Chapter 28
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Laurel
I’m beyond stunned to find Leonid standing right in front of me, tall, broad, dressed in a charcoal suit.
What is he doing here? How did he even find me? The only person who knows I’m coming to the hospital is Tasha. There’s no way she could have called him.
The nurse smiles politely, clipboard in hand. “Ms. Harper, if you’ll follow me, you need to change into the gown. The doctor will be with you shortly.”
She turns and walks away down the hallway. I stare after her for half a second, frozen, then force my legs to move. Leonid falls into step beside me immediately.
“The father of what?” he asks, voice low and urgent. “What’s going on, Laurel?”
I ignore him. I can’t even look at him right now. My pulse is roaring in my ears, my stomach churning. I push through the door into the small exam room, drop my purse on the chair, and start fumbling with the zipper at the back of my dress.
He follows me in, closing the door behind him. “Laurel. Talk to me. Why are you here? What was the nurse talking about?”
I spin on him, anger boiling over. “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with your girlfriend?”
His brows snap together. “Girlfriend? What the hell are you talking about?”
I scoff. “Oh, please. The audacity. You looked me right in the eye outside your office last week while you had your hand on another woman’s back. You got in that car with her and drove off like I didn’t exist. And now you want to play dumb?”
He opens his mouth, but I’m already turning away, yanking at the zipper again. My fingers shake so badly I can’t get it down.
He steps behind me without a word. Warm hands brush mine aside, and he slides the zipper down in one smooth motion.
“When I explain,” he says quietly, “you’ll realize it isn’t what it seems.”
I spin to face him again, dress slipping off my shoulders. “Oh really? Because it seemed like you moved on. Two weeks, Leonid. Two weeks was all it took for you to replace me. So much for fighting for what’s yours.”
Tears burn behind my eyes. I turn away so he can’t see them, shoving the dress down my hips and stepping out of it. I’m in nothing but my bra and panties now, but I don’t care. Not like it’s the first time he’s seeing me in a state of undress.
I grab the thin paper gown from the hook, shrug it on, and tie it at the back with jerky movements.
He’s still standing there, silently watching me. It’s my first appointment with the OB-GYN. Tasha was supposed to come with me, but she got held up. I had told her I’d be fine on my own. Now I wish she were here.
I sink onto the exam table, arms crossed over my chest. Leonid stands a few feet away, hands shoved in his pockets, looking like he’s been hit by a truck. I feel his gaze on me, but I don’t look up.
He finally speaks, voice low and rough. “I’m sorry for ignoring you that day outside the office. It’s not what you think—”
“I don’t care what it seems, I just have one question,” I say quietly. “Why were you still having things delivered to my apartment? Flowers. Groceries. Helping my mom get into rehab? Why? If you’d already moved on?”
He steps closer. His thumb brushes my cheek, wiping away tears I didn’t realize were still falling. “Because I haven’t moved on,” he says, voice thick. “Nothing has changed. Not for me.”
I open my mouth, shocked, but a knock on the door saves me from having to respond.
“Come in,” I call, voice steadier than I feel.
A middle-aged woman in a white coat enters, smiling warmly. “Ms. Harper? I’m Dr. Ramirez. Ready when you are.”
I nod, lying back on the table, heart hammering.
Dr. Ramirez glances between Leonid and me, smile widening. “I take it he’s the father?”
Leonid’s breath catches audibly.
I ignore him, staring at the ceiling as the doctor squirts cold gel onto my lower stomach. The probe glides over my skin, slippery. I keep my eyes fixed on the screen, black and gray static at first, and then it appears, a tiny, flickering shape.
A thump-thump sound fills the room. A heartbeat.
A smile spreads across my face before I can stop it. Tears slide hot down my temples.
Since I found out a week ago, it’s felt surreal, like something happening to someone else. But hearing the heartbeat… seeing the little flutter on the screen… it’s real. I’m having a baby. I’m going to be a mother.
Dr. Ramirez smiles softly. “Everything looks good so far. I’ll print some pictures for you. Meet me in my office when you’re dressed.”
She hands me a tissue to wipe the gel off my stomach. The door clicks shut as she leaves.
Leonid hasn’t moved. He stares at the frozen image on the screen, then at me, eyes wide, stunned, almost reverent.
“We’re having a baby?” His voice cracks on the last word.
I nod, throat too tight to speak.
He steps forward, cradles my face with both hands, thumbs brushing away fresh tears.
