Hitman Daddy by Aster Rae

31

Nikolai

Anger pummels me.

Why didn't I see it sooner?

My father.

He double-crossed me.

He promised to put Christian under his protection so he could go behind my back.

Now he's teamed up with Luca to steal my man.

Bastard.

My fingers lock my Glock in a vice grip.

My father is a homophobe.

That's why he took my boyfriend.

He heard I wanted to give up being a hitman for Christian which is why he had to act.

He can't afford me to lose me to a man — he needs me to do his dirty work.

But I don't want to do his dirty work.

Not anymore.

Christian changed me.

He fundamentally altered who I am.

"Is Christian okay?" Tristan asks.

I grit my teeth. "No. But I swear on my fucking life I'll save him."

I instruct Tristan to lock the apartment doors and race outside.

My driver sits out front.

I throw myself into the back of the limousine. I order him to take me to my father's house.

Rage pummels me but I force myself to control my emotions.

Christian isn't safe.

Christian has been kidnapped by my mortal enemy.

Christian needs me to rescue him. Fast. Tonight.

My father's mansion rises in darkness as my driver speeds through the black gates.

Mist shrouds the house in a cloak of anonymity but I know exactly where my father is.

Leaving my driver behind, I race out of the limo and rush up the flight of expensive stone stairs until I reach the front door.

It's locked so I pull out my gun and fire bullets into the mahogany.

Bang.

Metal explodes in the air as the bullets shatter the lock.

I race to my father's study.

I throw open the door and let out a growl as I confront my father face to face.

My father is sitting in his tall leather chair.

A deep black suit hides his muscles and his hair is slicked back.

He has a Montblac pen on his desk.

His eyes tick up and he reaches for something on his desk.

Anger hammers me over the head when I realize he's searching for his gun.

I'll be fucking damned if I let him grab it.

I race to the desk and grab him by the neck.

"You fucking bitch." I heave him out of the chair and slam him against the wall. "Where is he?"

"Nikolai—"

"Where is he?!" I scream.

Demons hijack my emotional control panel and force me to see spots.

I slam my knuckles into my father's cheeks.

Crack.

My father doesn't flinch. "I don't know what you're talking about."

"You paid Luca to kidnap Christian. Tell me where the fuck he is."

Blood drips down his cheeks. "You're out of line."

"You took my boyfriend."

"He's a boy you paid to pretend to be in a relationship with so you could manipulate me. I saw through your plans."

I wrap my fingers harder around my father's neck. "Christian may not have been my real boyfriend at the beginning. But he is now. I've fallen for him. If you want to live, tell me where he is."

My father sneers. "Look at how far you’ve fallen, Nikolai. Three months ago you never would've sacrificed your family for a man."

Anger sucker punches my gut.

How dare my father say that I sacrificed my family for Christian?

It's my father's homophobia that drove us apart.

"Tell me where you took Christian," I growl.

"You're our best hitman. I count on you to get the job done. But Luca has made a fool of us time and time again. I'm fucking sick of it. We have a name to protect. I want that boy dead."

He's stalling.

He wants to distract me to get me to give up on getting the information I need.

But my father doesn't realize that I've changed in the past three months.

I'm not the same man I was when I met Christian at Crave.

Christian changed me.

He helped me become someone who cares about something more than getting jobs done.

In transforming me into a man with feelings, Christian let me become the person I used to be before this fucking job took my soul.

I won't let Christian down.

"I would've killed Luca tonight if you hadn't fucked with Christian," I spit out.

"I'm sorry this lesson is so hard. But nothing can come between you and the family."

"Is that so?" I dig my fingers into his flesh.

Blood trickles down my knuckles. "The family is everything. This boy has made a fool out of you."

"You're an asshole."

"It's either you or the boy." My father's eyes blaze into mine. "You pick."

Disgust funnels into me as I realize that my father's an animal.

I don't know how I didn't see this before but there's no going back.

"Tell me where he is." I pull out my Glock and drive the tip into my father's neck.

"It's too late, Nikolai."

I cock the gun. "Tell me where he is. Or I'll kill you this fucking second."

I should've killed my father the first time he threatened to kick me out of the family for starting my gay nightclub.

He doesn't get another chance.

"He's at the wharf," my father spits out. "Luca brought him there. But just know one thing."

My father stares dead into my eyes. "I'll kill you myself if you rescue him."

My father is a monster.

No wonder I haven't grown into a decent, moral man.

He's an animal who broke a peace agreement with my mortal enemy to kill my boyfriend.

I should put a bullet in his head.

But I refuse to stoop to his level.

I refuse to discount the lessons Christian taught me.

Sometimes power is best exercised through silence.

Sometimes power isn't the display of macho bravery my father thinks it is.

I can rescue Christian, save myself, and exact an even more depraved revenge on my father in due time.

He'll never know what fucking hit him.

I grab my father’s pistol and whip him across the face with it.

He screams as it slams into his cheek.

Blood spurts from the wound and explodes onto my white button-down.

I remove a thick coil of rope from my suit coat and lash his hands together.

I tie him to the leg of his mahogany desk.

I kick him.

Crunch.

My father cries out as my sharp foot slams into him again and again.

I pistol-whip him in the head until he begins to lose consciousness.

I pull out my phone to text Igor and Timofey.

Me:Dad is tied up in his office. Bring him to my penthouse

Igor:What are you going to do with him?

Me:We’ll decide tomorrow

Blood trickles out of my father’s mouth. “I’m so sorry.”

“Fuck you.”

I kick my father’s face one last time.

My foot shatters his cheekbone and leaves him screaming.

It’s time to rescue my boy.