6. Valentin
Chapter 6
Valentin
T he elevator feels impossibly small. There’s only two of us in it, but the anger coming off my uncle is like its own entity, and it’s making the space feel claustrophobic. Instead of breaking the silence, I lean against the railing and scrub a hand over my jaw as I wait for the ride to be over.
When we’re almost to the parking garage, I open my mouth and say, “I love her, Uncle Matvey, more than anything.”
He turns his head, his dark eyes boring into mine, and when he speaks, his voice sounds even more gruff than usual. “We are not having this conversation right now. I don’t know what the hell’s been going on, but it’s going to have to wait. You saw the text. Roman needs us. Everything else can wait.”
I know he’s right, so I nod and step off after him when the doors open.
“I’m driving,” he says, already unlocking his car and getting in. I’ve barely gotten my ass into the leather seat of his Camaro before he’s reversing out of the spot and getting us turned around so he can race out onto the main street.
When my phone buzzes again, I pull it out and read the text before saying, “It’s Luka. There’s been a change in plans. He said his dad wants us at the warehouse on Fifth.”
Without a word, my uncle makes a quick left turn and gets us headed in the opposite direction. I try not to worry about Yelena, but it’s impossible not to. No matter what I’m doing, she’s always on my mind, now more than ever since I had to leave her so abruptly after her parents found out about us.
Before we hit the warehouse, I send her a quick text, telling her I love her and that I hope everything is okay. She doesn’t respond, making me wish I hadn’t sent it because now I’m going to be worrying even more.
“She’s with her mom,” my Uncle Matvey says, breaking the silence. He glances over, briefly meeting my eyes before looking away again. “She’s safe.”
It feels like an olive branch, so I grab on and say, “I’m sorry we didn’t tell you. She never wanted to hide it from you. She was just scared.”
Instead of a heart-to-heart, he steps on the gas, causing the next turn to be far sharper than it needs to be before he pulls into the alley that runs behind the warehouse. He parks behind my Uncle Lev’s motorcycle and grips the steering wheel with both hands.
Staring out the windshield in front of him, he says, “We’ll talk about this later, Valentin. I’m not fucking ready to hear it.”
And with that, he opens his door and gets out, walking away without a backward glance. My heavy sigh fills the interior of the car. His dismissal stings, but I know he’s right. Now isn’t the time. The Bratva comes first. It always comes first, because without it we can’t keep our family safe. It’s not selfish to push aside personal issues. It’s the most selfless thing we can do. My dad and uncles taught me that, raised me and my cousins with that mindset, and I know they’re right. An attack on us, is an attack on them, and we can’t fucking allow that to happen. In order to keep them safe, our Bratva needs to be an impenetrable fortress. If we fall, then they’ll be left defenseless, and we’ve amassed too many enemies over the years to allow that to happen. Just the thought of Yelena being left exposed like that makes me feel sick. I will do anything for that woman, even if it means laying down my own life to keep hers safe and leaving her to raise our child alone.
Turning my head at the sound of an engine, I watch as Max pulls up. He and Niki get out right as I do the same. I meet them at their car as Niki slings a well-worn, leather messenger bag over his head. My cousin never goes anywhere without his laptop.
Max looks over at the warehouse. “Do you know what this is about?”
“No, but it can’t be good if we’ve all been called,” I say. “They know about us, by the way. Yelena and I were in the middle of telling her parents when we got the text. They don’t know she’s pregnant yet, but my dad does.”
“Fuck,” Max says on a heavy sigh.
I look at Niki. “Sorry. We were going to tell everyone after we told our parents.”
Niki smirks at me. “Do you really think I don’t already know my cousin’s pregnant?” He pats his messenger bag. “I see everything. I know everything.”
He lets out a soft laugh and walks away, leaving Max and I to wonder about what kind of dirt he has on all of us.
“I’m not so sure I want to know,” Max says, answering my unspoken question. “If he has hidden cameras and microphones set up, I don’t even want to fucking know.”
“He better not have hidden cameras,” I mutter, thinking about all the times Yelena has been naked in my room.
