Page 39 of Ruthless Rustanovs

Eva had just finished her last bite of linguine.

She dabbed the cloth napkin at her mouth and tilted her head thoughtfully.

“We’ll see. It might just be you and…your dad.

Or we might have to…” She stopped again, realizing she still had no idea what the future had in store for them.

It wouldn’t be a good idea to make Aaron any promises she wouldn’t be able to keep later.

“We’ll see,” she said again, and left it at that.

Alexei’s face grew serious and he turned to Aaron. “It is time for your mother and I to talk. You will go now.”

It took some effort for Eva not to laugh. That wasn’t exactly the way you talked to a seven-year-old. But Aaron didn’t seem to mind. “Okay. I’ll go help Maria with the twins.”

“Yes, good idea.”

But before he left, Aaron hugged Alexei, throwing his skinny arms around his father’s massive chest. Alexei dropped a kiss on top of his head and said, “You are a good boy.”

“You won’t leave without saying goodbye this time, right?”

Alexei looked Aaron in the eye as somber as a priest. “I promise you, I will not.”

Having negotiated that, Aaron hugged Eva, too, before jogging out the room. Like many boys his age, he tended to run everywhere as if he had energy to spare.

“I see you two are getting along,” she said, when her son was gone.

“He is easy to get along with,” Alexei answered. A small smile lifted one corner of his mouth. “He told me his allowance is based on him doing the laundry for the both of you.”

Now Eva smiled, too. “You gotta start them early. I had him sorting by two, and he was up to full loads by five. My mama talks about me like a big dog for making him do it.”

It was meant as a joke but Alexei’s face grew serious again. “She should not say this thing. He is already very responsible, someone who would make any father proud. He is the best of both of us. It is obvious you have been doing a very good job with him.”

Eva put a hand to her chest. “Oh, my gosh! That’s the first time anyone’s ever told me that.”

“Everyone should be telling you that,” he said. “Including me.”

“You’re not still mad at me for keeping him from you?”

Alexei’s eyes grew sad. “No, I can no longer be angry with you. You did exactly as I would have under the circumstances. You were right to run, right to protect our baby over everything else. My uncle would have killed you, and possibly Aaron. And back then I would not have been able to protect you. My uncle is what you might call a natural enforcer. He was trained from an early age to do this type of work, and the most important thing you ever did for yourself and Aaron was to take his threats seriously.”

And there they were, the words she didn’t know she needed to hear until he said them. Something cracked inside her chest. All this time she’d thought it had been her job to give others, including Alexei, closure. She hadn’t realized how much she needed it as well.

For the first time in the history of their relationship, she asked him an honest question, with full expectation of an honest answer.

“This is why you didn’t want to have any children, isn’t it?

Because you were scared you wouldn’t be able to protect them?

Not just from your family’s enemies, but also from your uncle? ”

Alexei nodded and steepled his hands on the table in front of him.

“My mother did not die in a car accident.

At least, her car accident was not accidental.

A rival organization cut her brakes. My father was gunned down in broad daylight while meeting with a younger crime lord, someone he believed to be an ally.

I killed that man, the person who ordered the hit on my father.

But afterward I swore I was done with that life.

It took away the two people I loved the most, and I did not want to become the head of a crime family, even if it was what I had been raised to do.

At first my goal was to legitimize the Rustanov business so we’d no longer had to war in the streets like common gang members.

But then I met you and I did not want a life filled with bodyguards and business.

I wanted you and I to live a normal life without violence or empire building.

And the reason I did not want us to have children was because I knew if we had a boy, my uncle would stop at nothing to involve him in the family business, even if he was bi-racial. This is the way of the Rustanovs.”

Alexei stared into his empty gelato bowl.

“But now I can see the dreams I spun for us were nothing more than the fantasies of a boy. My uncle would not have let me live my life as I saw fit, no matter what I hoped for. It is good you left me the way you did because I would not have worked as hard to make Rustanov a legitimate enterprise if you hadn’t.

Because of you, I am the one who holds all the power now, not him. ”

“So, you’re no longer a criminal organization?” she asked.

“No,” he answered. “We have not been since I took over. I used my American business education combined with my Russian criminal background to rebuild the Rustanov organization into a law-abiding business. I made timely investments. While my classmates ran after the next big thing here in America, I looked to Russia’s untapped potential: metals, natural resources, media, and the like.

I did the right things at the right time and it all paid off.

Eventually, I was able to move into the American markets as well, which is why I chose to relocate to New York City.

Even though I made my first million in Russia, I was ready to leave it behind. ”

Alexei pushed his gelato bowl away. “But you should know, kotenok, that I have never taken a life lightly. The first time was to avenge my father.” He finally looked up at her, his eyes full of sorrow and regret.

“And the second was to keep you and Aaron safe. My uncle will never come between us again.”

It took a moment for Eva to understand his meaning. “Wait, your uncle is dead?”

He nodded. “I left you to send the order and make sure he hadn’t already arranged a hit.

It’s lucky you came to Italy and told me about his involvement when you did because he already had a man headed to Texas to…

I won’t say it. I do not want to think about what could have happened had you returned to Drummond or stayed on in South Padre. ”

“So, when you left it wasn’t because you were angry?” she asked.

He shook his head. “Of course not! All these years I have been telling myself to believe the words you wrote to me in that letter, to believe you didn’t love me then as I loved you.

I think much of my anger came from not just the thought of you leaving, but also not fully believing our relationship meant nothing to you.

After you left, I started having these dreams in which you came to me and told me it had all been a misunderstanding, that somehow you had not meant to leave me and you still loved me as I could not stop myself from loving you.

Our two weeks on the island was the first time in the last eight years that I have not had this dream.

Though she’d had good reasons for putting him through that pain, it broke her heart to hear about it. “I’m so sorry, baby.”

He shook his head. “No, you have nothing to apologize for. I only tell you this so you will understand how it is that I believed you immediately. Knowing my uncle as I did, I’m sorry to say your story made more sense than the fake one you gave me that night in the hotel or even the new one I had made up for myself on the plane ride here.

I threatened you because I was scared for you and also because I needed to know where you were.

Making the arrangements took a few hours, and I wanted to confirm my uncle was dead before returning here. It was the least I could do.”

She should have been horrified that Alexei could arrange such a thing and have his own flesh and blood killed without a moment of hesitation. However, waves of pure relief flooded through her. She had been so scared for so long because of this man that she couldn’t mourn him.

Still, she said, “But he was your uncle. And because of me you lost him.”

He nodded toward her plate which still had a few uneaten slices of bread on it. “Are you done eating?”

“Yes, but—”

He came around the table and hauled her into his arms. Then he kissed her long and hard before saying, “He was my uncle, kotenok, but you are my heart. If you will have me back, I will always do everything within my power to protect you and our son. I will love you until the day I die, and I will never let anyone come between us again. I just hope you can love me, too, after everything that has happened, after how I treated you in South Padre, and after exposing you even further to my uncle…”

She covered his lips with her hand before he could continue. “Baby, I love you, too. And I tell you what, I’ll forgive you everything if you grant me one wish.”

“Anything, kotenok.”

“Can I pretty please start calling you Lexie again?”

“Anything but that.”

“Wait a minute! I said, ‘pretty please’ and you said, ‘anything’—”

He silenced her protestations with another kiss, and this time he didn’t stop kissing her until they heard Aaron clear his throat.

They looked up to see their son standing in the doorway with a smirk on his face. “This means we’re all going to Disneyworld, right?”