by Kate Stewart
Magda looks at me from across the car, and I ignore her. She does not need to tell me, I am already aware of my shortcomings.
“You were,” I tell Lachlan. “But if you ever hide my wife from me again…”
“I know,” he cuts me off. “I know, Alexei.”
“We are still twenty miles out,” I say.
“Mack and I are here,” he assures me. “We’ll hold it down until you get here.”
“Don’t leave her side,” I order. “Don’t let her out of your sight.”
“She’s not going anywhere, mate,” he assures me. “She was the one who asked us to call you.”
“Tell her that we are on our way,” Magda says, grabbing the phone from my hand. “And I’m going to take good care of her.”
She is tearing up, and so is Nikolai when I meet his gaze in the mirror.
We all look away from each other, allowing silence to settle over the car when Magda hangs up the phone.
My wife is alive. My baby boy has just been born.
And I am never going to fail them again.
Chapter Fifty-Four
Talia
My son is curled against my chest, both of our eyes closed when I feel his presence.
I am so tired. So, so tired.
But Alexei is here. So I force my eyes open, just in time to see him leaning down to cradle my face in his hands.
“Solnyshko.”
His voice is rough, his eyes glassy. And the very word is an apology, filled with more emotion than I’ve ever heard in his voice.
“God, my Solnyshko. I have died without you.”
And then he is kissing me all over my face, his other hand resting on our baby boy. When he turns his attention to him, I gesture for him to take him in his arms.
He does.
“Franco,” I tell him. “His name is Franco.”
Alexei seems surprised, but nods his agreement soon after.
“Franco. My son.”
“He saved our lives,” I manage to choke out.
I’m so emotional. Seeing him. Seeing them both together like this. It’s overwhelming in a way that I wasn’t prepared for.
Alexei meets my gaze, and his eyes are red and bloodshot. Filled with grief. And I have so much regret. So much agony and want for this man. The damaged half to my soul. We are both so damaged, but together, we fit perfectly.
I’m crying, I realize. Looking up at him with our baby in his arms.
“I’m sorry I let you think…”
“Shh…” He comes to sit beside me, reaching for my hand. “You did the only thing you could. I was so foolish, my sweet. But it will never happen again. I will never doubt your loyalty again. I will spend the rest of my life proving myself worthy of your…”
His words die off, and he looks like he’s in pain.
“Of my love,” I assure him. “I still love you, Lyoshka.”
“And I, you,” he answers, cupping my face in his palm. “You are my sun.”
He kisses me, and everything else melts away. I don’t doubt his assurances. I know with certainty that he will never allow anything to come between us again. Even the present distance is too much, he tells me, as he comes to sit beside me in bed. Franco nestled in one arm, and me in the other.
He is our foundation.
And despite the intensity of emotion between us in this moment, nothing has ever felt more solid.
The moment is interrupted when Mack and Conor step back inside of the room. Conor looks terrified when he glances at Alexei while Mack looks like she wants to murder him.
Alexei hands me back the baby and kisses me on the cheek before standing up to greet them. When he moves in their direction, Conor takes a step back.
“I didn’t look at anything,” Conor proclaims. “I swear.”
Alexei extends his hand as a sign of respect. “Thank you, Conor. For being there when I could not. I owe you a great deal.”
Conor’s shoulders slump in relief and he smiles. Alexei smiles too. But Mack lays into him a second later.
“I don’t like you.” She pokes him in the chest. “You took advantage of her. You knocked her up. And then you hurt her. That wasn’t the deal we had.”
“I did do all of those things,” Alexei replies. “I was wrong.”
For the first time ever, Mack seems speechless.
“Damn right you were,” she huffs.
“But she is my wife,” Alexei tells her. “She is never leaving me again.”
Mack looks set to argue, but then her eyes find mine. And she sees that I have no protests. This is just Alexei’s way. This is his way of telling her that he is sorry. And that he will take care of me. So in the end, she chooses not to say anything, even though she really wants to.
And I am so grateful for her in this moment. For all that we have been through together, and that even after everything, she is still here for me. And I realize how much we have both grown up over the last two years. How much we have changed. I know that if we can get past all of that, then we can get past anything.
I also know the same is true for Alexei and I. He comes back to me and holds Franco for the remainder of their visit. He does not let anyone else hold our baby, except for Magda when she bursts into the room at the first available opportunity and doesn’t take no for an answer. She sings him lullabies. And Alexei and I watch, his hand always touching me. Anchoring himself to me.
The rest of the day is spent much the same. Viktor and some of the other Vory come to visit, bringing lavish gifts for Franco and myself.
By the time visiting hours are over, I am exhausted.
“Please don’t go anywhere,” I tell Alexei.
“I did not plan to,” he says.
