Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War

by Hardin, Michelle

  “Oh, thank God you’re out of there.” Gabriel stood up from one of the seats and sighed. “I’m so sleepy.” He looked over to Nathan. “I get that you’re married, but there’s no way in hell I’m sleeping apart from my sister tonight. No offense, but I don’t know, nor like, any of your friends yet.”

  “None taken,” Mickey said, raising a beer.

  The guys all chuckled. Frowning, Robert shook his head in disappointment. All of the young men had beers in their hand, and appeared a little more than tipsy.

  Without another word, Gabriel walked to the bedroom cabin in the back of the plane, entered the bedroom, and closed the door behind him.

  “Nice guy,” Kyle said through a chuckle. “Packed with personality.”

  “It’s surprising considering he spent eight years in a basement,” Nathan stated. “I was surprised to hear that English accent, though. It’s different from his father’s.”

  “He was raised in London,” Robert explained as he took a seat next to Nathan. “We need to talk, Nathan.” He had spoken the words quickly because he wanted to get the conversation over with. It was one thing having talks with his daughter, but a totally different story having talks like this with his daughter’s tipsy significant other. However, he knew Nathan wasn’t too drunk, and he would remember the conversation. Robert didn’t trust because he’d been stabbed in the back too many times. He’d lived his life devoid of true friendships or true camaraderie … hell, he didn’t even trust his own brother. Even though he hated to say it, he trusted this kid. He trusted Nathan Salerno with the most important person in the world to him. His daughter. “Listen to me closely, Nathan because I will never repeat this again,” he said firmly. He hesitated before he spoke again. “I … trust you, with my daughter.”

  Nathan’s eyes grew wide for a moment, but he pulled himself together fast enough for Robert to not be annoyed by his shock.

  “Wow, Robert—”

  Robert raised his hand. “Don’t talk. I’m not finished yet.” Robert sighed. “Look, I know I gave you a hard time when I roughed you up a little, but you showed me what kind of man you are a lot quicker than I thought you would. Gabriel told me what happened while I was gone. You’re a good husband to my daughter. Tonight you showed me that. You protected her, Nathan … even when you thought it was me. You didn’t care who I was, or what you’d heard about me, you protected your wife, and that is a man that I can respect. That’s a man that’s almost good enough for my baby girl.”

  “Almost?”

  “Yes,” he nodded, “almost.” He glared at him at him for a moment. “Nobody is good enough for my daughter, Nathan.” His features quickly softened again. “But your drunk ass comes damn close. So yeah,” he slapped Nathan on his back as he stood up and walked to his original seat on the far side of the plane, “you have my blessing and approval. But that doesn’t mean I’m not still watching you.”

  “Got it,” Nathan said with a nod. “Thank you, Robert.”

  Robert waved his hand, dismissing Nathan’s gratitude. “Whatever. Just try to keep the cackling to a minimum tonight, gentleman. I’m old, I need my sleep.”

  “Don’t mind us, Robert,” Lucca said. “We’ll just be tossing back beers all night to celebrate Nathan’s exceptional, multiple baby producing sperm.”

  They all laughed like the true idiots they were, causing Robert’s nostrils to flare in annoyance. He laid back in his seat, closed his eyes, and was just about to press play on his jazz music when Mikilo said something that caught his ear.

  “Yeah, well don’t forget about Kyle’s baby producing sperm,” Mikilo said. Instantly the young man’s eyes widened and he closed his mouth tight. “Shit,” he mumbled.

  “Kyle’s?” Nathan, Lucca, and Dante yelled simultaneously.

  Robert frowned. Hmm … this just got interesting.

  Kyle slapped his brother across the head. “You fucking big mouthed idiot!”

  Mikilo rubbed the sore spot on his head. “Don’t get mad at me!” he yelled back at him. “You’d have had to tell them eventually, you dick! The kid is already born.”

  “You idiot!” Kyle yelled, slapping his brother in the head again. “Shut the hell up, Mickey!”

  “What?” Nathan exclaimed. “Please tell me he’s just fucking around, Kyle!”

