Boston Avant-Garde 5: Bellicoso

by Kaitlin Maitland

  Bottom line—they had to extract enough information from Seraph to put Han away for good. There was a chance, however small, that Seraph would help them if she thought it kept her daughter from being at risk. Demon didn’t like gambling with the lives of those he loved, especially when he was trusting in the maternal instincts of a hell-bitch like Seraphina de Medici.

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Of all the potential careers she might have stumbled upon, Selena never would have imagined the role of teacher would fit her like a glove. From the first moment she’d asked her class of vibrant girls to take their places at the barre, she’d made a conscious decision to put her fear aside and play a role. Now on her third day, she knew this was where she really belonged. Would it be all smiles and giggles? Probably not, but Selena had learned the hard way that nothing was.

  “Ms. Aasen?” Tonya gazed up with blue eyes as big as saucers. “Is it really true you danced the Dewdrop solo with the Boston Ballet?”

  “It was a long time ago, sweetie.” Selena glanced at the girls still gathering their things. Allie was watching from the corner of her eye. “I had to work really hard for it, though. So I’m sure you could get there too if you did the same.”

  “That would be awesome,” Tonya breathed. “So cool! I’ll see you tomorrow for Saturday session, ’kay?”

  “I’ll be here. You have fun with your mom and dad tonight. I heard the girls saying you were going someplace special.” Selena felt as if she was getting to experience her girlhood all over again through these freethinking and sometimes crazy-as-hell kids. It was liberating.

  Tonya was practically vibrating with excitement. “We’re going with my grandparents to dinner. I get to pick since we’re celebrating me getting into the flower corps.”

  “Well congratulations! But you worked hard, and I know Madame was really excited that all of you girls made it into the flower corps. I can’t wait to see the costumes. They’re always so much better than the Snowflakes.” Selena gave Tonya a conspiratorial smile. The older girls had been given the Snowflake roles, and there was a good bit of competitive spirit going on between two classes, which were really neck and neck in technique and only a shade different in age.

  Tonya bounded out the door, and Allie was the only girl left in the classroom. Selena had been careful not to show any favoritism, but it was hard not to when Allie had Malachi’s eyes.

  “Can I talk to you, Ms. Aasen—Selena?” Allie shifted nervously in her pink Converse sneakers.

  “Is your dad coming to pick you up for dinner, or are you headed to the dining room?” Selena gathered her things, trying not to sound starved for information about Malachi and Demon.

  “I think I told you Dee isn’t my dad.” Allie gazed up at Selena with the gloomiest expression on her face. “Daddy can’t get here very often. He…well, it’s his job, you know?”

  Selena had made herself a promise she wasn’t going to tell this sweet kid that she knew all about her fucked-up family life. Yet Selena found herself longing to do just that. Worse, she knew for a fact she was head over heels for both of Allie’s sexy guardians. Had it not been for teaching and dancing, Selena would have been clawing down the door at Triptych while begging Owen the Ass to let her back inside to apologize for her stupidity in leaving.

  Except with my luck Seraph would answer the door, and I’d just screw things up worse than they already are.

  “Your daddy loves you, Allie.” Selena gently drew the girl beneath her arm. “I know he does. And I know a lot about him and the man you call Dee too.”

  “His name isn’t really Dee,” Allie whispered.

  “Demon,” Selena agreed. “I’m sorry if you’re stuck here all by yourself tonight, but you’re welcome to hang out with me after dinner if you don’t mind being bored silly. I’m still trying to put my stuff away and decorate my room a little bit.”

  “Really?” Allie’s face lit up. “I— Thank you, Selena.”

  * * * *

  “I told my dad that he and Dee had better not screw things up with you.” Allie lounged on Selena’s bed, looking full and happy. She should’ve been, considering the heaping helping of lemon meringue pie she’d consumed after her tomato basil pasta.

  “Nobody screwed anything up.” Selena cast a sideways glance at her young guest while trying to decide if she should hang the painting or send it back to Brookline. It was one of Mattie’s.

