Dangerous Beauty: Part Three: This is War (89 page)

Nathan nodded. “Just one word to my wife, and she’ll set her loose on you.” Nathan chuckled when Niko continued to remain silent. “Isabella has become quite the exceptional threat, Niko. So sad that you had all of that potential right under your own roof, and you never capitalized on it.” Nathan shrugged. “I suppose your loss was my wife’s gain. I think we can both agree on that. Never underestimate the power of a scorned woman, Niko. There’s a target on your head that Isabella is longing to hit with one of her favorite blades.”

Once Nathan finished speaking, Lucca released him, sending him crashing to the floor. Nathan walked to the room’s exit.

“Someone call my wife. Tell her I want to meet for lunch.”

“I’ll do it,” Mickey said.

Nathan nodded, and motioned for the door. “Let’s walk back to S.O., shall we, gentleman? Today is a nice day.”

Nathan left the office without another word, and his men followed behind him.

~*~

“Everything about you confuses me. You’ve done things so selfless for the people you love. It contradicts the monster that I know you are …”

Silas smiled at her. It was a warm smile, one that admittedly made her a little nostalgic. She was positive that in her childhood he’d given her that exact same smile.

“You are right, daughter. I am a monster. I’m criminal, a murder, but I am not a contradiction. I am a lesson, Carterina. You are, too.”

“What does that mean?”

“One would look at you right now and just see a beautiful young mother. You look harmless, soft, warm, delicate, and you are those things, dear daughter, to your children, your husband, and your family. Your smile, your laugh, your personality, your heart, it all falls into their world. It is not expected of a person in the world you really fit in to. The sweetest man or woman in the room could possibly be the deadliest, just as the most frightening man or woman in the room could easily be the biggest coward.”

“But how are you the lesson?”

“We, are the lesson. The most common misconception about a criminal, a murder, et cetera, is the persona. The persona of ‘scary person’ was not based on an actual scary person, love. It was based on what psychology tells society a scary person acts like.
This is the personality psychopath
, they say. Science proves it right, as does some research. You are not the text book definition of a psychopath, Carterina. I have moments when I am not the text book definition of a psychopath, yet what are we?”

“We’re the lesson …” Carter answered, suddenly understanding.

“Exactly. Men and women alike think the five foot four sweetheart with the big, crying eyes is passive until they learn otherwise. When the crying eyes become eyes full of fire they become confused. Such brutal behavior contradicts only who they
think
you are, but no one will ever really know who you are unless they know every person that lives inside of your head.”

“Are you saying I have multiple personalities?”

“There’s a reason why you are one of the most feared women in the criminal underworld, child. You are a woman of many faces. Unpredictable, and dangerous. One doesn’t know whether you’ll respond to a situation with a smile and a kind hand, or the sharp end of a blade. It all depends on what face you are wearing on that particular day.”

Carter shook her head. “That’s ridiculous. While I agree that I have problems, I’m not a mental patient.”

“I’m not saying you have an illness, daughter. I’m saying you have a gift. Many men and woman in the criminal underworld don’t know how to function in this society, but you do. You have more than one persona, and they all work together to make up a dazzling young woman. The people who love you have become acquainted with all of you and that’s what you need in order to continue to function properly. Do you remember how you felt when you were alone?”

“Like I was losing my mind, losing myself. Sometimes it physically hurt.”

“You are like me, daughter. We are unable to be alone, this why abandonment hurts us so. Each part of who you are needs to be nurtured and fed. Company for the social butterfly, a friend or two for the popular American girl, a shoulder to cry on and protection for the vulnerable heartbroken young woman, love for hopeless romantic with dreams of having a family, subjects and power for the fearless leader, and blood for the killer that can never be tamed. Out of all of those love is the most important, Carterina. It is the one that makes us strive to be better. It is for those whom we love that we will do the most impossible of things. The other elements of who we are can go unfed for long periods of time before we are affected, but losing love will push us over the edge …”

“Is that what happened to you?”

“I became my worst self when I first lost my brother after Dmitry died. Ever since then, it’s been hard to keep up a relationship with anyone. Once you’re gone you’re gone, and there’s no coming back. Robbie still has hope for me.”

“So do I, Silas,” Carter said softly. It was the truth. Carter hadn’t understood her father, but now she did. She saw it, and she loved her father even more for seeing it in someone like Silas, too. “I didn’t understand what it was my father saw in you, but now I do. You should listen to him. You’re wrong, Silas. One is never gone forever. You can always come back. Just be happy that after all you’ve done, you still have someone there that’s still waiting for you.”

Silas frowned and looked down at the table in front of him. “Wow …” When he lifted his eyes to hers they were glossy with tears. He cleared his throat. “You sound like Robbie’s daughter.”

“I am his daughter, Silas. That’s what I’ve been trying to tell you.”

“I know,” he sighed. “I am your maker, but …” his features strained as if he were fighting with himself, “Robbie … is your father.”

That day, a year and a half ago, was first and only time Silas had ever said those words. Right after that he slipped right back into claiming her as his child alone. It was something that Carter and her father had now become accustomed to. Yes, Silas was trying to be better, and he was getting there, but he was also still Silas Steele. He was still a human trafficker, he was still a lunatic, and he and Carter still threatened to kill each other at least twice a week.

Even though their relationship was at time pugnacious, Carter had found that keeping in touch with Silas was good for her for three reasons. Business, protection, and self-awareness. Self-awareness, because Carter had to face that she had many characteristics that came from her biological father. She had become addicted to studying him, learning from him. He was fascinating and original, wise and brutally honest. A true genius; not because of academics like her, but because he had an interesting view of the world. Silas had an open mind, an exciting take on everything, religion, politics, and just life in general. When Carter learned about him, she learned about herself, and even though she argued with him sometimes … she liked talking to him.

