Chapter 26
ANTON
I’m in no rush to get up after all that happened last night. I lie in bed and sigh, keeping my eyes closed to cling to the bliss of a few more minutes of sleep, and it comes back to me like a dream.
Going to see Liliana and getting her to attend the party with me. Then the shock of her pregnancy. More than anything, her declaration of love sticks with me the most.
I’ve given up on that illusion for so long that it seems surreal to have it now. Not with someone from my world, or anyone who would seem “right” for me. But with Liliana.
I open my eyes and roll over to seek out her warm body. Not much light filters in from behind the curtains, but as I blink the sleep away, I know it’s early. Practically the middle of the night. The dimness tells me we’ve only just fallen asleep.
When I realize that she’s not in bed, I sit upright and check that I’m not imagining it.
What the hell?
I rack my brain, trying to pinpoint where I could’ve gone so wrong with her. Where I missed a cue or failed to see something was off. Last night was a frenzy of so many things at once, maybe a shock to the system after I’d kept my distance and watched her from afar. But she was happy.
I think back to the bliss and how much faster my heart beat when she replied that she loved me too.
I recall the smile on her lips as she kissed me at the Grayson Ball, nervous to be there with me but enjoying it.
And I can’t erase the pure joy that encompassed me when she confessed that she’s pregnant with my child.
“Where the hell is she?” I mutter, staring at the empty side of the bed where she should be.
Then I lift my gaze to the bathroom door.
She’s not in there, either. I don’t need to look to know.
I’d hear her. There’s no point in checking the rest of the penthouse, because the clothes she’d arrived in yesterday are gone.
She left me.
As I drag my gaze away from where her clothes had been folded and piled on top of the chair, I notice a square of white paper.
Anton,
I didn’t want to wake you so early, but I needed to get to the bakery. We have some baking to do before we open.
Liliana
It’s a short, simple note, and it begins to appease me. It’s not like she took off without explanation. This isn’t an escape. Still, it’s not enough, either. She doesn’t add anything more, like her plans to see me again.
I sigh, letting my frustration out with the exhale.
I stare at the note, zoning out, and decide it’s not fair of me to judge her too harshly for leaving. It’s not as though she wanted to take off to avoid me. She left, early, to get to work.
A slow smile lifts my lips.
If anything, I’m proud. Her dedication to that bakery mirrors my commitment to the Bratva.
Liliana has that same drive, but in another, different manner. She’s devoted to keeping her parents’ bakery running, and based on how hard she works, I know she truly loves the craft. Or is it an art? A calling?
I get up and comfort myself with this. She isn’t avoiding me. She’s sticking with what she knows. Working. Hard. And often. I can relate, and since this child won’t be my first, I have experience balancing a new life against work.
And it’s not going to be the same.
My first attempt at family went wrong long before Roman became an adult. I let my hatred of the marriage and my distance from Elena keep me from being the father he needed, and I own my part in what he became.
It’s not going to happen this time.
Not with Liliana. It’s already so different, and it’s no wonder that I feel lighter and more carefree, more excited as I leave my building to go to my main office uptown.
Liliana will be a great mother.
Life will be good, but as I step out of the elevator into the garage, one of my guards calls out.
“Mr. Sokolov, watch—”
I jerk back at the blur of motion. It comes fast at the corner of my eye, but the guards posted in the garage are on it. Or rather, on her.
Elena runs up, a wild look in her eyes, as she tries to get to me. She doesn’t accomplish it, getting yanked back and nearly tackled a few feet away from me.
“Anton, you can’t seriously do this,” she wails.
I glare at her, doing my best to keep my anger at bay. “I thought I said she was banned from my properties,” I bite out, demanding an answer.
Viktor isn’t here, since this is one of those times he’s scheduled at the gym. I don’t need him to know my orders will be seen to, though. Whatever I dictate is law around here.
“She is,” one of the men replies sternly.
“She snuck in as a member of the cleaning crew,” the other man says as he pulls her away.
“Anton, you can’t throw away your family and start one with her,” she cries. “You just can’t!”
I shake my head and know that they will double down on keeping her away from me. There will be no more instances of her throwing herself at me. Ever again. “You’re not my family.”
“But Roman is!” she argues instead. “You can’t just start over and dismiss him.”
I let out a tense breath, seeing no point in arguing with her. She has no claim on my choices, and I’m done letting guilt keep me tied to a version of family that has never felt like one.
Before they remove her, I catch the first guard’s attention.
“Just to make myself clear—again—she is banned from all of my properties.” Getting a proper restraining order seems like overkill when I’m so used to managing the world with my own sense of law and order.
My men will heed my will and I am certain that all of them will be on the lookout for Elena again.
I leave, but with Elena’s stunt still gnawing at me, I get my phone out and start arranging for Liliana to move in with me. And for more guards to watch her at the bakery until I know she’s fully protected from Elena or anyone who’d think to target her.
While I’m on my phone en route to my office, I furrow my brow at the note that has been updated in the file I keep on all those close to me.
There is a green dot next to a line that indicates something has recently been changed or added. So much of this information is automated and updated by my extensive IT teams, so it’s not as though I need to check everything often.
I’m curious now, though.
While I count down the time until I’ll see her again, I notice the account for her bakery loan has been modified. The money’s been moved recently, and I wonder what that means.
“Hmm.” I’ve been planning to forgive the debt. Obviously. But I haven’t put the order in yet. All I’ve done is tell Markus to not bother following up on the loan anymore, which he already realized would happen.
But something has been done without my knowledge, and I can only wonder what’s going on.