Chapter 17 Sienna
SIENNA
“Alright, we have our charcuterie board of appetizers.” I placed the wooden platter on the coffee table, and Sofiya burst out laughing.
“Cheese, crackers, and Oreos?”
I scrunched my nose at her. “Not all of us can be fancy chefs.”
“I think it’s perfect,” Mila said. Sofiya’s sister sat beside her on the couch, holding a bouncing Clementine. The two of them looked adorable with matching pink hair bows. “Dimi doesn’t eat junk food, so it has been a struggle living with him.”
“At least someone appreciates my refined palate.” I smiled and plopped down on the other couch next to Juliet. “There’s also wine and sparkling lemonade.”
Juliet snagged an Oreo. “Thanks for hosting us.”
“Of course.” I sank deeper into the cushions. “How was your first plane ride, Mila?”
She grinned. “I loved it. I’m already plotting ways to get Dimi to let me travel more. I’m so jealous you got to go to Paris.”
“We are cursed with overprotective brothers.” I sighed. “But Paris was awesome. I highly recommend going.”
I trailed my hand over the little swell of my belly.
A few days ago, I’d had another ultrasound to check on the baby now that I was further along, and it had been one of those 3D ones.
I’d put one set of pictures on my fridge and the other on my nightstand.
It suddenly made total sense why Matteo had purchased an ultrasound machine for their apartment when Sofiya was pregnant. It was addicting.
“Does your brother have an issue with you traveling?” Juliet asked, eyebrows knitted together.
Mila sighed. “Yeah. It’s been even worse the past few months. He barely lets me leave the house anymore.”
“Is there something specific going on in Chicago that he’s concerned about?” I might not have nearly the amount of freedom I craved, but Matteo had eased up since we defeated the Butcher and his corrupt Albanian syndicate.
“It’s not like Dimi tells me anything,” Mila answered with a shrug.
“But I know he’s worried about violence and Bratva infighting in Chicago.
He’s been threatening to send me away to a safe house.
” The firm set of her jaw made me grin. Dimitri obviously had his hands full with her.
As he should. It was a sister’s job to terrorize her brother.
I’d been so exhausted the past two months I hadn’t been paying attention to my usual dark web forums. If something was happening in Dimitri’s territory, it might be time for me to go back to collecting the secret whispers of the underground.
“He wants to protect you,” Sofiya said. “Besides, I wouldn’t have thought you’d have an issue being sent away to a safe house with Kolya.” Her smug smile and Mila’s heating cheeks had Juliet sitting forward with a squeal.
“Ooohh, what’s the look for?” she asked gleefully.
“Nothing.” Mila glared at her sister.
“Tell us the gossip! Pleaseeeee,” Juliet begged.
I snorted. “Romeo is rubbing off on you. All the Mafia men are huge gossips.”
“So true. Every night when we eat dinner, I tell him all the bookstore gossip and he tells me all the Mafia drama,” Juliet said, looking so in love it was almost sickening.
“Oh my gosh, wait. Did you hear the gossip about Enzo? He’s one of our bodyguards,” she quickly explained to Mila.
“Apparently, the guys suspect he’s going out with someone. ”
“Oh, yeah. The other day—” I started, but Juliet waved her hands in the air, cutting me off.
“No, no, we cannot be derailed,” she said. “We need to hear about Mila’s tragic love life.”
Clementine laughed and clapped her hands. Juliet gestured her hand like see, she gets it.
“Why don’t Bratva men gossip?” Mila said with a pout. “They’re all so freaking serious.” She made choppy robot movements with her arms and adopted a heavy Russian accent. “Must not show I am capable of smiling. Enemies will think I am soft.”
Clem giggled again and this time we all joined in.
Mila squeezed her niece and let out a long sigh. “We’re talking about Kolya, my bodyguard.”
“Nikolai,” Sofiya added. “I’ve probably mentioned him before. He was mine and Mila’s bodyguard for the past couple of years.”
“Yeah, and after the whole an Albanian mobster is going to force you to marry him thing,” Mila said, “Kolya took me out of Chicago. I thought maybe he finally wanted to be together, but he was just keeping me out of the city while Dimi established his authority as Pakhan.”
“If I had a nickel for every time a woman in this room had been forced to marry a man in the Albanian Mafia, I would have two nickels. Which isn’t a lot, but it’s weird it happened twice,” Juliet quipped.
All of us looked at her, utterly befuddled.
“You seriously don’t get the reference?” When we didn’t respond, she muttered something about us being “uncultured” before continuing. “Have you told him how you feel?”
Mila nodded, looking miserable. “That’s the most embarrassing part.
A few months after he started guarding us, I snuck some wine and got a little tipsy.
I confessed my massive crush and tried to kiss him.
