“And you really have the power to make them bow to your rule?”
“Yes.”
“Drago, we’ve been fighting for our lives. They took Ava.” She hated to have any doubts about him, but it was kind of hard not to.
Drago sighed. “You love your daughter.”
“Yes.”
“It wasn’t a question, Belle. You love your daughter, and you want her safe. I stepped away from the fighting life. Made my money by other means. I didn’t look back until that day, and I don’t regret it. Seeing you though, broken, bleeding, nearly dead, I couldn’t walk away, and I never will again. You think it was easy for me to not slaughter them all? With a single phone call I could have had my men kill every single man, woman, and child in that warehouse. Had them all dead, cleaned away within twenty-four hours, but they had your child. I’m not a fool. If I gave that order, Ava was as good as dead or lost to you. I’d never find her. Children are so easy to misplace, and I won’t do that. It would be easier to say she’s dead and to forget her, but I love you too much, and there’s no way I would ever look you in the eye and lie to you. So, I will always do what is needed to keep her alive. Once you have Ava in your arms, and she’s safe, and you’re safe, the rest of them better be running because I won’t stop until I kill them all. You shouldn’t have been fighting, Belle. The fact I didn’t come and look for you sooner is … I will never forgive myself.”
“It’s not your fault.”
“I should have known you were too good for anyone to let go. You made too much money. You were worth more to them alive than dead, until you cut and ran.” He let go of her hand to run his down his face, clearly trying to clear the fog from his thoughts. “There are so many things I wish were different, that I’d done differently.”
The car came to a stop outside a huge abandoned building.
“What is going on?” she asked.
“This is the address they gave me. If everything went well, Ava should be here. I’ve made sure they kept her safe. She’s with someone I completely trust with my life. She’ll protect your daughter. She also happens to like to kill people who hurt kids, which is an added bonus.”
“I don’t know if I like the thought of someone like that being near my daughter.” All she wanted to do was protect her, care for her, love her, give her all the things she could never have.
“I promise you, I wouldn’t put her life in danger.”
“I know that, I really do.”
“Belle, she needs her mother, and no matter what you think you’re doing right now, that you think you’re not good for her, you’re wrong. You’re her mother, and that’s what she needs.”
Belle looked at Drago, and it was so strange to believe this man was considered one of the most dangerous men in the world, but he was. She knew his reputation. He stared at her with so much love, and she saw it now, so clear.
“You’re coming with me,” she said.
“Of course. I do want the opportunity to meet my daughter for the first time.”
Those words.
Ava wasn’t his daughter. Her father was a deadbeat who’d used Belle to knock her up, but Drago was going to take responsibility for Ava.
“You don’t have to do that.”
“I know I don’t have to. I’ve come to realize there are many things in this life I don’t have to do—it doesn’t mean I won’t do them.” He kissed her hands. “And being a father to your daughter is going to be one of them. She will never have to know I’m not. I promise you that. Hey, come on, no more tears. I thought you’d be happy about this.”
“I am. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, I’m just not used to this, to any of this.” She sniffled. “I’m making a complete mess of this.”
“Let’s go and see your daughter so you can stop worrying.”
Belle followed him out of the car, and they headed inside the building. This was not the place where she ever wanted her daughter to be, and she hated it so much already. Her hands shook but steadied a little within his grip. She could do this. All her life, she’d been alone. The only person she could really count on was herself, but now, she wasn’t alone. She had someone—Drago. He wouldn’t let her down. She knew this more than anything else in the world. He wouldn’t fail her.
As they entered the abandoned building, she couldn’t help but be ashamed that her daughter was even here in the first place. This was so much like the places she had been forced to fight in many years ago, and what she’d promised herself her daughter would never have to deal with, but here she was, and it pissed her off.