Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War (49 page)

“Also, if you would have me punish Cole for his perversion, I will do so. But if you prefer to have your revenge on your own time, you needn’t fear any retaliation from me, daughter.

“With love, Silas.
”

Nathan wasn’t able to keep up with all of the emotions flashing through her eyes. Instead he simply placed a hand on her cheek when she looked up at him and numbly asked, “What does yours say?”

Nathan wanted to ask her what was going on in her head, but decided against it. They had both just found out that Robert had been in contact with his brother since returning, and they would both need some time to think on that.

Nathan opened his letter next and slowly unfolded it, unable to imagine what Silas could possibly want to say to him. When he had the letter open, he read it aloud.

“
You and I are due for a chat. I will contact your office in eight weeks’ time, at five in the evening. We will discuss your terms for peace as well as a few other things …

Take care.”

Terms for peace? That meant Nathan had done it. He’d pushed Silas to the limit. He’d won the war. Or was this just what Silas wanted him to think? Gabriel had once told Nathan that Silas did everything for a reason. What could possibly be his reason for waving the white flag after starting a war? Nathan knew the answers to that before he even finished the question. Anastacia, Gabriel, and Carterina. The man was obsessed with getting his family back. He was obsessed with Anastacia, and proving to her that he’d changed. It was an interesting approach, Nathan thought as his mind automatically began assessing the situation. Silas was going for a soft approach, even though his actions taken in the past proved him to be a monstrous man that beat his wife and son, two people he claimed to love—

“Nathan.” Carter’s sharp, frightened voice pulled Nathan from his musings. “Bubby, are you listening to me?” she whispered frantically. “How did he know we were here? What if he’s in New York? I want to go home. I want to take my babies and go home now!”

Nathan immediately stilled her shaking body. “Calm down, baby, calm down. There’s no way he could come to New York without me knowing. Trust me.”

“You don’t know that, Nathan!”

Yes he did. He had Ryan on that job, and Ryan had connections. CIA connections that ensured Nathan would know the moment Silas boarded a plane to America … if he ever decided to. Nathan was confident that he had that part covered. The nurse was clearly American, which meant Silas had people in America. That wasn’t surprising to Nathan; the man’s influence knew no borders. Then again, neither did Nathan’s.

He cupped Carter’s face just as a tear fell and slowly rolled down her cheek. “Carterina, I need you to trust me. He is not in America, I promise.”

She shook her head. “Nathan, I’m scared. We have kids now! He managed to take me once, what is to stop him from doing it again? What if the next time he doesn’t let me go?”

“Carterina!” he whispered sharply, trying to calm her panic. Leaning in close to her face, Nathan pinned her with an intense stare and spoke forcefully. “Listen to me. Silas is not here. Say it with me so that I know you’re listening,” he commanded.

She inhaled a shaky breath and nodded. “Silas is not here.”

“I would die before I let anything happen to you or my sons. Do not lose faith in me now, not when it matters the most.”

She shook her head. “I’m not, bubby, I promise.”

“You know that I will do anything to protect the three of you no matter the cost. You can’t doubt me, Carter. You have to trust me, you always have to trust me.”

“I do trust you. I’m sorry, I just …” She frowned. “I’m so confused, and tired. I can’t think the way I need to when I feel like this. I want this stuff away from me. I just need …”

She needed to rest, and Nathan felt like an asshole for not noticing it before. Carter was scared for their babies, confused, and exhausted. Today had been long, and mere hours ago Carter had delivered two baby boys. She needed to rest, and to collect her thoughts.

“Is everything okay?”

When Anastacia had asked the question, all eyes turned to them. Carter hid her face in Nathan’s chest and gripped on to his shirt.

“Carterina, baby? Is there something she needs, Nathan?” Noticing the items sitting next to them, she questioned, “Where did that come from?”

“It’s an unwanted gift,” Nathan answered. When he scooped Carter up in his arms, she immediately pressed her face to his neck. “You all continue to spend time with the boys, I’m going to take Carter to the empty room next door. She’s exhausted.”

Everyone in the room immediately understood, and agreed that Carter should rest. Nathan motioned for Mickey to come over to him.

“Mikilo, there is a couple down that hall that just had twins. Take these items to them; tell them it’s a free gift from the hospital.”

It seemed as if Mickey were about to ask why, but was silenced when Nathan cut him a quick glance that simply told him to shut the fuck up and do as he’d been told.

Mickey nodded and did as Nathan had instructed.

Nathan then called over his father. “I need you to stay for a while, Pop,” he said to him, conveying with his eyes that it was a serious request.

Angelo nodded and ran his hand over Carter’s hair, whispering soft sentiments in Italian. “You did beautifully, sweetheart,” he murmured, leaning forward to gently kiss her hair.

Carter was sleep. Already. She’d been more exhausted than Nathan had thought.

“It is not an easy task delivering two strong, healthy baby boys.”

“No it is not,” Nathan agreed.

Angelo cupped the back of Nathan’s head and kissed both sides of his face. “My grandsons are beautiful.”

“Thank you, Pop. That’s actually why I called you over.” It wasn’t that Nathan didn’t trust everyone else in the room, it was just that when it came to his children in this situation, he would only leave them in the care of the man he trusted most. His father. Quietly, Nathan told his father what had occurred moments ago with the nurse. Angelo listened to him closely until he finished relaying the situation, and then Nathan explained to him what he needed him to do. “I need you here. I don’t want my kids to be anywhere in this hospital without you. You are the only person I trust to protect my kids, while I take care of my wife. Please, Pop.”

“Of course, son, of course. Anything you need. Did you get a look at the woman?” he asked.

