to Christian in the past two weeks than I have with any man in my life.

I surprised Christian three times in the ice cream shop over the past two weeks.

I snuck in and left him a massive tip before taking him out to lunch.

We talked about his life.

Christian wants to enroll in a social media marketing program at the Community University of New York next fall.

He wants to start his own ice cream parlor and do the marketing himself.

He's adept at using the Internet and loves making promo pictures online.

Christian is the reason the parlor has the doggy station out front.

Christian fills the treat jar every morning to help hungry dogs in need.

How could I not fall for a boy like that?

But I haven't been honest with Christian.

Christian thinks I'm just another Russian business magnate from New York City with billions at my disposal.

If Christian knew my true identity, he wouldn't want anything to do with me.

He’d leave me and forget his pledge to come to Michael's wedding.

Then Luca would have his chance.

He'd hire men like Marco to sub out the dirty work for him.

I couldn't live with myself if anything happened to Christian.

I must protect sweet little Christian with my life.

At. All. Costs.

I lead Igor out of the restaurant before the police come and head to my Lamborghini.

The Spider doors rise as we slip inside.

"Why do you care about this boy so much?" Igor asks.

Warmth floods me. "I'm not at liberty to discuss that."

Igor glares at me. "You let Luca attack your building so you could protect a man. You must feel something for him. Otherwise you put our business in danger for nothing."

"Fine. I like him a lot. I didn't expect to feel this way about him but I do. But it's still a business arrangement and I'm not going to act on my feelings. I won't talk to him after Michael's wedding."

"Why?"

"Dad will put Christian under his protection after he meets him. It's best that I distance myself after then."

"Dad hates your sexuality. Why do you trust him?"

"He's the only person who can keep Christian safe."

If Luca finds out I actually have feelings for Christian, Christian is in grave danger.

If Luca finds out that I've fantasized about Christian – holding him in my massive arms until he drifts to sleep — Christian will be target numero uno in Luca’s life.

"Does Christian want more?" Igor queries.

"No."

"He was certainly giving you bedroom eyes at the barbecue."

"You're dreaming."

I let out a sigh. “Christian's an angel. I'm a hitman for the fucking Russian Mafia. Christian would never go for someone like me."

The wedding is next week. I also must introduce myself to Christian's friends to uphold my end of the bargain. We’re meeting at the mall with Tristan and his friends from Reddit. Then it will be over and my father will put him under protection.

It sucks.

But I refuse to put Christian in any more danger.

If I must push down my true feelings, so be it.