AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Because the one he’s coveted for twenty years just walked out of his life.”
Lecturing Daddy Dom became Guardian Daddy Dom in a heartbeat. Fists clenched, Atticus stared at Olivia as though trying to see wounds she might be hiding. “Did he…”
“No.” Zeke understood his concern. “My girl’s smart, and she took precautions, but he set her in his sights at ten years old and hasn’t let her go. What he wants most is mine now, but even with that gone, I think he’ll still come after her. Likely punish her for not saving her virginity for him.”
Olivia made a soft, desolate sound of dismay.
He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her in close. He was divulging secrets that weren’t his to tell, but they’d go no further than this room. “But just because Livvy isn’t in his immediate reach doesn’t mean he can’t pluck one of the young girls from his neighborhood.”
“You were her first?” Alicia asked with a happy sigh. She sneaked under her Daddy’s arm and buried her face against him. “I wish you’d been my first. Maybe it wouldn’t have hurt so much.”
Pain flickered in his friend’s eyes, along with impotent anger. “I know, princess. Olivia’s very lucky she found someone to take care of her.”
The look Zeke exchanged with Atticus made his intentions perfectly clear: he was the one, theonlyone, who’d be taking care of her every need from now on. If that meant utilizing the skills of a pixie-sized, bloodthirsty assassin who loved her blades more than any person on earth, then so be it.
“Tabitha swanned off to Europe for a couple days, something about dissecting frogs.” Atticus smirked as Link shrieked something that sounded more likefog, then made bouncing motions with his fists. “Yeah, buddy, frogs.”
More like her father than her energetic mom, Natasha continued to assess the situation with those big blues. She’d be one to watch as she got older; her reticence and suspicious appraisal of life might be a hindrance, or the perfect tool to slide her in as her father’s right-hand woman.
“I’ll pass Tab a message through the system, ask her if she has time to deal with the problem. She’ll want to know who the request is from,” Att warned, dropping a kiss on Lisha’s head. “You ready for that bombshell to drop on your head?”
Zeke reached out and picked up the fork, using it one-handed to cut a piece of pancake, spearing the chunk. He started to lift it, but Alicia tsked at him, stepping away from her husband to grab the syrup bottle and smother the plate in sticky goodness. “Thanks, Lish. As for Tabitha… she likes me,” he said with a rueful smile. “I got the seal of approval when she visited me in hospital.”
Olivia’s head rose, her brow furrowed. “When was this?”
He dipped the pancake in syrup, then shoved it in her mouth before she argued. “Not long after they brought me out of the coma, I think. Time was hazy for a while after that. Don’t even think about spitting that out,” he admonished when she attempted to do just that. “Chew, swallow, repeat.”
Expression mulish, she obeyed, then said, “I was there with you the entire time.”
It warmed his heart; she really had been. For months—from what he remembered and been told afterwards—she’d barely taken bathroom breaks, and things like showering and eating were activities she’d been brow-beaten into doing by the Masters.
Another chunk of pancake on the fork, he replied with, “You were, Livvy. Fast asleep, if I recall, with your head on the bed.” Where his fingers combed through the bright blue locks reverently; the only time he’d been able to touch her and dream of what might be. “She came prancing into the room, took one look at you, and froze like a deer in the headlights.”
“Wha—” In went the next forkful.
“Someone’s gonna have a handful with her,” he told Atticus, grinning as Olivia spluttered. “All the power of a rocket packed into that pint-sized package?”
Atticus grimaced. “Add in the triggers she undoubtedly picked up through Dominic’s training, andboom.”
“Boom!” Link yelled in delight.
“Exactly, buddy.”
“Apparently, Tabitha heard about the explosion, and came to apologize. Not somethin’ I expected an experienced assassin to do,” he confessed, continuing with his pancake mission. “They don’t apologize for their own sins, let alone those of their father, but she came in—a lot calmer once she saw I wasn’t alone—and told me the family owed me a debt. Makin’ amends for what Dominic put us through, I guess.”
“And I didn’t wake up?” Olivia demanded. “I’m not a heavy sleeper, I—” Her words jumbled around the fresh food he filled her mouth with, and she scowled in frustration.
“Angel, I hate to tell you this, but when you’re exhausted, you sleep real deep. Ain’t had a chance to sleep next to you on a normal night yet, but from what I’ve seen so far, there ain’t much wakin’ you once you’re under.” He wagged the fork at her mumbled protest, then touched his lips to her ear. “Wonder if ruttin’ my cock into this delightful cunt would be enough to rouse you? Or maybe in that tight little asshole.”
Color turned her cheeks cherry red. This time, when he offered her a bite, she took it without protest, chewing slowly with her wary eyes locked on him.
“Good girl,” he murmured, rubbing his beard against her cheek.
“I think Darius made the same offer to Liam and Sierra,” Atticus was saying as Alicia lifted Natasha from her chair to cuddle. “Braun, too. Seems they want to make reparations.”
Running his tongue around his teeth, Zeke blew out a breath and thought about the five million dollars currently padding out his bank account. Money he daredn’t touch, because while he had an inkling where it came from, he wasn’t sure he wanted any part of Dominic’s ill-gotten gains, whether they were given in charity or not.
Whoever siphoned the money into his account had also written off his medical bills—he still wasn’t sure if they’d been paid, or if the hacker in the family had just slid into the system and erased them.
