Dangerous Beauty: Part Four: Beautifully Broken (61 page)

“Hi, my sweet babies,” she cooed as she kissed each of her boys; Kyle even spied Sofia slip in between her cousins to get her time with her dear Zia before she scrambled out of the madness and ran back over to Kyle and Reanna.

“Hey, baby,” Kyle heard Reanna say when Sofia came back over.

Instead of coming right back to Kyle seeking to be lifted as he’d expected, she went straight to Reanna, throwing her little arms around her waist and pressing her face into Reanna’s belly.

“I have a headache now,” she pouted, looking up at Reanna with her little lip poking out.

Kyle’s brows furrowed, watching as Reanna gently gripped on to the band holding Sofia’s tight pony tail up and smoothly slipped it out of her hair. Sofia’s long, black hair cascaded down her back, and Reanna immediately began running her fingers through the child’s hair so gently, so lovingly, while she stared down at her with the warmest smile.

“You’re hungry,” she whispered.

She removed her hands from Sofia’s hair temporarily while she dug into the purse she carried on her arm. She pulled out a small, clear bag of what looked like … cookies?

“You can eat some of your animal crackers, but you will share if your little cousins ask you for some.”

Frowning deeply, Sofia looked up at Reanna.

“I didn’t ask if you wanted to, Sofia,” Reanna replied to Sofia’s silent protest. “You’ll share. Understood?”

“Yes,” Sofia whispered.

Nodding, Reanna handed her the bag, whispering “greedy butt,” teasingly as she did.

That seemed to bring a smile to Sofia’s face as she turned to face the family, and Reanna resumed gently massaging her head. After a few moments, Reanna looked up at him as if feeling his stare.

“Something wrong?” she asked, giving him that same soft, warm smile.

Unable to find the words for
anything
he was feeling, Kyle could only shake his head no in response.

“No!”

The sharp scream came from Sofia, immediately capturing both Kyle’s and Reanna’s attention. Their eyes snapped to where the child stood to see what was wrong.

“Aleksandr, give them back.”

“Aleksandr, please stop teasing your cousin.” Kyle heard Reanna say.

“Give them back, Aleksandr!” Sofia shouted at her cousin.

Aleksandr chuckled. “You want the cookies then come get em’
cookie monster
.”

“Sandr!”

“You two, please no fighting,” Reanna attempted to calm them.

But as usual, peace was not attainable when it came to Sofia and Aleksandr. The two always had to fight out their disputes. Adult intervention never worked, so for the most part, they always let them run it out.

Aleksandr dug in the bag, took out three cookies, and stuffed them in his mouth. “Mmm …
вкусно
, cousin.” He nodded his head, grinning wide. “These are very yummy.”

The moment Kyle saw the anger fill his daughter’s eyes he knew she was about to explode. He watched as her fists clenched at her sides and she stomped her little foot right before she darted forward.

Aleksandr screamed, turning to run immediately, but Sofia wasn’t going easy on him at all; she was trailing right behind him, yelling ‘I’m going to kill you!’ in Italian, with Aleksandr replying ‘you love me!’ every time she did. Maksim even joined in on the shenanigans, which was the moment the fight became a game. His brother passed off the snacks to him, sending Sofia chasing Maksim in another direction, while Aleksandr paused to catch his breath.

Next to him Reanna sighed heavily. “They have so much energy.”

Looking over at her, Kyle gave a small smile, nodding his head in agreement. “That they do,” he replied. Reaching out, he placed his arms around her back, gripped on to her side, and pulled her to him. “But she will rest better tonight if she uses all of that energy for rough housing with her cousins.”

“I suppose,” she nodded, then looked up at him with a smile. “She can really keep up with them though, can’t she?”

Reanna rested her head on Kyle’s chest as they both turned their attention back to the children.

