Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
FIONA
My cell buzzes on the bathroom sink the next morning, an incoming text from Emilia saying she’s leaving in five to meet for our lunch date.
I try to add extra concealer to the bags under my eyes, but it’s no use. I slept maybe three hours. Just enough to relive every second of last night in stuttering flashes.
His hands on my skin. His mouth dragging confessions from places I didn’t know existed. My own voice, begging.
I don’t want to think about it. But I can’t stop either.
Lunch with Emilia couldn’t have come at a better time. I need normal. I have to remember who I am and why staying away from Aleksei is goal number one. Indefinitely.
Heading out of the house, I glance around for signs of him, but there are none. No black SUV idling by the curb. No shadow hovering near the edge of the trees. Still, my shoulders stay tight, my instincts humming with that low, persistent warning I haven’t been able to shake.
On my way to the car, I detour toward the mailbox, purse slung over one shoulder, keys already dangling from my fingers.
I’m not expecting anything. Just the usual junk mail, maybe another credit card application I’ll shred without reading. It’s too soon for another letter. They never come this close together.
But then I see it. Tucked between bills and advertisements. Unmarked. White. Same as all the others.
My heart pumps louder.
I tell myself to wait. To open it after lunch so it doesn’t ruin my mood.
Sliding into the driver’s seat, I slam the door and rip the envelope open like it’s burning through my fingers.
How much would you pay to know what your family did?
The words hit like a blow to the chest, sending shock waves through me.
This has to be a joke. Someone is trying to mess with me, make me doubt everything I know. But I won’t let them. I shove the letter into the glove compartment and slam it shut, like that’s enough to seal it away.
They won’t win. Not this time. This ends now.
I’m done with the letters. Done with Aleksei. Done with all of it.
By the time I pull into the lot, Emilia’s already walking into the café, flanked on both sides by Konstantin’s cousins, Maksim and Dimitri, who look like the musclebound mafia version of Secret Service.
They follow her wherever she goes. It’s their job now.
Konstantin takes her protection very seriously, and I’m relieved about that.
When I head inside, Emilia spots me immediately and waves me over.
“Hey!” she says, standing to wrap me in a warm hug.
I smile and rest a hand on her belly. “How’s our future lawyer doing?”
“He’s kicking like he’s got something to prove,” she laughs, glowing. “I swear, he thinks my bladder’s a trampoline.”
“His dad must be proud already.”
“You have no idea,” she mutters with a smirk.
Maksim flashes a grin. “Miss Fiona. Lovely to see you.”
“Hi… Thanks.” I offer a polite smile, caught slightly off guard. I know who they are, but we’ve never exactly chatted over croissants.
“Aleksei still bothering you?”
I roll my eyes. “Unfortunately.”
Maksim shrugs like it’s out of his hands. “You could give him a chance. He might grow on you.”
“Like mold?”
“Exactly,” Dimitri deadpans. “Persistent. Impossible to kill. You’d never be lonely.”
“No, thanks, boys.” I raise a brow. “I like things just the way they are.”
Without the oversized Russian who knows how to use his hands…
I clear my throat before that thought finishes.
Maksim leans in with a whisper. “You know, he calls out your name in his sleep.”
I nearly choke. “Oh, does he now?”
“It’s sweet,” Maksim adds, perfectly serious. “Almost…romantic.”
“Kinda pathetic too,” Dimitri says with a shrug. “But hey, who am I to judge? I have never been in love.”
“Believe me, that man does not love me.”
“In my family, this is exactly how we show love.”
Emilia’s cackling beside me, barely holding in her water.
“Oh really?” I tilt my head, needing this topic to end ASAP. “Good to know. Now tell me, do you guys take turns tucking him in at night too?”
“We have a schedule,” Maksim says.
“I’m sure he appreciates it.” I laugh despite myself.
Dimitri grins. “You never know. We might end up family.”
I still, smile tightening.
“Yeah,” I mutter, shaking my head. “That’s never gonna happen.”
“If you say so.” Dimitri flips a hand.
The two of them saunter off to a table in the corner, still chuckling like devils, while Emilia’s grin lingers across the table.
