Page 22 of Scarlet Sins (Yegorov Bratva #2)

Chapter Eighteen

DEMYAN

With time, and I have enough, I can fix this. Work out a way.

Our special weekend a glowing success, a new baby, and the chance to make a happy family and grow my empire further is my future. And one I embrace.

There are clouds over Chicago, and it starts to rain as I pull up outside the mansion.

Sasha screams with joy when he sees us. He’s waiting at the door with Alina and launches himself at his mother so hard I have to buffer her from behind so she doesn’t fall.

“Mama!” Then as she picks him up to cover him in kisses, he peeks up at me. “Daddy? I want a puppy and a kitty.”

My gaze shifts to Alina, who blushes. “It was Kara’s idea to take him to a pet store. We went out for lunch, and he saw the animals for adoption, so she decided to go in.”

Erin groans as I feel my famous stone resolve, crumbling at his ridiculous demand.

“Well…”

Erin turns and narrows her eyes, setting Sasha down. “Hell no. He’s only two. If he wants a pet, I’ll get him a rock.” But her lips twitch as she ruffles his dark hair. “He needs to learn responsibility with a pet.”

“I have staff.”

“Who don’t need another thing to worry about.”

I smile. “It’s their job.”

“You’re not going to win,” Alina mutters, taking Sasha’s hand and leading him off to the kitchen. It’s early enough that he probably hasn’t had a chance to destroy food yet.

I’m not sure if my sister means me or Erin.

“He wants a puppy and a kitten.”

“And last week he wanted a rocket ship and a truck. I think he mentioned a penguin, too.” She sighs. “Point is, sure, the staff’ll have to help out, and you and me, but wait a year or so and he’ll have a better grasp on responsibility. He’s also going to be a big brother.”

I suddenly take her in my arms and kiss her throat, right where I marked her on the weekend. And her soft skin on her chin has some whisker burn I know I should feel bad about, but I don’t. I like it. That physical mark which makes her mine.

“What if he gets jealous?” I ask. “A pet might help with that.”

“No, a pet won’t. We just need to make sure he’s part of it, made to feel he’s still as special as he is.” She laughs. “He’s got the big bad Demyan wrapped tight, hasn’t he? You’re a pushover.”

“He’s our son.”

“And you’d fill this house, turn it into a zoo for him, wouldn’t you?”

“If I said yes, would you hold it against me?” I ask, the teasing note making her smile. “Let’s get some breakfast, see if he’s destroyed the kitchen.”

“I’m just going to have tea and toast in the living room,” she says, hand to her stomach .

Damn morning sickness. I hate I can’t do anything about it, but I call in Olga to get that sorted for her.

“Are you sure things will work?” she asks me as I gather my things so I can get to work.

I look at Erin. “Yes, whatever complicated hoops I need to jump through, I’ve got time. The supposed wedding’s a long way off. And who knows, maybe Stefina will fall for someone.”

“Could that happen?”

I want to lie, say yes and leave it at that, but we’ve turned a page, so I tell her my take on it. “Yeah, but her father’s not going to let her marry someone out of love. I need to find a way out that leaves him his dignity and me my empire and no war. Not if I can help it.”

“Okay. I trust you,” she whispers.

I kiss her softly, then head to my study.

“Got anything?” I ask the moment Ilya picks up his phone.

“Only bits and pieces but nothing to stop a war if you back out. Sergio’s getting antsy. I’m working on a different angle, too.”

My mind ticks. “Like why now with the wedding and what’s his reasoning behind it, other than getting a better standing by marrying into my bratva?”

“I know there are skeletons. If we can find them, then we have leverage. If he owes or did a bad deal…”

“Yeah, I hear you.” Then I turn on my computer. “When are you out? Any word?”

“Soon,” he says. “I’ll let you know.”

I hmm suspiciously, but let it slide. “Well, don’t treat it like a vacation in there with all the pretty nurses. And get to work.”

“Like I’m not working around the clock, sir. You’re the one taking weekends off to romance your woman. ”

Having Ilya awake and sounding himself is a weight off my shoulders.

“The sooner I get out of this shit, the better.”

“Agreed.”

And I’m thankful he didn’t say what’s already on my mind, that I’m the one who got myself here. Making deals with a devil. Not even the devil, just small fry, middle management, the fucking worst.

I scan over the missed calls and unanswered texts from Stefina. I don’t need to listen to voicemail to know it’s more of the same. All wedding bullshit.

I’m about to start looking into Niko’s cousin, Rocco, and his outfit, maybe see about a meetup since he’s in town for his takeover, an orchestrated casual bumping of shoulders, when the phone rings.