  “You’re father’s going to murder you,” Dante said. “He told you to—”

  “I know what my fucking father told me!” Kyle snapped. “I didn’t mention it because it’s no big fucking deal. I’m handling it.”

  “What the hell does ‘handling it’ mean?” Lucca asked.

  Kyle shrugged. “I’ll give the mother some money and make her disappear. That’s probably all she wants anyway. She’s trying to trap me, talking some bullshit about she loves me.”

  “Maybe she does love you, Kyle,” Dante sighed tiredly.

  Kyle snorted. “I fucked her, Tae. That’s it. I made her scream, and she got attached like an idiot. The lying bitch knows absolutely nothing about me. She wants something, just like the rest of them do.”

  Lucca frowned. “Sometimes I wonder why you even bother with women if you hate them so much.”

  “Correction, Lucca, I dislike lying, manipulative bitches. Sadly, the majority of women in this world happen to be manipulative bitches.”

  Mickey shook his head, disgusted by Kyle’s words. “You’re so full of shit, Kyle.”

  Kyle pointed at himself. “I’m full of shit? I don’t think so. I’m just telling the truth.”

  “So you’re saying that you’ll never find a woman in this entire world that is not a manipulative bitch?” Dante asked as he leaned forward in his seat.

  Kyle chuckled and took a long drink of his beer. “No, I’m not. I’m just saying they’re hard to find …”

  “Then you will find one, a good woman,” Dante said.

  Kyle snorted. “Well, I did find one once,” his gaze went to Nathan and he smirked, “but we all know what happened to that.”

  Robert’s eyebrow arched, but he didn’t say a word; he immediately knew who the boy was talking about. Robert watched as the expression on Nathan’s face darkened to a cold glare. He wanted to chuckle, but he didn’t want to draw attention to himself. They obviously thought he was sleeping. Of course Kyle was in love with Carter. Robert shook his head. It was Cesare and Angelo all over again, except with a little incestuous twist. Well, at least Carter didn’t lead the boy on … At least Robert hoped she didn’t. Then she’d be just like her mother. Anastacia’s love life was, and had always been, a fucking mess.

  Robert tuned in just in time to hear Nathan let out a deep chuckle before taking a long sip of his beer. Not good. It seemed the conversation was already fueled with enough alcohol.

  “What happened to that, Kyle?” Nathan asked. “Did you string her along for a year, fuck all of her friends, co-workers, and every other trashy piece of ass that walked into the bar she worked at right in front of her face, then wait until she fell in love with someone else to sing your sad song of lost love?”

  Robert smirked. Oh come on, Nathan, he thought. Get up and beat the fucker that dared to confess his love for your woman into submission. The kid was an underboss for Christ’s sake. Robert could see it clear as day in the Nathan’s eyes that he wanted to beat the shit out of Kyle, but he didn’t move. Robert wanted to tell him that playing favorites would just give him headaches in the future, but there was no point. Nathan wasn’t going to attack Kyle like Robert knew he wanted to, like—in Robert’s opinion—he should. He was too loyal to his brothers. Attacking Kyle, like any other underboss would, would only diminish their bond. It was the right decision for Nathan not to fight, regardless of what Robert thought he should do. Had it been any other man that disrespected him in such a way, Robert knew Nathan would’ve had him six feet underground by now. It was just the way things went in this world. One should never covet the Underboss’s wife. Especially if he loved her.

  The muscles in Kyle’
s jaw tightened.

  “All right,” Lucca declared, breaking the tension in the air. “That’s enough you two, no more. You know the rules. Change the subject.”

  “I didn’t start it,” Nathan said, taking another swig of his beer before he pointed it at Kyle, “he did.”

  “Well, it needs to stop,” Dante added. “I don’t know what’s gotten into you two since the wedding.”

  “I agree,” Mickey said. “Every time you two get a few drinks in you, you start with this shit.”

  “I didn’t start shit!” Nathan snapped.

