Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War (51 page)

Carter immediately turned to her mother with a look of concern. “Is it him again?” That obsessive, stalking bastard.

Anastacia shook her head. “I’m not discussing it, Carterina. There’s no need to.”

“Mom, he’s stalking you.” The man called her every hour on the hour, seven days a week. It was like one of those crazy obsessions in the movies where at the end, someone always gets murdered. The more she ignored him, the more she tried to distance herself from him, the harder he pushed, and fiercer his threats became. Carter was afraid for her mother’s safety. Plus, she was pretty sure her mother was a little scared, too. She’d been changing phones nearly every day, she never went anywhere without protection, and she never stayed home anymore. In fact, since she’d stayed at Cesare’s house pretty much every night, they were now house hunting for a home together. “I don’t like this,” Carter said, trying to keep her emotions calm as to not frighten the babies. She always got worked up when it came to Silas. “He’s harassing you. Did you talk to Daddy about this? Did you tell him what Silas is doing?”

Anastacia sighed. “Carterina, enough, baby girl. Do not worry for me. As long as Nathan keeps him out of New York, I’m safe. His threats are meaningless.”

“I assure you, Anastacia, he won’t set foot in the city without me knowing,” Nathan promised. “However, I must agree with Carter. I don’t like how things have gotten.”

“Neither do I, Ana,” Mickey agreed. “I know what it looks like when a man is about to snap and do something stupid, and this is starting to resemble one of those situations.”

Nathan nodded in assent with Mickey’s statement. “I was thinking of mentioning this today when he called. I want to feel him out—”

“No,” Anastacia stated firmly. “He is calling for peace, Nathan. This is what you need to ensure the safety of yourself and your family. End this war before it progresses. Bringing me up will only ignite his anger, and set you back. This is what Silas does. I’ll talk to Robert, and see what we can do to end his madness, all right? I don’t need any help with this. Silas’s dramatics were a long time coming. Promise you will say nothing.”

She waited silently for Nathan to agree, noticeably pleading with him to listen to her with her eyes. Nathan said nothing. Instead, he frowned and turned his attention to the baby in his arms.

Anastacia huffed. “Nathan—” Her words were cut off by the sound of her car horn. She sighed. “I need to go. Since you will not listen to me, I will call your father when I return” She shot him a disapproving glare, but still leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “I love you, dear.”

“I love you, too,” he replied.

She kissed Mickey on the forehead as well. “I love you, sweetheart. Don’t forget to tell your father.”

“Love you, too, Anastacia. Be safe.”

She cupped Carter’s face and whispered, “Stop worrying, baby girl.” Then kissed her cheek. “I love you.”

“Love you, Mom.” Carter watched her mother leave, and then leaned into Nathan’s side.

A few minutes after Anastacia had left, Nathan kissed Carter’s forehead and promised her he’d at least handle her cell phone issue before his father interfered. Carter nodded. Hopefully her father could do something to help, too.

After breakfast, Carter and the babies saw Nathan and Mickey off to work and let Creature back in the house with them. Nathan gave her and the boys’ kisses and promised he’d be home in time for dinner. Carter always felt a little sad when she watched them go off to work. She missed it, but she like being a mom to her babies more. As of this moment, Carter wasn’t sure when she was going back. A part of her wondered if Nathan preferred things like they were now; her staying home and him going to work. She wanted to go back to work, but only if Nathan wanted her to. She had some time before she had to start doing more work in her mother’s empire, so maybe she’d just spend the time at home raising the boys. A while ago she would have gone right back to S.O. regardless, but things were different. Nathan’s opinion of her ability to be a mother meant a lot to her. She didn’t want him to think her a bad mother to their sons for wanting to work while they stayed home.

She had no idea what she wanted anymore.

“Come on, boys,” she said to her beautiful sons, who were nestled safely in the Moby wrap against her chest. Maksim had fallen asleep. “Since your brother is sleeping, you’ll get your bath first, Alek.”

~*~

Body wise, Carter was still not completely restored, and she was pretty sure that there were some pounds—in the hip and ass area—that she was just going to be stuck with, but she was admittedly okay with that. The extra curves weren’t a problem. What she
did
have a problem with was her belly. It was still sticking out a bit and the loosened skin had yet to tighten completely. She had started working out again with her father five weeks after the twins were born, and though she had already dropped a bunch of weight, she still had a long way to go.

“Pick it up, Carter! Five more laps …”

Her father clapped his hands while he watched her run laps around the house. Every time Carter passed him she wanted to kick his ass. He was lounging back in his seat on the porch and laughing at her pain.

“You suck!” she screamed, out of breath.

Her father chuckled and gave a wave of his hand. “Stop talking and control your breathing. You know the rules.”

Carter scowled and pushed forward until she completed the task. She glanced over to her loyal four-legged workout partner running beside her. “Come on, boy,” she said to Creature. “We’re almost there.” Creature barked and sped up, running ahead of her. Carter rolled her eyes, muttering, “Show off,” under her breath, and sped up to catch up with him.

Once she finished, she ran up to the porch—the dog once again beside her—and collapsed, disappointed in herself for going over her record time by three whole minutes.

“This … fucking … sucks.” She threw her arm over her eyes, even as she felt Creature trying to lick her face. “Stop it. Mommy’s a failure …”

“Don’t beat yourself up, baby girl. You did well. Two weeks ago you were ten minutes over your time, now you are only three. You have to go easier on yourself.”

Lifter her arm from over her eyes, Carterglanced up at her father, surprised by his words. “Go easy on myself?” she asked, stunned by his attitude toward her failure. Seven years ago, he’d have made her get up and do it again. She frowned in confusion, while urging Creature to sit down next to her. “Wow,” she said breathlessly. “Why are you being so nice about this? The old you would be grilling me about my failure to push myself.”

