Page 15 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

When she didn’t, I’d finally laid her to rest in my mind. Daisy had always loved her father. If she had been alive, then she would have been there.

I shook the thought away as movement in the distance caught my eye. Right in the direction of his simple grave.

"Alexander." My heart stuttered as I strode across the wet grass, my polished shoes getting splattered with mud with every step. "Alexander," I called again, coming closer.

It was definitely him. I recognized the tear-streaked face over the dainty woman’s shoulder and let out a sigh of relief. "You shouldn’t run off like that, you should—"

The woman’s back stiffened. It was like an electric shock had zapped through her. She snapped up so quickly that the knee-length black wool coat lifted to show shapely legs.

"Papa."

"You can’t run off like that," I began to say, but the words lodged themselves in my throat as the woman turned.

Recognition flared through me, instant and burning hot.

It couldn’t be.

It couldn’t be, but it was.

Daisy.

She had changed, but was so instantly recognizable that I had to fight back the memories that suddenly flooded me.

Images of her laughing under me, her face young and carefree. And then the absolute terror on her tear-streaked face as they wheeled her off to surgery, her hand holding mine until the last moment.

She was more mature now, not the girl she had been. The weight of life had been kind to her; she was just as beautiful asbefore, but she had matured. From her face to her slicked-back blonde hair, to the clothes on her body.

She looked good.

But she was a ghost.

A ghost that was holding my child. The child she had clearly abandoned if she was standing in front of me.

Rage filled me in a rush.

White-hot and murderous. The fists at my sides shook with it. I watched as her face paled. Saw her throat work as she tried to swallow.

She looked terrified.

Slowly, keeping her eyes locked on mine, she dropped Alexander to his feet.

"Go to your Dad—" Her voice faltered as Alexander came rushing towards me, and she straightened. Her hands convulsed at her sides. I flicked my eyes to them.

And I still didn’t greet her. What was one meant to say to a woman who you had grieved over? She was meant to be dead.

I had fucking cried over her. And the entire time she was living her life without me. Free as a bird.

The rage in my chest tightened. All the fear I had been feeling just a few seconds ago flowed into it until it grew into something uncontrollable.

I was going to hurt her. I was going to repay all the pain she had caused me six years ago.

"Ow, Papa." Too late, I realized I had squeezed Alexander’s hand too tightly, and I loosened my grip. No matter what happened now, I would not allow Alexander to see me lose my temper. To him, I was just his papa; I wasn’t the feared monster that I was to everyone else.

"Let’s get you back to the car." Swinging him up in my arms, I turned towards the car. Leaving was the best thing to do. It was the mature thing to do.

But could I do it?

I wanted answers, and there was only one person alive who could give them to me.