Chapter 25 - Marlen
Standing in front of the mirror in my sweatpants, I admire the long scar along my side, just above my hip bone. It’s an identical, yet much larger version of the one on the other side.
It’s a wide, jagged streak in my flesh that’s healed pink and raised.
I feel Stef step up being me, her hands sliding around my waist and across my stomach as she hugs me.
I take her wrists and pull her tighter onto me. Her face presses into my back, and she giggles.
“Hi, beautiful. Did you sleep well?” I ask, reaching behind myself to hold her.
“Thanks to you, I was too exhausted to do anything but sleep,” she giggles again.
She moves her hand, letting her fingers play over the raised edges of my scar.
Then she peeks out from behind me and looks into the mirror. “It’s healing so fast,” she muses.
“I have good genes,” I agree.
She grins at my reflection in the mirror. “You have very good genes,” she says, mischievously letting her hand drop and cupping it over my cock.
I clench my jaw as blood flows to the area.
“Do you want coffee?” she asks, stepping away from me.
“Hey, wait, where are you going, you can’t leave me here like this!” I groan in horror. But she’s already out of the door and down the passage. “You’re such a tease!” I shout after her.
Her laughter rings through the hallway back into the room, and a massive smile stretches over my face.
“Get dressed, we have a family meeting today. We’re meeting everyone at Jaroslav’s place,” she calls up, reminding me.
“Shit,” I mutter. “I forgot.”
This meeting is really important. I haven’t seen or spoken to her brother’s since the day she was almost taken from me.
I know they’re angry and worried I can’t keep her safe.
I know they’re worried that she made the wrong choice staying with me, and I’m one hundred percent certain they’re going to try and convince her to return home with them now that I’m healed.
I’ve had a number of sleepless nights recently, lying in the dark with her in my arms while I think about how I failed her. I love her more than my own life. But what if they’re right? What if she deserves more than what I have or can give her?
Groaning at my own thoughts, I shake my head. Fuck that. I love her, and I will give her everything she needs and wants. I’ve been trying to make it up to her, trying to show her what she means to me.
There are so many things I regret, though. And I’m not sure how she can actually forgive me for those things. For the heartless way I treated her, for the things I said…
“Hey, stop daydreaming and get ready,” Stef says, handing me a cup of coffee.
“Sorry, wow, I was lost in thought there,” I muse, smiling to cover the tension that’s crept over me again.
Stef hums while she gets ready, slipping on a pair of jeans and her sneakers. White to match her white chunky knit sweater. She pulls her hair into a high bun and puts gloss on her lips. Fuck. She’s too beautiful. Too perfect.
“Why are you with me?” I ask, watching her, lost in thought.
She turns to face me, tilting her head to the side.
“Oh, I thought you knew. It’s because you’re ridiculously rich. Oh, also, really, seriously good looking, and you have a giant cock.” Her face is straight, not a flicker of a smile.
I, on the other hand, burst out laughing.
“Can you be serious for one second?” I ask, pulling her into my arms.
“If you want me to be serious, then don’t ask stupid questions.”
“A man is allowed to wonder these things, little one,” I say, tucking a stand of hair behind her ear.
“You never have to wonder why I love you, Marlen. I see the real you. Behind the grumpy walls and the sour expression you wear like a girl wears a bitch face,” she grins.
“Are you saying I have resting bitch face?” I say in horror.
“You could win awards for it,” she laughs.
Stef shakes her head and sighs, reaching up to trace her finger over my jaw.
“I see the real you—a man with a massive heart, who cares without limits, who takes care of his family. A man who is compassionate and kind to people he doesn’t have to help, but goes out of his way to help anyway.
A man who treats me like a princess and doesn’t let a day go by without making me feel like I am worth more than anything else in this entire universe. ”
My heart pulls tight in my chest. “I don’t deserve you, Stefania.”
“You do. I promise you. And I deserve you. We were made for each other,” she says, standing on her tiptoes to kiss me.
***
Parked outside Jaroslav’s mansion, I pause before getting out of the car.
“Are you nervous?” she asks.
“I’m just not in the mood for a fight,” I sigh.
“I’m also nervous,” she says, reaching for my hand. “But whatever happens, you won’t forget, right?”
“I love you too, little one,” I smile, reassured by her confidence in me.
We walk into her brother’s home, tension hanging between us. She leads me through to the living room, where it looks like everyone else has already arrived.
The Shevchenko family is here, along with the whole Abashin family and my brother, Simon. No one knows where Bardil is, despite me keeping constant search for him.
“Morning, guys, do you want coffee before we start?” Diomid asks, welcoming us in.
“No, thanks, we just had,” I say. Stef is smiling nervously at her brother. Jaroslav doesn’t smile back. She takes a seat, and I sit next to her, keeping a polite distance between us. I don’t want to stir trouble before the meeting has even started.
