“Hello?”
“Shea, thank god. You have to come quick. Fuck— I couldn’t stop them. I tried, I really fucking tried. Think my arm is broken, maybe my nose too. Fuck, fuck, fuck!”
“Henry, what the hell are you talking about? Stop who? What happened?” Dashing back to the bedroom, she searched frantically for her pants, uncaring now if she woke Atticus.
“I—I don’t know. I swear, I don’t know. Shea, fuck, I’m so goddamn sorry. They took Penny.”
His words made her blood run cold as her vision swam in front of her. A loud ringing sounded in her ears as bile started to rise up her throat. She didn’t need to ask any more questions. The attack was retaliation for the man she’d killed, there was no doubt about it. But her daughter? No, her fucking daughter was never supposed to be involved in any of it.
“Henry, listen to me very carefully.” She tugged on her pants as she spoke. Across the room, Atticus stirred and sat up, grinning when he spotted her. His smile fell as he took in her expression, a look of concern flashing over his face. “Do not call the cops. Do not go to the hospital. Just wait. Wait there for me, I’m on my way.”
“What? But Penny—and my arm is…”
“Just fucking do as I say!” Her tone was harsh and cold; the demeanor of callous leader slipping into place.
“O—okay, Shea—” She cut him off by hanging up, not having any more time to waste. She quickly dialed Fabrizio’s number, not caring that Atticus was now standing in front of her in a pair of low slung jeans he’d tugged on hastily.
“It’s me. Gather a small group of men and get to my place now. They’ve taken Penny. No harm is to come to Henry,” she ordered.
“Fuck,” Fab burst out, already shouting orders to whoever was in the room with him.
“Got it?”
“Got it. Be there in ten.”
She ended the call and met Atticus’s bewildered eyes. Not wanting to deal with him, she spun on her heel, hurrying towards the front door. She snagged her purse off the main hall floor where she’d clearly dropped it in her sexual haze. She came up short, suddenly remembering that she didn’t drive to his house.
“Goddamn it!” she shouted, fear starting to cause her to become unhinged. If they harmed one hair on Penny’s head…
Atticus caught up with her and gripped her by the shoulders, spinning her to face him. “What the hell is going on? Someone has your daughter?”
“Yes. I need your car.”
“Where’s my phone? I’ll call the Captain and get him over there now.” He moved away from her, scanning the living room.
She grabbed his arm. “No. I don’t need cops, I need your car.”
“Shea, you’re in shock. We’ll call the police and they’ll help us,” he said carefully, as though he was speaking to a child himself.
Shea’s threadbare hold on her control snapped. “Don’t fucking tell me what to do. I don’t need your help with this and I definitely don’t need the goddamn cops sniffing around my business. I’ll take care of this,” she barked.
Atticus was shocked. She was almost unrecognizable to him now; gone was the innocent, charming woman he was used to and in her place was a cold, almost brutal new version. Somehow, he found her basically savage state sexy as hell. He gave his head a shake, now was not the time for such thoughts.
“Let’s go. I’ll drive you home; you shouldn’t be driving right now.”
She stared hard at him, chest heaving, eyes wild. He could tell she had more fight in her, that she was barely keeping her rage in check. He was half convinced she was about to take a swing at him, when she finally relaxed slightly.
“Fine.”
Once in the car, Shea kept her nose in her phone, texting furiously. He noticed a tear escape from one eye and his heart broke. She was barely hanging on, not even realizing she was crying.
“Tell me what’s going on. I can help. You just have to trust me,” he pleaded.
Maybe it was his tone of voice, maybe it was her emotions getting the best of her, or just the damn fear clouding her judgement. However, against her better judgement, she did want to trust him, to let him in on her deception; her double life. At this point, what could it hurt?
“My father was Joe Benza.”
Atticus sucked in a breath. He’d thought maybe she was the survivor of some sort of abusive relationship, maybe owed someone money, something along those lines. But to learn her father was the most notorious crime lord their province had ever seen? There’s no way he could have possibly guessed that truth.
“Wow. Um, well that must have been an interesting childhood,” he said lamely, unsure of how to proceed.
She rolled her eyes. Clearly she was going to have to spell it out for him. “My father protected me, no one knew I was his daughter. A fact that has been crucial for me now dealing with his death.” They rolled to a stop at a red light and she looked him dead in the eye; not showing even a slight amount of cowardice. “Atticus, I took over my father’s business.”
The silence that filled the space between them after her admission could have stretched on for miles. “You…” he trailed off. “You’re…” he swallowed audibly. What the fuck? She couldn’t have shocked him more if she’d admitted she liked to dress up as a chicken and do the moonwalk after sex.
Her phone rang before he could formulate any type of response. “Yeah?” she answered, rubbing a hand over her face. Worry was evident in her movement and he had to remind himself that a child’s life was at stake. “Got it. On my way.” Hanging up the phone she ordered him to turn the car around.
“They reached out to my men. They’ve got her at my club,” she told him, her vulnerability now non-existent. She was clearly pissed.
“Look, Shea, I really think we need to bring in the authorities. If anything was to happen to Penny…”
“Bite your fucking tongue,” she snapped. “You think I can’t take care of my own daughter? You think I can’t handle this situation? You need a wake up call as to just who the hell I am. I’m Joe Benza’s daughter. He might have left behind a legacy, but I assure you, I am the goddamn legend in this scenario. I’m the one to fear. These fuckers will regret crossing me.”
She had no idea how much she sounded like her father in that moment; but Atticus did. He’d had a few run-ins with Joe in his time and always had to admire the way he handled his business.
Arriving at the club, Shea was out of the car before he could try to talk some sense into her. Catching up with her at the door, he grabbed her hand. “Get off me!” she cried.
“Just wait. Wait just a fucking minute, would you? You have no idea what you’re walking into.” He stiffened as cold, hard steel was suddenly pressed at the back of his neck.
“I suggest you take your hands off my boss before she’s wearing your brains as a hat,” a man’s voice warned him.
“Fab. Stand down, I got this.”
The man kept the gun on him for several seconds longer than necessary, finally obeying her order with a grumble. Facing him, they two regarded each other with open contempt. Fab passed a menacing looking piece to Shea, and Atticus’s eyes widened when she expertly checked the clip, took the safety off and tucked it into the back of her jeans.