“God, solynshko, that’s… that’s fantastic,” he breathes.
He leans down and kisses me, soft at first, then deeper, desperate, like he’s pouring everything he can’t say into it.
I should push him away. But I don’t. I kiss him back, hungry, aching, hands fisting in his shirt, pulling him closer.
When we finally break apart, foreheads pressed together, breathing hard, I whisper, “We need to talk.”
He nods against me. “We do. But let’s see the doctor first.”
I nod, too overwhelmed to speak, and let him help me back into my dress with careful, reverent touches, zipping it up slowly. My body is hyperaware of him, every graze of his knuckles, every breath against the nape of my neck, and I have to close my eyes for a second to steady myself.
He picks up my purse without being asked, slings it over his shoulder, and walks me to Dr. Ramirez’s office.
We sit side by side. The doctor smiles warmly as she pulls up the ultrasound images on her screen.
“Everything looks good with the baby,” she says, turning the monitor toward us. “Heartbeat strong, measurements right on track. But we did notice your blood pressure is slightly elevated.”
I sit up straighter, heart lurching. “What’s wrong?”
Dr. Ramirez raises a calming hand. “Nothing to panic about yet. It’s common in pregnancy, sometimes caused by stress, sometimes hormonal. But because of your readings, we’d like to keep you here for observation. We’ll monitor you, run a few more tests, and work on bringing it down safely.”
My free hand instinctively goes to my stomach. “Will that affect the baby? Is the baby okay?”
Leonid’s grip tightens on my hand. “Is the baby going to be okay, doctor?” he asks.
“Everything is fine with the baby right now,” Dr. Ramirez assures us. “That’s exactly why we want to address this proactively. High blood pressure can become a concern if it stays elevated, but we’re catching it early.”
Leonid’s jaw flexes. “Do whatever needs to be done,” he says, tone leaving no room for argument. “I don’t care what it costs. Make sure she’s fine.”
The doctor nods. “We will.”
They move fast after that, paperwork, and a private room on the maternity floor. Leonid doesn’t leave my side once. He helps me into the bed, props pillows behind my back, pulls the blanket up like I’m made of glass.
Once the nurse leaves, he drags a chair close and sits, elbows on the mattress, my hand cradled between both of his.
“I’m sorry,” he says quietly. “For ignoring you that day outside the office. For making you think I’d moved on.”
I look at him, really look. Shadows under his eyes. Tension in his jaw. He looks like he hasn’t slept properly in weeks. That makes two of us.
“I had to make it believable,” he continues.
“Believable to who?”
He sighs. “Marco Gonzalez…”
I listen as Leonid explains his deal with Marco Gonzalez, another dangerous mafia figure. And how he suddenly changed the terms, demanding Leonid marry his niece, and slowly, my anger fades.
His thumb strokes the back of my hand. “I never stopped loving you,” he says. “Not for one goddamn second.”
Tears sting my eyes again. I blink them back.
He lifts my hand to his lips, kisses my knuckles. “Forgive me?”
“I’m still considering it,” I whisper, but there’s no heat behind the words anymore.
A small, relieved smile touches his mouth.
I shift against the pillows. “So Lisa, is she safe now?”
“Yes, I relocated her and her girlfriend to Thailand; they are safe there. I have people watching them.”
Lisa, the woman I saw him touch, the one I thought he’d chosen over me. The one whose existence tore my heart open that day outside his office. And all this time, while I was crying myself raw on my kitchen floor, convinced he’d moved on… he was helping her.
He could’ve used her as leverage and left her to rot once the deal was done. Most men in his world would have. But he didn’t. He made sure she escaped—with the woman she loves, with a chance at a real life. A woman he barely knew.
My throat tightens. Tears prick my eyes again, not angry ones this time. Leonid immediately notices.
“Hey, what’s wrong?”
I shake my head. “Nothing, I just realized what a great man you are.”
He tilts his head to the side smirking. “You just realized that?”
I smile. “Don’t push it, you’re still in the dog house.”
He brushes his knuckles against my cheeks, smiling. “If it means I’ll be close to you, then I don’t mind.”
We’re silent for a few minutes until I break it, asking a question that’s been burning at the back of my mind.
“Tell me about your childhood,” I say softly. “How did you end up becoming the Pakhan of the Russian Bratva? Were your parents in it too?”
Leonid shakes his head slowly, eyes never leaving mine. “No. My parents weren’t in it.”