He climbs into the bed beside me again, which is ridiculous considering his height, but he does not complain that his feet are hanging over the edge. Franco is cradled between us, and he simply strokes his face, his eyes moving between the two of us.
That is when I notice the tattoo on his hand. In the same space that I drew it before. My name, inside the sun.
I reach out to touch it, and Alexei takes my hand in his.
“You got it.”
His eyes are glassy again. Vulnerable with emotion. But he does not try to hide it.
“You are the only woman for me, my sweet,” he tells me. “Even in death, I could never let you go. You are it for me. And I am so sorry that I did not show you before.”
“I don’t want your apologies,” I answer. “I just want your trust.”
He expels a long breath and traces the lines of my face with his finger. “You have it. You have my word, I will not ever doubt you again.”
“We need you,” I tell him. “We need all of you.”
“You have it,” he assures me. “There is nothing without you. Tomorrow, I take you home. And I will make you mine all over again. Every day, for the rest of my life, Solnyshko. That is my promise to you. I will make you fall in love with me every day for a lifetime.”
“A lifetime,” I agree. “Because we are in this together.”
He kisses me on the forehead, and then Franco too.
“Together,” he echoes.
Epilogue
Talia
Some would say that happiness is fleeting.
I say that happiness is terrifying.
But it is also real. And possible.
And that doesn’t mean that everything is perfect all the time. That doesn’t mean that there aren’t still lows. Or struggles. Or moments when the memories try to claw their way back into the present and blacken everything around you.
But I know now that if you just wake up every single day ready to do battle- ready to fight for what you have- then you have a real chance to hold onto it.
Alexei and I fight for each other every day. Without fail.
We argue. And we both repeat old patterns. But in the end, we always find our way back to each other. Because we promised we would.
He is my sola
ce and I am his sun, and Franco is the entire universe around us.
Since Katya and Sergei’s betrayal, Alexei is much more careful about who he lets into his home. And we never go anywhere without him. Without his protection and his diligent security measures.
Some would say that it is not right. To live so far away from everyone else. To be at home all the time. But this is our kingdom. He’s my king, and I’m his queen. And we would do anything to protect each other. And we are happiest here. Where we have each other.
Mack and Lachlan come to visit often. Keeva and Franco will grow up together. The way that Mack and I did. But with people who love them. And they will never know the horrors that Mack and I knew. Or even Alexei. Because as a parent, I have realized one thing. So profound in its simplicity that it sometimes knocks me off balance.
My love for Franco is unending. And my mother’s simply was not. She was broken in a way that I could never truly be. I am not like her. I will never be like her.
Because I have them. And for me that is all I ever need to know to keep fighting. To keep living. To keep cherishing every moment I get to spend with them.
When I watch Alexei now, speaking Russian to his son and earning smiles, I’m smiling too.
So is Magda, who has embraced the role of Babushka with gusto. Even Nikolai has earned his way back into Alexei’s orbit. He is everything I could ask for in a brother-in-law and uncle. Always spoiling Franco when he comes to visit.
Today, he arrived with a blinged-out kid size hummer for Franco to cruise around the yard in. The only problem is that Franco isn’t even crawling yet.
“It would be nice for him to have a cousin,” I tell Nikolai.
He looks at me and shakes his head. I still don’t know what’s happening between him and Tanaka. She never leaves his sight, but the cold front between them is obvious to anyone.
“Maybe someday,” he says.
“Maybe someday what?” Alexei asks as he passes Franco to me and pulls my body into his.
“I was telling him that he should start having some babies too.”
Alexei shakes his head. “He could not handle it.”
Behind him, Tanaka is smiling.
“Lunch is ready,” Magda interrupts us.
“Nikolai, take Franco downstairs?” Alexei asks.
Nikolai takes him from me and everyone moves downstairs apart from Alexei and I. I already know what he wants. It seems like we always have visitors now. And sometimes, these stolen moments are all we get.
He reaches down and wraps his arms around my body, kissing me and groping me while he has a chance.
“Wear black for me tonight,” he says. “And let’s go to bed early.”
“What about Franco?” I ask.
“Uncle Nikolai can have some practice,” he answers.
I smile up at him, curious how long he’s been planning this.
“Okay, Lyoshka. For you, I wear black.”
I move to go downstairs, but he stops me again.
“I haven’t told you yet today,” he murmurs as his lips find mine. “But I love you, Solnyshko. Always.”
The truth is, he does tell me that every day. Sometimes, he wakes up in the middle of the night just to tell me. To remind me that he has given me the one thing I never thought he could.
His heart.
I do not take that for granted.
Even when we fight, we always remember to never take each other for granted again.
So I guess in the end, maybe there’s a little hope left for all of us. Even me.