I pick up without looking and the voice on the other end sends chills through me.

Sergio.

And it’s the gloat in his voice that puts my senses on edge.

“Make it quick, I’m busy.”

“Get unbusy, Demyan,” he says. “You’ve fucked about long enough. And it seems the more rope I give, the more you try to back out. Giving my beautiful Stefina the runaround. She’s very upset.”

“I told her to plan what she wants. I don’t care.”

“Start caring,” he snaps.

“What do you want from me?”

He flips back to pure gloat. “I’m moving the wedding up to next week. I’ve booked everything. Since you’re not interested, I’ve taken over and I’m moving the wedding. It’s all set.”

“No—”

“No? Need I remind you I’m not a charity.

I didn’t help you, so you could leave me high and dry.

A deal’s a deal or I’ll make it known how you fucked me hard, broke your promises, and left me to rot.

It won’t go down well, especially when I spin how you set up Niko and his brother in a grab for his land, how you’re now going after his cousin. ”

“I do that and no one will touch you. All but your closest allies will turn and even those won’t want to step in. There’s be a bloody battle that you’ll lose.”

I bite back the tirade building in me. He wants me to lose it. That way, he no doubt thinks he can bargain for a bigger slice. Fuck, maybe he thinks the way out for me is to hand over everything. It won’t be a war. It’ll be a massacre of me and mine, and I’m not about to let that happen.

His spreading rumors aren’t going to hold water as I haven’t tried to seize anything, merely sniffed around. And everyone is doing that.

So I hold on to that temper tight.

“What do you want? We had the wedding in place.”

“I’m not having you get out of it. Next week, Demyan. I want this deal sealed as soon as possible.”

“Stefina—”

“My daughter’s upset, like I told you, Demyan,” he says. “You parade your mistress and her bastard in front of her. Those kinds of people have their place. In the background, unseen, unheard. This is up to you.”

“Fine,” I growl. “But I didn’t upset her. She did that herself. I don’t need to be part of every detail.”

“You’re not. And the details are done. Next week we’ll be family.”

“And if I turn around and say you’re changing the rules?”

“But,” he says, “I’m not. Just in case you didn’t get it earlier, I’ll remind you again that a leader in our world who breaks his word, a word I have on tape, won’t ever be trusted. You’ll be finished. And I’ll make sure the whole world knows. Like I just said. What’s it going to be? ”

Shit. Fuck. Goddamn everything. I clench my fist. “The deal stands.”

“Good. I’ll send you the details. Don’t be late to your own wedding. That’s for the bride.”

When he hangs up, only the fact I need to call Ilya back stops me from hurling the phone across the room and smashing it into pieces.

If it wasn’t before noon, I’d have a drink. I call Ilya on speaker and pace the room, swearing and cursing in Russian.

“He’s moving the wedding up to next week,” I say.

“Ya preduprezhdal tebya!”

“I know you warned me,” I answer. “But if I’m going to get out of this, then I need to find something on Sergio and fast.”

“On it.” Then he pauses and says in English. “Tell Erin.”

‘We’re in a good place, and she knows I’m not marrying her.”

“And if you have to, if you can’t get out of it? There’s no deal you’ve made about a prenup, right?”

“No, but?—”

“I’ll handle that. Best to have all our bases covered, yes?”

“ Da .” The word comes reluctantly. He’s right. I just never pushed this because we don’t usually do prenups in our world.

There is, however, nothing against it. And I don’t know what his holdings are, not deep down. If she comes with trouble and debt, I’m not inheriting it. If I have to go through with it, for even a few days, then Ilya’s right, we need something. And maybe…

“Maybe he won’t want her to sign and that’s the way out.”

“I don’t think we’ll be so lucky. He’d rather you have a prenup and bail him out to save face than have it all break down over a written contract.”

Shit. Ilya’s right. Whatever dirt Sergio’s hiding, a marriage, no matter how it’s spelled out, is worth even signing a prenup.

“Get on it.”

“Done.” He pauses. “And tell Erin.”

I hang up.

We definitely need dirt, real dirt, on Sergio, and fast.

As for Erin…

This… This is going to undo the good of the weekend. I know that in my bones.

I spend half the day in my study, making calls, sending out orders, checking in with sources. But we have to be careful; that’s one thing Ilya and I agree on. Careful, discreet, and quick, a dangerously complicated balancing act.

Finally at four, I pour a drink and sit. No meetings today, thank fuck, because I’m not sure I have the bandwidth. Bad enough, I had a lot of regular shit to deal with. But now…

Yeah.

Now Sergio’s back. Front and center in my head.

