[Dawn.]“I’ll give you my life savings. You can have it all. It’ll repay Andre’ debt, and you can just leave us. I’ve got it in my room.” I lie.The two exchange looks again, a smile even. Then the first one turns to me. “Sure.” I realize then that I'm being naive. They have no intention of leaving us.He comes and picks me up, helps me down the hallway before I shrug him off. We go to my room and I dig around under the bed. I shove the shoe box with my savings aside and instead reach for my knife. But before I can grasp it, he yanks me out by my feet, and I watch it drift out of reach as he drags me away. I scream and buck, smashing my head on the bed frame. He pulls me up by my hair. “Don’t be stupid!” He seethes.I try to break his hands from my hair, but he’s too strong.“Don’t make me give your mother another child to mourn.”I stop. Defeated.Seeing that I’m broken, he stands me up, pushes me out into the kitchen, and points for me to return to my mother’s room. Standing in th
[Aldo] I’m just pulling up to the house when I check my phone again to see if Dawn has replied. I missed her call before, and all mine returning it have gone to voicemail since.It’s stupid because I’m just about to see her, and I’ve been telling myself not to overreact, but I can’t help but be on edge.I may have been overzealous in my responses during the last hour with a few panicked messages. All things considered, I hope she’s just napping.Which brings me back to why I’ve returned home.I kill the engine and grip the wheel with tender hands. We’ve got our first scan today.It’s huge. I’m still blown away by being a dad. I can’t wait. I can’t—My gut clenches up, and suddenly the temperature drops all around me.The door is wide open. What I’ve been fearing kicks in.“Dawn?!” I scream, getting out of the car. I know I’m probably being stupid.It’s just an open door… but I run into the house, screaming again and again. No one’s here. They’re not here. They’re—I hear a groan as I
[Aldo]“Screaming isn’t helping anything along.” Luca retorts calmly.“Not that you tried!” I’m being childish. I’m freaking out.Luca looks me in the eye. “Aldo, calm down, or you'll say something you regret. What has happened? Exactly.” He emphasizes the last word heavily.“I got home, and the door was wide open. There was broken glass in the hallway. They’d tied up Isabella and threatened Dawn with having her go with them. It’s all about Andre.” My head hangs. “She tried to pay them off with her life savings too.”Luca’s face has darkened, especially at the mention of Andre. “Anything else?”“What else does there need to be?” I’m pacing back and forth now. I can’t breathe. Luca tries to slow me down. “Don’t fucking touch me. You kicked me out of this family, remember?”Luca keeps his hand raised, though. “But I did not stop being a friend.”“Fuck off with that shit.”“I will only remind you once again to watch how you speak to me, Aldo. I did offer to help Dawn.” He says.“And sh
[Dawn]I snap back to consciousness in an instant, my body jolting from the final memories I have of being awake.We were driving along, and then this rag was over my mouth. I can still smell remnants of it on my hood. I can't see anything, but there's a light source somewhere in the corner.My heart rate jumps up into triple figures, and I can only think of my mom.“Mom?” I call.My hood is ripped off, and then the heart rate that had just doubled stops.Andre is kneeling in front of me.Alive.“What are you doing alive?”The Russians burst out laughing, and I look about the room.The Russian who was in charge in the house shrugs.“Mom is not here,” he grins. “She’s probably dead.”I highly doubt that. She’s probably with Aldo right now. But it’s Andre who flinches at that news.We’re in this tiny office that’s been transformed into a holding cell. There's a spring bed in the corner and no mattress.A bucket that reeks of piss. Andre looks absolutely horrible. He smells like he hasn’
[Dawn.]I scream and try to jump away, but I’m tied to a fucking chair. Which my brain forgot. I feel a hand grab ahold of my foot. I kick harder and achieve nothing because of the ropes. Andre is screaming away, and the man pulls me back onto my feet. I smash down on all fours the right way up. The man, whose name I presume is Ilya, is smiling widely.“Too much fun,” he says. “I love families.”Andre stops bucking around for a second, and the two men hold him cautiously. The leader takes a final drag of his cigarette and puts it out on Andre’ foot. He flinches.“I haven’t even gotten to the good part. You see, while there were offenses caused by Andre here, what really rankled my boss was the debt. You see, the girl doesn’t know much, and she can’t really give the FBI too much without implicating herself, but it’s the principal. Anyway, the debt needed to be repaid. And Andre here assured me that he was going to come good. He weaseled a bit more time out of my already very generous
[Aldo]As we drive to my apartment, Luca fills me in on everything Andre has been up to for the last five years.“And you knew?” I ask incredulously.Luca nods. “I knew once I began calling around after you returned. Leandro said he was looking into things on his end, but he encouraged me to do the same. Andre, it turned out, hasn’t exactly been subtle about trying to fix his debts with Alexei. He’s been to every loan shark in the city of New York; he’s pitched to many different teams about robberies, he’s stiffed over a few other families trying to trick people out of money…” he shrugs. “He’s been desperate.”I shake my head. Beyond the sense of betrayal from Andre, I also feel it for Luca. He’s let me run around like an idiot these past weeks… “So it was all a ploy to lure Alexei in?” I shake my head. “You let us drive up and almost get killed—”“No, no.” Luca cuts me off with a wave of his hand. “I didn’t know about them then. As I just said, I only began searching after Lean
