Page 18

18

OLEG

They exit the arrival terminal with all the sound and fury of a freshly minted family of five.

Faye is concentrating only on the little white bundle in her arms. Artem is trying to wrangle the older two kids so they don’t get lost in the crowd. Noah is trying not to tip over from the weight of the backpack he’s wearing, which happens to be bigger than he is. And Lily’s eyes are wide with interest as she takes in everything around her.

I hold up the sign I had Ilya make for me the night before. WELCOME TO NASSAU, CAPTAIN NOAH AND PILOT LILY.

It was meant to be a joke, asking Ilya to do the sign for me. It’s not exactly in the job description of a Bratva vor .

But Ilya showed me up by drawing a little boat for Noah next to his name and a little airplane for Lily.

Overachiever.

“Unca Oleg!” Noah yells the moment he sees me. He waddles over, his backpack flapping wildly with every step he takes.

“Hello, little man!” I greet, tousling his hair. “Long time, no see.”

“We have a new baby sister.”

“I heard. How has it been?”

“Awesome!” Lily interjects at the same time that Noah says, “Noisy.”

Laughing, I squat down in front of the kids and give them both a hug.

When I straighten up, Artem and Faye have finally reached us. Both have dark circles around their eyes, but neither one has lost their smile.

“I need some ibuprofen,” Faye blurts by way of greeting. “Here, take the baby.”

“Wait, no?—”

She ignores me completely, pushing the sleeping baby into my arms. Then she makes a show of rummaging around her bag, even though the ibuprofen never actually appears.

“Your wife has ulterior motives,” I mutter, looking down at the baby.

Artem chuckles. “Might as well get some practice now that it’s official.” He grins, slapping me on the back. “Congratulations, by the way.”

“Why?” Noah asks, looking between us.

I can’t stop staring at the tiny sleeping face nestled against my chest. It’s ridiculous how small she is. One little hand is resting against my shoulder, only slightly bigger than the buttons holding my shirt together.

“Because I’m going to have a baby.”

“With who?” Lily asks immediately, her frown turned on me.

“Uh…”

“With Sutton, of course,” Faye answers smoothly. “Who else?”

Noah and Sutton exchange a glance and then they start jumping up and down.

“I told you he would marry her!” Lily cries, clearly elated. “Now, I get to be the flower girl, the flower girl, the flower g?—”

“Whoa, there, hold your horses, little miss,” I interject. “No one’s going to be the flower girl because I’m not getting married.”

Lily’s eyes wrinkle in confusion. “B-but… you’re having a baby.”

“Which doesn’t require marriage. What have your parents taught you?”

Artem snorts but Faye doesn’t look amused in the least.

“She’s a beauty, Faye,” I declare, looking back down at the only person in my life who doesn’t have an agenda.

“Isn’t she? Has Artem told you her name yet?”

“No. Hit me.”

Faye smiles softly. “Aria Oriana Savin.”

My eyes bulge. “You’re joking.”

“It was Faye’s idea.”

Faye locks eyes with me. “I never met her, but from everything that Artem has told me about her, she’s exactly the type of person I hope my girls will be someday.”

Ignoring the stinging in my eyes, I give Faye a one-armed hug. “It’s a great name, guys. You did well. Now, come on—it’s a long drive back to the villa.”

I hand the baby back to Faye, deposit Noah and his fat backpack on my shoulders, and take Lily’s hand as we make our way back to the parking lot where my SUV is parked.

“Does Sutton know we’re coming?”

“No,” I admit. “Not yet anyway.”

“Aw, you wanted to surprise her. That’s sweet of you,” she says pointedly, if with a bit of sarcasm.

I resist the urge to roll my eyes. “My intention was not to be sweet. I simply forgot to tell her. We haven’t been talking very much lately.”

Which is true.

Except I’m leaving out the part where I walked into her bedroom last night to comfort her and ended up fucking her with my fingers.

And my tongue.

And I was this close to doing all the rest of it, too, before I stopped myself and got the hell out of there.

Things are complicated enough without adding sex to the mix. It’s not like I hadn’t walked into her room with that very thought in my head.

In fact, I’d been determined to avoid it.

But one look at her in her sweat-drenched tank, her tiny black panties hugging the curve of her ass, and my head nearly exploded.

Everything I didn’t feel at that yacht party with young, blonde, desperate Roxy was suddenly rushing through my veins with all the strength of an ocean tide. There was no way I could stop myself as I pulled her into my arms and relieved her of her clothes.

And when she begged me to stay…

Fuck, I’m only human.

“She’s carrying your child and you haven’t talked to her?” Faye squeaks.

“I’ve been… busy.”

She looks utterly disgusted with me. “You know what I think? You have serious feelings for this woman and instead of admitting it, you’re avoiding her because that’s easier than dealing with your feelings.” The disgust transitions into a smug smile. “But you still can’t help but make little gestures for her—like surprising her with us.”

Scowling, I pull out my phone and tap in a quick text. “There,” I snap. “Now, she knows you guys are coming.”