  “You’re right, you’re right,” Kyle raised his hands in mock surrender. “It’s me. I’m ruining the celebration. So—please—allow me to make a toast.” He lifted his drink. “To my whorish ways, and the illegitimate child those ways gave me, and to Nathan’s exceptional, multiple child producing sperm. Congratulations, Nathan, you stole, married, and impregnated the love of my life—”

  Abruptly, Nathan shot up and lunged for Kyle.

  Oh … maybe he is going to beat Kyle’s ass.

  “Fuck you, Kyle!” he shouted.

  Lucca jumped up and shoved Nathan back into his seat.

  Pity, Robert thought. Nathan would have ripped him apart.

  “Stop it, Nathan,” Lucca shouted. “That’s enough! This is the same stupid ass fight you had the night before the wedding. You’ve both had too much to drink. Every time you do this you wake up in the morning regretting everything you said, so cut it out.”

  Kyle snorted and took another drink. “It’s Nathan’s fault for being such a shit brother,” he muttered.

  “Goddamit, Kyle,” Mickey groaned. “Will you just chill on that shit?”

  Kyle let out a short, derisive laugh. “Of course. Here comes Nathan’s fucking mini-me to defend him and everything he does.”

  “Maybe I’d care about what you’re saying if it wasn’t just you being a jackass. Carter’s the love of Nathan’s life, that’s why he married her. She wasn’t the love of your life, that’s why you fucked girls like Tessa instead of taking the nice girl on a fucking date.”

  “Fuck you, Mikilo!”

  “Don’t fucking talk to him like that, Kyle. He’s telling the truth,” Nathan yelled. “You always do shit like this when you want to change the direction of a conversation.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “It’s true, Kyle,” Dante said calmly. “You don’t want us to talk about your child and why you’re dead set on abandoning it—”

  Kyle let out an enraged grunt and violently raked his fingers through his hair. “God, Dante! I get so sick of your bullshit. You think you know everything when you don’t know shit, including when to shut the fuck up.”

  Dante glared at Kyle. “Don’t talk to me like that, Kyle. You know better.”

  “Honestly, Kyle, you just keep pushing,” Nathan shot angrily. “One of these days you’re going to make me forget that we’re brothers.”

  “Yeah, well you already forgot that the day you asked Carter to marry you.”

  Nathan slammed his hand on the table in front of them. “That’s bullshit. It’s fucking bullshit! I don’t care what you say, I will never regret marrying Carterina—”

  “Stop.”

  Her voice was soft, but Robert knew that all of the young men had heard it when they paused and silence swept over the room. Every head snapped in the direction of the bedroom where Carter and Gabriel stood. Carter was dressed in her long, pink, Hello Kitty pajama shirt, and Gabriel in a pair of hot pink, also Hello Kitty, draw string sweat pants and a gray T-shirt. Robert noted that—surprisingly—their clothing didn’t take away from their intimidating demeanor. Carter’s glare was fierce, and Gabriel’s smile was positively evil as he silently stood next to his angry sister as if he knew something they didn’t.

  Carter stormed across the main area, and Robert could have sworn he saw them all flinch. He smiled. Never had he been more proud of his little girl.

  Nathan broke the silence by clearing his throat. “Carter—”

  Carter whipped around, cutting off his words. “Do not, Nathan Salerno.”

  Reluctantly Nathan closed his mouth and Robert was glad. The boy needed to let Carterina help. There was too much testosterone in the room. The fight was headed toward dangerous territory because Kyle showed no signs of backing off. They wouldn’t have been able to stop the brawl, but she could. And she did.

  “What have they been drinking, Mikilo?” she asked as she pulled the trash can from underneath the sink.

  “Scotch, a little whisky, and beer.”

  Carter threw every ounce of liquor on the bar in the trash can. “You want to act like children, then I’ll treat you like children,” she muttered under her breath angrily.

  “Carter,” Nathan yelled. “What that hell? That cost—”

  “Nathan!” Carter shouted as she stormed over to the table where he sat. “I do not care how much it cost. I don’t. You’re cut off for the rest of this trip. Give me the beer!” She pointed at the bottle in front of him. When he didn’t immediately hand it to her, she leaned forward until they were nose to nose and spoke through clenched teeth. “Nathan Salerno, I swear if you do not give me that beer in your hand, you won’t be drinking alcohol until I can. And that won’t be until after I’m finished breast feeding your children.”