  Her room, though spacious by dorm standards, was a shoe box compared to her suite at the estate. Selena didn’t care. It was cozy and always full of smiles and laughter from the wide variety of boarding students there at the school. Not just dancers, but string and brass players, pianists, vocalists, and even the drama department thespians that had personalities guaranteed to make her love and hate them all at the same time.

  Outside her window, the earlier snowfall had receded into a clear night that looked too cold for even a peek outside at the full moon. She’d already hung her thick pink-and-white-striped draperies with their silvery accents. She probably should have sent Allie to her own room by now. The rest of the boarders were snuggled like mice in their beds, but Selena couldn’t make herself tell Allie to go.

  “I’m glad you like pink. Dad and Dee always pick black or maybe blue if they’re trying to attempt creativity.” Allie fingered the corner of a duvet that matched the curtains.

  Selena tried Mattie’s painting against the opposite wall. The canvas featured a sunrise over Salem Common with more pink, purple, and mauve than orange—perfect for Selena’s taste. “The two of them live in a medieval-style church at the moment, kiddo. I think if either of them ever moved out of the club, it might change their take on decor.”

  “Do you think that will happen someday?” Allie sighed and rolled onto her belly before propping her chin on her hands. “I’d give anything to live someplace other than a school.”

  “When did you start boarding?” Selena asked.

  “My first week of first grade. My dad used to come get me and bring me home every weekend. We had an apartment back then. By the time I got to third grade, Mom got rid of the apartment, and I had to stay at school all the time, except on holidays. That’s when my mom likes to take me on vacation.” Allie wrinkled her nose.

  “Where are you going for Christmas this year?” Selena could understand the desire to spend a holiday at home. The Aasens had never been much for hanging around during holidays either.

  “She hasn’t said yet, which is kind of strange since there are only three and a half weeks left until Christmas. I hate vacationing with my mom. She always brings at least one girlfriend, and I just don’t need to see that, you know?”

  “Oh, that kind of girlfriend, hmm?” Finally satisfied with where the painting would go, Selena reached for a picture hanger and her petite utility hammer. The tool even had a baby-pink handle.

  “Yeah. At least Dee and my dad don’t flaunt it or act all weird about it.”

  A tiny tap had the little hanger in place. Selena made sure the painting hung straight. “But you don’t think it would be weird if they added another person to their relationship?”

  “No.” Allie picked up one of Selena’s fuzzy throw pillows. “They love each other, but they aren’t happy living like two gay guys. They both need a woman as much as I need a real mom. Someone who knows how to have fun, dance, and likes pink would make our lives complete. I want it to be someone like you.”

  “What on earth makes you so certain I could handle that?” The question was part teasing and part really, really wanting to know. Selena wasn’t sure she could be a decent wife, let alone someone’s mother. How could this kid seem so sure?

  Allie scrunched the pillow up and laid her cheek on it. “I don’t know. I just do. You’re perfect for us, Selena, and I’m not giving up until Dad and Dee see it too.”

  Selena struggled to keep the shock off her face. She didn’t want Allie to see how deeply her words hit home. “Sweetie, sometimes adults are pretty bonehea
ded about relationships. We tend to make things harder than they have to be.”

  Allie had just taken a breath to answer when Selena’s door burst open. Hammer dangling from her hand, Selena stared in shock as two Asian guys, both shorter and slimmer than Demon, pushed their way into her dorm room.

  Without hesitation, Selena put herself between Allie and the intruders. The first guy was artificially blond with shaggy hair, a snarky expression, and a lot of black leather. The second had close-cropped black hair with a nasty scar on the right side of his face that bisected his milky white eye. This went beyond a hey-you’ve-got-the-wrong-room-dude visit. These guys didn’t belong in the school. At all.

  “You’re not supposed to be here.” Selena wished her phone were just a little closer than the nightstand. Lars was on speed dial and so was campus security. Although she got the feeling campus security had already been dealt with.

