Page 77 of The Disputed Legacy

“You sure?” she asked him as they hugged.

“I’m sure. Love you.”

“Love you, too, Oscar.” She glanced at me again, almost as if she felt like she should tell me something too. She settled on, “A good night of sleep will help.”

“Sure. It will.”But you’re not getting it until we talk.

Oscar didn’t comment any further about anyone sleeping. He had yet to know that I went to bed with his mother every night. I woke up first before he did, so he could keep assuming I slept on the couch.

Willow left us and Oscar smirked at my bread slices. “Why do you put the peanut butter and jelly both on one slice?”

His plate had one slice with each condiment.

“Because that’s how my oldest brother always does it.” Maxim was a big fan of the classic PB and J, but the chefs never did it like he wanted them, with mouth-gluing amounts of peanut butter and only a little jelly.

“Your brother?” he asked. His brows shot up high. “You have a brother?”

I’d never told him much about my family because it never came up. Now, though, I was glad to start the process of filling in more details he’d want to know about. Come hell or high water, after tonight, he and Willow would be with me.

“I have three.”

His mouth hung open as he stared at me. “Seriously?”

“Seriously,” I said.

“Where are they?”

“At home.”

“Oh.” He frowned as he put his bread together. “You’ll have to go back there someday, huh?”

“I can’t wait to,” I admitted.

He looked ready to cry.

“And I can’t wait to introduce you to them.”

He grinned. “Really?”

I nodded.

“What’s it like to have a brother?”

I sighed, hating how wistful he sounded. I wasn’t privy to what his younger years were like, but if he’d been wishing for a sibling, I hated that he’d missed out. I couldn’t imagine my life without my brothers in it.

At the reminder that my brotherhood had recently been challenged, I fought back the urge to roll my eyes.

I wasn’t a fucking Romano.

Dominic was a moron to try to play with us like this. And it would clearly be proven with a paternity test.

I didn’t need a blood sample to prove that I belonged as an Ivanov. Even if there was the faintest chance I wasn’t in the family by blood, I was a brother because I’d lived with them. I’d suffered and grown alongside Maxim, Nik, and Damon, and nothing could snap those bonds we’d built.

All the Ivanov men were brothers. We were all one, one big family, but it annoyed me once more that I’d need to settle such a stupid lie about who my father could be.

It sure as fuck wasn’t Dominic Romano and we would soon be able to share that fact with the rest of the world.

Oscar watched me, waiting for an answer.