Total pages in book: 86
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 80660 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 403(@200wpm)___ 323(@250wpm)___ 269(@300wpm)
“I can handle this if you want to call the woman who’s bringing Tasha here and tell her to meet us at the airport instead,” Chelsea offered.
He shook his head. “No. This is better. This will help out Solo and Ezra. Solo sent us some very important intel about Tasha.” She’d basically verified everything they’d gotten from Kelsey Owens, but he’d felt better having it come from a known source. “Besides, I want him to know I’m watching.”
The bell that let the attendant know someone was outside rang, and Ian felt his heart clench because he was pretty sure it wasn’t Levi. He walked over to the stairs that led up to Rene’s apartments. Rene was the man who owned The Velvet Collar. Ian had sent Kala and Kenzie upstairs with Rene and his wife while he and Chelsea had talked to Solo and Ezra. They were holed up in a safe room hidden away in the dungeon.
“Hey, Rene. She’s here. Can you send my girls down?” Ian called up and he heard a soft feminine gasp and knew the girls had been trying to listen in again.
Little spies in training, and he was their favorite subject.
Chelsea opened the door, and he saw Tasha in person for the first time. She was far too thin, wearing a plain dress that hung off her and shoes that looked like they pinched her feet.
His girls loved pinks and vibrant blues and greens. Even their sneakers were crazy colors. Every item Tasha wore seemed to have been chosen for practicality and probably cost.
Like those years after his father had walked out on them and he and Sean had to wear whatever fit. They’d taken hand-me-downs and worn T-shirts that had seen better days. Alex had shared clothes with him.
He was thrown right back to that day when he’d realized he had to take care of his whole world. He’d been sixteen, and it had scared the shit out of him.
She’d been five when her world had changed. Five fucking years old.
“Hey, you’ve got a scary face on, and I know it’s because you’re pissed as shit that she’s obviously undernourished and no one’s taken care of her the way she should be,” Chelsea said under her breath. “But you’re going to look mean to her, and she doesn’t need that.”
He took a deep breath because his sister-in-law was one hundred percent right. He had to let his anger go because this girl didn’t need it.
Kala and Kenzie had made their way down and stood on either side of him, staring at the girl who was supposed to be their new sister. They were such opposites. Two American princesses who’d never known a moment’s hardship and the Russian orphan. They stared at each other across the lobby, an ocean of difference between them.
Had he been wrong to bring them?
“Is that her?” Kenzie asked.
“Duh,” Kala replied. “I don’t think they would bring another girl in. She looks sad.”
Kenzie’s lips curved up. “Because she doesn’t have a sister. But now she will, and she’ll be happier.”
Even Kala didn’t seem to have a comeback for that. “Yeah.”
The stern-looking woman the orphanage had sent to bring Tasha from Russia to France looked down at the girl. The orphanage had been more than happy to be bribed with a godawful amount of money. It probably hadn’t hurt that the head of the Denisovitch syndicate had brokered the deal. Tasha now had proof of her Ukrainian citizenship, and the adoption was perfectly legal.
Mostly.
The woman from the orphanage pointed his way and told Tasha that he was her new father and she was to go with him now.
Fuck. He stayed back and let Chelsea take over. If anyone knew how it felt to be stripped out of a life she knew and thrown into another one, it was his sister-in-law.
“She doesn’t look like she wants to come with us.” Kenzie was frowning again.
“It’s because she’s scared.” Kala seemed to consider the situation. “If I were her, I would be scared, too. I would miss my mom and dad, and I would think Dad is big and scary and kind of mean-looking. She doesn’t know him yet.”
She was six. Yep. She was six and he was going to have so much trouble with her because smart kids always had trouble. She was smart enough to see a lot of the world for what it was and not mature enough to handle the emotions she would feel.
Chelsea seemed to be saying all the right things. The girl was watching her with clear brown eyes. Ian had to smile when Chelsea promised Tasha that he wasn’t as scary as he looked, that he was a marshmallow on the inside, and she would learn to manipulate him very quickly.
She would. All his girls did. All little girls should have a man in their life who loved and protected them, some kind of father figure. So should little boys. And sometimes that father figure wasn’t a man. Protection didn’t have to come from some dude with testosterone.