Total pages in book: 88
Estimated words: 84968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 84968 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 425(@200wpm)___ 340(@250wpm)___ 283(@300wpm)
An employee whose head barely reached Damien's elbow piped up. "I noticed you only have two sketchbooks in your cart. They were buy two get one free."
"No kidding? Thanks!" He headed off back down the aisle to get another notebook.
After some time and a whole gaggle of women to help, we returned to the cashier.
After ringing up all our items, the cashier asked, "Do you have any coupons?"
My brow furrowed. "Coupons?"
Half the women around us reached into their purses, pulled out their coupons and waved them in our direction.
"Take mine."
"No take mine."
"I have a twenty percent off your whole order discount!"
"You can use my employee discount."
We exchanged an amused look between us.
After years in the shadows, being mothered by craft store ladies while buying yarn to make my girl happy wasn't the worst way to spend an afternoon. Domestic bliss had its perks.
CHAPTER 34
PAVEL
"Spit it out, my little kitten," I said, reaching over the center console to run my hand over Alina's thigh. "I can practically hear you overthinking."
It had been a little over a month since the incident with the cops, and things had settled into a routine of sorts.
Honest-to-God, domestic fucking bliss.
And I loved it.
Alina was still not allowed to go anywhere without an armed guard or me by her side. But now, it was less about my questions of trust and more about her safety. I knew she wasn't going to run away or go to the cops.
Even if she wanted to—which I was fairly sure she didn’t—she knew how treacherous it was. She was perfectly content not putting herself in harm's way.
And after witnessing both of my brothers pull out their hair in frustration as their wives ran straight into danger, I could appreciate Alina's newfound survival instincts.
It also helped that I had loosened the reins a lot. I’d given her a top-of-the-line laptop and phone so she could contact the other wives and her grandmother whenever she wished.
And I was even content to accompany her. The afghan her grandmother was knitting with the yarn I bought was coming along nicely. But my real reward was seeing the way her face lit up when I returned home with the bags of supplies.
Most women would demand diamonds, furs, cars.
Not my babygirl.
She was over-the-moon thrilled with a few bags of yarn.
I truly was the luckiest fucking man on earth.
The moon peeked through the trees, casting flickers of light on the dark pavement as I drove us to the compound in Virginia.
Alina and I had spent a few hours with her grandmother, and now we were headed to a family dinner with Artem, Viktoria, Kostya, and Marina.
I thought the change of scenery would make Alina happy, but she was sitting in the passenger seat, playing with the hem of her dress, distracted.
The moonlight reflected through the windshield, giving her skin the most beautiful ethereal glow.
The car had been quiet—but not the comfortable silence I’d grown used to. Something was off.
She shifted beside me, her fingers still toying with the hem of her dress.
"Come on, kitten, tell me what's wrong. I can't fix it if you don't tell me. You're not worried about having dinner with my brothers, are you? I know they can be a pain in the ass, but they aren't that bad if you're drunk."
My joke fell flat.
I wasn't sure she even heard it. And then it didn't matter whether she did or not.
She blurted out, “I think I’m pregnant!”
I blinked, stunned, the words slamming into my chest like bullets.
Pregnant.
My foot left the gas for the brake as I pulled over to the shoulder, cutting across the lane with a hard jerk of the wheel. The city had already fallen away behind us—we were on a stretch of highway flanked by dark forest, the compound still miles ahead.
The engine idled low, headlights catching on the guardrail as I shifted into Park and turned to her.
Trying to process what she just said, for several long seconds, I couldn’t speak. I could only stare at her—absorbing that she was not just the woman I loved, but the mother of my child.
She started rambling, her voice rushed and cracking:
“I already love this baby more than my own life and if you don’t want her, that’s fine, I’ll raise her on my own like my grandmother raised me and I don’t need you even though with every pulse of blood in my veins all I want is to be by your side until my dying breath and—”
I cut her off with a kiss so hard it made her gasp.
“Open your eyes, sweetheart,” I whispered as I cupped her cheek. “I want you to stare right into my eyes so you know I’m telling you the truth when I say that I think you are the strongest, kindest, most beautiful woman I have ever known. I love you more than a crude brute like me could ever possibly express.”