The Tyrant (Banker #3)(24)
“I know,” I said. “But I’m just reminding you what the rest of the country does. Besides, you can handle it on your own, Bates. You really don’t need me. When your time comes, I won’t need you.”
“When my time comes?” he blurted. “No, I always wear a condom.”
“When you fall in love, you’ll stop wearing a condom.”
He turned dead silent.
It took me several seconds to understand the source of his silence, how my poorly chosen words were misinterpreted. “I’m just saying…”
Bates didn’t revisit the comment, but it was awkward for the rest of the conversation. “Why are you doing all the work?”
“Because she was pregnant for nine months and pushed a human out of her. She deserves a week off.”
“She’s the mother,” he argued. “She should be taking care of her kid.”
“Stop being a sexist bitch.”
“Sexist?” he asked. “See, this is why I don’t like Siena. She puts these stupid thoughts in your head.”
“It’s not because of her. I have a daughter now—and I see the world differently because of it. By the way, you haven’t asked to see her once.”
“You know I’m not a baby person.”
“But this is your niece. Your family. She might be the closest thing to a daughter you ever have.”
“God, I hope so,” he said with a sigh. “I’ll talk to Mother, and we’ll stop by. I know she’s eager to see you guys. She calls me every day, trying to figure out when it’s appropriate to nag you.”
“She’s never cared about an appropriate time to nag me before.”
“I think she’s thinking of Siena.”
Of course. My mother didn’t have any boundaries with me. “Siena has been feeling a lot better, so I’m sure she’ll be ready for visitors tomorrow.”
“Alright. By the way, are you going to do that thing we talked about?”
Drag Siena outside and put her on her knees to be executed. To scare her so senseless it’d be the best punishment for the two crimes she’d committed. She’d never paid for what she did, other than the time my brother bloodied her. Just a few days after that, I fetched her father’s body from my enemies and called a truce just to have him. Siena never suffered for what she did. Right off the bat, she softened my anger, and I took care of her. “I haven’t decided yet.”
“Well, I hope you do it. I’m much more civil to her, but I would be willing to give her a clean slate if she were fairly punished for what she did. We all have to pay the price for our sins—Siena Russo is no different.”
I lay in bed beside Siena, the baby in between us.
Siena had her head propped up on her hand as she rubbed Martina’s stomach. Her eyes were downcast as she looked at our daughter, sleeping between us so nothing could ever happen to her. Siena smiled as she stared at Martina, watching her little chest rise and fall as she slept. “Can you believe how perfect she is?” she whispered in the dark.
“No.”
“Healthy, beautiful, happy…she’s the perfect baby.”
“Wait and see how you feel when you’re changing her diaper all day, listening to her cry nonstop for an hour, and letting her sleep on your chest so you can’t move for a few hours.”
Her eyes lifted to me with the same smile. “Still perfect. And you think she’s perfect too.”
I didn’t deny it. “I do. My mother and brother want to come over tomorrow for a visit. Are you up for it?”
“Yeah. I’m surprised they didn’t come sooner.”
“Wanted to give you time to recover.”
“I’ll invite Landon too. He’s been blowing up my phone lately. Wants to meet his niece.”
I wished my brother shared the same enthusiasm. “They’ll be here at noon.”
“Sounds good.” She lowered her head back to the pillow with her face close to Martina. She closed her eyes and kept her fingers on Martina’s stomach, feeling her breathe like she needed that assurance to sleep. “Thanks for taking care of her. It’s been so nice to rest. When we came home, I felt like I’d been hit by a train.”
“I can only imagine.”
“I know taking care of a baby by yourself couldn’t have been easy, so thank you.”
“I didn’t do it alone. I asked Giovanni lots of questions.”
She chuckled. “Thank goodness we have him. He can do more than cook.”
“That guy can do everything. That’s why I hired him.”
She kept her eyes closed, and her fingers stopped rubbing Martina’s tummy. “I wish we didn’t have to wait six weeks…”
I’d been so busy taking care of Martina, I hadn’t thought about sex much. That little baby became the center of my universe, and all the things that used to matter stopped being important. I didn’t care about sex, booze, or work. All I cared about was changing diapers and putting a bottle in her mouth. “It’ll be over before you know it.”
“Yeah…I guess. I just know—”
“Don’t worry about me, baby. I’m not going anywhere.”