Page 32 of The Enemy’s Defector (Ivanov Syndicate #3)

KATERINA

J oann’s presence helped a lot. Just having her here as a mediator calmed me, and Lucy seemed more open to listening to me and not being so defensive.

While Joann was calling herself a guest, she didn’t seem interested in settling in.

As far as I was concerned, she was just the newest member of the household who was going to make it her mission, alongside Sloane, to help me and Lucy figure out a truce.

We were sisters now, but we were slow to get there and act like it.

Lunch didn’t end up being as tense as I feared it would. We all talked. And joked. The humor might have seemed dark at times, but with all that we had to face and deal with, it helped to laugh whenever we could.

Lucy told me and Joann more about how she came here and adjusted to being Damon’s wife.

She painted the picture of a woman who learned to love and trust, and it was clear she was a happily married and pregnant woman now.

Her bashful smiles proved how she truly felt about being Mrs. Ivanov—one of them, at least.

With what I knew of Damon the Demon, it surprised me that such a sweet, quiet, and almost docile woman like my former maid could make him happy. He was always so dark and foreboding, too tense and serious. I supposed that was what they meant when they said opposites attract.

“You were a stripper ?” Joann asked when it was Sloane’s turn to introduce herself more and let Joann know where she’d come from.

While Joann was an older woman and certainly more old-fashioned, she wasn’t a prude.

Sloane nodded. “Don’t tell me that you can’t tell already!” She exaggerated a look over herself, smiling at her visible baby bump. I could tell that she was proud of her body, so slender and athletic yet curvy where men liked women to be.

Or maybe that’s the pregnancy too.

At her adorable smile at her stomach, I wondered when I would start showing.

I couldn’t help but smile too, excited at the idea of having a bump and showing the world I was about to be a mother.

Without any siblings and never having a mother, then also losing my father, I felt starved for a family.

Becoming a mother mattered a great deal to me.

It was one thing to feel pregnant, but I bet it’d be something else entirely when I would look pregnant.

“I worked way too hard to lose my body this fast,” Sloane joked.

“Oh, you’re still hot,” Lucy said. “And not even puking anymore.” She grimaced.

“Is the morning sickness that bad?” I asked her.

It seemed like a tentative connection I could lean on to build these fragile friendships. All three of us were newlyweds and all three of us were pregnant.

Lucy nodded, seeming miserable about it. “Isn’t it for you?”

I shook my head. “Not yet.”

She groaned. “Go figure. I’m the only one with it.”

Joann offered advice about dealing with morning sickness, which prompted both of them to inquire about her children. Sadly, she shared her story of losing her son—something my uncle considered “collateral damage” and also something I’d never forgiven him for.

“Anton’s guards shot him when they thought he was breaking in,” Joann said. “There were some soldiers arguing and drinking and being rowdy, so when he came to visit me from college, they reacted and…”

I patted her hand, hating my uncle all over again. I swore that if I could have the chance to kill him, I’d want to bring him back to life all so I could kill him again and again.

We fortunately moved on from the topic of Joann’s son being killed.

Both Lucy and Sloane offered their condolences, but I was glad that no one else carried on talking about Anton.

Bringing up my uncle at all was a risk for me because I felt like I would always have to counter the prejudice of being a Kozlov and then automatically being the enemy.

It was a case of one step forward and two steps backward, but there was nothing I could do but be myself and hope that others would realize I had no loyalty to that murdering asshole and never would.

My marriage to Nik and my time here in this house felt like a test, and I couldn’t wait until Anton was dead and I wouldn’t have to deal with him or his “legacy” as the enemy of the Ivanov family.

Sloane and Lucy left before too long, giving me a chance to catch up some more with Joann.

It felt good to spend time with her, but in the back of my mind, I couldn’t help but miss Nik.

After spending so much time with him on the run and having no break from him, I was subjected to withdrawal from him now.

