Chapter 25 Always Yes
Always Yes
Anton:
I wake before she does, watching morning light paint gold across her skin. The January snow outside turns Manhattan into something almost innocent, pure white against the skyline of our territory.
I don't move. Don't want to disturb her. Instead, I take the moment to just...look at her, to be here, present.
She sleeps peacefully beside me, her brown hair spilled across the pillow, those red tips catching fire in the January sunlight.
Eight months together, I treasure these quiet moments like a man starving. The sheet has slipped down to her waist, and my gaze traces the curve of her spine, the dip of her lower back, the rise of her hip.
Every morning that I wake up next to her is a gift I'll never stop fighting to keep. I never expected to find love again, let alone find...peace, and it's all her.
She's integrated seamlessly into the business, challenging Yuri's security systems and improving them, earning respect from men who respect nothing.
"You're the balance in an unbalanced world. The angel of necessary violence," Fee told me yesterday, and I told her that angels don't have blood-soaked hands like mine; she said some do.
Her heart humbles me. She researched developmental toys for Moira's baby months before he was born. Called Shane's wife and visited weekly during his recovery. Made an anonymous tuition payment for Emma, after discovering she was working full-time at the boutique to afford college.
My Solnishko saw someone struggling and quietly fixed it. No fanfare. No credit. Just helped because she could.
Fee shifts and seeks my warmth. I draw her closer, breathing in the sweet floral scent of her hair.
How did I get so fucking lucky? I check the time: 9:47 AM. We don't need to leave for Providence until two. Hours of just us, uninterrupted.
I trail my fingers along Fee's back, watching her skin prickle with goosebumps. She stirs, eyes fluttering open to find me already watching her.
"Good morning." Her voice is a warm, sandpaper whisper that catches in her throat.
"Morning, Solnishko." I brush my lips against her forehead.
Fee stretches against me, her body pressing into mine. The contact sends heat rushing through my veins. Eight months together, and I still want her with the same desperate intensity as the first time.
"You're thinking too loudly," she murmurs, her hand sliding up my chest.
I capture her mouth with mine, tasting the sweetness of her. Her lips part, inviting me deeper. I roll her beneath me, supporting my weight on my forearms as I deepen the kiss.
The sheet falls away, leaving nothing between us. Her skin is warm silk against mine. I breathe her in, that intoxicating mix of sweet wine, vanilla, and flowers that drives me wild.
"I want you," I whisper against her neck, trailing kisses down to her collarbone.
Her back arches as my mouth finds her breast, tongue circling the sensitive peak. "Anton..." The way she says my name leaves me craving her even more like a man thirsting in the desert, and she's the water I want, I need.
I take my time exploring her body, mapping every curve and hollow. My hands spread her thighs, fingers finding her already wet for me. The knowledge that I'm the only man who's ever touched her like this, who's ever made her gasp and writhe with pleasure, fills me with possessive satisfaction.
Not because it makes her mine, but because I get to be her first everything, her only everything, if she'll have me forever.
"Please," she breathes, her hips rising to meet my touch.
When I finally push inside her, the sensation nearly undoes me. Tight, perfect heat engulfs me as her legs wrap around my waist, drawing me deeper.
"Look at me," I command softly, needing to see those green eyes as I move within her.
She does, her gaze locking with mine as we move together. This connection...it's beyond physical. It's everything.
"I love you," she gasps as she tightens around me, her release triggering my own.
"I love you, my Solnishko," I breathe against her lips as we fall together. "Always."
The world narrows to just us, Fee's body wrapped around mine, her breath mingling with my own as I thrust deeper. Her hands slide from my shoulders to my back, nails digging in with just enough pressure to mark me as hers. I belong to her.
"Harder," she whispers against my ear, and I comply, increasing my pace, watching her face flush with pleasure.
I shift my angle slightly, knowing exactly how to touch her now, how to make her come undone. The little gasp she makes tells me I've found the right spot. Her eyes flutter closed, but I want to see her.
"Eyes on me," I growl.
Those green eyes lock onto mine, blazing with intensity that matches the fire in my veins. Her lips part, breath coming in short pants as I drive into her relentlessly.
She breathes, her inner walls beginning to pulse around me. I slide one hand between us, thumb circling her clit. "Cum for me. Let me feel you."
Her release crashes through her, body arching beneath mine, muscles clenching around me so perfectly I can barely hold back. She cries out my name, and it's the most beautiful sound I've ever heard.
The sight of her pleasure pushes me over the edge. I bury my face against her neck as my own release tears through me, emptying everything I am into her. For precious seconds, I forget about the blood on my hands, the darkness in my soul. I'm just a man, loved by an extraordinary woman.
We lie tangled together afterward, hearts racing in tandem, skin damp with sweat. I press my lips to hers in a long, tender kiss.
Fee laughs softly against my mouth. "You must really love me to kiss me like that first thing in the morning, morning breath and all."
I smile, rubbing my thumb along her cheek. "There's nothing coming out of you that I don't want, Solnishko. Your breath, your sweat, your tears, all of it is precious to me."
I reach for her hand, bringing it to my lips. "Fee..."
"Yes?" She watches me curiously.
I hold Fee's gaze, heart thundering against my ribs. This moment feels sacred. I shift slightly, stretching toward the nightstand drawer. Fee watches me curiously, her brow furrowing as I reach inside.
Maybe I should have planned something elaborate, roses and champagne, a rooftop view of Manhattan. But this—us, tangled in sheets still warm from making love, her hair wild around her face, this is our truth.