THE END
Books by A. Zavarelli
Boston Underworld Series
CROW: Boston Underworld #1
REAPER: Boston Underworld #2
GHOST: Boston Underworld #3
SAINT: Boston Underworld #4
THIEF: Boston Underworld #5
Bleeding Hearts Series
Echo: A Bleeding Hearts Novel Volume One
Stutter: A Bleeding Hearts Novel Volume Two
Twisted Ever After Series
BEAST: Twisted Ever After #1
Standalones
Tap Left
Falling Series
Novellas
An Escort for Christmas
One Last Gift
For a complete list of books and audios, visit
http://www.azavarelli.com/books
About the Author
A. Zavarelli is a USA Today and Amazon bestselling author.
She likes all things chocolate, books that come with warnings, and putting her characters through hell. Her tales have been known to flirt with darkness and sometimes court it unabashedly altogether. Revenge themes and tortured souls are her favorites to write and this gives her an excuse to watch bizarre and twisted documentaries in her spare time.
She currently lives in the Northwest with her lumberjack and an entire brood of fur babies.
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Stolen Duet
Stolen Duet by B.B. Reid
The Bandit
To all the Daddy’s girls.
Introduction
Mian’s name is pronounced
My-an.
Prologue
MIAN
“I’m going to prison, Mian.”
I can’t remember a time I ever hated my father. Not even when I grew breasts and noticed boys. But when he uttered those fateful words…
I raged inside.
Theo Ross was a notorious thief and playboy, but he was also my father. My fist struck the table, and I turned my glare on full force. “You cannot give up this easily. I’m not.”
Eyes greener than the amazon stared back at me. I had my father’s eyes. Maybe that’s why I could read them so well when no one else could. I recognized remorse in the depth of his striking gaze, but I also saw pity. He thought I was naive. A clueless girl with my head stuck in the clouds.
But I wasn’t naive.
My father just didn’t know me anymore.
After Mom had died, the only thing that mattered to him was the next job. He’d say it was all for me, but after so many years, I knew better.
I couldn’t keep my mother, and now I knew I couldn’t keep my father, either.
“I can’t be there for you anymore.” He reached across the table and enveloped my hands. I couldn’t stand to see the defeat in his eyes anymore so I fixated on the slight tremble of his large hands. It was the only sign that he was far from calm. My father was best at concealing his emotions and thoughts so he’d give nothing away. In his line of work, the ability to master it meant life or death. No one had ever been able to read him except Mom and me. “I regret that the most. I just want you to know that.”
Should I remind him that he hasn’t been there for me since Mom died? For months at a time, he pushed me away so he could chase riches. Or maybe it was the other way around…
“We still have a chance.”
He shook his head in defeat, so I closed my eyes to block the sight. My father had always been a man larger than life, but I was not seeing that man today.
The guards.
The walls surrounding him.
The bars that would imprison him.
It weakened him.
“No, baby girl. It’s over. It’s time I paid back what I’ve taken.”
“Why are you giving up? You can’t leave me!” He hung his head, and I could see the slight tremble of his shoulders. When he finally lifted his head, he seemed to have regained himself.
“I’m sorry I have to leave you, but I’m not sorry for what I’ve done.” His lack of remorse made me flinch, but he didn’t notice. “I’ll never be sorry for taking care of you the best way I could. I love you, Mian. Never doubt that.”
The shield I carried cracked. “Mom loved me too, but she left, and now you’re going away, too. I’ll be
alone.”
“You won’t be alone. Your Aunt Gretchen and Uncle Ben will take care of you. They’re family.”
I bit the inside of my cheek. He wouldn’t listen if I reminded him of the truth. He’d assume it was my emotions speaking. My aunt and uncle were evil, vicious people who hated kids, hated me and hated my dad even more. They never approved of how my father made his money. They were God-fearing church folk who stayed true to their hypocritical faith.
Daddy may be a criminal, but he always took care of me, and he had loved Mom fiercely. “It won’t be the same,” I answered instead. I was never comfortable speaking badly about anyone—even if it were true.
He used his thumb to wipe away a tear. “You’re going to live a better life than I did, Mian. Your mother would be so proud of the young woman you’re becoming.”
“But who will read me a bedtime story?” I sniffled and hoped my attempt at a joke would win him over.
He chuckled and flashed the smile that used to make my mom sway on her feet, once upon a time. “Nice try, Mian. I haven’t read you a bedtime story since you were ten years old.”
Just before Mom died.
I was sixteen years old now, and despite his absence in my life for the last six years, my birthday was one day he refused to miss. A late breakfast visit to Tabitha’s Frozen Treats was our tradition that had remained unbroken. Until now.
We both shared the first laugh for either of us since he was arrested. My father had lived lawlessly since he was nineteen, but this time, he’d gotten caught.