Yes, it was absolutely a fact that Sofia could hold her own very well with her male cousins. That was really the reason why Kyle had come to the decision to no longer intervene and stop the children’s
rough play
as he had done when they were all a bit younger. Aleksandr and Maksim were always rough housing, wrestling, and chasing each other down for something or other, just as Kyle and his brothers had when they were children. Kyle had never really thought that his sweet little girl had wanted any part in such shenanigans. But it turned out he’d been wrong. Sofia would play with her dolls, just as quickly as she’d wrestle Aleksandr to the ground for touching one of them. It was as if she’d adapted to having little mini brutes as cousins. She knew that if she didn’t show herself a formidable opponent, they would push her around. So if they messed with her, she’d chased them down and often made them apologize. If they took something from her, she got it back, and if they challenged her, she met the challenge head on and always won. Not because she was stronger than her little cousins, because she wasn’t; nor was it because she was bigger, because she wasn’t that either. Though a bit older, Sofia was the shortest of the three of them; Maksim came in second in height, and Aleksandr was the tallest of the three. But even still, Sofia won every fight, and that was simply because she had more skill.

Training and endurance.

She’d picked up her first sharp knife and just stared at it when she had been only three years old, and it had scared the living shit out of Kyle. He’d snatched it out of her hand, yelled at her even. Of course he’d felt bad for making her cry, but what was he supposed to have done. She been but a toddler; it had been too soon for her to be showing signs of psychosis like the rest of the people in their family. It was the moment that he’d remembered that she was a Stone. A fucking Stone. A fact that had, at times, been easy to forget since that part of his lineage wasn’t really something that Kyle often explored. After that, Kyle had taken her straight to Carter. The training hadn’t begun at that exact moment; Carter had waited a year until Sofia had turned four, then she began working with her. Teaching her shit that Kyle himself would never even know, which was why Kyle never asked about Sofia’s time training with Carter. He just let it happen. Let it be. It was something that needed to be done anyway, and now his daughter was already two years in.

The mini war going on between the three oldest children calmed once little JoJo joined in on the game. Kyle saw the moment the three of them noticed him running around with them, noticed how Sofia softened immediately then alerted the twins with slaps to their heads. Aleksandr handed the cookies off to JoJo, and Sofia immediately began chasing the laughing toddler, slowing down her running as not to capture him too easily or too quickly. When she eventually caught him she lifted him to her chest, kissing his cheek as she lowered them to the floor and sat him on her lap, tickling him until he got tired. When she stopped, the now bright, charismatic, and energetic toddler laid back in her lap in an adorably dramatic show of exhaustion. Sofia lifted him to sitting position on her lap, then crossed her legs. She brought her snacks in front of them, opening up the bag wide enough so that JoJo could get some cookies out of the bag too. Kyle watched them as they ate, the twins joining them not to long after to enjoy the cookies too—

“Kyle …”

The soft whisper of his love caught his attention almost immediately, pulling his gaze from the children, and bringing it down to where she still stood, leaning against his chest and looking forward.

Kyle brought his hand up to her hair, gently running his fingers through the gorgeous, thick tresses.

“Yes, colomba?” Kyle answered her.

He heard her sigh softly before she turned her body to face him fully and pressed her face against his chest.

Kyle frowned at the action. “Reanna, baby.” He ran his hands over her arms, then gripped them, bringing them up to wrap around her waist. “What’s wrong?” Because it was obvious that there was something bothering her. “Tell me.”

“Ugh,” she grunted against his chest. Then after a moment more of her silence, she lifted her face. “I have to tell you something.” She rolled her eyes, closing them as she did, then cleared her throat. “Or rather somethings.”

“What is it?” Kyle asked, suddenly becoming more alert.

Reanna shook her head, then captured her bottom lip between her teeth.

Kyle knew that move. She did that the night she finally told him about her past. Now he was sure something was wrong, and even more sure that he wasn’t going to be happy about it either.

“I need you to promise me—”

“Now, let me warn you,” Kyle cut her off with a stern look. “If you ask me to promise you that I’ll control my temper, then be prepared to be disappointed, colomba. I’m angry now because you were going to ask me.”

