Epilogue
EPILOGUE
Two Years Later
Sia
Andre took Valerie’s little hand, my toddler waddling her way across the wraparound porch. I lowered my textbook. “Make sure to hold onto her if you’re going into the water.”
We were all vacationing on the east coast this year. It was Maxim’s idea. We’d just arrived, but I had some work to finish before I could enjoy anything. I was in my last year of my undergrad program and was really serious about getting my degree in animal science so I could pursue my dream of being a vet.
My brother rolled his eyes. “Nah, sis. I’m just going to let her scamper all over the beach and let the ocean take her.”
I started to get up. Something I’d come to know about my brother Andre was that he was a smart ass. He was kind of like me in that regard.
Maxim lowered his newspaper. The six-foot-five god was in the other rocking chair beside mine and appeared unusually domestic considering he ran the Russian mob in Chicago. It was a role he never asked for, but he was a natural at it, and in a world where neither my brother (nor I) wanted to lead an entire organization, my husband had been a godsend. Andre and I may not always feel that way about the Bratva, but that was our position on everything for now.
Leading the Bratva may have been a role Maxim never asked for, but he was great at it. The Brotherhood respected him, and I think he felt a duty to right some wrongs. Natan had hurt a lot of people, and though that wasn’t Maxim’s fault, he didn’t care. He wanted to make things right.
And I loved him for that.
His job was very dangerous, but he never put the family in harm’s way. He also had Val, and between the two of them, they’d restored what they wanted in the organization. Honor.
I didn’t know my father. I didn’t know my family outside of Andre, but I had a feeling my dad would have liked that. I’d heard from many over the years that he was a very good man, and now, my husband knew that too. My dad had been manipulated just like Maxim had.
Maxim frowned at my brother. “Perhaps I need to go to the beach with you.”
He was so protective of his little girl, all his girls. Let’s just say our toddler said the word poppa before mama for a reason. The minute I pushed our baby out she became poppa’s little girl.
Before Andre could answer, Maxim was out of his chair. He wore gray slacks that hugged the entirety of his thick legs, and his dress shirt made me want to peel open a few more of those buttons for a peek at his tatted chest. He picked Valerie up, but before he could hit the ground running on taking her, I got up too.
I took our toddler, then handed her off to Andre. I laughed. “He will take care of her.”
“Of course, Max. She’s my niece.” Andre lifted Valerie in the air, making her laugh when he tickled her little stomach. She wore a jumper over her polka dot swimsuit. He pressed a thumb to her button nose. “My niece loves me and wants to hang out with me today.”
Valerie didn’t get a lot of time with Andre lately, since he started college. At least when he’d been going to boarding school, we’d been over there with him for some of the year. Now, he was a college student just like me. I worked at the funeral home a lot, but was going to school in between shifts. I didn’t have to work, but I enjoyed it. Anyway, our daughter rarely saw her uncle, and the two needed that time during our vacation.
Maxim grunted, but he allowed his baby girl to be carted off. He pointed at the two from the porch. “You hold her hand the whole time, Andre. I mean it.”
“Maxim.” I rubbed his chest, feeling his rapidly beating heart. If Lettie was here, she’d be talking her dad off the ledge too. She and Val had gone to the store to get groceries for dinner tonight. Val often came with us on our family vacations, but it wasn’t just because she was security.
Val was family. She was a friend. Something I’d come to know about Lettie was that she was an excellent cook on top of being an amazing dancer. Something told me once she graduated college she’d be a principal dancer at whatever ballet company she saw fit. I grinned at my husband. “You know he will take care of her.”
Our little girl had so much love, and, though our family was small, it was large with love.
That was just how we were.
Maxim kept his eyes on Andre and Valerie as they made their way down to the beach, and though Maxim grunted again, who was he fooling? He knew our daughter was in good hands, and he loved Andre. I mean, he let the boy call him Max so if that didn’t mean something I didn’t know what did.
He rubbed my back with a distracted touch, but soon, his attention was on me. “Come. I want to show you something.”
After bringing me into our rental house, he brought me into his embrace. He squeezed my ass, and the noise that released from my lips pushed a delicious smile across his.
He licked my mouth. “Not quite what I was going to show you, but maybe later.”
I could only hope and got a good handful of his ass as he took my hand again. The brazenness of the act made him grin, and I loved how lighthearted he was now. He used to look like he had the weight of the world on his shoulders. Especially when everything had happened with his adoptive dad. He had so much guilt back then, and it was completely unwarranted.