Frowning, Nathan turned his head away from his father in shame. No he hadn’t gotten a good look at the woman. Nathan hadn’t even acknowledge her; he was too focused on Aleksandr and Maksim meeting the family.

Angelo sighed as if he already knew Nathan’s answer. “All right,” he lightly patted Nathan’s back, “go take care of Carterina. I have some friends on the board of this hospital. I’ll call in some favors and get the security footage.”

Relief. Sweet, perfect relief. “Thank you,” Nathan said as he released a breath. That made things a lot easier.

“I am your father. This is what I do. You’ll understand sooner than you think.”

Nathan looked over to his sons—Maksim was now being held by Cesare, and Aleksandr by Anastacia—and tightened his jaw. Suddenly leaving them wasn’t going to be such an easy task. Perhaps he should just kick everyone out and keep his sons and wife close to him for the rest of the night—

“Nathan,” his father said softly, getting his attention, “go take care of your wife. They will be fine, trust me. Carterina needs to sleep. If she hears them cry she’ll wake up, you know I’m right.”

Yes, he was right. Only God knew how many sleepless nights they had ahead of them once they went home. Childbirth had drained Carter. She needed to rest up or she’d be out of it for the next six months.

“They need to be fed—”

“I know this, boy,” he chuckled. “The lactation consultant will be here in an hour, I’ll send her to you. After that, Anastacia and I will keep the babies in here. Go, go, go.”

With a nod, Nathan left his children in the care of their grandfather for their first night out of their mother’s womb.

~*~

The next morning all was well with his family. They were safe and happy. After the boys’ feedings, his wife had slept through the night and his sons had also slept well. Anastacia and his father had teamed up and gotten through their first night with their grandchildren, and Robert had gone out to investigate who Silas had sent with the gifts.

Carter still hadn’t brought up what her letter had said, but Nathan knew it was because she’d finally had a chance to think about it and didn’t want to confront her dad. However, she did surprise him while they were on the way home with their beautiful bundles of love. She brought her letter up, and she talked about it. No coercing, nothing. She talked on her own and told him how she’d felt about it. Nathan hadn’t interrupted her or said anything as he slowly navigated to their home, where they were headed to start a new chapter of their lives.

Chapter 20: Parenthood…

Well, it was official …. Carter was a housewife, or a stay-at-home mom. Whatever you wanted to call it, that was what she was. At least for the time being. She had once told herself that such a role was not for her and it would never be, but after eight weeks of being a mother, Carter had quickly came to the realization that she was very good at adapting. In fact, she could literally adapt to anything. She adapted to life without her father, life as
Carter Matthews
back in Hope beach, she adapted to finally being herself with Nathan in New York, then to being the underboss’s wife, and now she was adapting to being a mother.

All of her life Carter had longed to be needed and valued. Well, she had that in a big way now. If she’d ever thought that being a wife, a mother, and still doing a little work from home was going to be easy, the last eight weeks of her life had given her a rude ass awakening. It was very hard, even exhausting sometimes, but being all three were far more rewarding than difficult. Carter was a new woman; or maybe she was just
finally
a woman. So much had changed in her life in so little time. She had found herself wishing that she could tell Jenna how much her life had changed a few times the past few weeks, but then she quickly shook off the thought. That friendship was a distant memory. Now she had new friends to share such moments with; friends that she adored, friends that were more like sisters.

Carter turned to her side and stared at the baby monitor screens sitting on the small table next to her. Her little men were still sleeping, but she knew that would only be for the next hour or so. That was all the time she had to get up and get ready for the day. Since they’d only woken up once at about three-thirty a.m. for a feeding, Carter had gotten a pretty decent sleep.

Reaching forward, she opened her drawer, removed a breath mint, and popped it in her mouth. It was now seven a.m. and Carter had about a minute before Nathan—

Before she completed the thought, his arm encircled her waist and he pulled her to him. Carter smiled; he was so predictable. His lips pressed against the sweet spot on her neck. Biting down on her lip, she inhaled a sharp breath as sensations shot straight between her legs. He always knew how to get her … admittedly, though, she was pretty easy when it came to her gorgeous husband.

They’d waited seven weeks before they started having sex again. Nathan had taken Carter out to dinner, just for a date night, while Angelo had come out and cared for the twins. She knew his intentions were pure. He hadn’t planned on getting lucky that night, and Carter definitely hadn’t planned on giving it up. Hell, Carter had planned on waiting until she felt good about herself again. Having twins did some
things
to parts of her body that she used to love to show off, her stomach being the main problem area. She just didn’t feel attractive anymore. But that night, Nathan had assured her with his actions that he was very much still attracted to her.

“Good morning, baby.” His voice rumbled against her ear.

She loved Nathan’s morning voice. It was so deep, sensual, and sinfully sexy. Carter rolled over to face him with a smile on her face.

“Good morning, honey,” she replied, stretching her arms above her head. “Sleep well?”

A lazy smile played on his lips as he pressed his hips against hers. “Do you mean before or after the infants woke me with their screaming?”

Carter’s eyes lit with amusement, but her expression was one of a fake anger. “Those infants are your sons, Nathan Salerno.”

He nodded. “Yes they are, and I love them very much. But please remind me to never go in there shirtless again. Baby B scratched the shit out of my chest.”

“Oh no.”

Nathan chuckled and nodded. “He just went at it. Probably pissed because I wasn’t you. Like, what the fuck is this? Where the hell is that woman with my milky?”

Carter laughed and hugged him around his waist. “So all I am is the woman with the
milky
, huh?”

He shrugged. “Well,
it is
baby B, Carterina. You know he doesn’t play when it comes to his sleep or his milky.” He lightly pinched her side, making her giggle.

“Stop,” she squealed, playfully slapping his chest. “You know you love our little Aleksandr’s antics.”