“You are pushing yourself. You’re actually doing very well.”

Okay, now he was scaring her. “Who in the hell are you?”

Robert laughed. “Carter, don’t be ridiculous.”

“When did you become so patient with me?” she asked, disbelief written across her face. “I mean, I appreciate it, but I’m also a little scared. You used to be so strict.”

He shrugged before holding out a hand to pull her up from the ground. “Circumstances were different back then, baby girl. You are not in the same situation. Back then you were a little girl that needed to be trained. That called for vigorous training. Now you are a woman of much power that needs reconditioning after having two gorgeous baby boys. I’m not so callous as to forget that you just gave birth two months ago.” Giving her hand a little tug, he brought her to his side and kissed her forehead. “It takes time to get back in shape.”

Carter looked up at him with a smile. She liked his new way of training. He was a lot more understanding, and the training was even more fun than it used to be. “Thank you, Daddy.” Rising up on her toes, she kissed his cheek and wrapped her arms around his waist. “I’m happy you’re here.”

He happily returned the hug. “Me too, baby, me too. I love you so much, you know that, right?”

Although she wanted to frown, she forced a smile. He’d been asking her that a lot lately, and it wasn’t the question that worried her, but the way in which he asked it. “Of course I know, Daddy,” Carter answered. “I love you, too.” And she did. Very much.

Their workout completed, they began walking toward the back door. Usually, after the workout, her father hung around for a couple of hours, spending time with her and the boys before heading off to do whatever he did during the day. He was very mysterious about his whereabouts, which was how he’d always been.

Before they walked through the door, Carter put her hand against his chest and repeated the question she’d asked him every day since her sons were born. “Daddy, before we go in … have you talked to him at all lately?”

Robert immediately sighed. “Carter …”

“Just tell me, daddy,” she whispered, her voice breaking from emotion, and looked him directly in the eyes. “I need to know. Have you?”

He shook his head. “No, Carter. I haven’t.”

Carter sighed in relief. The night she and Nathan had first brought Maksim and Aleksandr home, Carter had confronted her father about the note from Silas. Though she wanted the things he said in the note to be lie, they were not. It was all true. Carter hadn’t lashed out at her father because she wasn’t looking for an argument. She was searching for answers, for understanding. Silas had confused the hell out of her that night, but her mother and Gabriel had helped her. They’d told her not to fall into his trap. If Silas was good at anything it was manipulating. He would make her feel as if he truly cared for her, as if he truly loved her, then he would hurt her. Just like he hurt her mother and brother. She wanted to listen to them, but she had to admit, sometimes she got a little curious.

She hugged her father once more. “Thank you for telling me, Daddy. I love you. Come on, boy,” she called to Creature, patting her leg. “Lunch time.”

When they entered the door that led to the kitchen, Anastacia and Gabriel were in there preparing lunch while little Sofia sat on the counter playing with her toys.

“TT!” Sofia exclaimed when Carter entered the kitchen. She proceeded to babble in unintelligible words as Carter walked over to her and kissed her chubby cheek.

“Hi baby.” Sofia giggled, handing Carter one of her toys in a silent demand that she play with her.

“Good, you two are finished,” Anastacia said. “The boys are awake now.”

Carter and Robert glanced over, finding Maksim and Aleksandr in their swings with Creature lying on the floor between them.

“We made some sandwiches for lunch,” Gabriel said. “I’m going to whip up some soup to go with it, so everything will be ready soon.

“Carterina, why don’t you go ahead upstairs and get washed up before the boys are ready to be fed. Robert, you can spend some time with your grandsons,” Anastacia stated, getting her attention.

“Can one of you feed Creature for me?” she asked.

Anastacia nodded. “Of course, honey. Now, go, go, go. Hurry before the babies get upset.”

Both Robert and Carter went off to do as Anastacia had instructed. That afternoon, they had a perfect family lunch. Carter loved it. She had her mother, her father, her brother, and her two baby boys. The only thing that would have made it better was if Nathan had come home early, but she knew he couldn’t. He had a lot on his plate today. She wished she could be there to help him.

~*~

“So Anastacia called. She said you were thinking about doing something stupid.”

Nathan grumbled and looked over to his father, who was sitting next to him in the limo. When he arched his brow in question, Nathan rolled his eyes. The last thing he needed right now was to be questioned. He was not in a ‘
father pleasing’
mood. He had no time for this shit with all that he had to do today. Why the hell did he always have to answer for his decisions? His track record spoke for itself; he was always fucking right.

“Nathan, you have about five seconds to say something or I’m going to beat it out of you.”

Nathan’s jaw ticked in annoyance. “Must we always progress to violence, Papa? Did it ever occur to you that I didn’t answer your question simply because I don’t want to discuss the matter?”

Angelo’s brows rose in surprise at Nathan’s boldness, and he straightened in his seat. “
Excuse me?
”

Nathan was already gone into his thoughts. He needed to map out everything he’d say to Silas during the call later on today. The motherfucker wanted to talk peace, he wanted Nathan to lay out his terms. Nathan had one term, and one term only: stay the fuck away from his family.

“Nathan!”

His father’s angry shout didn’t startle him, nor did it frighten him, but it did annoy the shit out of him. Pulling himself together, he turned to his father with an impassive expression.

“Papa, Anastacia is being harassed, threatened, and emotionally abused on a daily basis by that sick fuck. His obsession is getting worse over time. I need to get a feel of what’s going on in his head. My interest is in protecting my mother-in-law, who I have grown to love very much. She is afraid, she’ll just never admit it. She thinks she has to do everything alone, and I mean to show her that she doesn’t. That’s all.”

Angelo frowned. “Does her … Cesare know about this?”

Nathan rolled his eyes. “This is why I hesitate to talk about Anastacia with you.”