It’d take a long time for us both to heal. It was a day-by-day thing, and not every day was easy. I still mourned for a life and a family I lost both physically and mentally. I’d probably never have memories of who I used to be but my days were easier with Maxim and our own family in my life. They were made easier with days like this at this beautiful beach house. We were all together as a family, and I had no idea what he could possibly show me that would make me any happier than I was now.
But then, he showed me.
I’d seen the lines on the wall once Maxim moved a bookshelf. The shelf had been covering them up.
Getting close to the wall, I started to ask Maxim what all those little lines were on the wallpaper, but I didn’t need to when I saw the names.
The name Savina was next to the tallest line, then Mila . It was followed by Lydie . And at the bottom…
“Anastasia.” I hunkered down, shaking a little. The line couldn’t have been more than a few feet above the ground, but it was there. Andre wasn’t on here, but he had to have been a baby at the time the line for Anastasia was made.
I put my hand on the line.
“I’m sorry it took me so long to find this place,” Maxim said.
I turned to find my husband behind me. His hand rested on my back, but he put his other hand on mine on the wall. We covered the name Anastasia together. Maxim faced me. “I’m still going through Natan’s things. This place came up amongst the properties he acquired over the years. Your family owned it and used to vacation here.”
My heart beat so fast.
“Andre already knows this is your family’s home. I told him when I found it, and it was so hard for us both to keep the secret from you. To surprise you.” Maxim pressed his mouth to my temple. “Maybe you’ll be able to feel your family here in these walls.”
I blinked down tears, not knowing what to say.
Maxim frowned. “Does being here make you sad, malyshka ?”
No. In fact, it made me the opposite. I knew virtually nothing about my family, but here they were. My sisters…
I faced my husband, kissing him.
“Thank you,” I said, my mouth warming his, and he brought me against him. He swept me up off the floor, our heat melding together. I didn’t know how we ended up in our bedroom, but we did.
He pressed me against the bedpost, and I moaned.
He groaned against my mouth.
“The way I want to explore you, my love,” he said, working me around. Moving behind me, he kissed down my spine. His hand slid into the front of my jeans, and I rose up on my tip toes. He breathed me in. “I’ll have to settle for these stolen moments.”
We didn’t get to do as many scenes as we did before Valerie was born, but we still had time to play. I pushed my ass against his cock. “Don’t go easy.”
“Fuck.” He bit my ear with a growl. His fingers were in my underwear now, his long digits flicking my bud. “Bend over. I want your ass.”
I didn’t make it easy. I liked being a brat, and he enjoyed being a brute. He ended up ripping my jeans down and forcing my panties off.
I was rewarded for my bratty behavior with a hard fucking. His cocky, angry thrusts charged in and out of my ass with vigor. He got me nice and lubed up, his hand full of my curls.
“Fuck, baby. You look so good like this.” His hands took hold of my ass and my back bowed when he cracked a sharp slap against my right ass cheek. He rubbed my stinging flesh. “Relax, my love. You’re in good hands. Your god’s hands.”
Using my hips, he picked up the pace, and I gripped the bed post. I called out his name. I called for God and all kinds of other things. I called for relief , which he so graciously provided.
My ass was raw by the time my walls vibrated. My release gushed down my legs at the same time he emptied his seed in my ass. He ended up pushing most of it back in, and my eyes rolled back so fucking hard.
“That’s right, goddess. You don’t get to be free of me,” he said, working his cum back in, and I nearly collapsed, my release was so hard. I didn’t want to be free of him.
In fact, I refused.
Maxim knew I liked a rough fucking. He didn’t disappoint, but afterward, he took care of me. We lay in bed after he cleaned me up. He massaged my warm ass cheeks too, and afterward, he held me, kissing my ear.
“Maxim?” I felt like I was falling asleep in his arms, but we couldn’t. Lettie and Val would probably be home soon, and eventually, Andre and Valerie would return from the beach.
Maxim didn’t say anything, but his kisses were becoming lazy too. He was there but was clearly dozing off. His soft kisses were the only thing letting me know he was still awake.
I smiled. “Is this real?” Was he real, and all this? My life. I hugged his arms around me. “Are you real?”
His kissing didn’t stop, and eventually, he was between my legs beneath the sheets. He was on his hands and knees while he worshiped my folds with his mouth. He showed me exactly how real he was and how real all this was.
“I love you,” he said, making me come again. My juices filled his mouth, and he groaned like he was the one to come. Like I’d given him the best gift he could have ever received. “I love you so much my beautiful girl. Is this real?”
He said something to me in Russian after that, and I pulled his head up. I wanted to see him, his handsome face.
I was rewarded when he surfaced from beneath the sheets. I brought his mouth down to mine.
“I love you,” I said to him, letting him know how real this was, how real I was. He managed to give me my happily ever after.
We were each other’s.
The end.