I bring the box between us, cradling it in my palm.
"Solnishko, six months I watched you from a distance. Eight months I've held you in my arms. And for the rest of my life, I want to wake up with you beside me."
Her breath catches as I open the box, revealing the ring inside, an emerald that matches her eyes, surrounded by diamonds set in platinum.
"I promised you once I'd be invisible until I chose not to be." My voice drops lower, rougher with an emotion I don't try to hide. "I'm choosing now to be seen by you, only you, for the rest of my life."
Fee's eyes fill with tears, but her smile—God, her smile could light all of Manhattan in a blackout.
"Fiona Quinn, marry me. Be my wife, my partner, the mother of my children. Let me worship you every day until death. And even then, I'll find you in whatever comes after."
A tear spills down her cheek. I catch it with my thumb, this precious evidence of her emotion.
I take the ring from its velvet nest, holding it poised at the tip of her finger.
"Please say yes, Solnishko. Choose me the way I've chosen you, completely, without reservation."
"Yes," she whispers, then louder, "Yes, Anton. Always yes."
I slide the ring onto her finger, where it catches the morning light. Then I kiss her—slowly, thoroughly, sealing our promise with more than words.
When we part, breathless, I press my forehead to hers.
"You've brought the light back into my world, Fee. You make me better than I am."
"No," she says, framing my face with her hands. "I just see who you really are. And I choose him, I choose you, today and every day."
Fee glances at her ring nervously as we pull up to Lorenzo's estate. Snow blankets the grounds, Christmas lights still twinkling along the roofline. I squeeze her hand, feeling the platinum band against my fingers.
"Ready, Solnishko?" I ask, bringing her knuckles to my lips.
She laughs. "To tell my father you proposed this morning after making me scream your name? Absolutely."
I smirk. "I'll leave out those details."
Inside, the warmth hits us immediately—both the temperature and the atmosphere. Moira spots us first, waddling over with little Aiden balanced on her hip, the almost seven-month-old dressed in a ridiculous sweater with reindeer antlers.
"Happy New Year!" she calls, then freezes mid-step, her eyes locked on Fee's left hand. "Is that—"
Fee grins, wiggling her fingers so the emerald catches the light. "Surprise?"
Moira's squeal brings everyone running. Lorenzo, Maks, Sage, Connor, Patrick, and even Dimitri appear from the study.
"Anton asked me to marry him," Fee announces, beaming. "I said yes."
Connor steps forward, and I brace myself—but he extends his hand. "Welcome to the family, son."
I shake his hand firmly. "Thank you, sir."
Fee looks between us, suspicious. "You don't seem shocked, Dad."
"Anton came to see me two weeks ago," Connor admits. "Asked for my blessing, traditional-like."
Fee turns to me, eyebrow raised. "Old school, are you?"
I shrug. "For some things."
Moira thrusts the baby into Fee's arms. "Practice time, future mama."
Fee cradles him expertly, cooing nonsense as he grabs for her camellia pendant.
Sage elbows her way through. "I'm maid of honor, obviously."
"Excuse me?" Moira protests, hands on hips. "What am I, chopped liver?"
"Co-maids of honor," Fee laughs. "Mom is by definition mother of the bride."
The women descend into wedding planning chaos, whisking Fee away to the sitting room. Lorenzo beckons us men toward the study.
"This calls for the good whiskey," he announces, pulling out a bottle of thirty-year Macallan.
Maks claps my shoulder as we follow. "Congratulations, brother."
Dimitri accepts a glass from Lorenzo. "Congratulations, Anton. You've chosen well." He swirls the whiskey, then turns to Maks, his son, with mischief in his eyes. "Maybe Anton will have a baby before you do, Maksim."
Maks shoots his father an exasperated look. "We just got married not even a year ago, Dad."
"I'm not getting any younger," Dimitri sighs dramatically. "I want more grandchildren while I can still chase them."
"At sixty, you look like you're in your forties." Maks rolls his eyes, but his tone is light. "Just give it a rest."
Connor raises his glass. "To Anton and Fee. May your marriage bring you strength and joy."
We toast, glasses clinking in the warm glow of the study, but my attention drifts to the doorway where I can see Fee across the hall, laughing with the women, with the baby still in her arms.
The emerald on her finger catches the light as she gestures, explaining something that has Sage and Moira leaning in and captivated.
Fee looks up, sensing my gaze. Her smile shifts, softens into something meant only for me. I lift my glass slightly in her direction, and she responds by bouncing Aiden gently, a silent promise of what's to come.
Two years ago, I was drowning in grief, convinced my life ended with Katya's. Now I stand here, surrounded by family—my family—watching the woman who saved me holding a child, knowing one day she'll hold our own.
"You've got that look," Lorenzo says quietly, appearing at my side.
I turn, raising an eyebrow. "What look?"
"The one I had when I watched Moira with our son for the first time." His eyes drift to his wife and son. "That moment you realize everything you've built, every life you've taken, every deal you've made, it was all leading to this."
I nod, understanding completely. The weight of my past seems lighter now, knowing it brought me here, to Fee.
"It changes you," Lorenzo continues. "Having a child. Makes the world more dangerous because you have more to lose, but makes you more dangerous too, because you'll burn everything to the ground to keep them safe."
"I look forward to it," I admit.
Patrick joins us, surprisingly sober for a family gathering. "When's the wedding?"
"Whenever Fee decides," I answer.
"Smart man," Connor answers.
Life gives second chances to men who don't deserve them. But I'll spend every day ensuring Fee never regrets giving me hers.
The End