He exhales, long and quiet, like he’s pulling the memory up from somewhere deep.
“They were immigrants. Came here from Russia when I was little, Igor had just been born. They opened a small convenience store in Brighton Beach. Worked every hour God sent, trying to provide for us. Then one night… robbery gone wrong. They were shot. Both of them. Dead before the ambulance even got there.”
My chest tightens. I squeeze his hand without thinking.
“After that,” he continues, voice steady but quieter, “we bounced between foster homes. None of them were good. The people only saw us as checks, extra money every month. Food was barely there. Clean clothes were a luxury. The last place…” He pauses, jaw flexing.
“The husband tried to touch Igor. I walked in on him. I grabbed the nearest thing, a baseball bat, and knocked him out cold. Took Igor’s hand, and we ran.
Never went back to any foster home after that. ”
I can barely breathe. Picturing them, two scared kids on the streets, makes my heart physically ache.
“We survived however we could,” he says.
“Pickpocketing. Sleeping in alleys. Stealing food from dumpsters. Until I met Viktor Kuznetsov, the Pakhan of New York’s Bratva at the time.
He caught me trying to lift his wallet. Instead of killing me, he gave me a job.
Over the years I proved myself. Became one of his most trusted soldiers.
Igor and I… we became like sons to him. He had no children of his own.
When he died ten years ago, lung cancer, he left everything to me. I took over as Pakhan.”
He falls silent for a moment, thumb stroking slow circles over my knuckles.
“I know I should’ve told you sooner,” he says finally, voice rough. “When we first started... I planned to. Every time I opened my mouth to explain, I changed my mind. I was terrified you’d run. That you’d look at me the way you looked at me when you found out, like I’m a monster.”
Tears sting my eyes again. “You’re not a monster.”
“I know I’m one, Laurel. I kill people.” The words are blunt, unapologetic. “I run an organization that profits from violence. The Bratva is my life. They gave me and Igor hope when we had none. They’re my family. I can’t walk away from that.”
I swallow hard. “I know.”
I can’t ask him to leave that life. It’s not fair. The family he built when he had nothing, is what kept him and Igor alive. It’s what shaped the man sitting here holding my hand.
He lifts my hand to his lips, kisses my knuckles. “But I swear to you, I will protect you from this life. I will never let it touch you. Never let anyone hurt you or our child. I’d give my life before I let that happen.”
His eyes burn into mine. “I promise you that,” he says. “With everything I am.”
I reach up slowly and brush my fingers along the sharp line of his jaw. His stubble rasps under my touch. “I’m not asking you to leave it,” I whisper. “Be it as it may… that life is what made you who you are. The man I fell in love with.”
His eyes snap to mine. “Really?” The word is soft, almost disbelieving. “What are you saying?”
I smile. “For a man who runs an empire, you can be kind of slow sometimes.”
He laughs, low, the sound vibrates through his chest into mine. He grabs my hand, brings it to his lips, kisses the inside of my wrist. Then grazes his teeth over the sensitive skin there, just enough to make me gasp and laugh at the same time.
I can’t remember the last time I actually laughed. The sound fades, and I clear my throat.
“That day outside the office building… I was there to tell you my decision. And… to tell you about the pregnancy.”
He groans, deep, pained, and drops his forehead to mine. “I’m so fucking sorry.”
“It’s okay,” I whisper. “I understand now.”
He pulls back just enough to look at me. “How did I get so lucky with you?”
He kisses me then, slow, deep, achingly tender. When he pulls away, his hand rests gently on my stomach.
“Move in with me,” he says.
I open my mouth to protest, but he cuts me off gently.
“Let me rephrase. Not move in permanently. Just… come stay with me for a while. You’re pregnant. You need to be taken care of. I know I contributed to the stress that raised your blood pressure. Let me fix that. Let me make sure you’re okay. At least for now. Please.”
I search his face, open, earnest, pleading in a way I’ve never seen from him before.
“Okay,” I whisper.
Relief washes over him so visibly his shoulders drop. He kisses me again, soft, grateful, and rests his forehead against mine.
“Alexei is going to be over the moon,” he says, voice thick.
I smile, tears pricking my eyes again. “I can’t wait to see him. I miss him.”
Leonid kisses me once more, deeper this time, his hand splaying wide and protective over my stomach.
“I love you,” he murmurs against my lips.
And for the first time since those two lines appeared on the test, I breathe with ease.