  They silently glared at one another for a few seconds before Nathan released the beer in his hand and Carter discarded it in the trash. After throwing away a few more bottles of liquor, Carter walked over to Kyle and held out her hand.

  “Give it to me.”

  Kyle rolled his eyes. “You’re being ridiculous, Carter. I’m a full-grown man. I can have beer if I please.”

  Carter shrugged. “Look at it like this, Kyle. I’m supposed to be on bed rest right now, so how long are you going to make me stand here in front of you until you give me what I asked for—”

  Carter hadn’t even finished her question before Kyle gave her the alcoholic beverage, which she promptly discarded into the trash can.

  “Kyle, and Nathan,” she said their names softly as she walked to stand where they both could see her. “Never. Again.”

  They called her name simultaneously, but she looked away from them and waved off their arguments.

  “I don’t want to hear it!” she said sharply. “I won’t be talking about it with either of you tonight, but trust, we will be talking about it. Nathan, we’ll talk when we get home. Kyle,” she turned her gaze to him and walked over to stand in front of him, “your child. Boy or girl?”

  When Kyle looked away from her, Cater gripped his face and turned it back to her direction. “Stop it, Kyle,” she yelled.

  “Just let it go, Carter. It’s none of your damn business.”

  “You’ve said that to me more times than I can count, Kyle, and has it ever once worked for you?”

  “Unfortunately not,” he muttered dryly.

  “So shut the hell up and listen.” She smacked him across the head.

  “Ow!”

  “Is your child a boy or girl?”

  “It’s a girl. Damn!”

  She captured his face in both of her hands and leaned down to his level. “Then get your shit together. You are not a coward,” she said thoughtfully. “You’re a man. A good man. Do not deprive your child of a chance to know you, to love you.” She sighed and released his face. Squatting down in front of him, she placed her hand to his heart. “You are not heartless, Kyle Valente. You have beautiful heart full of love that you’re afraid to give. You don’t have to be afraid to give that love to your little girl. You don’t even have to be the perfect father. You can be as flawed as you want to be, but if you love her, hold her when she cries, protect her when she’s scared, and be there whenever she needs you, she will love you forever no matter what.” Carter removed her hand and stood to her feet in front of him. “What’s her name?”

  “Sofia,” Kyle answered softly.

  She smiled. “That’s
beautiful, Kyle. Is her mother Spanish?”

  Sighing, Kyle nodded. “Yeah, she is …”

  “Sofia is the perfect name. It means wise. She will be just like you then.” Carter clapped her hands excitedly. “We will meet her. We’ll have a dinner next week. You will have time to get to know your daughter—and explain everything to your father—then you will bring her to the house for the celebration. We’ll have the whole family over for dinner and we can welcome Sofia and Gabriel to the family, as well as welcome my father back home properly, and celebrate our family. . .”

  “Carterina,” Nathan groaned. “That’s too much cooking, I won’t allow it. You need to rest…”

  “It will be perfect, and catered as per my husband’s orders.” Carter shot him a glare before she turned back to Kyle. “You can even bring her mother if you’d like. I’d love to meet her.”

  Kyle shook his head emphatically. “I don’t think so. She’s not getting anywhere near my family.”

  “Then you will just bring Sofia. How old is she?”

  Kyle groaned and raked his fingers through his hair. “Three months old, Carter. I can’t take care of a three month old by myself! I don’t know shit about babies.”

  Carter chuckled, and tucked a loose strand of his hair behind his ear. “Either invite her mother along with you or figure it out. It’s not rocket science. Set up a car for the day you have her, it will make it easier to get out to the house. We’ll talk when you come over to the house with Sofia as well.” She leaned forward and kissed him on the forehead. “Now enough of this fighting.”

  She walked over and did the same to Lucca, Dante, and then Mickey.

  “You all need to rest. I’m not the only one that hasn’t been sleeping.” When she reached Nathan, she leaned forward and gave him three kisses on his lips. “No more drinking tonight, Mr. Salerno …”