Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (58 page)

His brows furrowed slightly.

Reanna continued. “Promise that you’re going to do better at school. That means no more suspension, no more double dares, and no more causing trouble.”

“I promise, Zia.”

“Do you?” she asked, her expression now serious. “Because if you break this promise to me, I will be very disappointed. I’ll know that you were not being honest with me, that you were using me to get out of trouble.”

“Using you?”

“Manipulating me, just the way Billy did you. Using my love for you against me, and that would really hurt Zia’s feelings. Okay?”

For a moment, Aleksandr just stared at her, a million different emotions flashing across his face. He was thinking. Reanna knew this much because his mother often did the same thing whenever she slipped into her head. It took him about thirty seconds to come back to the present, and when he did, he did the sweetest thing.

His hand came up and cupped one side of her face before he whispered, “I promise, Zia,” and gave her the softest kiss on her cheek.

Aww …

Smiling and feeling damn good about her ‘Zia’ skills, Reanna gave Aleks a big kiss on his cheek. “Okay then, baby.” She stood to her feet. “Shall we go now then.”

Before Aleksandr could even respond to her, another voice stole Reanna’s attention and stopped her heart all at the same time.

“Well, that was cute …”

Oh no. Oh no, no, no … Not now!

“Going for the kids first,” the woman chuckled softly. “Genius … Wish I would have thought of that first.”

Reanna had tried to hide her emotions. She tried not to look surprised or scared or effected in the slightest, but the moment she heard the woman’s voice again, she knew she’d failed … miserably.

“Well, come on, Rea. Are you going to say hello to your best friend, or should I just walk past like I don’t even know who you are?”

The breath had literally already left her body or else she would have responded.

“… Though, it does kind of look like you’re on another level now, you know, judging from all of these soldiers surrounding you … oops, sorry,” she giggled. “Am I allowed to even call them soldiers anymore? It’s hard to remember seeing as I’m supposed to forget everything I know about this organization. After ten years of loyalty and working my ass off for the bosses, I’ve been let go.”

“Aniyah … Hi.”

Whew!

Reanna finally managed to speak and look the woman in the eye … Sucks that she wasn’t particularly excited about what she saw though.

Anger.

Boiling hot anger that Reanna was pretty sure she was about to get a taste of.

Oh no … Shit.

“Ms. Clark.” In a sudden motion, Aleksandr turned away from Reanna to face Aniyah, a mischievous smile on his face. “Long time no see …”

Even as amusement was clear on Aniyah’s face, a fire still remained in her eyes. “That’s because you all rarely come to the office anymore,” she said, adjusting her purse as she gave the child a nod. “How are you little Aleksandr?”

“Not so little,” he answered. “Doctor Jane says Maksi and I are tall for our age and growing every day, so …” He shrugged. “Maybe soon I’ll be calling you little.”

Reanna frowned.
Alright little flirt
, she thought, shaking her head. The boy couldn’t help himself. Always flirting when girls were around.

Laughing softly, Aniyah nodded her head. “Maybe so,” she replied. “You have grown a lot since I last saw you.” She looked at the other two children. “As has your brother and Ms. Sofia. How are you both?”

Maksim then greeted Aniyah politely, telling her that he was
‘fine’
, but Sofia said nothing, prompting Reanna to look down at her side. She’d latched on to Reanna’s arm again, holding tightly to her as her head rested on her arm.

“Sofi,” Reanna got her attention.

Sofia looked up at her.

“Don’t be rude, baby. Say hi, please.”

Nodding her head in immediate obedience, she looked over to Aniyah, giving her a sweet
‘hello’
before once again looking off as if uninterested with the entire situation.

“Hmm …” Reanna heard Aniyah say in response.

She looked up, finding the woman once again staring at her.

Shit.

“Do you have a moment, Reanna?”

Oh no … no moments. Reanna didn’t have any moments. This was too awkward for her taste. What the hell was she supposed to say to the woman? Dammit! She’d told Kyle to wait! Why the hell had he taken matters into his own hands without consulting her first.

“So I’m guessing that’s a no …”

“No!” Reanna blurted out. Noticing that she’d startled everyone, she quickly pulled herself together. “I mean, yes,” she chuckled nervously. “Yes, I can give you a second. Umm, Michele.” She turned to the man, motioning for him to come forward. “Can you please?”

“But Reanna,” Sofia whined, tugging at Reanna’s arm, suddenly seeming to tune in to what was going on. “I don’t want you to. I want us to go see papa now.”

Sighing, Reanna attempted to break free of the hold she had on her arm. “Sofia honey, it’s just for a second,” Reanna assured. “We’ll go find papa afterward I promise, okay?”

Holding her tighter, the child refused to let go. “But Reanna …”

Reanna shook her head. “In a minute Sofia.”

“Reanna …”

“Sofi—”

“No!” she snapped.

Shocked, Reanna’s eyes widened. “No?”

“No!” This time she stamped her little foot right as she shot a furious glare in Aniyah’s direction. “Go away!” She screamed the words.

“Sofia Nicole,” Reanna reprimanded sharply.

She was floored.
Floored
. This was
not
her Sofia. The child was fuming. That quick! Only moments ago she’d been so quiet, uninterested and now …

“What has gotten into you, young lady!”

“I want us to go, Reanna!” she cried, her face now crimson as tears began streaming from her eyes. “I want us to go see papa now.”

The tears in her eyes were enough to make Reanna pause for a moment, now more concerned than shocked. Why was she so upset? “Sofia—”

“I don’t want you to talk to her! I wanna go now,” she cried. “I wanna go to Papa!”

And that was all Reanna could take.

