Page 96 of Savage Bratva King

I nod. I don’t trust myself to speak. Not yet.

I’m still trying to figure out what this will mean to us, to me and Leo, with the refuge that we’re planning on opening within the next twelve months. We’ve already found a building. A huge, three-story, red-brick property in a leafy Chicago suburb with a massive backyard and planning permission to extend outwards and upward into the roof. The instant I stepped inside the building, I knew it was the right one; it had such a positive vibe, that I walked around with Leo telling him how I planned to utilize each room.

And how will Leo react to me being pregnant?

I want to believe that he’ll be ecstatic about having a baby, but I’ve seen too often how a child can alter a relationship. Heard too many horror stories from the women at the refuge. But this is Leo, I remind myself. He isn’t like other men. He would protect me and our child with his life, I know he would.

“I’m right, aren’t I?” Mel’s gentle voice penetrates my reverie.

I turn around slowly to face her. I can’t even ask Mel how Xander reacted to the news that he was going to be a father, because Lucian was six before he discovered that he had a son.

I throw my arms around her and hug her tightly, wincing and releasing my grip a little when my breasts complain about being crushed. I ignored the soreness when Leo was sucking on my nipples, but it’s harder to ignore now that I’m being forced to confront the truth. I wish that I could turn back time and tell Xander that my sister was pregnant with his baby. So much time wasted because he’d just taken over the family business and everyone said it would be for the best that it makes my heart ache to think of Mel going through this alone.

Best for whom?

“Mel, I’m so sorry.” I shake my head, fresh tears collecting on my lashes.

She smiles and dabs my face with a fresh tissue. “Raging hormones; you’d better get used to this. But you have nothing to be sorry for. I’m happy for you, Gi. Both of you.”

“But you had to do this alone.”

“I wasn’t alone. I had you, remember?”

“Did I… Did I help?” I peer at her face through my tears, praying that I gave her some small comfort when she was taken to Montenegro to raise Lucian without his father.

“More than you could ever believe, Gi. I couldn’t have done it without you. Even if you did refuse to change a soiled diaper.”

I chuckle and promptly start choking on the combination of laughter and slowly erupting sobs. “I still don’t think I can change a dirty diaper.”

“You’d better learn quick then, Gi, because I’m not doing them. It’s payback time.”

When our tears and giggles eventually dry up, Mel applies another coat of mascara to my eyelashes and watches while I smooth nude gloss over my lips.

“Ready?” she asks.

“Ready.”

* * *

Tamara and Ivana are waiting outside the door to escort me and Mel through the gardens and down to the pagoda. They’ve ditched their customary goth look for simple white shift dresses with rows of colored gemstones embellishing the square necklines. Ivana still has the green flicks elongating her dark eyes, but they both appear softer, like watercolor paintings compared to bold abstracts.

Tamara smiles when she sees us, and for the first time, it feels genuine. I’m not sure that we’ll ever be best friends, but I hope that we can at least learn to live together. I know how important they are to Leo, and I don’t want to be the cause of any animosity.

“You look beautiful, printzessa.” Tamara leans in and kisses my cheeks.

“Does that mean that you’ll call me by my real name going forward?”

“Nah.” Her curls bounce around her face when she shakes her head. “You’ll always be the printzessa.”

She and Ivana exchange glances, and Ivana averts her eyes. The only time we ever made eye contact was when she tried to drown me in the cold room, and that feels like a lifetime ago. I vowed then to get her back in my own way, but I think I already have. She respects me for standing up to her, and I think this is the reason why I have her approval to marry the pakhan.

Strangely, Tamara is still the one I’m wary of.

“I just want to apologize,” Tamara says out of the blue, “for lying to the pakhan about you.”

I sense Mel’s bewildered frown. I haven’t told anyone what happened in the woods that day, not even Mel, and I don’t intend to. I don’t know what went down between Leo and Sergei after he betrayed him to Xander, but I saw how badly it affected Leo, and I never want to put him through it again. If he believes Tamara, then I’m happy for it to remain that way.

“And I want to thank you,” she continues, “for not telling him the truth.”

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