" Mama, please don't leave me. " she murmured against my neck.

" I hate leaving you too, baby. But, I need to go to make sure my princess is safe. " I whispered kissing her hair.

" Nick lives in London. Can you bring him back, mama? " she asked the moment I stepped inside Rudy's gate.

A week had passed since their weekend together and still she talked about him like he never left, continuously asking when he would be back in town.

I muttered a small no explaining how he must be busy with job and that he would come to visit again when he was free. She nodded her head sadly but didn't say anything else as we walked into her aunt's house.

" Mads please behave. Mommy will back before dinner, okay? " I said pulling my daughter into a one last hug.

She wrapped her arms around me and gave me a kiss before skipping to Rudy's front porch. I watched until she got safely into the house, Rudy gave me an assurance smile and finally closed her door. I walked back toward my car with a heavy heart. I always hated going out of the neighborhood leaving her.

Saying goodbye to her had always been the hardest. I didn't know you could love a small human being so much that your heart hurt when leaving them even for just a day. But, it needed to be done in order to make sure my Madeline was safe. Leaving her every once in awhile was necessary even if I hated it.

I had been putting a cloak on her casting her into my protective spell over the last four years making her nonexistent and invisible to her other grandfather, the same one I wished she didn't have.

I left our home for a whole day every three months, meeting up with an old friend to keep up with what was going on in Russia, to make sure he never found out about her.

Driving away from our home away from my daughter was heartbreaking as usual but I couldn't help but smiled at thought of visiting an old place.

There was no place and nowhere else liked London. I came to the city and it had become the centre of my world. I fell in love with this city as I was falling for him. Most of all, it was home.

Sitting in a small cafe right outside of the city, I sipped my coffee patiently watching people walked around and enjoying the city's beauty. The door bell rang as a slim figure of an old friend entered the place causing heads to turn her way, including mine.

Tanisha Scott walked into the small cafe, black shades covering her eyes, and a thin line on her lips. She was wearing her usual black leather jacket with black skinny and a pair of killer heels. Her raven black hair was tied into her a high ponytail completing her looks as a professional spy, my right hand woman, the one I trusted with my daughter's life and the one who had been my nose and ears over the last passing years.

I met her over a decade ago at a bar she was working at and we hit it off immediately after she claimed she hated my father with passion as he completely ruined her life by recruiting her into the mafia. She wanted a normal life but once you entered there was no backing out. And, as for right now her hatred for him made her the best spy.

Taking a seat in front of me, she took off her shades revealing a pair of eyes as dark as the darkest night. The strains of her hair fell down effortlessly framing her face. Her lips quirked into an uneasy line as she leaned toward me with horror flashing across her face.

" How are you, Stass? And, how is my little niece who I never actually met? " she tried to make conversation.

One thing I knew as her friend was that Tanisha couldn't give a flying fuck about anything. So, her making small conversation liked this must mean something bad had happened over in Russia.

" What did he do? " I asked.

" He know about Madeline. Damien found out. " she leaned in and whispered silently.

My heart dropped into the pit of stomach as all air escaped my lungs. I could feel my guts twisting on my inside making my palms balled into fists clutching until I felt blood cutting through my skin.

" How? " I asked.

" Damien has been following the Salvatore's ever since you left. Last weekend they were in your neighborhood, he saw little Maddie playing with Nicholas and you with her. "

I should have known. I should have avoided this. I should have been more careful. I tried so hard to not mix up her life with this mess and I failed. I was a horrible mother for pulling her into a chaos she didn't even know about.

" What are you going to do? I suggest you finally kill the bloody guy. " Tanisha scoffed leaning her back to her seat.

" We will need a plan. " I said blankly.

" Make him die a slow painful death. Please with a fucking gun on top. " she suggested taking my hand into hers.

I couldn't think straight. My brain clouded with the fact that my daughter could be in danger. I lived with this fear of losing love ones all my life. He threatened me with my grandmother my whole life and now he was going to use my daughter. My hands flew to my head, fingers clutching my own hair aggressively I could feel them pulling out of my scalp. I was losing my shits because of him again.

That same fucking man I called a father.

" I need to go back to Maddie. You go back to Russia and keep an on him please. I will figure out what to do next. " I said grabbing my purse and raced out of the cafe.

I hadn't killed a single person in four fucking years. My hands was cleared off blood since my daughter arrived. I was scared of not being able to do what I did. I feared that my daughter would see the monster in me.

But, where my father stepped his foot in there tended to have blood being shed. And, in order to protect her I needed to be the bigger monster, my father's worst nightmare.

Even if the thought of having her looked at me differently scared me more than death itself, image of her crying and flinching away from my touch once she came to a realization that her mother was monster clouded my thought staining my soul with nothing but darkness.

My grip tightened around the stirring wheel, I could almost feel my vein threatening to snap apart as my knuckles started to turn white, blood leaving my palm. I focused on the road ahead driving as fast as I could to see my daughter bring her back in my arms, knowing that she was safe.

The ringing of phone echoed through the car snapping me out of my darkness. I pressed my foot on the brake stopping the car in the middle of the empty road. My heart pounced clashing my rib cages, my breath sucked in my throat as I felt my stomach turned in uneasiness. I knew something bad happened. Closing my eyes, I took a deep breathe before answering the phone with shaky hand.

" Hello? "

" Anastasia, you need to get back now. Damien has his men here. There are too many of them I won't be able to hold them alone. " Rudy's panicked voice hit my ears before the line ended.

I was too late. I shouldn't have left this morning when my daughter asked me not to. I should have stayed.

Damien has his men here. Too many of them. Couldn't hold them for long now. Her voices kept ringing in my ears. The sound of my daughter crying in the background broke me. I felt helpless sitting forty minutes away from my child, unable to protect her liked I swore to. I was a horrible mother for messing up with her life. I failed as a mother.

He would never leave until he got her.

My phone dropped to the car floor making a loud thud. I felt all senses leaving the shell of my body. Eyes snapped to the rear mirror of my car, I watched my own tears streaming down my cheeks. But, I felt nothing. Darkness suffocated, swallowing me whole then there was nothing, empty.

I stared into spaces, my eyes bloodshot as red as his blood on my hands, his vein between my palms, the sound of his cries mixed with the cracking noise of his bone snapping played like the music on my vinyl. I let out a humorless laugh, more tears escaping my eyes.

Starting the car's engine, I dialed Tanisha's phone number before bringing it to my ear.

" Get ready. I'm going to raise hell upon him for messing with my fucking daughter. "

➺ ✿ ➻

💖 thank you for being an amazing friend, bitch. teheee!