I didn’t want him to see the pain on my face. I had never expected him to instantly want to be a part of Alexei’s life, but there was still some small part of me that had thought he would want to be anyway.
I had to be more realistic and remember what kind of man Vince was. He was a killer, a mobster, a hard man.
I couldn’t expect him to go from a badass mafia crew leader to a baby’s daddy in a single day.
22
Vince
I hadn’t expected the look on her face.
Maybe she’d been trying to hide it, but she did a pretty shit job. I had seen the anguish and pain on her face clear as day as soon as I began talking.
I hadn’t expected that. She knew what I was and what I did, and I was already risking a lot to keep her safe. She couldn’t have expected to show up on my doorstep with some fucking baby and expect me to drop everything to become its father.
Most of all, I hadn’t expected how I’d react when I saw her in pain. I figured it would be uncomfortable, maybe a little awkward. I’d never told a chick I didn’t want to be her fucking baby daddy, castrated and pathetic, changing diapers all fucking day. But I really hadn’t expected feeling so shitty about the whole thing, and I’d instantly regretted saying it.
But she left before I had a chance to take it back. That shit was already out there anyway. It was hanging in the air, and there was no going back from that.
Fucking hell. I was trying to run a war while trying to figure out if I wanted to be a father or not. All the while, the mother of my kid was so fucking delicious that I felt like I wanted to throw her down and strip her clothes off every single time I was anywhere near her. That made it pretty difficult to keep my damn distance.
I gave her a minute before I left the plant room. Out in the hall, my phone began to buzz. It was a text from Lucas telling me to meet him in Arturo’s office in ten minutes.
I sighed to myself, shaking my head. What the fuck did Arturo want now? He was probably going to give me shit for killing those Russians, though I didn’t feel bad about it one bit. It was self-defense, and, plus, we were in a fucking war. I was going to be killing a lot more Russians before this thing was over.
I wandered the halls to kill a few minutes before finally ending up outside Arturo’s door. I knocked once.
“Come,” he said.
I pushed the door open. Lucas was sitting in one of the chairs in front of the desk, and Arturo gestured for me to sit.
“Good to see you, Vincent,” Arturo said. “I’m glad those Russian fucks didn’t get to you.”
“I’m not easy to kill, sir,” I said.
“Very good.” He looked at Lucas. “Tell him the good news.”
“We have your money,” he said.
“Good. Bao will be pleased.”
“As much as we care about his opinion,” Arturo said, “make sure the weapons are worth it. There is a lot of money in this.”
I nodded. “Everything will be good to go.”
Lucas stood up. “We’ll take care of it.”
I stood. “Thank you, sir.”
“Just keep up the good work. Kill some more of those fucks.”
I grinned. “I will.”
We turned and quickly left. Lucas shook his head, laughing. “I haven’t seen the old man worked up like that in a long time.”
“I thought he was going to be pissed about the dead bodies.”
“Pissed?” Lucas laughed again, shaking his head. “He’s fucking excited.”
“Guess he didn’t get to where he is by being afraid of violence.”
“Guess not.” We walked back through the hall, heading toward my office. “Money should be down with Rafa now. Arturo wants the guns here as soon as possible.”
“Got it. We’ll make the drop tomorrow.”
“Good. And hey, stop going into my mom’s fucking garden.”
I laughed. “How do you know?”
“Security tells me. I don’t know what you’re doing in there, but cut it out. I’m sure it’s not something that honors my mother’s memory.”
“Come on, Lucas,” I said, grinning, “I’m just leaving flowers at her feet.”
“Right. Probably in there fucking that Russian girl of yours.”
I smirked. “I wish. She’s been tough lately.”
“Why? Pissed you don’t want to play daddy?”
“Yeah, actually,” I said.
Lucas laughed at me. “Shit. You’re kidding. You actually told her that?”
“What? I was trying to be honest.”
We stopped outside my office door, and Lucas looked totally mystified. “You dumb fuck,” he said. “How long have you known? A day or two?”