Chapter 26
Mariya
Three Months Later
The twins were almost two years old soon, and their vocabulary expanded enough for potty training to commence. It hadn't taken long once they grasped the concept. The nighttime push-up training pads would be used as a precaution until they got into the habit of going to the toilet before bed and being able to control their bladder.
Our home was a constant bustle of people. Maksim and Artyom became honorary uncles with Orla, a second mother to the twins. Akim continued to travel for their business while most days Rurik worked from home. Sometimes, he went to their head office but always came home the same night. He returned from his meeting with the Bratva man alive, so there was that. He never discussed the details with me, but his friend was alive.
The man was obsessed with my breasts and baby bump. Every day, he would update me on the baby’s progression, and I couldn't even get annoyed with him because of the sheer joy, pride and excitement within him. We left the twins in the larger room next to us but began to prepare for the nursery in the room opposite ours.
“You’re home early,”
I said as I watched Tatiana and Alexei run to their Daddy.
“Up, Daddy. Up, up—high,”
Tatiana said, pointing to the ceiling while Alexei simply raised both arms in the air, expecting to be lifted up too.
Rurik’s grim face transformed completely as he dropped his coat on the floor and scooped up the twins.
“How are my babies today?”
he asked, kissing them both as they hugged him.
I rubbed my almost five-month-old bump with a smile. The twins had an inkling that a baby was inside me and would be here soon. Alexei was pretty chilled about it, while Tatiana was more excited.
“Your parents are in Russia,”
Rurik said bluntly.
“What the fu—”
I began to say before I slapped my hand over my mouth.
I guess it was better than a horse’s pee hole, but all profanities were banned in front of the impressionable twins. It didn't matter which language we used around them. We were all careful.
“How?”
I asked in a daze but stood up.
“Outside the cathedral, our photos were snapped. I didn't think much of it at the time,”
Rurik said, but his eyes were locked on me as I began to pace. “You don't have to see them if you don't want to.”
I hesitated, watching as the twins squirmed to freedom and Orla appeared at the door to usher them out of the living room.
“They are here,”
I said flatly, ignoring the nausea building up inside me.
“They are,”
Rurik said as he closed the gap between us.
His hand stroked my stomach, and I relaxed.
“Fuck it. Why not? I want that particular door sealed shut and on my terms,”
I said, thinking of how unhappy they had made me.
“That’s my girl,”
Rurik murmured with a smile before he pulled out his mobile phone.
“Now?!”
I squeaked out.
“No time like the present,”
he said while he tapped away at the phone before slipping it back into his pocket. “Artyom will bring them in.”
“Keep the twins away from them,”
I said coldly because I didn't want my parents to lay eyes on them.
“Orla is aware of the situation.”
I smiled wryly at him. “Ever the master planner.”
“It’s why we make such an amazing team,”
he said, covering my belly with his palm.
I took a few deep breaths until the living room door opened, and Artyom led in Bethany and Alan Harlestone. Rurik’s arm slid around my waist as we watched them come in. Artyom closed the door but didn't leave. His face was as hard as stone, but he stared at the windows with his hands clasped in front of him. I swallowed the lump in my throat.
I wasn't alone.
“Sit,”
Rurik barked at them, and they immediately sat their arses down on the couch, looking at one another.
I almost smiled, but I did relax.
“Hello, Beth, Alan. What brings you to Russia?”
I asked politely while they looked around the living room.
God, I could see the fucking pound signs in their greedy little eyes.
They almost frowned when I called them by their names.
“We were worried about you, darling,”
my incubator said, her beady eyes looking me up and down, pausing on my stomach for a few seconds. Oh, congratulations. When are you due?”
Alan’s eyes narrowed on my belly before he forgot he was supposed to be a doting sperm donor.
“A grandchild. The next Harlestone generation,”
he said with a tight smile.
“This is my third child, actually. We have twins, but thankfully, they are Abrosimovs, just like me,”
I said with a smile as their faces fell.
Artyom covered his grin with his hand, and Rurik’s hand tightened before relaxing against me again.
“Oh,”
Beth said before clearing her throat and pasting a fake smile on her lips.
I took a deep breath as I felt fate come around in a full circle.
“Let us drop the farce. You're only here for my husband’s money. Rurik, do you owe this incubator or sperm donor anything?”
I asked as the cold, suppressed rage inside of me seemed to turn my blood into ice.
“Not a single penny,”
he said softly as we watched them bluster.
“Now see here, young lady. We gave you this,”
Alan said, looking around the luxuriously decorated room.
“We educated you. Let you go to Univer—”
“Which I paid for with student loans,”
I said before turning to Rurik. “Did you take anything from them to build your company or this house?”
“This is the first time I have had the misfortune of meeting them, my love,”
he said darkly as he smiled at my parents.
“We are done. I never want to see any of you again, but I would like to thank you for being the worst of parents because it made me the best of mothers. Now kindly fuck off back to your dilapidated house, and don’t come near me or my family again,”
I said before glancing at Artyom. “Get these sobaki out of here, please.” Dogs.
“With great pleasure,”
he said, pulling his gun out of his holster.
Oh, damn. That was hardcore.
My anger vanished as he waved them out with the gun. I’d never seen them move so fast or so much fear in them.
“Horses piss holes,”
I muttered as I heard them threaten to sue us all.
Rurik began to chuckle.
“You make a fine Russian Hucow,”
he said but turned me away from the door to hug me. “Are you okay?”
I sighed heavily, breathing in his aftershave and the warmth of his embrace. “Never felt better.”