"In my defense," Dani interrupted, "I didn't actually disobey."

Grammy rolled her eyes, looking very much like her grand-daughter in that moment. "No, you didn't." She looked at me. "She didn't tie her tooth to a door and slam it. She tied it to a brick and threw the brick down the front steps."

We were still laughing when my phone rang. I turned it off without even looking at it. This was my and Dani's time, and I wasn't going to let anything interrupt.

The rest of the day gave me a glimpse into the childhood that Dani had experienced with her grandmother, and it gave me hope for what I could offer Lacey. Grammy had made meatloaf and we ate that for supper while drinking the wine Dani and I had brought. For once, I relished the drink for the pure enjoyment of it rather than needing the alcohol to forget or to relax. Just being here relaxed me.

It also gave me better insight into why Dani had done what she'd done, stealing that money for her grandmother's treatment. I'd known that Dani was special, but I didn't think I'd truly gotten it until I saw her with Grammy.

By the time we left, I knew there was no way I'd ever let Dani go. My daughter was still number one, but Dani was a close second.

"It was wonderful meeting you," Grammy said as she gave me a hug. "But don't you dare come back unless you bring Lacey. I want to meet her."

I smiled. "That would be great."

Dani gave her grandmother another hug, then took my hand and we walked towards the subway. Suddenly, I remembered that I'd turned my phone off, so I pulled it out and turned it back on. The moment it finished booting up, message alerts started flashing. All from the same person.

"Shit!" Dani looked over at me startled by my outburst. "Five missed calls and two voicemails. All from Brad."

"Your lawyer friend?" she asked. "You should listen. It might be good news."

I frowned. I had a bad feeling that Brad wasn't calling about that drink he'd offered. "Somehow, I doubt it."

The voicemail did nothing to ease my concerns. "For fuck's sake Luke, pick up the phone! Call me as soon as you hear this."

I didn't bother listening to the other one. I pressed callback.

"About fucking time."

"Nice to hear from you, too, Brad," I said. "What's so important?"

"Have you heard from Bruno?"

The knot in my stomach turned into a block of ice. "No. Isn't he with the Feds?"

"Unfortunately, no. He never showed up."

"Never showed up?" Dani was staring at me now. "What the hell? Is he suicidal?"

"I don't know, bro. It's looking like he skipped town. Trying to make it on his own, maybe."

My blood ran cold. "What about Cindy? And Lacey?"

When Brad hesitated before speaking, I knew it was bad. "They weren't at the apartment when the Feds showed up. They think they're with Bruno. I'm sorry, man."

I ended the call, my hand squeezing the phone until I heard the plastic crack. I wanted to throw it, smash it to the ground, but I needed it now more than ever.

"Luke?" Dani sounded frightened and I looked up at her. Her worried gaze steadied me.

"This is so far from over," I said. "Fuck!"

The End.

The story continues in the next book, Broken Temptation.

Broken Temptation.

Eve Carter.

Chapter One.

Bruno.

The muscles in my neck were screaming at me. Ten hours of shitty gray pavement had zipped past my bloodshot eyes. I'd been driving with one eye trained on the rearview mirror as the tires ate up the road, expecting to see the flash of lights or hear sirens. Or, worse, I would see a car with a New York license plate.

I knew I had about the whole fucking city of New York pissed off at me by now. Any one of those cocksuckers, the Feds, the state police and the underground gambling circuit would love to find us. Yes, it was "us," not just me. I glanced into the rearview mirror at the little girl sleeping in the backseat. I didn't like kids, but at least Lacey knew how to keep her mouth shut.

Unlike her mother.

Cindy was next to me in the passenger's seat, bitching as usual. She whined about how tired and hungry she was, like I hadn't been sitting in the exact same position as her since I'd dragged them out of the apartment after that asshole, Luke Romero, had somehow managed to beat my guy in the ring. A guy who was supposed to leave Luke either crippled for life or dead. Instead, Luke had pulled off a miracle and The Butcher had tapped out like some fucking pussy.

"I'm tired of sitting in this freaking car, Bruno. Where the hell are we going?" Cindy asked for the millionth time.

I was tempted to backhand her just to get her to shut up, but I didn't want to wake up the kid. The last thing I needed was a raging tantrum in the backseat. I spotted a gas station and pulled in. The tank still had a good quarter in it, but I needed a break from Cindy's chatter. I dug into my pocket and handed her a twenty. The beef jerky and crackers I'd gotten at our last stop were long gone.

"Get some snacks," I said.

"I don't want snacks, Bruno. I want real food." Her voice took on that whining tone that made me want to break her teeth.

I leaned close enough to her to smell the weed she'd been smoking and grabbed her. "Listen to me, you little bitch. I'm just as fucking tired and hungry as you are, and I have considerably less patience. If you keep talking, I'm going to make you blow me the next thirty miles just so I can have some fucking peace and quiet. Got it?"