Max laughs and shakes his head. “He would never spy like that. My little brother may not understand or care much about personal boundaries, but he wouldn’t cross that line. Just don’t fuck in any of the elevators. I know for a fact he monitors that footage.”
“Thanks for the heads-up,” I tell him. Yelena and I have always been careful about keeping our distance in the private elevators, but that’s because no one knew about us and we knew there were cameras and that the footage might one day be looked at, but knowing that it’s apparently always monitored is a damn good thing to be aware of. I’ve always wanted to have a quickie in the elevator, even promised myself that one day after our secret was out that I’d do just that, but it looks like we’ll have to use a public elevator for that particular bucket-list item.
Everyone is already inside and waiting when Max and I step in to join them. My dad, uncles, and cousins stand together, making the large, open space feel crowded. The windows are boarded up so no one can see light from the outside, but even if someone did come snooping around, there isn’t much to find here. We have other buildings that are located on the outskirts of the city that we use when we need to get information from someone or hide a dead body until our men can dispose of it. This warehouse is too much in the heart of things to be used for anything other than meetings and occasionally storing shipments of weapons and pills. Nothing ever stays here long, though, and no location is ever used twice in the same month. With the Alessi family controlling most of the real estate around here mixed with Uncle Danil and Niki’s computer skills, it means none of this will be traced to us anytime soon.
Max and I walk over to Luka and Sasha, sticking to the outskirts of the group, and when I look up and meet my dad’s eyes, he gives me a what the hell happened look. I shrug my shoulders and give a slight shake of my head, letting him know I have no fucking clue and I’ll fill him in later. I swear I can hear his heavy sigh from across the room. My Uncle Lev looks at him and raises a pierced brow, and I know it takes all my dad’s strength to not blurt every detail of what’s happened tonight and instead focus on the ice cream cone he’s still working on. He must’ve just ordered it when the text to meet came through.
“Okay, let’s get started,” my Uncle Roman says, walking to the center of the loose circle we’ve formed. “We got hit tonight.” He ignores the angry mutterings and the what the fucks coming from every member of our family and continues speaking. “You all know we had a shipment of pills coming in. Our supplier made the drop, our guys picked it up and took it to warehouse number four. Based on security camera footage, everything was going as planned until ten men in full combat gear surrounded them. They took the drugs, shot all three of our men execution style, and then left a note with a warning written on it.”
“What fucking warning?” my Uncle Matvey growls, already having a shit night before the meeting even began.
“It said, You should’ve taken the deal ,” Uncle Roman says, and then adds, “they used a knife to pin the note to one of our guys’ chest so we wouldn’t miss it.”
“Fuckers,” Luka spits out, furious that we lost three men tonight.
“The deal with Marty?” Sasha asks, his words laced with disbelief. “That little fucking pussy?”
“Sounds like Marty wasn’t being very truthful with us,” my dad says, finishing off the last bite of his cone. He looks over at my Uncle Danil. “What’d you find on him?”
My uncle stops the conversation he’d been having with Niki and says, “We’re still looking into it. He’s done a damn good job of making himself look like a moron, just some harmless dumbass with too much money and not enough sense. Everything you find on him makes it seem like he’s a trust-fund baby who’s been spending daddy’s money on women and drugs and the occasional bribe to make the police look the other way. He’s thought of as small time, someone who’s dabbled in pills and pot and is starting to dip his toes into the harder stuff. From what I can see, he’s considered a joke.”
“Something’s off with him,” I say, and all eyes turn to me. “There was something about him, something I don’t trust.”
“Agreed,” my Uncle Matvey says. “He’s hiding something, and I don’t think he’s working alone.”
“So who are the regular suppliers of cocaine now?” My Uncle Lev asks. He scrubs a hand over his face, toying with his lip ring for a second while he thinks. “Is the Perez Cartel still active?”
“Yeah,” my Uncle Danil says, “but they don’t operate in America, haven’t for the last year. The Feds nearly shut them down. Diego took his family and fled to Europe. He’s still dealing, but he’s scaled way back. No way is he behind what just happened.”
“What if it’s,” my dad starts to say, but my Uncle Lev cuts him off with a “Don’t fucking say it.”