  They pointed at her and jabbered at each other at light speed in a language Selena didn’t understand.

  “They’re here for me,” Allie whispered from right behind her.

  Selena would deal with the fact that the kid obviously spoke either Mandarin or Cantonese later. A strange feeling was gnawing at the pit of her stomach. How dare these assholes barge into a school and try to grab a little girl just because her mother was a damned lunatic crime lord? Malachi had turned himself inside out for years to keep his daughter out of it. Now this?

  Like hell!

  “You need to leave,” Selena said in a stronger voice. “I’m not kidding. This place will be swarming with cops and God knows who else in no time.” Of course that was hypothetical since Selena wasn’t even going to hazard a scream. There was no way she was going to chance having more students or teachers barging into this situation unawares.

  A taller man with dark eyes and a cruel expression sauntered into the room. “Ahh, Alisa Kingston, we meet at last. And who’s this lovely protector you’re hiding behind?”

  “Stay away.” Selena had just remembered she was holding a hammer. She swung it lightly in her hand, trying to remember anything and everything she’d ever been taught about self-defense.

  “See, my business associate Seraphina de Medici has suddenly found herself unable to pay a rather large sum of money to me and my father.” The new guy’s expression was a sick parody of a smile. “My name is Yen Kun, and I think we’re going to get along just fine if you two ladies do as you’re told.”

  Behind Selena, Allie gave a little squeak. Selena realized why when it sank into Selena’s head that the Chinese listed their surname before their given name. The resemblance, his presence here at school, it all suggested this piece of shit about to abduct Allie probably not only knew Demon but was related to him somehow.

  Kun cast a careless glance at his lackeys. “Bring them along. The night is wasting.”

  Blondie tried to shove Selena out of the way to reach Allie. Years of dance gave Selena the balance to dodge quickly out of range despite the tight space. She evaded his grab and then swung her hand up and clocked him square in the face with the hammer. She hadn’t put much thought into exactly where to hit him, thinking to aim for his temple but missing and hitting his cheekbone instead. The girlie hammer didn’t do much damage. It was made to tap dainty brads instead of drive nails. Blondie fell back, but he was just as pissed as he was hurt. With one side of his face bleeding, he snarled and grabbed her around the neck.

  They scuffled, Selena batting at him with her tiny utility hammer and wishing she’d borrowed their estate handyman’s full-size version. As she used the heel of her slipper-covered foot to smash Blondie’s instep, she realized the other guy had gone after Allie.

  Scarface had severely underestimated this child who’d grown up with Demon and Malachi for fathers. Allie grabbed the hand Scarface placed on her shoulder and twisted it around, using her body weight for leverage as she neatly broke his wrist. He sank to his knees, and she planted the heel of her hand against his nose. Blood spewed everywhere, disorienting her attacker. Before any of them could react, she’d grabbed Scarface’s hair and slammed his face into her knee. The jackass crumpled to the floor, unconscious.

  Kun spewed epithets in his native tongue and pulled out a handgun. The bottom dropped out of Selena’s stomach as he leveled the weapon at Allie. Without a second thought she yanked away from Blondie and put herself in front of the barrel. Her heart thundered. She didn’t want to die, but she’d rather he shot her instead of this crazy, brave, beautiful girl that was coming to mean just as much as her fathers did to Selena.

  Kun frowned. “Teachers where I come from don’t like their students this much. Shall we assume the feeling goes both ways?” A smirk twisted his face, and he pressed the muzzle of his handgun against Selena’s forehead. “Your choice, Alisa Kingston. You come quietly, or I shoot your pretty teacher in the head. Big mess.”

  Selena had always thought when people said their life flashed before their eyes, it was a load of shit. It wasn’t. Although it wasn’t really her life she saw. It was the things that made her life worth living. In that moment she knew without a doubt that leaving Malachi and Demon behind had been the dumbest decision of her life, and that she didn’t care how big of an age gap there was. She wanted it to work for however long fate decided to give her. She’d take every minute, love them both the way they deserved, and make a home for their incredible daughter while savoring the idea of adding a few more babies along the way.