We’re here to try and ease the fight that was never resolved in the past. Just because they helped me save her and she’s been staying with me by choice for the past six weeks doesn’t mean her brothers are ok with it.
“If it’s ok, I have a few things I want to say?” I ask, looking around the room.
“Go ahead,” Jaroslav nods.
A nervous shiver runs through me. Clearing my throat, I don’t know whether to sit or stand, so I remain seated, staying on the same level as everyone else sitting around me.
“I know I messed up in a lot of ways. I acted irrationally. I was unfair and cruel. In many ways, I don’t deserve your time now or the chance to explain myself, but I am grateful you’ve given it to me.” I pause, gathering my thoughts.
“I deeply regret the pain that I caused your family. The stress and emotional turmoil I put you through. I regret what I did, and I hope you can find a way to move past it, or somehow put it behind us.” I glance at Jaroslav, whose face remains neutral, so I continue.
“I’ve fought for many things in my life. For land. For money. For status and power. I’ve fought for my family, for my friends. I’ve even fought for my life. In this world, we learn to push forward no matter what. We become desensitized to the things around us.
But since I met Stefania, my entire view has shifted. I’m no longer numb to it all. In fact, I have felt more in my time with her than I’ve maybe felt in my life. So, now, I have something new to fight for. And it’s possibly the only thing that was ever worth fighting for. Love.”
A murmur ripples across the room. I pause, my heart racing.
I look directly at Jaroslav again. “I love Stefania. I want to spend my life with her, and I would like to do that without her having to lose her family.”
For a moment, the silence is deafening.
I can hear my heartbeat in my skull. The steady throbbing of blood as it pulses through me. Moment’s passing. Tension growing.
“We figured as much,” Jaroslav finally says, shrugging.
“What does that mean?” Stefania blurts outs, reaching her hand onto my lap and taking my hand in hers. “I love him too, Jaroslav. I won’t give up on that love, with or without your consent.”
I smile at her fierceness, gently squeezing her hand. “You shouldn’t walk away from your family, Stef,” I tell her, my heart pleading that she doesn’t have to walk away from anyone to be happy.
“I will, Marlen. It’s my choice to make,” she insists.
“Nobody is losing anybody,” Jaroslav throws his hands in the air and stands up, walking over to the window.
“We already figured all of this out. I mean, it’s not like it didn’t already happen with Valery and me.
And with Talia, then Diomid and Angelika.
It’s not a shocking revelation to find out that you fell in love with someone who was once your enemy,” Jaroslav laughs.
Around the room, the others laugh too and glance at each other. Diomid speaks up, “We started the meeting about an hour before you got here. Jaroslav had a feeling that this was what you were going to say, and he wanted to discuss how we wanted to move forward with it.”
“And?” I ask, sitting up straighter. “How do you want to move forward with it?”
“An alliance,” Simon says. “Abashins, Shevchenkos, and Popovs. We’ll be an unstoppable force in this city,” he grins at me.
“You were invited an hour earlier as well?” I ask, stunned.
“Someone had to speak for us Popovs,” Simon smirks, loving this.
“I could have,” Talia chimes in.
“I meant one of the men,” Simon corrects her.
Around the room, all of the husbands groan in horror. “Dude, you can’t say shit like that,” Timofey laughs.
“Shit, sorry guys,” Simon holds both hands in the air and pulls a face. “Perhaps I am, after all, not the best person to represent this family.”
The room breaks out in lighthearted laughter, and next to me, Stef slips closer, pressing her body against mine.
Conversations break out around us between smaller groups of people, and she grabs my face, not caring who’s watching, and pulls my lips onto hers to kiss me.
My heart spins with relief and happiness.
I can’t believe this meeting went so well. I was half expecting a repeat of the last full family meeting. Accusations and fighting. Instead, we’ve entered into an official alliance with two strong families and ended a long-time conflict.
And I have the love of my life at my side to share all of this with.
Jaroslav clears his throat loudly, interrupting our kiss. He’s standing right in front of where we’re sitting.
Stef giggles and pulls away, biting her lower lip, her cheeks flushing beautifully pink.
Her brother holds his hand out to me.
I stand, taking it in mine and shaking.
“To our alliance,” he says.
“To our alliance and our families becoming one,” I agree.
Matvei comes to stand with us. He takes my hand and shakes it with a firm grip. “Welcome to the party, Marlen. It’s good to have you on board with us,” he smiles.
“It’s good to be here. Honestly, I can’t be happier right now.”
Stef slips her arm around my waist and stands at my side, a united force.
Wrapping my arm around her shoulder, I look down at her, then lean down to kiss her. I don’t care who’s watching. I don’t care about anything except how full my heart is because of her.