“Good morning, Declan.” I smiled.
“She’s your daughter! Your daughter and you just beat the shit out of her.”
“Now that’s an exaggeration,” I replied, grabbing my water bottle from the side of the ring. “That was the first time I hit her this whole match. It’s hardly a beating. Besides, I slowed down right before I hit her jaw. It’s going to be sore as fuck in the morning when she wakes up, but it wasn’t too bad. She probably would have gotten up if it wasn’t for the fact that we’ve been training all morning.” When I spit the water from my mouth, he stared at me, mouth open, completely at a loss for words.
“She’s a child.”
“Everyone keeps telling me that as if I wasn’t the one who gave birth to her.”
“That might because it’s hard for us to tell if you know it or not!” he hollered back. “I didn’t say anything when you trained Cora because she wanted this. But Dona does not—”
“If I gave Dona everything she wanted she’d live off strawberry cakes and dye her hair pink. You don’t give children what they want, you give them what they need.”
“So you gave her a right hook?”
I nodded proudly. “Yep. The very first one of her life and now she knows what it’s like to be hit. She knows it’s painful but survivable. Today she learned her body is stronger than she thinks. All in all, it’s a good day. So will you let her sleep it off in her room or will you keep bitching to me about how she’s a delicate flower who needs to be protected from her evil mommy?”
His jaw clenched; I could see him gritting his teeth. “Liam is going to—”
“What am I going to do?” Right on cue Liam walked in, dressed in black shorts and a sleeveless black shirt, Ethan to his right and Wyatt to his left. Both of them were confused until they saw Donatella.
“Dona!” They both tried to run forward, but as expected, Liam grabbed the collars of their shirts, pulling them back so hard that when he let go they fell on their asses.
Ethan jumped right up, glaring at him. “Dad—”
“I told you to stand beside me; where do you think you’re going?”
“Dona is—”
“Done with her training for the day; you two are not, so stay still.” He glared at Wyatt.
“No!” Wyatt yelled, turning away from him, and once again Liam pulled him back, harder this time. When he let go, he smacked him so hard he was back on his ass. Ethan’s eyes widened as he stared between them.
Kneeling beside him, he grabbed his shirt. “When I give you an order, son, it is not optional. You listen or you get knocked on your ass. Are we clear?”
Wyatt didn’t speak.
“I said, are we clear?”
“Yes—”
“Yes, what?”
“Yes, sir.”
“What was that?”
“I said YES, SIR!” Wyatt yelled at the top of his lungs.
“Brilliant. Now get in the ring, both of you,” he stated as Declan got out, still holding Dona as if she were a piece of precious glass.
“Daddy,” she muttered, waking up faster than I’d expected. Maybe I hit her a little too gently? “Ouch!” She spit blood from her mouth, once again earning me a cold look from Declan.
Never mind.
“Daddy—” She reached out for him and this time, I glared at Liam. Emotionlessly, he stared back at her, and she dropped her hands slowly. “Daddy?”
“Declan, get her ice,” he stated, and to everyone else, he must have looked like a coldhearted son of a bitch, but to me, he looked like he was the one in the most pain.