“Don’t say what?” I ask.
My dad ignores his brother and says, “The Amaya Cartel.”
I’m not completely up to date on cartel news, but even I’ve heard stories about them. They’re a brutal, cutthroat operation, and I understand my uncles reticence to say their name, because if that’s who’s fucking with us, then things are about to get very bloody.
“It’s possible it’s them,” my Uncle Danil admits. “Rumor has it Lorenzo is looking to expand. So far he’s stayed out of our city, but men like him are greedy. Selling in most of the major US cities isn’t enough. He needs to sell in all of them.”
“Even if it means war?” Luka asks.
My Uncle Roman shrugs. “He has what amounts to an entire army behind him and a reputation for violence that exceeds even ours because Lorenzo doesn’t mind killing anyone or anything, including wives and children, to get what he wants.”
There’s a silence in the room as we all think about what this could mean for us. The very idea of someone coming after Yelena or my mom and sister makes me want to put them on a plane and fly them somewhere far, far away from here, but that would mean either sending them off without protection, which isn’t a fucking option, or losing a large chunk of our men when they’re put on guard duty, which is also not an option.
“So what’s the plan?” Max asks.
My Uncle Roman looks at his brothers, the five of them sharing more in those few silent seconds than most could in a full conversation, before he looks back at his sons and nephews and says, “We assume the worst. We lost three men tonight, and we need to make damn sure we don’t lose any more. We’re putting extra bodyguards on our wives and kids, and no one goes out alone.”
“No one,” my Uncle Lev repeats while looking at Sasha. “We keep a low profile for now while Danil and Niki dig up whatever they can find, and we’ll warn Dominic. Everyone is to remain extra vigilant. Don’t assume you’re safe just because you’re inside our territory.”
“We’ll see what we can find on the CCTV footage,” my Uncle Danil says, “but I’m guessing it won’t lead anywhere. This wasn’t a sloppy, heat-of-the-moment killing. It was meticulously planned and well-executed. If this is the Amaya Cartel, we’ll know soon enough. They don’t have a reputation for lying low.”
“Wonderful,” Luka mutters while scrubbing a hand over his jaw, no doubt thinking about his young son and pregnant wife. None of us want a war, but burying our heads in the sand about it will do us no favors.
My Uncle Matvey speaks up and says, “So that’s the meeting then? We were attacked, lost three men, and we need to be more careful than usual until we figure out what the fuck is going on?”
“That about sums it up,” my Uncle Roman says. He studies his brother for a second, no doubt noticing that something’s weighing heavily on his mind. “Why? Anything else we need to know about?”
I have just enough time to meet my dad’s eyes before Uncle Matvey says, “Yeah, I’d like to know who else knew Val was fucking my daughter.”
The silence is palpable as I look around the room, meeting the shocked eyes of my uncles and the oh fuck looks of my cousins. My Uncle Matvey puts his focus on my dad, who’s looking guilty as hell, but at least he’s no longer sucking back an ice cream cone.
“I swear I just found out tonight,” my dad says.
My Uncle Lev turns to him. “How the hell did you manage to keep that secret for so long?”
My dad gives him a sheepish grin. “I gave my phone to Katya.”
“That explains your response to my text earlier,” my Uncle Roman says with a laugh. He looks at his brothers. “He gave me a big smiley face and a Be right there with lots of exclamation points.”
My dad groans. “She didn’t.”
Uncle Roman’s smile grows. “She did. It was a very unmanly text. Make sure you get your phone back before the guys under us start texting you for orders.”
My dad groans at the thought of my mom sending out smiley faces and exuberant well done! texts to our men.
“Can we please get back on track?” my Uncle Matvey asks. He looks to his other brothers. “Did you guys know?”
“I think you know us better than that,” my Uncle Lev says, not bothering to dignify the question with an actual yes or no answer. “And we all know Vitaly could’ve never kept it a secret for longer than a few hours. Hell, he wouldn’t have managed even that if Katya didn’t have his phone.”
My dad shrugs. “He’s not wrong. You all know my weakness for gossip.”