Cindy narrowed her eyes and snatched the money from my hand. At least that shut her up.

"Now, go get something for all of us to eat while I fill the tank."

She kicked the car door open and stomped off towards the station. I got out of the car and stretched, looking around. I wasn't entirely sure what state we were in, only that it wasn't New York anymore and hadn't been for a while. I'd stayed off the main roads, but now I was starting to think that hadn't been such a good idea. This place looked like something out of a horror movie. The kind of place where some maniac with a hatchet started chopping people to bits.

I shook my head and turned to the pump. As I leaned against the car and watched the rising numbers telling me how much to pay, my cell phone rang. I glanced at the number before answering it.

"About fucking time." I had no time for greetings. "When can you have the papers ready?"

"At least three weeks," the voice on the other end told me.

I swore loud enough the guy probably wet himself. "Motherfucker, you told me two days."

"That was before you told me you needed three passports," he whimpered.

"Make it happen!" I snarled, then hung up.

Two weeks! Goddammit. Taking these two dead weights to Mexico was more of a pain in my ass than I anticipated. I glanced towards the station and then through the back window at the kid. I could just ditch them here. Take the girl out of the car and leave her next to the pump. No one would see. There was no one else at the gas station except us. Cindy would come out soon. I'd be able to get my papers in just days and disappear.

"Dammit!" I muttered. The pros of going on my own didn't outweigh the cons. I couldn't do it. Cindy wasn't too bad when she wasn't talking, and she was a good lay. Plus, having them with me was actually less suspicious when on the road. No one would suspect a happy family on vacation would be up to anything.

Then there was the Luke factor. I knew he didn't love Cindy, but he did love his daughter. Taking Lacey would at least make him hurt enough to start to make up for everything he'd done to me.

Fuck. I'd have to change plans now. I needed a place to lay low until the papers were ready and we could finish our trip to Mexico. Once I was there, I could safely negotiate with the cartel. They'd understand that I had to run because the Feds were after me. They'd know that I'd done it to protect them. I'd tell them that I had the money stored safely. All I'd need would be a couple perfectly placed bets with what I did have and I'd be able to cover the debt that Luke had caused.

But first, a place to hide, and I knew the perfect place. I took out a cheap burner phone. It wasn't the one I'd just used to talk to that little piss-ant making my papers, but rather one that I used for only one purpose. I didn't want anyone knowing I had this number, especially now. I made the call and, after a couple rings, a man picked up.

"Yeah?"

The word was slurred enough to tell me he'd been drinking. I didn't care, as long as he was coherent enough to do what I wanted.

"Brian," I barked. "It's Bruno Costello." The man was an idiot, but he was exactly who I needed right now. "I'm calling in that favor you owe me."

Chapter Two.

Luke A pair of arms slid around my waist. The light scent of a flowery fragrance reached my nostrils before I felt Dani rest her head against my back. We'd just gotten back from dinner and she'd gone to put the leftovers in the fridge while I'd gone to the same place by the window, where I'd found myself standing every couple hours or so for the past week. Sometimes, at night, I'd wake up here without even remembering getting out of bed.

Dani's arms tightened around me and I put my hands over hers, hoping she knew just how special she was to me. She held the strings to my heart in those hands. I never could have gotten through all of this without her. It had been a week since Bruno had tried to have me killed in the ring punishment for refusing to take a dive and then failing to get back the money he'd lost on the fight. Both were part of the series of circumstances that had led me to Dani, so I couldn't regret them entirely.

I looked at the brightly decorated room, my eyes tracing over each of the paintings of the couple under the red umbrella adorning the wall and all of the little extra touches Dani had added to this once drab apartment. Before I'd met Dani, it had been nothing more than a place to take a shower and crash for the night. Dani had changed all that. The entire apartment looked different now. It looked like a home. More importantly, it felt like one. The only thing missing was my little girl.

I closed my eyes and swallowed hard. I wasn't an emotional guy, but this situation involved the two most important people in my world. Seven days and the FBI had no clue as to where Bruno had gone, taking my ex and my daughter with him. He hadn't used his credit cards and he'd tossed his phone in a dumpster outside his apartment. I knew he had a burner, but since I didn't have the number, that knowledge didn't do me any good. In fact, the worst part was that none of my plans in the past had done any good at getting Bruno out of my life. He was an evil man and he needed to go away, forever.

If it had just been Bruno, I would've been out hunting him myself in a heartbeat, but he wanted Cindy and Lacey for leverage. Well, Cindy for sex, too, but I knew Bruno. He wouldn't hurt Lacey until he didn't need her anymore or until he knew it would hurt me the most. He was waiting, biding his time. The thing was, it wasn't just Bruno I had to worry about. He'd stirred up a pit of rattlesnakes and the cartel was pissed off, too. They'd have no problem killing Cindy and Lacey for just being in the wrong place at the wrong time. Killing them...or worse.