[Aldo]I take out my phone in desperation and call Dawn.Expectantly, it rings out.I pocket it and begin rummaging around the place. But it seems pointless. Surely if the bratva boys couldn’t find anything, what would we find? I suppose it depends on what they were searching for. I twist my lips and decide on my room first. It’s the same. Trashed and destroyed. Everything tipped out and, for no good reason, was piled on my bed so that it can be shit on. I leave it, knowing I’ll never stay here again.I head through and join Luca; he’s found a few sheets of paper that have been sandwiched between the bed and wall. He’s reading through them and hands one off to me. It’s a list of ideas to make money in messy handwriting. All I feel is pity for my friend and his desperation. He could’ve come to us for help. We should have offered more. He hands me another, and this one has an idea circled.Life insurance.I think back to us playing the games of NBA before the fight. He’d been reading
[Dawn]Andre screams, the raw agony slicing through the thick air as blood begins spurting violently from his foot. I can almost feel the warm spray on my skin, but I don’t dare move. Ilya hasn’t just cut off his pinky toes, but also half of the next one. The sickening sound of flesh being severed fills the room, mingling with Andre’s frantic, breathless gasps.Ilya giggles—a sound so hollow and chilling it twists my insides. His laughter echoes in the small, suffocating space, making the walls feel like they’re closing in on us. Andre and I continue screaming, a mix of desperation and disbelief. I feel sick. Not from the pregnancy, no. That’s the least of my concerns right now. My stomach churns from the violence, the brutality of it all. I can’t look away, but every inch of me wants to.“Partly there, Andre,” Ilya croons mockingly.Andre is heaving haggard breaths, sweat pouring from his face, slick and gleaming under the flickering light overhead. His entire body trembles with pa
HazelI Lie Awake in bed for a long while, wondering if Xavier will sneak in at some point. I’m alternately hopeful and despairing. Last night, it felt like nothing could ever come between us, but tonight, watching my mother flirt so overtly with him at dinner, I’m not so certain. It made me hotly jealous to find out they had sex on their second date. More than that, it was the fond smile the memory evoked in Xavier. What if my mother has somehow weaved her web around him again?I text Christine to chat but she seems standoffish and aloof.Are you just trying to chat or is something up? she eventually asks.Just chatting, I answer. Wanted to see how you are.I’m fine, she answers. Now you know. Why aren’t you chatting with your secret older boyfriend?I sigh and don’t answer. I don’t know how to. After staring at my phone blankly for a while, I put it down and stare at the ceiling instead.So Xavier and Melanie had sex on their second date. It’s painful to think of them being together
Every Daddy is a reference, a hidden threat to her mother. She’s feeling brave enough to flirt with danger, but I act like it’s perfectly natural. Like she’s always called me Daddy.The card is simple: ‘You’re the very best father I ever could have imagined. Thank you so much for everything you do for me.’ The book is a small coffee table book about architecture in Switzerland, not the most inspired gift, but I’m touched by the sentiment. “Thank you so much, sweetie,” I say, giving her shoulder an affectionate squeeze.“My turn,” grins Melanie, lifting a gift bag up from her feet and sliding it over to me. It appears to contain a bottle of wine. Better be a five-hundred dollar bottle of wine, I think to myself.But when I open it up, it’s not. It’s a seven dollar wine at best, but one that surprises me with the warm memories it brings up. I laugh with genuine mirth as I pull it out of the bag.“Almaden!” I exclaim, chuckling. “Oh my God. How did you ever find this?”Melanie laughs too
Mon dieu. “I thought you said you were sore.”She nods. “I don’t care. If I have to sit through dinner with Melanie pretending that everything is perfectly normal between us, I at least want the pain to remind me that you secretly fucked me in the bathroom.”It’s hopeless. My dick is hard already, throbbing in my pants. How has Hazel become such a filthy little girl so quickly? I’m equally shocked and turned on at the forbidden scenario she’s imagining. The one thing I can’t bring myself to tell her is that her mother has already guessed it—and doesn’t care. That, more than anything, is something I never want Hazel to know.“Turn around and put your hands on the counter,” I say in a low voice, turning off the water and unzipping my pants. I stand behind her, lining my cock up with her entrance and lean forward to murmur in her ear. “You’re a dirty little girl, aren’t you? You want me to fuck you while Mommy’s downstairs?”“Yes, Daddy,” she whispers. I squeeze a hand around her hip as