Knowing he’s right, my Uncle Matvey puts his focus on my cousins instead. “And how long did you all know about this?”
Luka sighs, and I’m not at all surprised when he takes the lead. He’s the oldest by a few months and has always felt responsible for the rest of us. “I think I first noticed something was going on when I was around eleven, maybe younger.”
“Jesus,” my Uncle Danil groans. “How the hell did we all miss this?”
“Because we naively assumed the cousins wouldn’t fall in love,” my Uncle Lev says, giving us all the disappointed dad look.
My dad gives a soft laugh to ease the tension and motions towards my Uncle Matvey. “I feel like this is kind of our fault. We really should’ve seen it coming since Matvey fell in love with Roman’s sister. History was bound to repeat at some point, right?”
Uncle Matvey raises a brow at my dad, clearly not amused. “Alina isn’t my cousin.”
“No, she was more like your little sister, which I think we can all agree, is kind of worse,” my dad says. Then he points a finger at my uncle and adds, “I always supported your relationship, by the way. In fact, I think I encouraged it greatly when I bought her that little black dress for her eighteenth birthday.”
My Uncle Matvey groans, but before he can yell at my dad, I take a step forward and say, “Everything you feel for my Aunt Alina, I feel the same for your daughter, Uncle Matvey.”
Aside from my hidden relationship with Yelena, there really aren’t any secrets in the family, so I’m not at all surprised when every single one of them sticks around to watch this unfold.
When my uncle seems unconvinced, Max says, “It’s true, Uncle Matvey. Val’s never even looked at anyone else.”
“That is true,” my dad says. “You saw him at Pink the other night, brother. He looked so disgusted by the idea of one of those strippers getting into his lap that I honest to god thought he was gay. I was already coming up with plans to start a male strip club for him, but it turns out he doesn’t hate all pussy, just the ones that don’t belong to your?—"
“Don’t fucking finish that sentence,” my uncle growls at him.
“I’m just trying to help,” my dad says.
“How is that helpful?” my Uncle Lev asks.
My dad gives him an isn’t it obvious look, and then says, “I’m showing that he’s loyal and one-hundred percent monogamous.”
“Of course he is,” my Uncle Lev says, giving me a quick smile, “but I don’t think you need to bring up his daughter’s vagina to make that point.”
My dad lets out a scoff of a laugh. “I would never use the word vagina .”
“Would everyone please stop talking about my daughter’s genitals?” Uncle Matvey sighs and brushes a tattooed hand through his hair.
My dad looks over at me. “I’m about to burst here, son.” He checks his watch and gives a dramatic sigh. “Seriously, this is a new record for me, and I would like it known that I accomplished this truly miraculous feat.”
My Uncle Danil looks over at my dad and laughs. “You do realize we don’t take down minutes at our meetings, right? I’m not over here on my laptop dictating all this.”
My dad doesn’t join in the laughter. “Well, maybe you should because I feel like this should be documented.”
“Someone tell me what the fuck is going on,” my Uncle Matvey demands.
I shoot my dad a look, but it’s hard to be mad at him. It is a miracle he’s managed to stay quiet this long, and the man just can’t help himself. He’s worse than the girls I went to high school with when it comes to gossip.
Turning my gaze back to my uncle, the man who will soon be my father-in-law, I say, “Yelena’s pregnant.” His eyes widen, and I know I’ve just shocked him to his core, but I don’t wait for him to come to terms with it. Instead, I say, “It changes nothing for me. I love her, and I want to marry her. I’ve always wanted to marry her and start a family.” I pull the engagement ring out of my pocket, the one I’d grabbed before Yelena and I had left my apartment, the one I’ve had since I turned eighteen, and hold it out. “I’d like your blessing, Uncle Matvey. Yelena and I both want it, but I need you to know that I’m marrying your daughter with or without it.”
His dark eyes narrow as he steps closer, putting me well within punching distance, but I stand my ground. His daughter is mine, whether he wants to admit it or not, and nothing will get me to walk away from her.
“Val,” he warns with a soft shake of his head.
