Page 76 of Mafie Queen

I grin up at him. “So that’s a yes then?”

He gets down on his knees in front of me, taking my hands in his.

“I will always say yes to you, but I sort of got something for you too.”

Reaching into his bag on the desk beside us, he pulls out a very similar box. Opening it, he reveals a black ring, but the center is a band of bright sapphires.

“I saw you flipping through ideas for Evie when your eye caught on something similar. The way your face lit up, I knew this was what I wanted to give you. You helped me find a way to accept a piece of myself, and for that I will always be grateful. It’s because of you that our family works. You’re the center that helps hold us together.”

Taking the ring out of the box, he carefully places it on my hand then kisses it. “This is titanium, so you can punch someone in the face with it and not worry about damaging the ring.”

Well if this man didn’t have my heart before. Leaning in, I pull his face to mine, kissing him like he’s the missing piece to mylife. In a way, he was. It wasn’t until Evie came into the picture that I felt like I could show him how I felt. Now that I have him and Evie, I feel complete.

“Let’s go marry our girl,” I say, pulling us to both stand up.

Alexi comes out of the room on the other side of the living area just as I say that.

“Wait, um… shit.” He looks down and around like he’s forgotten something, then clenches his fists and strides over to the couch. “Can you please sit?”

Lev and I glance at each other but sit like he asked. Once we are seated, he sits across from us. “I need to tell you both something.”

Alexi takes a deep breath, then sits up straighter than Lev in his corset.

“I am not good at admitting when I need help. I am not an understanding person, and I am shit at letting people in. However,” he removes papers from the inside of his jacket, “I have come to find that with the two of you, this is different. So, I had these drafted.”

We both look down at the pages on the table.

“This is a legal document that balances the seat of power in the Bratva. You will no longer be just my hands when my father gives me the organization.”

He flips the papers so we can read. My mind flashes with what we could possibly do if we aren’t his right hand men. But it all comes together as he explains.

“We will share it. With equal power for all of us. We will make decisions together while all still having defined roles. However, we will not need to check in with anyone when handling problems in our own sectors unless we want to. There will be balance.”

“Why now?” Lev questions.

Alexi takes a minute, searching for the right words. We know by now to give him time to collect himself.

“I do not know how to do the love thing well. I am unsure of how Evie even tolerates my version of it ninety percent of the time, but she does. And you guys pick up the slack in the other ten percent. So, I guess this is just my way of saying it back. I do not want to be a lone leader like my father. It is too much for him. I want us to be a unit in this like we are in all other things”

I look over at Lev as he picks up the papers and starts to read them.

“What about Evie?” I ask.

Alexi nods, pulling out another set of papers. “If she wants to join us, I have the legal documents drafted for that too.”

Lev hands me the contract and sits forward. “Are you sure you can give up the control? I don’t want to sign this and you regret it later.”

“I have found that when it comes to the three of you, I do not mind sharing the burden of leading. You all take this job as seriously as I do, even if we have different ways of showing that. The last thing I want is for our lives to be split between who I am to you as a boss, and us as a family. We will make all of the decisions together.”

Alexi grabs a pen from the coffee table and hands us each one. “So, what do you say, brothers?”

“Well, I for one, say,” I announce, sitting up to grab a pen, “let’s do this thing.”

Lev grins as he does the same. In under ten seconds, we all sign our lives over to sharing the same title in the future. The kings of the Bratva.

Chapter 27

Laney, Nessa, and I head to the hotel to get ready together. While they make plans for the evening, I can’t help but let my mind reflect on the past three days.

---