Chapter 20 - Dimitri
DIMITRI
Maybe I should have slipped past Sienna onto the fire escape and leapt to my death. It would’ve been preferable to facing this shit show, but I followed her back down the hall all the same.
For weeks, Emma had haunted me. Her touch, her smell, the feel of her skin against mine. The way she’d kissed my scars. The soft little noises she’d made when I brought her to orgasm over and over. How she’d quieted my restless demons.
Every time I’d taken my cock in hand, replaying how she rocked on top of me, taking her pleasure, had brought me closer to breaking. I wouldn’t have made it much longer before I told Aleksei to find her.
Now, she had been found.
And she was a manipulative, spoiled Mafia princess carrying my baby.
I’d never given children much thought. My father had made me his enforcer in Russia and Europe when I was twenty-two.
Bratva enforcers typically stayed unmarried and childless—no attachments, no one to distract them, no risk of them prioritizing a woman or child over the Bratva.
When I became Pakhan, the expectations for my life shifted.
Now I needed an heir to secure the Ivanov legacy.
I ground my teeth. Just another thing out of my control.
The chatter and sound of utensils stopped the moment we entered the dining room. Everyone sat around the table, which was heavily laden with food.
Rossi jumped up from his chair and spoke to Sienna in rapid Italian.
“What’s going on?” he asked. “Say the word and I’ll kill him.”
I kept my face blank, but fuck Rossi for thinking he could ever kill me.
Sienna pursed her lips. “That won’t be necessary,” she responded in perfect Italian. It transported me back to dancing with her in the middle of Martina and Tony’s restaurant.
“Is he really the father?” he asked.
I watched Sienna with bated breath. She murmured a quiet, “Sì.”
Her brother’s voice grew louder as he started spewing threats about ripping my entrails from my body and feeding them to pigs.
Rossi’s tense anger and Sienna’s reluctant confirmation both read as truth. Could this actually be a coincidence, as she said, and not an elaborate ruse to trap me?
“He speaks Italian, by the way,” Sienna said in English before sitting down in one of two empty seats.
Maxim caught my eye, and I gave him a slight shake of my head. It wasn’t time to fight…yet.
“Sorry about that, everyone,” Sienna said with a bright smile. The tension that had lined her body just seconds before had vanished. “Nothing like some unexpected pre-dinner excitement.”
“Yeah, I’m going to need more than that,” Romeo said, leaning back in his chair.
Juliet smacked him on the shoulder. “Don’t stir up shit.” She glanced over at Sienna. “But I mean, yeah, we are going to need the details of whatever that was.”
“Are you going to sit, Dimochka?”
My chest lurched at hearing Sofiya use the sweet nickname. It triggered a deluge of memories of a tiny, chubby toddler running around the garden, calling me Dimi instead of the more Russian Dima until it stuck. I’d been too absent for most of her life...except for those early years.
Our father hadn’t accompanied Sofiya’s mama, Alena, to the hospital when she was in labor.
When she came home, he’d refused to hold the baby because she was a girl.
Years of enduring Rustik’s abuse had later turned Alena into a hateful woman who despised me and was cruel to her daughters, but that day, she sat down on the couch and let me hold my new sister.
Baby Sofiya was so calm and quiet in my arms, looking up at me with her big, curious eyes.
I’d decided then and there that she was mine to protect.
I’d felt the same when Alena brought Mila home a couple years later, but by then, darkness had fully gripped my world.
My father was fully committed to my Bratva training, and the more I revealed how much I cared about my sisters, the more danger they were in.
I’d perfected my blank indifference, kept my distance even when I knew they were suffering in that godforsaken house because I knew how much worse it could get for them if I interfered.
I cleared my throat and sat down in the last open chair. It was no coincidence that it was the one farthest away from Sienna.
Rossi sat across from me, glaring. I held his gaze. Right back at you, fucker.
“We have some news,” Sienna said.
I tried to find any trace of the angry, indignant woman I’d talked to moments ago, but there was none.
She had been so convincing I’d almost believed that this was all some fucked up coincidence.
But seeing her shape shift like this, transform into a new person in front of her friends, showed me exactly what she was capable of.
“As you know, when I was in Paris I met someone and we…” Her cheeks flushed, and she pointedly avoided looking in her brother’s direction. “Well, you know. And I got pregnant.”
“You’re pregnant?” Finnegan shouted around a mouthful of spaghetti. He gestured wildly between Sofiya and Sienna. “Fucking hell, first her, then you?”
“Yes, I’m sure this is very stressful for you,” Sofiya said dryly.
Finnegan scowled and returned to his food.
“Anyway…” Sienna said, “I didn’t know who that man was, but surprise!
It’s Dimitri. We happened to be in Paris at the same time.
He didn’t know who I was, either, so that was the confusion when we first saw each other.
” Her smile never faltered, but her hand trembled as she picked up her water glass to take a sip.
“But everything is fine now, and we’ve decided to get married for the sake of the baby and see if we can make a go of it. ”
Silence filled the room. Even Clementine stopped bashing her fist against her highchair.
“Wow. I did not see that coming,” Finnegan said. Everyone turned to stare at him. He held up his hands. “Okay, sorry. This is totally normal news that we’re all going to be relaxed about, I guess.”