On the business and protection side of things, Silas was more involved in Carter’s life than her mother and father were. It was incredible. Despite the issue with the now dead Shadow Walker and the betraying Steele army a year and a half ago, the main individuals of the Steele family were still together and stronger than ever. Carter couldn’t explain because she didn’t really understand who they all were in the first place, but the Steele family was a family of factions. The men that aligned with Shadow Walker that night were from the poorest faction of the Steele family, the people Silas used to do the—for lack of better words—grunt work. The higher, wealthier, and more prominent factions of Silas Steele’s family were still intact, still hidden, and still more powerful than ever.

They operated very deep within the criminal world, and her mother had been right when she’d said that they were ghosts because they were. Yes, Nathan had found some of them in Germany when she had been taken, but according to Silas, they had barely scratched the surface. One would never really find the more dangerous members of the Steele family because they blended in with society too well to be found.

This proved to be a good thing for Carter,
especially
since she was Silas’s daughter. She was now not only one of the most feared and respected women active in the criminal underworld, but she was also one of the most protected.

Carter was now a Unione Corse Mafia boss, and she had been for over a year now. Due to some serious health issues, her mother had had to step away from her hectic lifestyle. Carter had been five months pregnant when she had first taken over for her mother, and Silas had made it his number one priority to keep Carter safe at all times. Because of this extra protection, she was able to transition into leadership effortlessly despite being pregnant with her third son.

She, Nathan, and the twins had gone house hunting a week after she had taken over, and moved to France for five months. Carter had told Nathan that it wasn’t necessary, that she’d just fly back and forth, but Nathan had insisted. He’d said that he wanted to support her just as she always supported him, and had he not come to France with her, Carter would have never be able to do all she’d done in France in just five months.

She had worked her ass off night and day to create an entire new system of operations in her mother’s empire. Her main goal in doing it was to limit the amount of times a year that she had to fly to France for business. Because of the help she’d received from Silas, Nathan, and her father, Carter was able to work magic. She’d managed to establish her role as new leader to her massive amount of family members, solidify her family’s seat in the Unione Corse secret society, restructure the way things were being run, put together a team of very talented and interesting individuals that she took with her everywhere she went, set up a main headquarters for her empire in New York City, and give birth to her and Nathan’s healthy seven pound, nine ounce baby boy, Josef Nathaniel Salerno.

“Carterina …”

She lifted her eyes from the marble table where she had been staring in thought. “Yes,” she answered, looking around at the others sitting with her at the long conference table situated in the middle of her warehouse. Carter sat at the head of the table with the five individuals she always kept at her side next to her; three on one side of the table, and the other two on the other.

“Carterina, shall we continue the meeting?” Davina asked, nodding to the five men at the end of the table waiting for Carter to continue. Davina was a woman of many accents, and today she sounded American. She leaned in closer to Carter and whispered, “You’re not talking. Where are you?”

Carter smiled at her right hand, the stunning Davina Delevingne. The dark beauty is what they called her, and it wasn’t because she had smooth, dark brown skin either. It was because of her heart. The dark beauty with a black heart. Ms. Delevingne was a ruthless murderer with a couple of Ivy League degrees hanging on the walls of her New York penthouse apartment … Oh yes
,
she also came from an entire family of contract killers.

Yes, an
entire
family, and yes, they were all blood related.

It was truly amazing how much potential was overlooked in the criminal underworld. During Carter’s five months in France she’d made it priority to search for the unknown talent of the underworld, the untapped potential. She’d wanted true leaders; educated, ambitious, and deadly. Silas had been a huge asset in this search.

Turned out the underworld was packed with untapped potential, and when Carter said potential she meant
great potential
. Individuals that were born into the underworld, as well as individuals that were pulled into it unwillingly and were never truly able to get out. Carter had given Silas her criteria and set him loose. Her list had been simple; she needed five healthy, skilled, educated, ambitious, loyal, and deadly
women
. She had already had her first one in training with her father, and she’d only needed four more.

When she had told them that she only wanted women her father, Nathan, and Silas had all given her hilarious looks of confusion, but Carter never flinched. There were enough men headlining the underworld. It past time for women to make themselves heard. Plus, Carter was sick of being surrounded by men all hours of the fucking day. She hadn’t been looking for girlfriends; she was looking for warriors, and she’d gotten them.

Davina Delevingne, Iman Niaria, Katya Laroche, Catsianna Kuznetsova, and the former Mrs. Bonaducci, Isabella Silviara.

Twenty-seven-year-old Davina Delevingne had been the first, and she and Carter had clicked immediately. In the beginning, Davina had only thought Carter needed a contract killer on staff, but when Carter had explained to her that she was looking for strong women to fill positions of leadership within her empire, Davina had pretty much lunged at the chance to be in her inner circle. Like Carter, Davina was born in to the underworld. She knew the improbability of women being active in such positions of high authority, and like Carter she was seeking to change that. Her drive, ambition, education, and exceptional combat skills had earned her the position right under Carter’s. Basically, Davina Delevingne was Carter’s underboss, and she was a damn good one too.

“I’m here, Davina,” Carter said softly. She cast her gaze to the opposite end of the table, locking eyes with one of the five men. Frédéric Rinieri, the head of the Rinieri family in France, who were also Unione Corse
.
He and the other heads of his family had traveled all the way from France for this meeting today. Carter was anticipating hearing their proposal. “I apologize for my silence, Frédéric. I can’t seem to keep my mind from wandering today …”