“I love her,” I say again, “and that’s never going to change. When I was ten, she was sleeping over, and she snuck into my room and woke me up because she’d had a nightmare.” I smile at the memory before saying, “She was so scared, and all I could think about was making her feel safe again, so we laid down in my tent, and I held her hand while she fell asleep. I stayed up all night watching over her, keeping her safe, and that’s what I want to do for the rest of my life. I just want to love her and take care of her.”
“I remember that night,” my dad says, walking over towards us. “That was after my sneaky daughter put on that scary movie for them to watch. I remember finding you two in the kitchen the next morning.” My dad lets out a soft laugh. “It’s when I taught Yel about breakfast appetizers.”
My Uncle Lev laughs and smacks Roman’s back. “Of course he fucking has an appetizer before breakfast.”
“Let me guess, a Pop-Tart before a stack of waffles?” my Uncle Roman asks with a laugh.
My dad looks over at them. “Don’t knock it ‘till you try it.”
My Uncle Matvey and I refuse to be side-tracked. We stare at one another until my uncle finally sighs and says, “I can’t believe she never told me.”
“She wanted to, and she hated lying to you both. It killed her to do it. She was so scared you’d be mad at her,” I tell him.
He braces his hand on the back of his neck, rubbing away the tension, and I hear the pain in his voice when he asks, “Why would she think that? She knows how much I love her.”
“She knows,” I tell him. “And I’ve always told her that you could never be mad at her. It was just her worst fear, so that’s what she focused on and worried about. You know your daughter, Uncle Matvey. She has the biggest heart of anyone I’ve ever known. All her worry and fear was about hurting you and her mom.”
“That sounds like her,” he admits. “Her heart is as big as her mom’s.” He brings his eyes back to mine. “I still wish you’d told me.”
“She wasn’t ready, and I couldn’t go against her wishes. The baby changed things. She knew she couldn’t hide it for long.”
“She needs to see a doctor,” he says, already looking worried about his daughter and future grandchild.
“Tony looked at her,” I tell him.
“Tony?” my dad asks.
When I nod, my Uncle Lev says, “So Dominic knows?”
Before they can get too pissed, I quickly say, “He only just found out, and Natalya convinced him to keep quiet until Yelena and I could tell you ourselves.”
“Of course she did,” my Uncle Lev mutters. He shares a look with my dad and Uncle Matvey—a commiseration about the challenges of raising strong-willed women. It’s a look that I hope to be a part of one day, because the idea of having a daughter makes me feel ridiculously happy. I want sons, too, but there’s something about a baby girl that’s just cute as hell. I blame Samantha and all the time I’ve spent babysitting her recently.
“Tony said everything looks good,” I tell them.
“So are we done here?” Sasha asks.
His dad looks over at him. “Why are you in such a hurry? We told you no one is going out alone.”
“I really don’t think anyone is going to bother me,” Sasha says.
My Uncle Lev points a finger at him. “You will not disobey this fucking order, Sasha.”
He gives a soft smirk and crosses his arms over his chest. “I won’t,” he agrees, because he may be unhinged, but he’s not a liability. Sasha can take orders just as well as the rest of us. I’m not surprised when he adds, “But I want your word that I can have as much fun as I want if this becomes a fight.”
His dad grins at him. “Of course, son. We’ll be counting on it.”
“Yeah, if anyone can make Lorenzo regret his choice, it’ll be you,” my dad says.
“Jesus, don’t say that,” my Uncle Roman groans. “We don’t know it’s the Amaya Cartel yet.” He looks over at my Uncle Danil. “Have you already set up accounts for the guys we lost tonight?”
“Yeah,” Uncle Danil says. “Already set up and deposited. Only one was married, so his wife is taken care of, and the other two had siblings they wanted taken care of, so Niki and I did that.”
I’m not surprised that it’s already been done. Every man who joins our Bratva pledges his life to us, and in return we take care of them. Part of that is making sure their families are provided for if they die. We may be a criminal organization, but we aren’t assholes. They’re willing to sacrifice their lives for us, so handing out money to their remaining family members is the least we can do.
Uncle Roman looks around at us and says, “All right, then I guess we’re done.”
