Page 270 of Merciless Daddy

Tonio lifted one hand without looking back.

“Your entire personality is literally illegal.”

“Dance better.”

“Drink quieter.”

“I am drinking beautifully, thank you very much.”

Yelena laughed.

The sound found me across the room.

I had spent years listening for danger. A wrong note in a conversation. A delayed check-in. The silence after a phone call when somebody did not want to tell me the whole truth.

Tonight, I listened to laughter.

Kiryl stood near the far end of the bar with a small group around his age. I did not know all their names. I did not need to. He was telling a story with both hands. Someone laughed hard enough to bend over. Kiryl laughed too.

He did not look toward Yelena for permission to breathe.

He did not stand at her shoulder, waiting to be protected.

Yelena watched him once. Her face changed. Not sadness. Not fear.

Relief.

Then Gemma caught her hand and pulled her toward the floor.

Yelena went willingly.

She danced with Gemma first, laughing when Gemma’s careful movements became bolder. Then Cora joined them. Katerina pulled Yelena into a loose circle with Donatella, who complained the entire time while moving perfectly to the beat.

Yelena belonged in the center of it.

Not because anyone made room.

Because the room bent toward her naturally.

My hand went to my pocket.

The ring box rested there. Small. Impossible. Heavy enough to drag the whole night down through the floorboards.

Tonio appeared beside me with two drinks.

“You are touching it again,” he said.

I took the glass he offered. “Touching what?”

“The ring.”

“How do you know? I am not! What ring?!”

“You have checked your pocket six times in ten minutes.”

I sighed. “Is it that obvious?”

“Sal.” He grinned. “If you wait much longer, I will announce the proposal myself.”