Since learning that he had given in about the details of my prenatal care and where I could deliver, I wanted to thank him for being able to budge like that. I also wanted to express my gratitude toward him for bringing Joann here and giving Malcolm a place to stay and protect them from Anton.

Nik had a heart. I knew he did.

But could I view his gestures as a sign that he loved me?

“Katerina,” a woman said as she entered the living room where Joann and I were catching up.

We both turned to the newcomer, and I couldn’t help but smile.

It hadn’t been that long since I’d seen Anastasia.

I saw Nik’s grandmother at that wedding earlier in the year, but watching her beam at me felt good.

That test to win over all the Ivanovs’ trust and welcome was wearing on me, but this woman wouldn’t be an issue.

Anastasia Ivanov was someone I’d always known.

She knew me as a young girl. She watched me from the background.

Whenever I’d come here to play or visit with my father meeting up with Grigory, she entertained me and seemed so fond of me.

I had her approval before.

And it was so comforting to realize she still approved of me now.

“I can’t believe it,” she admitted with a light laugh, shaking her head as she crossed the room toward me. “When Maxim mentioned in that call that Nik had come home and was married…” She let out a dramatic sigh while still appearing as regal and proper as ever.

I closed my eyes as I hugged her, almost moved to tears that I had another woman in my corner.

Joann smiled from the side and backed up, pleased as well. “I’ll excuse you two,” she said.

I paused her to introduce her to Anastasia, and I was glad that despite the differences between them—a Mafia matriarch widow and a former housekeeper—she wasn’t judgy.

Anastasia and I sat and she smiled again. “I just couldn’t believe it. I’d wanted to see all those brothers at least in the process of settling down this year, and now look at it. Three married and every one of you pregnant!”

“That’s quite a family expansion,” I agreed.

“I hope I didn’t miss out on too much,” she said. “I was away for a function with the governor’s wife for a few days. That’s business as usual, but if I missed your wedding too…” She slanted her brows and gave me a stern look.

“Ah. About that.”

She groaned lightly. “You didn’t have one either?”

I raised my brows. “Sloane and Lucy didn’t?”

She pressed her lips together. “Well. Maxim and Sloane hurried through one. And then Damon and Lucy…” She winced. “It was more of a contractual thing, where we thought you would be showing up.”

I nodded and knew I’d need to hash this out all over again. She was patient and attentive as I gave her my reasons for why I sent Lucy in my place. I admitted my sorrow and regrets for duping them all, but then I followed up with what else was going on.

My search for the truth about my father’s death. Looking for Nik and saving him. Realizing I was pregnant. It was a lot, and it took an hour to update her about it all.

“You don’t have to apologize to me.” She shook her head. “When Lucy showed up, I figured you had a plan. You had a reason to stay away.” Patting my hand, she softened her expression. “I’m sorry you had to see the truth about Thomas’s death. That couldn’t have been easy.”

“It wasn’t,” I agreed. “It still isn’t easy. I’ll always miss him. He was all the family I had.”

“Not anymore,” she countered with a gentle smile. “You’ve got Nik now, but if you were to ask me, you’d always had him. Plus, a baby on the way!”

“I appreciate the welcome,” I told her. “I’m hoping everyone here will believe me when I say I’m not a threat or a spy.”

“They’ll come around,” she said.

“Even Maxim?” I raised my brows. His opinion mattered the most as the leader of them all. Until he accepted me into the family, I would feel like an outsider.

“Even Maxim,” she confirmed. “He’s got a lot to handle right now. Be patient.”

I was trying my best, and I refused to screw this up.

“Three granddaughters.” She sighed again, so happy.

“I remember when the boys were born. One after the other, all sons. I had so much hope for a granddaughter, but that wasn’t meant to be.

” Leaning toward me with a conspiratorial smile, she said, “Let’s hope one of these babies will also be a sweet, darling girl to pamper and spoil too. ”

I smiled, imagining having boys and girls. As many children as I could.

“I also remember what it was like when Beatrice married Grigory. How much hope I’d had in her.” Shaking her head sadly, she showed me her distaste about that woman.