I stroked Dani's hands. The touch of her skin brought me back. Shake it off, Luke. It was dangerous to let my mind keep going down that path. I couldn't keep doing this or I'd say fuck it all and take off. That wouldn't help my daughter. I couldn't take on the entire cartel on my own. At least that's what I kept reminding myself every time I reached this point of desperation, where the only thing holding me back was the woman behind me.

The ring of my phone broke my thoughts, but not the hold Dani had on me. She didn't want it to interrupt us but I knew I had to take it. I picked up her hands so she'd let go and kissed her palms, and the two of us walked out into the living room so I could answer it.

"Brad," I said. He'd been my connection to the inside track on what was happening. I wasn't even sure if he was supposed to be giving me a play-by-play of what the FBI was doing, especially since he was a lawyer, but I wasn't going to ask. I was just grateful he did it.

"The Feds are certain Bruno's not in the city anymore." He didn't bother with pleasantries and I could tell from the tone of his voice that he really didn't want to add whatever was coming next. "They might've even left the country already."

"Fuck." I sat down on the couch and Dani sat next to me. She took my hand, but didn't say anything. She knew I'd fill her in once I got off the phone.

Brad sighed. "There's more bad news. Judge Schwartz wasn't able to repeal your ban from professional fighting."

My shoulder's sagged. That wasn't really a shock, but it still hurt. "I figured that much. When has Judge Schwartz ever thrown me a bone?"

"Maybe he's about to," Brad said. "He wants to meet with you tomorrow. Talk about a possible solution."

I'd learned from past situations that it wasn't good to count on something before it happened. "Really? I didn't see that coming."

"I wouldn't get my hopes up too soon," Brad cautioned. "I know you really want this"

"Look Brad, my first priority is finding Lacey," I cut in. "I want my ban revoked, but I want my daughter more. She comes first."

"I know," Brad said quietly. "We're working on it."

"Thanks for the heads-up."

"Anytime," he said. "I just wish it had been better news."

I did, too, but I didn't tell him that. I didn't need to. I hung up the phone and turned to Dani. She'd heard my half of the conversation so I quickly filled her in on the rest.

"Maybe being out of the country is a good thing," she said. "I mean, if they're somewhere else, the cartel can't get to them."

I shook my head. Dani might've grown up in a not-so-nice section of New York and she might've worked at a sleazy pay-by-the hour motel, but in some ways, she was still nave about how things worked in the underground world of money and power. It was one of the many things I loved about her and I really didn't want her to be tainted or hardened by her exposure to it. I squeezed her hand, knowing that the longer she was with me the more her innocence was fading away. "No, it's actually worse. The cartel can get to them anywhere. Being outside the U.S. just means that it's harder for the FBI to find them...or protect them."

Dani's shoulders slumped and she pursed her lips before speaking. "Did Brad say anything else?" she asked.

I raked both hands though my hair, hoping I could push the frustration out of my body. I leaned forward with my elbows on my knees, fighting back the wave of helplessness that washed over me. It was suffocating. My entire body was tense. It was no wonder I'd barely been sleeping. I straightened and turned to Dani and said, "He told me that Judge Schwartz wasn't able to repeal my ban from professional fighting."

Dani scowled. "That's crazy. You did everything they asked."

Her anger on my behalf warmed me. "Not exactly," I said. "The deal was, they get to the cartel through Bruno and then I get my license back. They don't have Bruno, so they don't have the cartel."

She put a hand on my cheek. "I'm sorry, babe. There must be something we can do."

I tried to muster a smile for encouragement but it came out half-assed. "Judge Schwartz wants to have a meeting with me. No doubt to try to pressure me into doing them another favor." I frowned at the thought. Just once, I'd like to meet someone in a position of authority who did things because it was right and not because they wanted something in return.

"Oh." Dani's face fell with the understanding that this meant more drama, more nervous gut-wrenching ups and downs in a relationship with me. Dani put her hand on my knee. "If there's anything I can do..."

I covered her hand with mine and looked into her eyes. There was conviction in those eyes. She wasn't scared. I knew she was in this with me and I was relieved to see that, as her concern for me was written on her face. "Do we know anything about Bruno that the Feds don't?" Her mouth twisted into a thoughtful expression.

Dani leaned against me and draped my arm across her shoulders as we both sat in silence. After a few minutes, she slumped back into the couch. I could feel her disappointment. I was about to give up as well when something popped into my head.

"Bruno's not dumb enough to go to anyone he works with," I said.

Dani sat up, a puzzled expression on her face. "What do you mean?"