” She covered her face with a groan. “My brain likes to replay the scene for me at the perfect times, like when I’m trying to fall asleep.
He pushed me away and told me not to try something like that again. ”
“You were seventeen,” Sofiya said gently.
“Yeah. I understand now why he pushed me away, but what’s his excuse now? I’m about to turn twenty and he still says he’s too old for me.”
“How old is he?” I asked.
Mila was suddenly very interested in adjusting the ruffles on Clementine’s pink pants.
“No, you have to tell us!” Juliet bounced with excitement.
“Girl, you have got to get out more,” I said, laughing when she flipped me off.
“It’s not like Sofiya and I are with men our own age,” she added. “We won’t judge.”
“Our men aren’t twice our age, though,” Sofiya said with the kind of sass only a sister could dish out.
“Matteo isn’t far off,” Mila shot back. “Kolya and I have the same birthday. I’ll turn twenty and he’ll be forty.”
“Ooohh, Mila wants a daddy,” I teased. Her deepening blush made me squeal. “Oh my gosh, you do! I love it.”
“Yeah, well, it’s not going to happen so it doesn’t matter.”
Sofiya squeezed her sister’s hand. “He’ll see sense, eventually.”
“Or maybe I’ll just move on. See what he thinks of that.” Her expression turned stricken. “He probably wouldn’t care at all.”
“Of course he would,” Sofiya insisted. “You know how furious he got when you snuck out of the house to meet up with guys.”
“That’s just because I was making his job harder for him.” Sofiya scoffed but before she could respond, Mila cut her off. “Let’s just change the subject. Actually, I have something for you, Sienna.” She pulled a gift bag out of her tote, looking almost shy when she handed it to me.
“A present? It’s not my birthday.”
“Oh, it’s just something small.”
I pulled out the tissue paper to find an adorable stuffed animal unicorn, three onesies with little rainbow designs, and a pacifier with a unicorn on it.
“Mila, this is all gorgeous. Thank you.” I circled the coffee table and leaned down to give her a hug, lightly squishing Clem between us.
“Dimi actually picked out the pacifier.”
“Aww, he went shopping with you?” I asked.
“He might have been coerced.” Mila’s grin faltered. “Wait, is it okay that I told him you’re pregnant?”
“Oh.” I cocked my head. “I guess that’s fine. We’ve been keeping it private, mostly to give us time to figure out what to say to the capos.” I chewed my lip. “I’m worried they’ll cause trouble for Matteo.”
“I’ll make sure he knows not to say anything. But Dimi is the opposite of chatty, so I can’t imagine there would be any issues.”
Clementine started fussing, her lower lip jutting out and trembling in a show so pitiful I understood why Matteo lost his shit if anything upset her.
Sofiya cooed something in Russian while Mila bounced her on her lap, but Clem was having absolutely none of it.
Her cries grew louder as she waved her chubby fists in the air.
Sofiya held out her arms. “Is my girl hungry? Come here.”
Mila handed her to Sofiya, who pulled up her top to breastfeed. Clementine instantly stopped crying and her little hand grabbed her mama’s shirt tightly.
I curled up on the couch, resting my head on a pillow. “What’s it like?” I asked softly.
Sofiya glanced up at me. “Breastfeeding? It can be hard sometimes, and I’m pretty over pumping. But I love how connected it makes us.”
“We should come up with a list of baby names,” Juliet said. “Romeo has already started crocheting a blanket for little Lemon.”
“Lemon?” Mila cocked her head.
“That’s how big Baby is this week,” I explained.
“That’s so cute. Lemon isn’t a bad name.”
Sofiya snorted, but Mila ignored her.
“Do you know what you’re having?” she asked.
“I’m hoping for a human baby, not a lemon. But I’ll love it either way,” I said. My eyelids were growing heavy.
“I found out the sex the second I could with that blood test,” Sofiya said. “I don’t know how you’re doing this.”
I shrugged. “I don’t know. I kind of like the idea of it being a surprise.”
Juliet ran her fingers through my hair. “I like it, too. We’ll come up with boy and girl names.”
“Sounds good.”
She kept petting my hair. “You look like you’re about to fall asleep.”
I groaned. “I can’t wait for that magic second trimester energy to kick in. I’m suffering without my Adderall and energy drinks. I’ve been seriously neglecting my CozyScape village. The ice cream store has probably gone to shit by now.”
“I’m sure you could skip out on dinner if you’re not feeling up to it.” Sofiya’s forehead was creased with concern.
I pushed myself off the couch with a groan and leaned back with a stretch.
“And miss out on whatever drama the Mafia men are going to bring to the table? Never. Besides, I can’t miss meeting the mysterious Dimitri.
I just need to get changed because this”—I gestured at my baggy t-shirt and hot pink sweatpants—“isn’t quite the first impression I want to make. ”