“I remember her too.”

“You do?” She raised her brows. “You weren’t that young, but it’s like no one recalls her. Of course, no one wants to remember her here. Her memory is a stain on those brothers’ minds.”

“Yes, I remember her,” I replied. I not only remembered her but also how I used to kind of tag along with her when I could.

I had been so fascinated by her, watching a mother, and I had started a habit of snooping.

It started as curiosity. It developed into intrigue, and it was that nosiness that had saved Nik’s life.

I’d never talked to anyone about it, this action that should’ve prevented Maxim or any other Ivanov from doubting where my loyalties lay.

Now, if I were to bring it up, no one would believe me.

A guard came into the room, letting Anastasia know she was needed elsewhere, and we parted ways. After she told me that we’d catch up soon, she left the living room.

Too full of thoughts and now old memories, I sat back down to mull over them and muse about what else I could do until Nik came home. I understood that he was a busy man. He’d have a lot to catch up on after being gone. But I missed him.

“There’s not much I can confidently claim to remember these days,” a man said at the doorway, “but contrary to what she said, I do remember my wife.”

I spun, standing to see Grigory entering the room.

“Hello, sir.”

“Oh, none of that now.” He smiled, the same smile he used to have for me when I was younger. “You’ve never called me sir in your life.”

I grinned, watching him walk into the room with the help of a cane.

“We’re family now,” he said before hugging me.

After hearing he ordered the guards to take Lucy to the dungeons because he had thought that she was me, and I had to be an enemy, I hated to feel so wary around him. And because this was Grigory Ivanov, he noticed my stiffness as I hugged him back.

“You’re safe—from me.” He sat with a sigh. “I won’t lie and admit I’m the same old man you’ll remember.”

“It sounds like it’s been a rough recovery,” I admitted. “I’m sorry.”

“It has been rough. I’ve got my good days and my bad.

I’m happy that this is one of the good ones, too.

I feel more like myself more often now.” Sharpening his gaze on me, he lost that more jovial and casual tone.

“I’m especially glad today is a good one and my memories are cooperating.

I overheard you with my mother there, and I remember when you used to trail along after Beatrice. ”

I nodded, wondering if he’d remember it all.

“You trailed along with her so much that you were the one to give me the first innocently blurted idea that she was cheating on me.”

I winced, recalling all too clearly how I’d mentioned seeing Beatrice kissing other men at functions. I’d told Grigory, as a very young girl who had yet to realize the significance of what I was ratting the woman out for.

“And you continued to trail along after her, so much so that it was you who could tip me off about where my sons were held.”

I swallowed hard and nodded again.

“Does Nik know that you were the one who gave me the tip that saved their lives?”

I shook my head. “No. I never had a good time to tell him and I hated to remind him of the experience afterward.”

He grunted. “And I’ll assume from my recent conversations with Maxim that you haven’t told him, either. That you haven’t told anyone other than me that you had that tip to share.”

Again, I nodded.

He rolled his eyes, surprising me. “Then it’s not going to be very hard to shut them up about not trusting you, is it?”

I almost smiled. “If you think so. I imagined that saving Nik and protecting him from being shot might’ve also proved my loyalty, but I guess that wasn’t good enough.”

He patted my knee. “Don’t you worry. They’ll question whether or not I’ll know what I’m talking about, but I’ll make sure to set them straight.

If you haven’t been officially welcomed into this family, then I will have the honor of doing that now.

” He lifted my hand and kissed the back of it, like a gentleman.

“And now that we’ve been able to have this conversation, I want to thank you, from the bottom of my heart, for saving Maxim and Damon back then.

For saving Nik back then and again now.”

I waited for him to fully stand before reaching out to hug him.

With his blessing, with him able to remember my loyalty to the Ivanovs before Anton ever came into power, I finally had hope I could count on, that maybe I really could belong with these people who were supposed to be my horrible enemies.