Page 70 of Forbidden Boss
EPILOGUE
LEV
One Year Later
The morning light spills across the terrace of our estate. Before Mari, this place felt too big and too quiet. I came here only when I needed to get out of the city, and I dreaded it. Then I met her.
Now it’s full of the good kind of noise. Usually it’s our son, Alex, crying or laughing, making his little baby sounds. Sometimes it’s Mari laughing or blowing kisses at Alex. The two of them have brought so much joy into this old house, and today is no exception.
Mari is standing near the glass doors with our son in her arms. He’s six months old now, already reaching for everything, grumpy if he isn’t within sight of me, Mari, or his uncle Yuri. He gets into everything he can reach, and screams his head off when he hears the word “no.”
He has her eyes and my scowl. Her fire and my ice. God help us all.
I watch them from the doorway for a moment, taking in the sight. She looks radiant in the soft sunlight, her hair pulled back, wearing one of my shirts. My wife-to-be. My queen.
“Lev,” she says when she sees me, that smile curving her mouth. “You’re supposed to be getting dressed.”
“I am dressed,” I tell her, even though I’m in nothing but black slacks and an unbuttoned shirt. “I’m the groom. They can’t start without me.”
She laughs softly, a sound that still knocks the air out of me. Our son squeals like he’s in on the joke.
“You’re impossible,” she says. “If you hold up my wedding day, I’m going to murder you. You realize that, right?”
“Maybe you should leave the killing to me,” I tease, and she simply rolls her eyes.
It’s strange to joke like this with her. But she accepts all of me, even the darkest parts. She hasn’t run away yet. In fact, in a couple of hours, she’ll be pledging herself to me for the rest of her life. She’s either crazy or she really, really loves me. Possibly both.
“Besides,” I say, “you’re the one who hired a whole glam team for today!”
As if on cue, her phone rings. It’s Susie, calling to tell her to get to the bridal suite ASAP. She picks it up from the nightstand and reluctantly hands Alex to me. He starts crying the second he’s in my arms, and I have to bounce him up and down for a moment to get him to stop.
“What can I say?” she teases. “He likes me better.”
“I don’t blame him,” I say, and I mean it.
He fits against me easily, his tiny fingers grabbing the chain around my neck. I kiss the top of his head and breathe in his baby smell. He’s so perfect and growing up so fast. I already know I want more babies. Lots more. But we need to get through the ceremony before that happens.
Mari quickly changes into her bridal robe and grabs her phone, heading out to get glammed up for the day. Yuri comes in a moment later, looking almost respectable.
“Is the wedding still happening today, or did Mari finally wise up?”
I roll my eyes and flip him off behind Alex’s back. Of course, the moment he hears his uncle Yuri’s voice, my boy turns and reaches for him. For some unknown reason, he loves Yuri. That makes one of us right now.
“I have to get dressed.” I sigh, passing Alex to him.
“He better not spit up on this suit,” Yuri jokes. “I killed a guy for it.”
“And that makes it different from any other suit, how?” I shoot back, heading into my closet to pull out the freshly pressed tux hanging there.
It takes a while to put on, and I’m surprised by how nervous I feel. This isn’t my first wedding. I was just as nervous the first time, I suppose. I shake it off and work through the tux piece by piece, slowly tying the bow tie and fiddling with it until it’s perfectly straight.
I go back out to the bedroom where Yuri and Alex are waiting. The moment he sees me, Alex laughs. Hopefully that isn’t a sign the tux is overkill.
The ceremony is small by Bratva standards but still fairly extravagant. I’ve managed to keep it out of the press at Mari’s request. After everything she went through, she wants to keep our lives much quieter and low-key. She’s become the financial guru for both Levcon and the Bratva, but she wants our personal lives to remain personal, and I can’t blame her for that.
When she walks down the aisle, I forget anyone else exists. She’s a vision in white, almost floating. Next to her, Susie holds her arm, since she has no family left to be here.
Her dress is simple yet elegant, silk that clings to her like it was made for her alone. She radiates confidence, grace, and strength. The sun catches her hair, and it’s like she’s an angel coming to me. In a way, she is. She’s saved me in a lot of ways, and today we commit to saving each other for the rest of time.