  “I’ll go!” Allie said with a sob. “Just don’t hurt her.”

  Kun looked at Scarface’s prone body in disgust before turning to Blondie. “Leave him and bring both bitches.”

  Allie’s hand found its way into Selena’s, and she squeezed the girl’s fingers tightly. “Stay close, baby.”

  Selena swallowed back the bile in her throat and snatched up a sweater and her hoodie as they were ushered from her dorm room. She hadn’t managed to grab her phone. She hadn’t managed to alert anyone. But this son of a bitch had just stolen the one thing Demon and Malachi valued above everything else in the world. Selena only had to keep Allie alive and well until they came, because she trusted in them completely, and they were coming.

  * * * *

  Demon fumed as he parked his car in front of Allie’s school. He wanted to kill something. Anything would suffice, though the preferred target for his wrath would be his cousin. Everything in his gut told him Kun was behind this abduction.

  He and Malachi could hear the yelling before they’d even entered the main building of the Boston School for the Arts. Neither man spoke. It wasn’t necessary. They needed answers, and they needed them quickly if they were going to track Allie down in time.

  “You’re fucking Interpol?” a man roared. “Since when? Were you using my sister in your investigation, Lars? What the hell is the matter with you?”

  “Gentleman, if I could ask you to keep it down. There’s nothing to be gained by yelling.”

  Demon recognized the voice of reason as belonging to the headmistress. He stepped into the school’s main office. It bustled with activity. Lars was facing off with a man Demon suspected was his cousin Erik. The headmistress looked on as though she was trying to referee. A paramedic was tending to a dark-haired Asian man with a scar bisecting his right eye. He appeared unconscious. His nose was broken, as was his wrist. Despite everything, Demon’s mouth quirked into a smile he could not hide.

  “What’s funny?” Lars demanded.

  Erik and the headmistress greeted Demon’s and Malachi’s entrance with blank stares—Erik because they’d never officially met, and the headmistress because Malachi had lost his temper with her on the phone a short while ago. Demon stepped the rest of the way in to let Malachi see the man on the gurney.

  His partner gave the scarred man the same quick once-over that Demon had. “That’s Allie’s handiwork.”

  Lars looked dumbfounded. “Are you telling me your thirteen-year-old daughter did that?”

  “Damn straig
ht,” Malachi grunted.

  “There was a hammer covered in blood too. I think Selena must’ve tried to intervene.” Lars stabbed both hands into his hair and looked at the ceiling. “She’s gone, Yen. They took her too.”

  A chasm seemed to open, sucking Demon into the blackness of rage and desolation that had once defined his existence. How could this have happened? He’d known Allie had been taken. The headmistress had informed them. How had he not known Selena was gone? How had his heart not told him instantly that she was in danger?

  I refused to accept the possibility.

  Beside him, he could feel a matching rage boiling inside Malachi’s tall, lithe frame. His partner snarled something beneath his breath.

  Another woman entered behind them. “Mama just called us, Erik! Nicolai and I came right over…”

  The new arrivals moved immediately toward Lars and Erik. Though the woman was shorter and curvaceous, she carried the same green eyes that belonged to Selena. Demon realized these were her siblings. However, the man with Selena’s sister was a face from the past.

  Demon and Malachi had both known Nicolai Anastas for years. He’d once been a high-stakes poker player. While he had favored Asylum over Triptych, he’d still participated in a few of the games Malachi had hosted in the Underground over the years. It was obvious he recognized them as well.

  “What’s taking you so long to go after these idiots, Lars?” Selena’s brother demanded. “She could be on a plane by now.”

  “They wouldn’t fly her out. This is more complex than that.” Lars looked annoyed. “Please calm down. I needed to talk to Yen and Malachi before I did anything. It’s their daughter.”

  “It’s my effing sister!” The woman wiped away a tear. “I want to know what you’re going to do.”