Page 30 of Alexei

Jesus, maybe I should talk to Vasili and Bella about keeping my niece and nephew away from these two. They’d corrupt them and make them into criminals before they could say their first word.

“My secret,” I reminded them.

They both shared a glance then returned to look at me. “Mom is going to talk to you.”

I frowned, debating whether I should be impressed or offended. “Did you just cheat me out of forty dollars?”

Arianna scoffed, an offended look in her eyes. “I would never,” she vowed. “I’m gonna marry Nikola. I wouldn’t cheat his family.”

I cocked my eyebrow. Geez, last I heard she was marrying Matteo, Luciano’s boy. Then I remembered. It was her sister that claimed she’d marry Matteo. Fuck if I knew. It was too much to keep up.

“Does Nikola know you’re going to marry him?” I asked instead. She shrugged her little shoulders.

“Not yet. He is not very good at talking yet.”

“Isn’t he kind of too young for you?” I inquired curiously.

“Yeah, I guess I’ll be a cougar,” she answered, rolling her eyes. What did they teach kids in school these days? “I don’t really like cougars, so maybe he can hurry up and outgrow me.”

I shook my head at her weird logic. “So what does your mom want to talk to me about?”

Hannah shrugged, clearly done with this conversation. “About some bad Russian,” she blurted. “Ivan the Great or something.”

Did she mean Ivan Petrov? It couldn’t be. There would be no point in time the two would have ever crossed paths.

“Ivan Petrov?” I asked. Uttering the name alone to the little kids sent disgust down my spine. No child should ever know that monster.

“No idea,” they both answered, rolling their eyes.

Yeah, I definitely got ripped off. They owed me the next secret for free.

“Hey brother,” Isabella came up to us. Bianca, Tatiana, and Nico’s mother were still in the same spot, discussing something vividly and laughing like crazy. Seeing their open window, the twins disbursed, right along with my money.

“Bella,” I greeted her, then stood up to my full length. “How are you feeling?”

She only had her baby girl six weeks ago, but she was determined to behave like she was back to normal.

Back when she came to New Orleans to stay with Tatiana, Isabella patched up Sasha when he was shot. She took over our private clinic and took care of our men when they couldn’t be taken to the hospital. It was a damn pain to explain gunshot wounds and police always got involved. So it worked out perfectly.

Of course, our private clinic wasn’t as busy as emergency rooms so Bella continued her studies. She liked to keep herself busy.

“Great,” she beamed. “Bianca shared a recipe with me and bossed me around in the kitchen.”

My eyes traveled back to Bianca who turned her head my way and waved, offering a small smile. Her dark hair and eyes often reminded me of my own sister. The two were similar in a lot of ways.

“Then at least we’ll be fed,” I stated matter-of-factly.

Bella chuckled softly. “Did you just crack a joke?”

It wasn’t a joke but a fact. If Bella cooked, we’d be either in the hospital, starving or packing up to go find a restaurant that could accommodate us all.

Pressing a smooch onto my cheek, she whispered into my ear. “Bianca wants to talk to you, but don’t scare her.”

Like I could even attempt to scare Bianca without having Nico up my ass.

“Sure.” I glanced towards the group of men. “Does Nico know?”

Because Sasha wasn’t joking when he said Morrelli was obsessive. Suddenly, I understood that obsession because there was a certain dark-haired FBI agent that seemed to have brought all that up in the span of two days. And at this very moment, that FBI agent was having dinner with her brother and her friends in her apartment.