Page 115 of Mafie Queen

“I do all of those things to take care of you. You have never complained before. Or was the Beef Wellington with fresh steamed carrots and sweet potato mash not up to your standards last night?”

He picks at his fingers as if we aren’t having a heated discussion and shrugs.

“Doesn’t mean the power is equal here, Lex. Choosing our meals and laundry detergent is vastly different from being in control of our safety and you know it. Think about that.”

He turns on his heels to leave the office before I can give a proper response. I am not budging though.

The day I go to see my mother’s grave is one of the very few a year I actually feel like I can be myself. I will not have that ruined by guards and others who have no business taking part in this day. I get back to sorting through my emails when an urgent message pops up. It is from my father, so I open it.

Alexi,

I would like to request the presence of you and your family tomorrow night at the estate. Dinner will be served at seven. Do not feel the need to dress for business. This will be a family gathering.

-Boris

I add his request into the calendar that I have installed on everyone’s phones so that they can see our business schedules. Once I finish reading and answering my emails, I head up to the gym to inform everyone of our plans for tomorrow.

Except no one is in the gym. I push open the door to the bedroom to find Lev and Damien snoring on the couches in the lounging area of the room. Evie is next to them, wrapped in a large fluffy blanket with her phone in hand.

She doesn’t look up at me when I approach, so I kneel in front of her. I know she was just trying to help earlier, and I hate disagreeing with my wife, but I do love that she heard me and let the matter drop.

“I’m sorry I raised my voice, Princess.”

Her eyes land on mine, and a pang of disappointment shoots through me. Not at her, but at myself, because my girl looks truly defeated.

“If that’s all you’re sorry for, I really don’t want to hear it.”

She goes back to her phone, typing away. I know Laney is probably going to scold me for something later, but I cannot stand her ignoring me like this.

“Princess, I just need you to know this is a private moment, one that I need to stay private.”

She scoffs. “Oh okay. So if I asked to go visit my parents’ graves, you would just let it be the four of us with no backup?”

“Yes,” I answer the question honestly. The answer seems to surprise her and her brows knit together. “I know how it feels to hurt that deeply and have others watching. If you wished for that moment to be private, then I would make it private.”

She stares at me, clearly not believing a word I said. I let her see I am not playing games though. The death of a parent is different than anything else, and I would never try to ruin the moment she needed with them.

When she finally sees I am telling the truth, she sighs.

“Get in here.” She lifts the blanket beside her for me to climb in. I do as she says, crawling under it and pulling her into my lap while tucking the blanket tightly around us.

“I’m sorry too then.”

“For what?” I ask as I drop a kiss to the top of her head.

“For not hearing what you really needed from me the first time.”

I wrap my arms around her, not fully understanding what she means by that, but accepting that we can move past this.

“My father sent me an email saying he would like to speak with us tomorrow night. He will have dinner ready, and it will just be us. Nothing formal.”

“He sent you an email?”

She wrinkles her nose as if something about that is weird.

“Yes. How else would he get in touch with me to schedule dinner?” For as long as I can remember this is the only way my father and I have communicated when apart other than the occasional phone call if a job were big enough.

“You’re his son. Can’t he just call you?”

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