Sasha gives a soft laugh. “For those of us who were taking down minutes,” he says, holding up a finger, “we got attacked,” adding his middle finger, “we might be in for a massive war,” throwing up his ring finger, “we’re implementing the buddy system,” and finally holding up his pinkie, “and our cousins are getting married.”
Luka laughs. “That about covers it. Oh wait,” he says, holding up his thumb for the fifth point. “We’re getting a new niece or nephew.”
Sasha holds up his hand and wiggles his fingers. “Another exciting Bratva meeting.” He looks over at Damien, our newest member. “See what all you’ve been missing?”
Luka bumps shoulders with his baby brother. “It’s best you find out sooner rather than later. All our meetings are just listening to Uncle Vitaly gossip.”
“Hey,” my dad says. “That’s not true.” He looks to his brothers for help, but they all stay quiet. “Okay, fuck all of you.” My dad laughs and points an accusatory finger at them one by one. “Did any of you know about Get the Scoop closing down?”
They all laugh, but my dad doesn’t let up. “I’m being serious here. Did you fuckers know about it?”
“We know you’re being serious,” my Uncle Lev says. “That’s why it’s so funny.”
“Jesus,” my Uncle Roman groans. “No, we didn’t know. Not everyone keeps up with the local ice cream stores.”
My dad can’t even begin to understand that kind of thinking, so he doesn’t even try. Instead he focuses on his loss. “It’s a damn shame is what it is. They make the best waffle cones, and Sveta loves it. I was going to take Samantha there as soon as her dad agrees to let me feed her sugar.”
“So when she’s twenty?” I joke.
My dad looks at me. “He’s going to give in. You should’ve seen the way he scarfed down his cone tonight. Sveta’s doing a fine job of corrupting him.”
The pride in his voice has me laughing while my Uncle Danil says, “Why don’t you just buy the place, Vitaly?”
The excited glimmer in my dad’s eyes has us all looking at my uncle, wondering what in the hell he’s thinking by dangling this irresistible carrot in front of my dad.
My Uncle Danil shrugs. “You could just buy it,” he says again. “I could snatch it up under one of our fake accounts. You could keep the staff and let the manager do all the work.”
As if that wasn’t enticing enough, he adds, “And you’d have unlimited ice cream whenever you want.”
It’s a done deal as soon as he says unlimited ice cream . My dad’s sweet tooth is the stuff of legends in our family, and one day it’s going to catch up to him, but for now, he’s still the same wall of tattooed muscle he’s been my entire life.
“That’s fucking brilliant,” he says, and I can hear the awe in my dad’s voice. “Do it.”
“Maybe you can buy your candy store after we figure out who attacked us,” my Uncle Roman says, trying to put things into perspective.
It doesn’t work. My dad waves him off and turns back to my Uncle Danil. “You’re smart enough to do two things at once, right?”
“Last time I checked,” my Uncle Danil says.
“Roman thinks you’re getting stupid,” my dad says, “but I have complete faith in you.” He looks over at my Uncle Roman. “And it’s an ice cream store, not a candy store. Although, that would be pretty fucking sweet. One more thing,” my dad starts to say.
“Of course there is,” my Uncle Roman mutters with a smile.
My dad returns it and says, “We’ll figure out what’s going on, and this little brilliant business venture isn’t going to affect anything. It’s not the first time we’ve been attacked, and it sure as hell won’t be the last. I’m just giving us something to look forward to when it’s all over. Life is short. You gotta enjoy it while you can.”
“True enough,” my Uncle Matvey says. “And we all expect free ice cream anytime we come in.”
My dad grins. “Of course, brother.”
With the most important matter dealt with, we start to make our way out of the warehouse with plans to meet up again in a couple of days. When I hear Sasha groan and say, “Really, Dad?” I step out and smile at the line of black SUVs waiting for us.
“We’re not taking any chances,” my Uncle Lev says. “No one goes out alone, and everyone has extra bodyguards with them at all times. Come on, stop pouting, we need to go to Dominic’s to let him know what’s going on. He needs to put extra bodyguards on your sister and niece.”
Sasha raises a brow at him. “I don’t pout.”
My Uncle Lev just smiles at his son and nudges him towards the SUV.