Xavier when we get home on Sunday, I haven’t given a second’s thought to Melanie. It hasn’t occurred to me to wonder if there might be some sign of her left behind, if she could have maybe forgotten something—maybe even left a note. I’ve been so completely transported by the events of the past twenty-four hours that I’ve practically forgotten about her.So it’s a shock when I unlock the door and walk in to find Melanie waiting in the kitchen.“Hello!” she trills from a stool at the kitchen island, lifting both hands and one foot in an overly-exuberant greeting, as if we’d be happy to see her. Her phone and a glass of wine are on the island in front of her.“Melanie,” I say, stunned. “What are you doing here?” My lawyer was supposed to have her escorted off the premises. It occurs to me I haven’t even looked at my phone since last night, I’ve been so utterly consumed by Hazel, fucking her again and again over the course of the night and this morning until she complained that her pussy
“Yes.”“And you’re on the pill?”Understanding dawns in her eyes. “Yes.”“When I come, I want it to be inside of you, Hazel.”She pauses. “Okay, Daddy.”I can’t help but smile. “That’s good, baby. That’s very good.” I press the head of my cock harder against her hole, until I can feel her resistance. “I’m not going to wear a condom, because it’s different with us, okay? I’m not some boy doing God knows what. I’m your daddy who’s going to take care of you.”“Yes, Daddy,” she breathes again.“That’s good,” I murmur, caressing her cheek with one hand. “You’re such a good girl, Hazel. You’re so good to your daddy.”I push against her entrance, feeling the squeeze of her pussy as I slide into her slowly. She pinches her eyebrows together, looking strained, and I slow down. Grown women with lots of experience sometimes have trouble taking my cock. It’s something that I’m used to.“It’s okay,” I reassure her. “I’m going to go really slowly. Just relax.” I push in a little deeper, the tight b
“Yes.” My voice is almost a whisper. I can hardly hear it over the pounding of my heart. “Yes, Daddy.”He smiles slowly. “That’s good. What I really want is to be your daddy in every way, Hazel. I want to comfort and care for you, and love you, and I want to play games with you, games I think we will both enjoy, things we’ve tried out a little already. I want to be your daddy in bed, and I want you to be my little girl. Do you want that, too?”“Yes,” I breathe.“That’s good.” He takes another sip of his drink and then places the glass on the nightstand between us. “Then in that case,” he says. “You’re going to be a good little girl for me tonight.”#Xavier #it’s a relief to let go, to drop the burden of self-control. To lay down the mantle of responsibility and honour and just say, fuck it.Hazel’s safety and wellbeing comes first. I will always care for her and protect her, but knowing that she wants what I want, that she’s as eager to be my willing little girl as I am to be her b
“Hazel.” His voice is soft but censorious, a father gently correcting a child, but something inside me is breaking open; something that can’t be contained. I love him. I love him with a kind of fierceness that can’t be locked up or tamed.“Xavier.” I match his tone. “Don’t you know everything’s different between us? I can’t pretend we’re the same as we were before. I can’t pretend I don’t love you, and I don’t want to. What if it…what if it wasn’t a secret anymore?”He closes his eyes for a second and takes a breath. “Sweetheart. You know how I feel about you, but look around. We don’t live in a world where this is okay. And with your mother gone, I want you to know that I will always be there for you, okay? As…as a father.”“I know, Dad.” I tighten my arms around him, squeezing him before I ask the question that might make him pull away from me. “I know you will always be there for me. But I don’t want to stop what we’re doing. I…want you. Even if we have to do it in secret, then fin
The wedding is a short Uber ride from our hotel at a winery. Guests in their finery are milling all over the place, inside and out, and it’s clear the entire space is rented out just for the wedding. White ribbons billow from every post, and strings of Edison bulbs sway in the wind above us. Xavier doesn’t wait for a server, and walks right into the main room, ordering a scotch from the bar. When the bartender offers me a glass of wine, Xavier answers for me. “She’ll have a Coke.”We head outside, towards the back where white wooden chairs have been set out in neat rows below a makeshift ceiling of string lights, and I trail after Xavier as he circulates among the guests, introducing me to the people I don’t know and reminding me about the people I do. It feels a little like a game of make-believe, and I wonder if anyone would believe I’m Xavier’s date—except that he keeps introducing me to people as his daughter.When a woman in a headset with a clipboard starts telling us to take ou
“Babe,” she resists, blinking nervously. She knows me well enough to know when I won’t back down.I take a step forward. “I’ll call Patrick to take you to a hotel tonight.” Our family lawyer, Patrick, is well known to Melanie. “Tomorrow you’ll find accommodations for yourself. You will not speak to Hazel, you will not show up on our doorstep, and any future communication will go through Patrick.”She twists her mouth, furrowing her brow. Frustration is etched all over her face. “You could have had it all and now you’re going to throw it away?”I take another step forward, dwarfing her with my full height. “Could have had what?” I ask menacingly. “You and your daughter? She’s not yours to sell, Melanie.”“I’ll use it against you,” she threatens. “I’ll destroy you!”“I don’t care what you do. You think you can send any storm my way that I can’t weather? Do your worst. But don’t you dare try to use Hazel as a pawn.”She steps back. “You’ll have to pay me more alimony to shut me up!”“The