She matches my scowl with one of her own. “Will you really go that far to prove a point?”

“I’ll go further.”

Faye shakes her head, her mouth opening, probably to give me a lecture. But I’m saved by the baby’s cry.

As Faye tries to soothe her youngest child, Artem smirks at me. “Saved by the baby. But knowing Faye, she’ll corner you sooner or later.”

I shrug. “She underestimates me. I can be hard to pin down.”

“No offense, brother,” Artem snorts. “But I’m betting on my wife, every single time.”

We both have it wrong.

Sutton is the one to bet on.

I gave her a thirty-five-minute heads-up and she still manages to pull out all the stops.

There’s a full meal on the dining room table when we arrive—including chocolate chip cookies for the kids and cannoli for the adults.

There’s also a little present pile set up in the corner for all three kids. A cloth doll for Lily. A wooden train for Noah. And an elaborate rattle and some onesies for the baby.

While Noah and Lily play with their new toys, Sutton coos over baby Aria. Faye provides a steady diet of pointed scowls from across the table.

Grabbing a beer, I excuse myself to the garden, trying not to look back every five seconds to see what magic Sutton is weaving now.

“What are you looking so sour about?” Artem asks, joining me under the dappled sunlight.

“I’m not sour,” I huff. “Just… coordinating in my head. That’s all.”

For the first time in my life, that couldn’t be further away from the truth.

But it feels like a defeat to admit that I’m preoccupied with a woman, instead of work.

“Look around, bro.” Artem hits me on the back. “We’re in paradise. The kids are happy. The women are happy. Time to drink your beer and just enjoy it.”

I glance back at Sutton and Faye. They’re framed by the arched doorway, heads together as they coo down at the baby.

She looks so fucking good with a baby in her arms.

There’s a tug at my cold, hard heart. A normal man might find that hopeful—but I’m not a normal man.

If I am really starting to thaw, I’m not sure I can see that as a good thing.

“I can’t enjoy anything while my uncle is still out there, plotting against me as head of the company.”

“Even after you’ve dealt with Boris, there’ll be a new threat that pops up,” Artem counsels. “You can’t put your life on hold every time some new problem comes up.”

“You don’t get it.” I shake my head. “This is my life. Plotting, planning, working—that is who I am.”

“I hate to break it to you, bro—but that’s about to change. Soon, your life is going to be all about your family—the baby and Sutton.”

“Sutton and I are not together.”

Artem purses his lips as though he’s trying to suppress a smile. “I’m sure that sounds really nice when you say it to yourself in the mirror every morning.”

“ Blyat’ ,” I mutter, running a hand through my hair. “I can’t make her happy, Artem. So why should I try?”

“Because she might want you to?”

Grimacing, I take a swig of my beer. “I haven’t done a very good job so far.”

“It’s a learning curve,” Artem offers sympathetically. “You haven’t been in a relationship since you were eighteen years old. It’s a tough mindset to break. But this child is going to force you to kick it up a couple of notches. Dispense with the baby steps—no pun intended—and step up like a man. You’re in deep now. You’re in this for the long haul.”

“You’re not making me feel better.”

“I’m not trying to make you feel better,” he retorts. “I’m trying to tell you that you have a whole new set of responsibilities now. And that requires you to change your priorities.”

“What if I can’t?”

Artem sighs. “I know it’s hard to see when they’re just little blobs in their mother’s bellies, but that little blob will be a baby soon, brother. And that baby is going to be everything to you. Trust me: you’re going to want to bring your A game to the table. That includes being the best man you can be—not just for the baby, but for the baby’s mother, too.”

I turn around, my eyes finding Sutton. She’s laughing about something Faye just said. Every few seconds, she bends down and drops a kiss on the baby as though she can’t help herself.

I have no doubt that our child will be the recipient of that kind of blinding love.

“You remember your childhood, don’t you?” Artem presses. “Don’t you want that for your kid?”

“My parents were married. Really married. There was no contract involved.”

“Here’s an idea,” Artem suggests. “Forget the damn contract and start over.”

My gaze snaps back to Artem. “You’re suggesting I marry Sutton for real?”

“Yes.”

I twist my beer bottle in my hands, deep in thought. “I don’t deny she’ll be a good mother. But I’m not sure she can handle being a Bratva wife.”

“Fuck that,” Artem snaps. “I’m not suggesting you marry her because she’ll be a good wife or a good mother. I’m suggesting it because you love her, Artem. You just refuse to accept it.”

I take another swig of my drink. “You know what happens to the people I love, Artem. My love may as well be a curse.”

His eyes pop. “You don’t honestly believe that?”

“I killed my sister. I killed my girlfriend. I killed my father. What do you call that?”

“Bad fucking luck.”

“Then you’re delusional. But I’m not. No matter what Sutton says, no matter how many contracts she signs, she will always be the girl in the princess dress dreaming of her Prince Charming. I can never be what she wants me to be.”

“No harm in trying.”

I shake my head. Artem doesn’t understand. No one can understand.

The last time I gave my whole heart away freely, I destroyed the ones I loved.

Why would I do that again?