Total pages in book: 62
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 59983 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 300(@200wpm)___ 240(@250wpm)___ 200(@300wpm)
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.
27
LILIANA
Jenni’s jaw drops when she sees me walk into the bakery at our usual time.