Page 115 of Born into Chaos

He laughs and says, “You’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”

“Thanks for picking this up for me, Val.”

“Anything for my brother-in-law,” he says, giving my shoulder a squeeze on his way back to the elevator.

I watch him leave, wishing like hell Seryozha could be here. He would’ve loved Sveta and her family. He wouldn’t have ever wanted to be a part of the Bratva, but he would’ve enjoyed hanging out with them all the same. Pushing aside thoughts of my brother, I quietly slip back inside.

“What are you up to?”

“Jesus,” I say, turning around and facing my sneaky wife. “I don’t understand how anyone as loud as you can still be stealthy.”

She gives me her cute smirk and plants a hand on her hip. “I’m a woman of many talents.”

I give her a wink. “I’m well aware.”

She fights a smile and points to the bag in my hand. “What’s that?”

I hold up the bag. The silk strings of it are hooked onto my fingers as I swing the signature blue bag.

“Tiffany’s, huh?” she asks, trying to not show how excited she’s getting. “You wake up this morning and decide you needed something?”

I grin and pull the bag out of reach when she tries to make a grab for it. “More like I placed an order at Dominic’s and it was just finished this morning. Your brother was kind enough to pick it up for me.”

“Val’s in on this?” She frowns, but her eyes are still on the bag. “I just talked to him this morning. I can’t believe he didn’t tell me.”

“It’s called a surprise, Sveta. Some people can keep secrets.”

Her eyes dart to mine. “I can keep secrets. You didn’t know about me sneaking out with Natalya, did you? And you didn’t know I was in love with you this whole time either, so I think I’m pretty good at keeping things hidden when I need to.”

I step closer, threading the fingers of my free hand through her hair and tipping her head back so her eyes are on me again.

“I didn’t know about the sneaking out part, but I knew you were in love with me.” Smiling, I add, “Or I hoped you were. At the very least, I knew you really wanted to fuck me.”

She laughs and rests her hands on my chest. “I still do, if that counts for anything.”

“It’s everything,pcholka.” I lean down and kiss her, letting her know that I feel the same way about her. There will never be a time when I don’t want to be inside this woman. If I’m breathing, then I’m wanting her. That’s never going to change. Before I stand back up to my full height, I keep my lips close to hers and say, “No secrets between us, Sveta. Promise me.”

“What about this?” she asks, eyeing the blue bag I’m still holding.

“That’s a present, sweetheart, not a secret. You know what the hell I’m talking about, stubborn girl. Promise me.”

She smiles and gives me another kiss before whispering, “I promise to never keep secrets from you, Vitya, unless it’s a present.”

Kissing the tip of her nose, I smile and hand her the bag. I’m surprised by how nervous I am now that she’s about to open it. I run a hand through my hair and then shove it in the pocket of my jeans, refusing to give into the urge to fidget. She smiles, clearly amused at my inability to play it cool. I don’t have the kind of money her family does, but they pay well, and I’ve always saved the majority of what I make, so I had more than enough to splurge at the jewelry store.

When she reaches into the bag, I say, “Do the long one first.”

She glances inside and then looks up at me. “Why are there three boxes?”

“Don’t get too excited. One of them is for me.”

“You know you didn’t have to get me anything, right?”

I laugh, because we both know there was no way in hell I wasn’t going to get her a ring, and we also both know that there was no way she would ever tolerate not having one.

“I’m being serious, Vitya.”

“Open the box,pcholka,” I tell her, because as cute as it is to watch her trying to convince me she would’ve been fine without a ring, I’m nervous and anxious to see if she likes what I had custom made for her.

---