Criminal Affinity [18+]

Chapter 42

All of you party people don't get your feelings hurt. 
I'm incapable of being how you want me.
I do what I want.  

| I Do What I Want - MISSIO |

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HIM

By the time he finishes briefing Delia on everything that led up to Ava leaving, blue eyes are too much to look at. "You said you will keep her safe."

He stares at her, and although Delia is his underboss, sometimes he wishes she would just dye her hair and wear colored contacts.

"She is safe." He says, looking at the door and back at her.

"You drove her out of our home, Ivan." Delia says. Never thought an orphan could be so...sentimental. Delia continues to surprise him despite the years they've worked together. Well, can't exactly call her an orphan, her fucking father is still out there waiting to be killed by him.

"I told you from the start how it's going to be." His voice is harsher than necessary but he doesn't care. "From the moment you asked me to bring her here, I told you I won't coddle her."

Delia's eyes hold coldness. "You broke something inside her."

"I made her uncomfortable. People tend to run when they are uncomfortable." In the back of his mind, even he knew that isn't true. He hurt the fuck out of her. Some part of him still wants to hold onto that notion as a trophy but that part is the exact reason why he spent three hours with his advisor.

Slash therapist. Or whatever Ava called it.

"One more thing." He says. "Don't call me Ivan in front of her. She doesn't need to know all that."

Delia gives a humorless smile. "You're scared of her."

This is why he took her in. She knows him, how his galvanized will bends and how his twisted games fall. It must run in the fucking blood.

"I don't like where you're going with that, Blue." He warns her.

"It's you that doesn't like discomfort." Delia stretched back, her tall frame visibly relaxing. He doesn't like the look of it. So he decides to humble her.

"You're unhappy because she is only speaking to me." He cuts her a smile out of ice. She has the good sense to not flinch because he's not in the mood to lecture her like she's his little sister. Having one already is work enough.

But her little sigh stirs something in his chest.

Delia isn't the type to show weakness. The most interesting part about her is how uninteresting she appears. But when it comes to family, he understands how it can test all the moral bounds of a person.

"Blue." He softens his tone. "Just because she turned out to be different than what we expected, doesn't mean she's better. Don't get your heart broken. I can't have a man-down in the middle of a war."

"I wish I could just tell her." She says.

"You will when the time is right." He offers. Babysitter of the year, he should really have all of them call him dad. "If you tell her now, she will hate you forever. And she will fucking run."

"I trust you to hold true to your word, Ivie." She says. "But I'm telling you, don't push her. She will only break so far. You saw what she was like that day, that's not something I ever want to experience again."

A ding alerts him. He picks up to see Ava's text.

Ava: I want to go out.

His jaw clenches as he punches in a quick reply and waits. Seconds tick by and Delia peers over his desk to see her name.