The second they’re out of earshot, she leans in. “Don’t listen to them. I’m sure he’s not calling out your name. He’s most likely using your face for target practice.”
“Ha. Ha.” I shoot her a playful look while she giggles into her ice water.
I try to hold on to the laugh, but it slips, tension settling over me when I think about the letter, Aleksei, my parents’ vineyard, everything…
It’s too much, pressing in on all sides.
Emilia’s expression shifts. “Hey, is everything okay?”
I try to deflect, fingers twisting the edge of my napkin, but the pressure’s been building too long. She’s my best friend. She’d never tell Konstantin anything, not unless I asked her to.
“Remember that investor I was supposed to meet yesterday?”
“Yeah. Wesley, right?”
I grimace. “That’s the one. We met. He…took me somewhere.”
Emilia’s brows draw. “Where?”
I wince. “Rzvrt. Some club the Marinovs apparently own. Do you know it?”
Her jaw drops. “Shit. Yeah, I do.”
“I couldn’t believe it. The sleazeball took me there without telling me what kind of place it was. And when I tried to leave…he grabbed me.”
Her whole body stiffens. “I’m gonna kill him.”
“Pretty sure Aleksei already did. Or came close.”
Her head snaps toward me. “Wait, what?”
I glance down at my hands. “He showed up. Ripped Wesley off me like it was nothing. Then his men dragged him off somewhere.”
“Go Aleksei.” Emilia smiles. “Maybe I’ve been too hard on him.”
“Nope. We still hate him.”
Her grin widens. “Right. Of course. Carry on.”
I shift, hesitating. “I didn’t see Wesley again, but…somehow, Aleksei and I…”
Emilia leans forward. “Yeah?”
Her smirk is pure mischief now.
“We…”
“Use your words, counselor.” She’s really having too much fun with this.
Groaning, I cover my face, peeking at her between two fingers. “We slept together.”
“Oh, what was that?” She cups a hand to her ear.
“You heard me.”
“I did. I just wanted to hear it again.”
I toss a napkin at her. “Shut up.”
She swats it away, eyes gleaming. “So…how was it?”
“Better than last time,” I mutter. “At least it wasn’t up against a tree.”
Her eyes grow.
“I’m sorry, WHAT?! You’ve been holding out on me?” She folds her arms across her chest.
I sigh. “It’s a long story.”
“Oh, we’re not leaving until I hear every detail. Start talking.”
“I didn’t mean not to tell you. I just…didn’t want to talk about it. It was awful. Not the…you know… That was…” I wave a hand. “But the fact that I let it happen. Twice. What the hell is wrong with me?”
Her expression softens. “I’m not judging. Obviously.”
She holds up her left hand, flashing the diamond that could blind a man.
“This is it, though,” I say, trying to convince both of us. “I scratched the itch. It’s done.”
“Totally.” She nods like she believes me. “Whatever you say.”
“I mean it.”
“I believe you.” She pauses. “I just think it’d be fun if we were sisters-in-law.”
I groan. “You’re insane. I would never, ever marry that man.”
“Sure.” She sips her water, unbothered. “But if you want kids, you’re going to have to actually start dating again.”
I narrow my eyes. “Have you been talking to my mother?”
“No,” she says with a suspicious amount of innocence. “But maybe I should.”
“God, please don’t.”
We burst into laughter, and for the first time in days, it’s like I can breathe again.
Emilia grounds me. She always has. She reminds me I’m still the girl who dreamed of being a lawyer. Of doing good, putting away the bad guys. The girl who didn’t fall for mobsters with dark eyes and hands that make you weak.
But the truth creeps in anyway. The way Aleksei looked at me last night, like I was something he treasured. The way he traced every inch of me like a map he already knew.
And I wonder, just for a second, how crazy it would really be if I was his wife.
No. No, no, no.
I shake the thought loose, but Emilia’s gaze sharpens like she sees too much.
“You gonna be okay?”
“Yeah.” I force a smile. “I think your crazy might be contagious. I need to quarantine. Immediately.”
She smirks. “You’ll get used to it.”
“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves.”