“I’ve put extra men at your place, too, Max,” my Uncle Danil says. “I’d rather you move back in for a bit, though. It’s a lot easier to guard the penthouses than a standalone.”
Max hesitates, and I know he’s thinking of his piano.
“You can use your mom’s. You know she’d love that,” he says, reading his son just as easily as I did.
“Fine,” Max says. “I don’t want to waste our men if we don’t have to. They could be used for better things than guarding my place.”
His dad squeezes his shoulder, clearly pleased with his son’s decision.
Luka’s voice pulls my attention away from my cousin and uncle. “You feel better?”
If anyone knows what things have been like for me, it’s Luka. We’ve always been close, and he was the first person aside from Yelena who I talked to about all this. He’s always been there for me, and I’m glad he won’t have to carry around the burden of our secret anymore.
“I do,” I tell him. “It’s not happening exactly how I envisioned it,” I add with a small smile, “but I’m just relieved it’s out and we can stop worrying about it.”
“Yeah, now we have new things to worry about.” Luka scans the alley, always on alert for danger. “I can’t believe this shit.”
“We’ll get it figured out and taken care of,” I tell him. “We always do.”
“Yeah,” he agrees, but the tension never leaves his face or shoulders. He’s going to be on high alert from here on out. We all are. He cuts his eyes from the dark alley just long enough to elbow my arm. “I’m glad our wives are pregnant at the same time.”
I smile at the thought. “We’re not married yet.”
“You will be soon enough, and our kids will grow up together just like we did.”
“They will,” I agree, already imagining them like we used to be, and I can’t fucking wait. I don’t care that this baby wasn’t planned. The love I already feel for it is overwhelming and unconditional, just like what I feel for their mom. I’ve always known my greatest joy in life would come from my family. Some men dream of money and success, a string of one-night stands and waking up with a different woman every morning, but I’ve never wanted any of that. I’ve only ever wanted Yelena and all the babies that she and I are going to make.
When everyone starts getting in their cars, I say bye to Luka and follow my Uncle Matvey to his car. As soon as we pull out onto the main street, one of the SUVs follows, tailing us as we leave.
The tension in the car isn’t nearly as bad as it was, but the few minutes of silence are still awkward until my uncle says, “For what it’s worth, you have my blessing.”
There’s enough light coming in from the city for me to see his face when he looks over at me. There’s a half-smile playing at his lips when he says, “I’m the last person to judge when it comes to love. I’m damn lucky Roman was okay with me being with his younger sister. We still hid it at first, of course,” he admits with a soft laugh. “We were worried he’d be upset.”
With his focus back on the road, the smile disappears and so does the lightness in his voice when he says, “But then she was taken and everything changed. I’d never wish that on anyone, Val, and I’d never stand in the way of my daughter’s happiness. I’d never take that love from her, not when I know firsthand how goddamn painful it would be.”
“Thank you,” I tell him. “I promise I’ll never hurt her.”
“If I thought that were a possibility, we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now.”
“Fair enough,” I say, making him smile again.
“Even if you did make me and my brothers look like a bunch of fucking idiots.” He gives a soft laugh. “How the hell did we not see it? It’s so painfully obvious now. All those times you were so eager and more than willing to watch over Yelena. She stuck to you like glue. She was always with you, always wanting to stay the night with Sveta. Jesus, hindsight is a bitch.”
“She really was wanting to stay the night with Sveta,” I tell him, trying to make him feel better.
He glances over at me and gives me the most sarcastic, “Uh-huh,” I’ve ever heard. “I’m sure she never once snuck into your room during those sleepovers.”
I remember exactly how many times she snuck into my bed. We may not have been having sex then, but we sure as hell did everything else. My silence is confirmation enough, and he lets out another “Jesus” and doesn’t ask me to elaborate, which is definitely for the best.
When we pull into the underground parking garage of his building, I’m more than ready to see his daughter again, especially since she hasn’t texted me back yet. With the engagement ring in my pocket and her dad’s blessing, there’s no longer anything standing between us, and I can’t wait to see the look on her beautiful face when I tell her everything is okay.