Erin and I are going so well; we made great strides this weekend. Even I felt that shift, how we’re closer than before, and I know… I know this news is going to test that. Maybe shatter it.

Because I know Erin.

She’s decent. Not a liar, even if she kept the pregnancy from me longer than I’d like, the fact Alina knew tells me everything. Erin was definitely going to tell me on the trip. I just beat her to it.

But decent is something I’m not. I’m trying to be. I’d more than have her as mine and suffer through an unconsummated marriage to Stefina if that’s what had to happen to keep my little family safe and protected.

Erin wouldn’t. To her it would be a lie. Already the fact I’m engaged against my will is still sitting uncomfortably in her .

I could just lie. Not tell her.

Not that I might marry Stefina because I’m most definitely not. But moving the wedding date.

Right now, it’s far off in her head. Next week is a punch to the stomach.

And the last thing I want to do is destroy our good place.

On the flipside, we agreed no more secrets. And if she finds out from someone else, she’ll be rightly pissed.

Maybe to the point we fall apart.

I throw back my drink and head out. No, the best thing to do is tell her myself. Honesty, right?

Sasha’s whining about not being outside. It’s raining steadily now, and both my sister, Olga, and Erin are trying to distract him. I can see him pressed at the glass in the kitchen and he looks back and sees me.

“Dino, park!”

“No park, Sasha. You’ll get wet.” Erin tries to pull him back from the window, but he throws off her hand.

A sly little smile turns his mouth. “Park.”

I almost laugh. He wants to play in the rain.

“No park today,” I say. “We’ll go tomorrow.”

His eyes light up. “The big one?”

“The big one.”

Then Erin turns her face to me, and her smile slips. “What is it?”

“Can we talk in private?”

She nods and I lead her into the living room where I sit her down.

“There’s been a development.” I run a hand over my face. She stares at me, hands clenched, and my heart lurches.

But I have to say it. I’ve never shied from the dirtiest of work my business, my world demands of me to keep alive, to thrive, and I’m not tumbling at this. Even though telling her the truth seems so much worse than killing a man with my bare hands.

I release a breath. “Sergio wants the wedding to take place next week. Ilya and I are working hard to find a way out, and we will. But you deserve to know the truth.”

She doesn’t say a word. But then she quietly nods.

“Thank you for being honest, Demyan.”

“Erin, this is something I’ll work out. I just have to do it sooner than I thought. We have options, too.”

“Options? Like marrying her?”

I grit my teeth. “I didn’t say that.”

She nods again. “You’re in a difficult situation. I get that, I do.”

“But?”

Erin goes quiet again. And the air is so thick I can barely think or breathe.

“But,” she says, “I’m also not going to stand around and watch this mess unfold. It’s not good for me or the baby. Or Sasha.”

I swallow, my throat raw, chest tight, and I want to lock her up. I want to fuck her until she’s senseless with need. I don’t move.

“I’m asking you for support, to trust me.”

“I can’t support you marrying someone else. How can I? But I do trust you.” She stands up and takes a step toward me, then stops. “And that’s not enough, Demyan. This isn’t about you betraying me or giving up. It’s you being caught and I know if you can’t get out of this, then you have to.”

“No—”

“Yes. I listen to what everyone says, and if you don’t find the right way out, you’ll destroy all you have, maybe yourself, me. Sasha. I can’t allow that and I can’t stand with you.”

“That’s not trust.”

“It is, with a healthy dose of reality.” She sucks in a breath and turns. “I need to think. Sasha and I are going out for a while.” Erin reaches for the door.

I don’t trust myself enough to move from where I’m standing. “Where the fuck are you going?” I demand.

“I need tonight, Demyan. You have to let me go tonight.”

The word no is pushing at me but I force myself to look at her and I say, “Where are you going?”

Erin opens the door and looks at me, and it’s not anger or fear or disgust that floors me. It’s sadness. “We’ll go to Kara’s.”

Fuck. “Erin.”

“I can’t be here. I’m sorry.”

“Erin,” I say again, not asking how long, just… I need her to understand. “I’ll send you with a driver.”

“No.”

“Yes. It’s the only way that I’ll let you go.”

She presses her lips together. “Okay. Fine.”

“But you need to understand one important thing. You’re the only woman in my life.”

She takes a shaky breath and her hand on the door shakes. She’s so close to tears I don’t know what to do.

“I believe you, Demyan, I do, but you’re running out of time.”

“Is that an ultimatum?”

“The truth,” she whispers, voice ragged. “I’ll never stop you from seeing your children, but they can’t be with you and her, and I refuse to be your mistress should this wedding take place.”

She steps out the door, closing it behind her and shattering my fucking heart.