Pulling her arm free, Reanna leaned forward and lifted Sofia into her arms. She immediately clung to Reanna, crying so hard, too hard; it was breaking Reanna’s heart and worrying her sick all at the same time. She couldn’t figure out what was wrong.

“Sofi,” she comforted, holding her tight. “Baby, tell me what it is.”

Her father. She hadn’t seen him all day, but Reanna had never seen her react like this after not seeing Kyle for too long. Pouting, yes, but never a full on tantrum. She was normally so patient, not one for tantrums. Something was wrong. Sofia’s arms were wrapped around her so tightly she could barely catch her breath.

“Baby,” she whispered once Sofia sobs became soft whimpers.

From in front of her, she heard Aleksandr telling Aniyah to leave because she was upsetting Sofia, to which Maksim voiced his agreement.

“Boys,” Reanna chided them, motioning for Aleksandr to come stand beside her. “Don’t be rude, please. Come over here, we’re about to go.” She looked up at Aniyah. “I’m sorry, Aniyah,” she apologized, shaking her head back and forth. “I know you wanted to talk, but I …” She shrugged her shoulders sadly.

She had wanted to talk, too, wanted to apologize, but that was pretty much impossible right now.

“I only have now for you to explain yourself, Reanna,” Aniyah replied coldly. It was as if she didn’t even see that Reanna was trying to comfort an upset child. “If we don’t talk now, we don’t talk at all.”

What?
Reanna thought, a frown falling over her face. Was she serious?

Could she not see that Reanna was occupied? And what the hell had she meant she only had now for Reanna to explain herself? Like Reanna was begging for her time? Honestly, she’d be just fine not talking about it at all. What the hell was there to say? It wasn’t like they could still be friends after this, and Reanna just had to accept that. She felt bad for betraying her, yes, but really, would talking about it and trying to salvage the relationship really be in either of their best interest? She and Kyle were getting married for goodness sake.

So adjusting her baby in her arms, Reanna took in a deep breath. “Fine then,” she nodded, resolving to her decision. “We don’t talk at all.”

Aniyah’s brows rose, that fiery anger once again brightening her dark eyes. “Excuse me? What the fuck do you mean we don’t talk at all?”

Reanna gasped. “Hey!” she snapped at the woman. “Watch your mouth in front of the kids.”

“I don’t have any kids,” she shot back. “So I say what I want!”

Glaring, Reanna huffed.

That was it.

Now she was pissed off. Patience non-existent! Not while Sofia was upset. “What do you want from me, Aniyah!” she yelled, uncaring of the people surely looking at them as they made their way down the large, crowded sidewalk. “An apology? Fine! I’m sorry. But I can’t change what happened. I messed up, ruined our friendship, and betrayed your trust, I understand that, and I accept that I have to deal with that guilt. But I’m not going to stand here with you and argue back and forth about things I can’t and
wouldn’t
change. It is what it is, and frankly, I have too much going on in my life right now to deal with it. I’m sorry; honestly, I never meant to hurt you, but I need to go. Michele!”

Obviously seeing that her patience was all but gone, Michele came forward swiftly. “Yes ma’am.”

Reanna motioned in Aniyah’s direction. “Just … figure out a way to move her so we can go please, now.”

Michele did exactly as Reanna asked with a quickness, it almost made her feel bad for yelling at him. But he hadn’t looked upset. He actually looked … amused, or maybe it was proud, like he was happy to hear her order him around, or perhaps just order him to move Aniyah. Whatever it was, it had worked in Reanna’s favor. The security surrounded her and the children and they once again began their journey to the Salerno Organization building.

There was too much shit going on in Kyle’s head.

Too much making him tense, too much making him hesitant to speak to his own damn brothers, and he could tell they noticed it, too. He noticed how he kept his distance, noticed how little he’d said to them when they’d come over and greeted the family. He’d even stepped away from them all, just because he hadn’t been able to handle the thought of them asking him ‘what the hell was wrong with him’, and him having to reply with a lie.

He wasn’t ready.

Wasn’t ready to tell them how badly he’d failed today. Wasn’t ready to hear them try to brainstorm a way to fix his fuck-up, and he damn sure wasn’t ready to see that look of disappointment, or ‘I told you so’ in their eyes when they found out how badly he’d screwed-up the peace deal that had been his idea to begin with.

They never even would have wasted all of this fucking time trying to achieve what was beginning to look impossible had Kyle not opened his big fucking mouth.

What now?

That was the question going through his head on a constant loop. What the hell was he going to do now?

Would he apologize?

Offer them the territory in order to save face, save the deal? Or would he just give up?

Let Nathan come to his rescue, same as he’d been doing since they were kids. Kyle couldn’t really envision himself doing any of that. He couldn’t see himself giving in and allowing Nathan to fix his mistakes. He couldn’t see himself failing after all the work he’d done, all the time put into the negotiations, all of the late nights in his office when he could have been home with his daughter.

Too much had been sacrificed already for this deal. So was failure really an option.

The words of his step-mother just kept flashing through his head. She’d said that it wasn’t possible for him to fail. That he had yet to discover how powerful he was.

But how?

Yes, Kyle understood now that he was a direct descendent of a key figure in the criminal underworld, but even still, he didn’t know anything about Alexis Stone. He didn’t even know if he was anything like the man that was said to have been a stoic, quiet and calculated, cold, heartless—beside his whole-hearted, unrelenting love for his daughter—

and ruthless—

Wait a minute. Kyle frowned, pretty sure that he’d been characterized with more than a few of those words in the past.

“Look at this, brother.”

The abrupt sound of Mickey’s voice near him startled the hell out of Kyle, nearly making him jump out of his skin.

His eyes shot up from the floor, where he hadn’t even known they’d fallen, just as the man approached him with JoJo in his arms, the child looking quite happy despite the fact that his hearing device was now back on his head.