Hey, Daddy (Semyonov Bratva Book 2)

See this child? Very expensive. Very stressful. Very loud.

—Haze to Nastya

NASTYA

My head felt so full that I wondered if it’d burst at any second.

The gory thought had me smiling despite my depression.

Almost on habit, I got up and brushed my teeth—I never finished a meal without brushing my teeth afterward—finger-combed my hair and put my long locks up into a high ponytail before looking at myself in the mirror.

My gaze went to the bed on the floor of the bathroom, and my heart literally broke.

Fuck.

How could I ever adopt another dog that was destined to die way before me?

I turned and surveyed the ball on the floor of my bathroom.

Last night, Butters had shoved that ball into the toilet while I’d been sitting on it.

I’d had to wash it in the shower with me, and all the while he’d looked at me with his sad brown eyes like I’d taken away his best friend.

Sniffling but refusing to cry anymore, I walked around the apartment gathering up the toys, his leash, his dog bed, and anything else that might remind me of him and put them on the landing outside my apartment.

I picked up the Amazon box that was right outside the door and headed back inside where I ripped open the box, forgoing my usual video that I’d make unboxing it.

I frowned at the toolset with the QR code attached to it.

I hadn’t ordered it, but that wasn’t unusual for me to get packages without me ordering them. Being an Amazon Reviewer, it meant that people could send me anything that they wanted me to review.

The packages were sent to my PO box, and my company then picked them up for me and delivered everything to my apartment. If I ordered it directly from Amazon, it would come straight to my door.

But sometimes, it was impossible to tell the ones I’d ordered, and the ones I’d been sent, apart.

I flipped the box closed with the tools still inside and placed it on the pile next to my office door where I would later review it. Though, there were quite a few things ahead of it, so it might be a while, especially after getting absolutely nothing done today.

A knocking sounded in the hallway, but I ignored it since it wasn’t at my apartment door.

At least it wasn’t until a long few moments later when the knocking moved from the door beside me to my own.

I walked to my apartment door, yanked it open, and came to a stop at the sight of the young girl on the mat right outside my door.

“Um,” I said, studying her swollen from crying face. “Can I help you?”

She swallowed hard and said, “My dad lives right next door to you.”

I blinked. “Really?”

That was the first bit of personal information I’d had about the “man” since I’d learned I had a neighbor.

The only reason I’d assumed he was a man was because of the beer bottles in his trash bag that I’d seen there once the day before trash day.

“Yeah.” She swallowed. “And he’s not answering his phone or his texts. I don’t have anywhere else to go.”

I nodded and opened my door wider. “Come in.”

She looked frantic and lost, and there was no way that I was going to let her stay out there alone.

“I saw your dog toys and your doormat and felt like you were a safe option if you loved your dog enough to get that mat,” she said.

I swallowed hard and a wounded noise left my throat as I thought about all the stuff I now had that would likely need to be thrown away.

There was no way in hell that I was going to get another dog and go through this heartache again.

She looked at me strangely when I made that noise and started to back away, worry flashing in her eyes.

“It’s okay,” I swallowed again. “I just…my dog died today.”

Her mouth opened and closed. “What?”

I rubbed at the spot over my heart and said, “When I adopted him, I knew he was older. He was the sweetest yellow Lab with the whitest face you’ve ever seen. He was old, old. Seeing him there in that shelter broke something inside of me, and I just knew that I had to take Butters home. I just didn’t realize that we’d bond so hard so fast, or that he’d die after only a month of having him.

“What’s your dad’s name?” I asked.

Before she could answer, a knock sounded at the door.

I blinked and turned, surprised.

It was too early for deliveries. The only other person it could be was my next-door neighbor looking for his kid.

Without giving it much thought, I eagerly walked over to the door and opened it, expecting to find a “dad” on the other side. What I found was an angry young man who looked like he was about to kill me.

“Um, can I help you?” I asked.

“Did you see a girl come in here?” he demanded.

I stiffened. “No, why?”

I heard no movement from behind me, and I prayed it stayed that way.

“I’m looking for one.” He rolled his eyes, like what I’d just said was dumb. “She’s about five foot four, gray eyes, long blonde hair. She was wearing a hoodie and some jeans.”

I kept shaking my head. “Nope, I haven’t seen anyone.”

He cursed and started to look over my shoulder. “You alone?”

I clenched my hand into a fist and reached behind my back slowly, feeling the knife I always stashed in my waistband.

I’d started doing that when I was going on walks with Butters.

I pulled the knife out but left it behind my back.

I didn’t want him to see that I had it, just in case I could still rectify the situation without violence.

“Why are you so defensive, huh?” he asked, crowding me closer.

I wish I had left the chain on the door.

At least then I might have been able to close the door.

But there was one thing that Shasha would’ve thrown in my face right about now—the door was paper thin, and nothing would stop a determined person from getting in if they actually wanted to.

“I’m defensive because a very large man is at my door, angry about a kid that I don’t have,” I said. “I’m thirty. There’s no way I could look this good and have a kid.”

That was a lie.

My sister looked phenomenal after having three children. And my sister-in-law could win a fuckin’ beauty pageant right now if she wanted to after having my niece.

He put his hand on the door and pushed, which was when I reacted.

I brought my hand up and around and stabbed him in the stomach before bringing my leg up and kicking him as hard as I could in the nuts.

He fell backward, and I took that time to slam the door closed, lock it, and shuffle backward to the cookie jar where I kept my revolver.

I aimed it at the door and yelled, “I have a forty-five in my hand and aimed it at the door. If you come into the apartment, I’ll shoot you.”

There was a hard thump on the door and then nothing.

“Should we call the cops?” the shaky girl’s voice whispered.

I didn’t want those cops anywhere near me.

Not after them following me around for the last month.noveldrama

But…

“Daddy!”

I blinked and risked a glance over my shoulder at the teen girl behind me.

She was sixteen but already looked like a woman.

She had gray eyes that looked so freakin’ familiar, and a cherub face that would make angels weep.

She didn’t have any of that awkward teen look about her at all.

She had the phone pressed to her ear, and she was watching the door warily.

“I need you to come home,” she begged. “I’m at your neighbor’s apartment.”

She started to cry then, and I fought the urge to go to her.

If that guy decided to kick the door in, I’d be ready.

I couldn’t even get close enough to check the peephole because if I got too close and he kicked it in, he’d take me out along with the door.

So I stayed in place, revolver in hand, and kept it aimed at the door, ready and waiting.

I stayed like that for a long time, long enough that my arms were shaking and I was shifting from foot to foot.

“Yeah, yeah,” I heard her say long moments later.

She moved toward the door, and I dropped my gun.

“What are you…”

“He’s here,” she said. “He says there’s no one out on the landing.”

That’s when she opened the door, and a very angry looking Detective Haze Hopkins was allowed entry into my apartment.

He was the father?

How on earth did that make him hotter?