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Epilogue
One Year Later,
Michelle
Exactly one year after Nico and Hugo saved me from an arranged marriage, I was finally happy and in a committed relationship with both of them.
Michael Anderson tried to sue Affinity Finance after my father’s failed attempt to marry me off, but the courts laughed in his face. He was arrested several months later for money laundering, and the last time I checked, he was still doing time in federal prison.
Life with the Stepanov brothers was beyond rewarding. We had crazy, passionate sex almost every night, and none of us ever got jealous. Hugo was still the more mature one, while Nico was still a goofy boy at heart. I often watched them workout in our home gym, too.
Everything had been running smoothly with my real estate company. I had made connections in seven countries and sold private properties to both residential and commercial buyers. It was more rewarding than my career working for Affinity Finance. Real estate had been my true calling all along, and I was glad to be done with my father’s company. If I had gotten married to Michael Anderson, then I knew my company wouldn’t have been nearly as profitable as it was.
I also started doing whatever I could for the Stepanov family. They took me in with open wings and quickly considered me to be part of the tribe. Hugo and Nico showed me all of the ropes of working for Erect-it Corporation, and I even helped renovate an old factory into a set of luxury apartments. Nico helped, of course, since he had done the same for his own building.
We also had sex in just about every new apartment in that building, and Hugo joined us on several occasions.
Moving to Russia was a huge change for me, but luckily Elaina came too. She had yet to settle down, though. Elaina was having far too much fun with a few different Russian men to choose just one. They loved her spunky personality, and I had walked in on her having a few threesomes of her own. If I hadn’t been in love with Nico and Hugo, I might have even joined her in a few. I was trying to find her someone in the Stepanov family to settle down with, though.
I couldn't justify living in the United States anymore. It might have been different if my mother were still alive, but I needed to be with Nico and Hugo. We were a family, and a family can’t be that happy when they’re apart all of the time. We had tried the long-distance thing for a few months, with me traveling there and vice versa, but it was evidently clear that one of us would have to move to the other country.
The Stepanov family was so prominent in Russia that it just made sense for me to move there. The climate was significantly colder, but I stayed warm with all of the faux furs that Nico and Hugo bought for me. Every week one of them spoiled me with some new items of clothing. Even though the business they gave me helped launch my real estate company, they insisted on buying just about everything for me.
The only connections that I had in the United States were overseeing some of Affinity Finance. My heart and soul were finance, but my father had started making bad business decisions. I had to buy it just to help the employees who had worked there all of those years, plus the locations they owned. I would have loved to see my father file for bankruptcy, but the people who worked for the company had my compassion.
My father was finally able to retire, and we were able to reconcile our differences. He ended up apologizing for the way that he treated me and blamed it all on his own upbringing. He was, in fact, from a very different generation that didn’t see a problem with arranged marriages. While he had yet to visit us in Russia, he often did a video chat with all three of us and was no longer a target of the Stepanov mafia family.
Nico and Hugo were now head of Erect-it Corporation, and they started to take over major family issues. They thrived in that position, and I loved to watch the two of them work together all of the time. Hugo was always looking out for his little brother, and Nico would forever look up to him. Their father was technically retired, but he was known to get involved in some deals from time to time. He also stopped having people killed, after much begging from Hugo and Nico.
I became close with their mother, Ivana, who I finally met shortly after moving to Russia. It was cute watching her and her husband bicker over little things, now that he was also retired. She taught me all about Russian culture, told me funny stories about Hugo and Nico from when they were kids, and even helped me with some accounting work in my real estate company.
I once hated working with family, but now I loved it.
All three of us were having dinner in the condo that we bought. I had it styled like my one back in New York City, which Hugo loved. Nico was a bit more modern, though, so we styled his office with modern furnishings. We shared a massive California king bed, that was technically big enough for about eight people. It was great for nights when we all wanted some space from each other.
Even though I was busy running my company, helping the guys with Erect-it Corporation, still doing some odds and ends with Affinity Finance, and occasionally helping the Russian mafia, I somehow found more time for my personal interests and hobbies. One of the first things that I learned to do was cook, which I had never been that good at. I learned a handful of Russian dishes, but Nico and Hugo were still partial to Italian food.
I made us spaghetti and meatballs that night, which the guys said was their favorite, and even made the pasta from scratch. Hugo and Nico had even helped me make the dough with our new pasta machine. Our kitchen had all of the latest appliances, including a refrigerator and stove that could speak, but my favorite was making pasta. That night we had angel hair with homemade tomato sauce.
Nico had picked the tomatoes from our garden on one of our balconies, then made the sauce himself. Hugo had baked a loaf of bread and then turned it into garlic bread, although he used pre-mince garlic since he didn’t want his hands to smell bad.
The meal was delicious, and both Hugo and Nico helped themselves to two more servings. I got up and put my plate in the dishwasher, cleaned up a little bit, and then sat back down.
“Babe,” Hugo said, “this is the best pasta you have ever made.”
“Damn straight,” Nico said. “Can you make this more often?” I smiled and nodded, then sat back and closed my eyes. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt so content and happy.
Nico stood up to clear the plates and made his way into the kitchen. “Can you tell me if there’s something in the oven?”
Hugo tilted his head at me, then smiled and said, “Did you make a pie for dessert?”
“Oh, hell, yes,” Nico said. “I fucking love pie!”
“You love all food, Nico. Relax. You just had three servings of spaghetti and garlic bread. You can wait a little bit for pie.”
I burst out laughing and shook my head. “No, I think there’s something else in the oven.”
Nico raised his eyebrows and opened the oven door. “Well, there’s a bun in the oven. That’s weird, though. Why would you put a single bun in the oven, Michelle? The garlic bread was pretty filling, and Hugo is right. I should wait for a little bit to eat. I don’t know why I just wolfed down three servings of pasta.”
