Page 130 of Born into Chaos

The laugh I give has him arching a brow at me. He’s trying to look pissed, but the truth is we’ve gotten pretty close the last few weeks. Being a grandpa has softened him, and I’ve never seen him look so excited as when we told him Sveta was pregnant. He and Lev are still gloating about being the first to have two grandkids.

The photographer starts setting up, and as soon as he’s ready, he starts with photos of just me and Sveta. I told him beforehand that I wanted hundreds, possibly more, and he’s taking me at my word. Eventually, we bring Samantha in and get a ton of the three of us, and then we add her parents and Val, until we eventually have everyone cramming in for a huge family photo

“Sandro, Dario, get your butts over here,” Sveta calls out to them. “You’re part of the family too.”

Dominic’s cousins are both in suits, but they’ve been hanging back, not wanting to intrude, but I knew Sveta would want them in the photo so that’s why I’d made sure to invite them. Alessandro squeezes in by Dominic, and when Dario hangs back near the corner, the photographer waves him in closer until he’s positioned behind Mia.

We all smile as he takes photo after photo, until I hear Sveta whisper out of the corner of her mouth, “Jesus Christ, Vitya, I’m hungry.”

I laugh when I hear Vitaly from right behind me, saying, “Me too, honey. I feel like it’s been hours since I’ve eaten.”

“Oh my god,” Katya whispers, “it’s been like an hour tops.”

“Jesus, you two are terrible,” I say with a laugh. Reaching into my suit jacket, I pull out two packages of gummies and toss them each one.

“My favorite,” I hear Vitaly say, right as Sveta lets out a soft, “Hot damn. Thanks.”

“Admit it, the real reason you agreed to marry me is because I always carry snacks in my pocket for you.”

She smiles and pops a gummy in her mouth. “I mean, that did go a long way in your favor.”

I laugh and look at her family. “Can you believe this girl? I saved her life and this is how she treats me.”

They laugh while she smiles up at me. “That’s my line, Vitya, and I did save your life.”

I cup her face, laughing when she keeps chewing. “And I saved yours.” I lean closer and whisper. “You never have thanked me for that.”

She smiles up at me. “No, I haven’t.”

I kiss the cute smirk right off her face while her family cheers us on. I hear the camera clicking, knowing the photographer’s capturing every second of this moment, and I can’t wait to blow this one up and frame it.

“God, I love you so damn much,” I whisper against her lips beforekissing her again. My whole life is in this room—my pregnant wife, our beautiful daughter, and the crazy family that’s now become my own—it’s perfect, and I can’t imagine anything better than this. At first I’d been so mad that she’d saved me, and now I’m just so fucking grateful that she did. I would’ve missed all of this if her stubborn ass hadn’t insisted on giving me her blood. My stubborn, willfulpcholkahas saved me over and over again, and I’m going to spend the rest of my life showing her exactly how grateful I am.

Svetlana

One Month Later

My heart lights up when I see Vitya holding our daughter and walking towards me. She’s smiling, already reaching her arms out, and as soon as they’re close enough, I grab her and pull her against me for a hug. Vitya cups the back of my head and kisses me before sitting down next to me on the couch.

“Feeling better?” His blue eyes run over me, concerned and worried, and it’s so damn cute it makes me smile.

“I’m fine, just a bit of morning sickness,” I tell him. This last week it’s hit me hard, so he’s been taking over the mornings with Samantha. I miss seeing her cute little face when she wakes up, but being able to sleep through the worst of the nausea has helped a ton.

Vitya kisses me again and rests his hand on my stomach. “Go easy on your mommy, little one,” he tells our baby in Russian. I’m still amazed at how easily Vitya has taken to being a daddy. He’s jumped right into family life and hasn’t looked back. He’s a lot more like my dad than he may realize. Now that he’s no longer my official bodyguard, he’s been working closely with Luka and Max, but he always makes sure he’s here when I need him, and he’s made it clear that his first priority is making sure Samantha and I are takencare of.

“I’m really glad you saw sense and stopped fighting me,” I tell him, making him laugh.

“I didn’t stand a chance in hell and we both know it. I was barely able to resist you when you acted like you couldn’t stand me, Sveta. There was no way I was going to be able to resist you when you showed me just how sweet you can be.”

I give him my best smile. “I’m always sweet.”

“Yes,” he agrees, and then quickly adds, “unless you’re using your stinger.”

We both turn to Samantha when she starts squealing as loud as she possibly can. Vitya laughs and lifts her into the air before bringing her face to his so he can kiss her cheeks. She’s a daddy’s girl through and through, and it’s the cutest thing to see. Resting a hand on my stomach, I can’t help but wonder if we’re having a boy or a girl. I think Samantha would love to have a little sister who’s so close in age to play with, but I also can’t stop thinking about how cute a little boy would be—dark hair and blue eyes just like his daddy.

When I look up, Vitya’s staring at me with the sweetest look on his face. “I can’t wait to meet them. I want to know what they look like, if they’re going to have your eyes or mine and what their personality will be.” He laughs and says, “Maybe we’ll have twins.”

“I’m not so sure I want to push two babies out at once,” I tell him. “I think I’d rather just do one pregnancy at a time.”

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