“But I don’t want that, Kyle,” her eyes filled with tears. “I don’t want you to be angry, but I’m telling you this now before someone else does. I want you to hear it from me, not your men.”

“Spill it then, woman,” he said tightly. The he cupped her face and wiped the unshed tears from her eyes. “Talk to me.” It was a soft command, but Kyle could tell she knew just how serious he was.

She nodded her head, hesitating for only a moment before she began to speak. “There’s two things,” she whispered. “I’ll tell the easiest first.” She sighed, closing her eyes before opening them once again. “I want you to fire your assistant or secretary or whatever she is.”

Kyle kept a blank face, nodding his head. “What happened?”

“She was rude and disrespectful to me when I called, Kyle. I think she’s a friend of Aniyah’s, and I get that, but …” She shook her head. “It was very unprofessional and just …” she frowned, “too unpleasant for me to get over. I’m going to be your wife. I need to feel comfortable calling your office or coming to visit you. I wouldn’t feel comfortable if she was still working here, so she has to go.”

“Done,” Kyle nodded. “What’s next?”

She looked up at him confused. “Done?” she asked. “Just like that?”

“You said she needs to go, so she’s gone.”

“But—”

“There are no buts, baby.” Cupping her face, he leaned forward and kissed her lips. “I feel the same way. She has to go.”

When she smiled a bit, Kyle gave her a small smile in return as his hands continued gentle passage through her dark, thick curls. “What else, colomba? Tell me everything.”

Again, she nodded her head. “Okay,” she whispered. Then this time, she didn’t hesitate.

Even though she perhaps should have delivered the next news slowly. But Kyle didn’t blame her for this at all. She had no idea how oddly
volatile
Kyle had been feeling all day.

“Braden came to my studio this morning.”

The rage was almost immediate, but by God’s grace, Kyle had been able to mask it.

“He what—?”

“He came to my studio,” she repeated, cutting him off. “It was a little bit after I’d first arrived.”

Breathe, he kept chanting it to himself. Just fucking breathe.

“… He was mad,” she lowered her eyes.

God, he fucking hated when she lowered her eyes.

“... He said a lot, but I didn’t care. It was more about what he did.” She sighed, lifting her eyes to his.

“Braden has always been a pretty aggressive guy, but never like this, Kyle. I thought …” She swallowed, seeming to collect herself even as a tear slipped down her cheek. “I don’t know what I thought. I was just …” she shrugged. “Afraid is all.”

“What did he do?” Kyle managed to ask her, despite the tightening in his throat.

She shook her head. “He was angry—”

“But what
did he do
, Reanna.” Hearing the sharpness in his own tone, Kyle pulled back, closing his eyes and calming himself, before repeating himself in a softer tone. “Tell me,
colomba
. Alright?” he said, lifting her chin until her eyes locked with his. “Tell me what he did to frighten you.”

Dr. Braden-fucking-Harrison’s list of offenses.

First
, he showed up, unannounced, to an establishment owned and run by Kyle Valente’s fiancé.
Second
, he forced himself on her, forced her to talk with him privately by gripping her arm painfully and dragging her to her office.
Third
, he then closed her into said office, trapping her in the room by blocking her passage to the exit while he shouted at her and called her obscene names; a liar, a bitch, a slut, a cheater.
Fourth
, he assaulted her. He trashed her newly renovated office and threw items that hit her when she’d, once again, attempted to leave. Reanna insisted that the man hadn’t meant to hit her, but sadly for the excuse, Kyle didn’t give a fuck about it. In his head, he’d already envisioned the worst, and the worst was that
‘leave it to beaver’
looking-fuck hit Reanna. Not only that, but it had taken numerous members of Reanna’s set crew members to bust into her fucking office to pull the fucker out and to force him off of the property after calling law enforcement and making a report about his aggressive behavior. The police, of course, had just advised Reanna to get a restraining order.