Chapter 27 – Vivian
T he pinch in my skull was all but gone when I woke up. I knew from the cool temperature of the bed that Luka was gone. Still, when I opened my eyes and rolled over, a weight of disappointment dropped in my chest. My fingers reached out of their own accord. They brushed over the place where he’d been.
“He’s not so bad,” I breathed.
Things could have been so much worse. He clearly had a stroke of conscience and decided I was worth saving. He was very family-oriented, which had always been a big draw to me.
I flattened my hand as a long breath escaped my lungs. If we’d met under regular circumstances, I would have dated him.
“It’s too twisted now,” I protested.
Rolling over, I raked my fingers through my hair. Strands of it made the skin on one of my fingers sting, but I caught a whiff of my own BO. Slowly, I headed for the bathroom. And once I was cleaned up, I trailed downstairs.
“Good morning,” I called out, to the bustling crew in the kitchen.
“Oh, good, you’re awake!” Dani called out. “We were just going to come up and check on you.”
I went to the breadbox to pull a piece of sourdough out. The sooner I put some avocado toast in my tummy, the better I would feel.
“The guys are already out, but we’re pretty much ready to join them.” Daniella stopped beside me, Zoey propped on her hip.
I offered the toddler a piece of my toast, which she clenched in her chubby fist. “Where are they?” And is Luka with them?
“My grandmother wanted to have a family picnic.” Daniella gave me a small shrug. “Kolya’s home, and she wanted everyone to spend time together. It’s only the family and a few of the closest members of the organization to guard. So….”
I cocked my head. “Sounds like fun?”
“Oh, good!” Her shoulders sagged. “Luka never had a chance to tell you, and I didn’t know if you were doing anything else today.”
“Wait, wait.” I held up my hand.
The toaster popped in the background which made Zoey clap.
“You want me to come?” I clarified.
Daniella’s brows knit in confusion. “Well, yeah.”
“But I’m not family.”
“Luka wouldn’t have married you if he didn’t think you were.” Daniella handed me the black pepper to crack over my toast.
I snorted. “He never brought any of his side pieces here?”
The urge to ruin the moment pushed me to be mean. He had a whole life I knew next to nothing about. There was that phone call the other night. The fact that I’d known him for a handful of days should prove how ludicrous it was that the family was including me.
“Vivian.” Something in Daniella’s voice stopped me. “Luka doesn’t date.”
Those three words should have set off fireworks. But the pessimist in me extinguished the fuse before the mortars could shoot into the sky.
“Well, then, he keeps his relationships secret. Because he had someone on the phone the other night. It was a woman. And he went to spend the night with her.” I ticked off my fingers each observation.
The skin on one was sore. I rubbed the left finger absently, but almost yelped as pain stabbed me.
“Okay, well, I don’t know what you heard. But I’m sure there’s some explanation.” When I didn’t respond, because I was too busy gaping at my fucking finger, Daniella added, “Luka doesn’t date or fuck around, Vivian. And there’s a good reason for it. I shouldn’t be the one to tell you this, though.”
Ink. There was ink in— in, not on!—my skin.
“Tell me,” I snapped.
“Luka’s a widower.”
I tore my gaze from my finger to stare into the pretty pair of dark honey eyes. “He was married?”
Daniella shifted Zoey who was fussing for my toast and yammering about “ Cado s.”
“He doesn’t talk about it. The family doesn’t, either. But I’m of the opinion that there’s a difference between gossiping and letting the truth be known. Whatever bad things you think Luka has done, he hasn’t. These are good men—very dangerous, but very good.”
I couldn’t pick my jaw off the floor.
Daniella fidgeted. “He loved his wife. It nearly broke him.”
“I don’t know what to say.” I tore a piece of toast, this one with avocado, and handed it to Zoey. “Here, come eat with me, and let mama finish getting ready.”
I held out my hands and lifted a questioning brow. Zoey reached for me, and Daniella sighed gratefully. “You need to tell me everything,” I added.
“There isn’t much to tell. They married right at eighteen. She died at twenty. Oh, she was Zoey’s biological, maternal aunt.” Daniella put a few more odds and ends into a bag. “When I say you’re family, it’s true. While we’re all reeling from surprise, and you are too—” she chuckled “—it doesn’t make it any less real.”
Just like the damn tattoo on my finger.
***
The secluded property on the shore of Lake Michigan was nothing short of a dream. There was a cabin set back on the property, but down on the shore was a stone patio where a grill and table was set up.
I sauntered down, noting the single, extra-long picnic table. There was a cloth runner centered and held in place by potted flowers.
“This place was Nonna’s wedding present,” Daniella explained. “We’ve spent several weekends here already as a family. We’ll be spending more, of course, but the guys are going to add bunkhouses.”
“I’ve never been camping,” I admitted.
“Me neither, but these will have full bathrooms,” Daniella chuckled. “Laurel and I refused to do the outdoor, communal space for our business.”
“I’ll get behind that,” I laughed.
Daniella gave my arm a squeeze. “You’ll fit in here, Vivian. I can tell.”
I looked away so she wouldn’t see the way her words made me wince. “I’ve got Zoey for now, if you want to go over with the others,” I offered.
The mother would be horrified if she learned I was planning to use the toddler as a buffer with Luka.
The guys were setting out the last of the food, and upon closer observation, I realized it was a full, open-air kitchen down here. Or it would be, once more renovations were made.
Luka’s gaze had tracked me from the side of the house down here, so he knew I was speaking with him when I asked, “Can I talk to you?”
He jerked his chin. “Come see the boat launch.”
“Don’t you let that baby near the water,” Kazimir snapped.
Luka fake punched him.
When Kazimir bent, I realized it might have been harder than I realized. Luka wrapped his arm around his cousin’s head and whispered something in his ear. The clap of his palm on Kazimir’s ear was real enough.
And then, Luka sauntered over. “You’re looking well.”
There was a question in his searching gaze.
I swallowed past the lump in my throat and ignored the flutter in my stomach. Setting Zoey on the ground, I held her fingers tight as she toddled a few steps. “My finger hurts like a bitch, but I suppose that’s normal when I’ve been marked by Zoey’s uncle—by marriage, not blood.”
Luka stilled.
Zoey pointed at him and screamed in glee. I let her lead the way to her favorite. Luka squatted.
“Are you mad?” he asked, and then looked up at me.
I pursed my lips. “I’m sick of being mad at you.”
“I never lied,” he started.
But I held up my hand. “No, don’t start with me. I’m not doing the technicalities. I want full disclosure.”
“Where do you want me to begin?” He cocked his head to the side but had to drop his attention to his niece as she fisted his shirt and shrieked happily.
“What does my newest tattoo say?” I crossed my arms and glared down at him.
The corners of his mouth quirked up.
Argh! Why does he have to have dimples?! It made it impossible to want to slap him when he smiled like that.
“It’s my name in Cyrillic.”
He marked me.
I looked over his head and across the water. That thought didn’t make me want to scream. There was a roiling sensation in my chest, but it wasn’t the urge to tear his throat out.
“Luka,” Dimitri called out, phone pressed to his ear. “Call Weston.”
“My phone’s in the Jeep. This is family time,” Luka countered, but he swept Zoey into his arms as he rose.
Dimitri slipped into Russian, including some of the others in his conversation.
“Oh, shit,” Luka breathed. “This supersedes family time.”
“What happened?” I padded after him.
He let out a short laugh. “Some idiot is trying to arrest me.”