“Wait, did you say you’re getting married?” Mila half-shouted. “When?”
“Yes,” I said. “We’ve secured a marriage license and have an appointment at City Hall…” I glanced at my phone and saw Aleksei had texted back. “Tomorrow.”
Just like that, the tension in the room snapped. Rossi stood and started shouting again in Italian. He spoke too quickly for me to catch everything, but I caught bits like I will fucking kill him, rip something out of his body, and I’ll make it up to Sofiya later.
Maxim and I stood, bodies tense. He was closer to Rossi than me and was ready to take him down if necessary, but before anyone could make a move, Clementine started crying. The baby had been occupied with feeding the dog bites of her dinner from her high chair, but now her face was turning red.
“Sofiya, take her and go. Sienna and Juliet, too.” Rossi’s tone was harsh, and I fully expected my sister to flinch, but she didn’t move.
“No, you take her, miliy,” she responded.
“Take the baby and leave the room,” I commanded in Russian. “You and Mila.”
“No,” she said. “I’m not going to let you be idiotic men about this.”
“You don’t let me do anything,” I snarled before I could temper myself. My rage turned inward at my momentary lapse of control.
Clementine let out a loud wail and Noodle started barking.
Rossi swore and picked up the baby, glaring at me as he rocked her on his chest. I’d never seen a man take an active interest in his child. I couldn’t make sense of this devoted father with everything I’d heard about the Don, who had earned the nickname the Angel of Death.
“Give me one good reason that I shouldn’t kill you for this.” Rossi’s tone was calm as he patted his daughter on the back.
I cocked an unimpressed eyebrow. “Is that supposed to scare me?”
The guards—Romeo and Angelo—bristled as they stood. Maxim’s hand twitched towards his hidden jacket pocket, where he kept a switchblade.
I had two knives hidden in the soles of my shoes, but I wouldn’t need them. I could destroy Rossi with my hands, and I would fucking enjoy it. Very few people in the world stood a chance against me, and these days, Rossi spent more time with his wife and child than he did training.
“Even if you were capable of killing me, you care too much about your family to do it.” Years of brutal training from my father ensured my face was blank, my tone relaxed, even as my muscles burned for a fight.
“Is that a fucking threat?”
“No, it’s a fact. You would kill the Pakhan? Your wife’s brother and your sister’s fiancé? The father of her child?”
Rossi took a step forward, icy rage in his eyes. It would have been more intimidating if he wasn’t bouncing a baby on his chest.
“Mila, can you pass the Parmesan?”
Every person around the table turned to look at Sienna. Mila’s scrunched eyebrows told me she was concerned for her future sister-in-law’s sanity. “Um, sure?”
Sienna took the passed bowl and poured an unreasonable amount of Parmesan on her pasta and meatballs before digging in.
“This is so good, Sofiya. Did you make this?” she asked.
Sofiya’s lips twitched. “No. Gianna made it. She’s our house manager,” she explained to Mila. “She was here this morning.”
“Well, it’s really good.” Sienna took another huge bite, her cheeks bulging like a chipmunk’s. “You guys can keep doing whatever this is”—she gestured at us with her fork—“but your food’s going to get cold.”
“You’re seriously missing out,” Finnegan said as he heaped another serving of pasta onto his plate.
Sofiya locked eyes with her bodyguard, Angelo. He hesitated before lowering himself into his chair. “Would be a shame to waste good pasta,” he muttered.
Juliet launched into a detailed discussion comparing the merits of Chicago deep-dish pizza and New York-style pizza, and all the girls joined in. I shifted, feeling slightly ridiculous that I was still standing when everyone else was ignoring us.
“For fuck’s sake, sit down,” Sofiya finally snapped, looking between her husband and me.
“How do you want to play this?” Maxim muttered in low Russian. “Are we sitting, fighting, or leaving?”
I glowered at Rossi. I wanted to feel the crunch of his nose under my fist, but if I couldn’t have that, at least I could revel in the satisfaction that Rossi couldn’t stop this marriage.
Bratva and Mafia law both held that a man had certain rights over a woman if she was carrying his child.
That gave me control—over this situation, and over his sister.
I gained an heir and his sister. Keeping Sienna with me in Chicago gave me leverage over Rossi, who wouldn’t dare to jeopardize our alliance now.
It evened the scales. Sofiya was in Rossi’s house, so his sister would live in mine.
And once the child was old enough, I would start training them to take over after me.
Yes, this was good. I could work with this.
“We’re leaving.” I turned to Sienna. “Our appointment is at eleven tomorrow.”
She nodded. “We’ll meet you there.” Was I the only one who noticed the cold edge to her voice?
“You said I could stay here tonight,” Mila blurted.
Fuck. If Mila stayed, Rossi would have both of my sisters and my fiancé under his control.
“I’ll take care of her,” Sofiya said in Russian. “We will meet you at City Hall tomorrow.”
I resented Rossi for having any influence over Sofiya, but at least their marriage meant I had an ally in his home.
“Be ready to leave after the ceremony,” I told Mila. Before she could argue, I jerked my head towards the door, and Maxim and I left.