Page 102 of The Disputed Legacy

“That’s right, so when I say I love you, Son, and I am happy to be your father, I mean every single word.”

He clutched me closer, smiling so hard. It would be hard to beat this happy moment because I felt like I already had it all.

My woman.

A son.

No danger on the horizon.

Life was going to be good, but as the dinner kicked off and we all sat to celebrate Oscar’s officially becoming an Ivanov, I caught my father watching me. His smile was slow and gentle, much like it was this morning at breakfast. With all my family around me, I felt the truest meaning of his message.

It wasn’t always about getting love or seeking it. I’d done that with Willow until I almost messed it all up.

It was about giving it too. Scanning all the occupants in this room, as my family was so much bigger now, I saw how true that was. It was about giving them all my best, about loving them and supporting them. Learning them. And yes, killing to keep them safe. Nothing would be too costly when it came to giving my family the love they deserved.

“How are we going to top this?” Willow asked, leaning toward me as I reflected on how good life was treating me tonight.

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Our wedding.”

I kissed her. “I’m sure it will be as grand as you envision it.”

I’d make sure of it.

39

WILLOW

Since the Romano threat was over, no one could talk Anastasia out of having the wedding at the church. I wasn’t a fan of the religious buildings because they reminded me of my father, and thinking about him wasn’t fun.

But once I had a walk through the old cathedral, I could see why she was so eager to have at least one wedding here.

It was gorgeous, with old domes and spires, all the stony artwork and attention to detail that just transported you back in time to when craftsmen were commissioned not to build a structure but to compose a masterpiece.

My neck hurt from looking up so much to take it all in, and with its grandness, it was nothing like the simple one-story building that I could picture my father in.

I seldom thought of the small town I came from.

A few days before my wedding, as I prepared to marry Saul, I walked through with Ana and Sloane, envisioning the slow walk to my man at the altar.

“It can still be small,” Ana insisted.

“Yeah, because there’s only like, five hundred pews here,” Sloane joked.

As I settled into the Ivanov family, I grew closer with Sloane. I didn’t know if it was because we’d both been kidnapped to end up at the Ivanov building or if it was because she hadn’t been used to the Mafia life like me. It was probably more due to our sense of humor being the same. I wasn’t as outgoing as she was, but we could laugh at each other easily.

Plus, she evened it out when Ana tried to get pushy about the wedding.

“It can still be small, like you want,” Ana said.

“I only wanted it small because I have no one to be seated on my side.”

Sloane nodded, crossing her arms. “That would look stupid. The church packed to the back on one side of the aisle and no one on the opposite.”

“Then we just have guests sit wherever,” Ana said. Nothing could get her out of this planning mode. She really must have been eager for some women in the family for a long time if she could be this excited over seating charts and decorations. It sounded like it had been only her in the family. All my new friends—or rather, my soon-to-be sisters-in-law—gave me more of a backstory on Beatrice and how she’d cheated on Grigory. Saul talked about how jaded and anti-commitment he and his brothers were all their lives.

On the day of the wedding, I worried that Grigory could be sad about being at a wedding in the same church where he’d actually married his wife. But Maxim shook his head as we waited in the back for the bridal procession to start.