Page 78 of Forgotten Vows

“Me too,” he admitted. “Deep down, and in hindsight, I think I could’ve counted on Luka to stand with me in choosing you, in making you mine back then.”

I shook my head a little. “I don’t know. My father was stirring up a lot of fights with many people back then. He might have ordered you to steer clear from inviting more trouble.”

It was a moot point now, though. Because the next day, Luka, Ivan, Emil, and Alexsei, as well as a few old-timer spies in the family, headed to the council meeting.

I stayed with Gabriella in the house while Lev, who had bounded right back from his illness, played with Misha.

“So, these council things,” she asked, reminding me that she was still so new to this world. “Are they that big of a deal?”

I nodded. “Yes. But also not. They call them often for stupid crap. For pomp and showing off. When they call a council meeting of the leaders on a short-notice, it’s usually for a dispute that they want settled without violence.”

“Huh.” She continued folding clothes while Andre babbled in the pack and play near us in the kitchen. “Imagine that. Settling somethingwithoutviolence.”

“That doesn’t mean it always works,” I added.

“Do you remember any of these council meetings not working?”

I smiled at her. “Oh, yeah.”

“Often?” she asked with a cringe.

“Sort of. Most of the meetings that failed to resolve an issue diplomatically were usually my father’s fault.”

She sighed. “He really was a shit-stirrer then.”

“He never would’ve won father of the year.”

She snorted. “He ties with my father for worst parent of the century.”

I asked her a little more about her past. Not only to keep her from asking me too many questions that actually mademe anxious but also to show her that I valued this budding friendship between us.

But it didn’t work. She steered the topic right back to this meeting. “Are you nervous?” she asked in a conspiratorially quiet tone.

I sighed.Fuck it.“Of course, I’m nervous. I want my father to fuck off.”

She nodded.

“Forever.”

She lifted her face to stare at me.

I shrugged. “I’d kill him in a heartbeat.”

She raised her brows. “Have you… done that often?”

“I killed those Rivera men the day I came here. Other than that, no.”

“Hey, I’m not judging. You just seem like such a badass and all and?—”

I laughed. “Me? The woman who hid and tried to stay off the grid for years and failed at it? You’re the one who gave birth in the middle of a damn gunfight.”

She smiled slyly. “I am glad you are here.”

“And I’ll be here to stay.” It felt so good to say that.

Lev and Misha laughed loudly in the other room.

“Wait, was he serious then? Last night was an actual proposal?”