Page 99 of Cinderella and the Daddy

"You did good," I tell her, meaning it completely. "You probably saved his life."

She nods, but I can see the weight of it settling on her shoulders. The reality of what she had to do. What she had to witness. Blood on her hands—literally.

This is on me. All of it.

Tony and two other men carry Grigori out of the safe room.

I give Cindy a quick kiss, my hands running down her shoulders and over her stomach. “Are you hurt?”

“We’re fine.”

Leo looks at me. "Grigori carried me like a football!" he announces proudly. "And there were bad guys with guns, but we ran really fast!"

"Did you, now?" I ruffle his hair, marveling at his resilience.

Five years old and he's treating a firefight like a game of cops and robbers. "Sounds like you were very brave."

“Cindy helped Grigori.”

I smile. “I bet she did. Come on. Let’s go upstairs.”

After putting Leo to bed—which takes longer than usual as he recounts every detail of his "adventure" three more times—Cindy and I finally make it to our bedroom.

She doesn't say anything at first, just walks into my arms. Her head fits perfectly against my shoulder, her body molding to mine like we were designed to be together.

"How bad is it?" she asks finally, her voice muffled against my shirt.

I think about lying, about protecting her from the ugly truth. But she's not a child, and after everything she's been through, she deserves honesty.

"It's going to get worse before it gets better," I admit. "This was just the opening move."

She pulls back to look at me. "Then we'd better be ready for the next one."

We.Notyou.She's not running, not breaking, and not asking me to send her somewhere safe. She's staying, fighting beside me, ready to face whatever comes next.

I kiss her forehead. "We will be. I promise you that."

28

CINDY

The morning sickness finally eased, replaced by a gentle roundness that's becoming harder to hide under loose tops. At four months, the baby feels more real every day. Our secret is about to become very public.

Leo sits cross-legged on the living room carpet, building an elaborate fortress with his Legos while Luka and I exchange glances over his head. We've been planning this conversation for days, waiting for the right moment to change his world forever.

"Hey, buddy," I say, settling down beside him on the floor. "Can you pause the construction for a minute? We have something important to tell you."

His eyes light up with curiosity. "Are we going somewhere fun? Like Disneyland?"

Luka chuckles, moving to sit on Leo's other side. "Even better than Disneyland."

I take a deep breath, my hand unconsciously drifting to my stomach. "Leo, how would you feel about being a big brother?"

For a moment, he just stares at us, processing. Then his face breaks into the biggest grin I've ever seen. "You mean there's a baby? In your tummy?"

"There is," I confirm, laughing as he launches himself into my arms with enough force to knock me backward.

"This is the best day ever!" he shouts, then immediately pulls back with wide, serious eyes. "Can I pick the name? When is it coming? Will it be a boy or a girl?"