Page 40 of Innocent Bratva Twins

“Okay, but then why are you volunteering to deal with it?”

“Because if I can anticipate and work out the problems before they happen, then they will never affect her,” I admit.

My brother’s eyes are tight on me. Luka, Yilian and Arkady stare at me for a while before Luka says, “Nico, if this girl means that much to you, don’t you think we should meet her?” He starts laughing. “I would really like to meet her.”

“Me too,” Arkady agrees.

I clench my jaw.

Serafina means a lot to me. It’s not until this exact moment that I realized just how much she means. I want her to meet my family. I want her to be a part of my life.

My stomach flips with excitement and nervousness.

I can’t believe it.

“Is this—oh, my words—it’s the pretty little thing in the black dress, isn’t it?” Arkady teases me.

“Calm down,” I say, as his excitement begins to rise.

“I knew it,” he shouts.

“How come Arkady has met her? That’s not fair,” Luka complains.

“He hasn’t really met her, he’s just seen her,” I argue.

“Nico—we need a family dinner. You know that Jade and Aliya will kill you if you have a girlfriend and they don’t know about it.”

Shit. I didn’t consider that. My sisters are very protective of us.

“Okay. Okay, fine. I’ll invite her to dinner. But you guys have to promise to behave.”

“Youknowwe can’t do that,” Arkady laughs.

Shaking my head, I’m laughing too as I walk away from them. “I’ll ask her and call you idiots later to set a date,” I say, tugging my car door open. At least the traffic looks like it’s calmed down, and it’s not going to take me several hours to get back to the other side of town.

A quick glance at my watch tells me it’s past four. Just about time for the home commuter traffic to start. Damn. I'd better get going now. I won’t get back to the office in time to ask Serafina in person.

My stomach flips with nervous tension.

Asking her to a family dinner is a big deal.

It’s not something I take lightly.

I reach for my phone, sitting in the holder on my dash.

But hesitation causes me to draw my hand back.

Meeting my family might freak her out. It’s freaking me out, so why wouldn’t it freak her out?

The other thing is that as soon as I open that door and she steps onto a much more personal side of my life, it’s going to be a lot more challenging to keep her separated from the mafia entanglement my family has.

Is it fair of me to do this to her?

Probably not.

I clench my jaw, turning at the traffic lights, my fingers drumming anxiously against the steering wheel.

Somewhere in the back of my mind, I’m fully aware that I’m going to ask her, regardless of the risks. My moral battle is raging, but she’s too important to me, too special, too much of an obsession for me to walk away from her at this point.