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“Where are we going?” She asked for the fourth time at least.
“Don’t worry, it’s a surprise that will surely make you smile.”
“Is that a hint?” She asked as he led her from the bedroom.
“A hint would be taking you somewhere that would make us both happy and content because we are together. You shall see.” He said to her and then led her through the back hallways.
She could hear the music getting louder, then the laughter, the voices, and as he brought her through the living room and towards the set of long sliders that covered the entire back of the house to the patio and pool, she saw her friends. They saw her too.
“Annabella!” They all exclaimed and she turned to look up at Ivan, still straight faced but a twinkle in his eyes.
“I know you missed them and they were worried. Now we are all able to share your attention.” He said to her and she leaned up to kiss him, then pulled back and hugged each of her friends, hello.
****
Louisa wrapped her arm around Annabella’s and walked with her towards the edge of the patio that looked out towards the town farther below. It was an exceptional view and home, and security was incredible. Louisa knew about those things, and she couldn’t believe that her friend Annabella was involved with a made man.
“So, we need to toast.” Louisa said and released her arm as she raised her wine glass. Annabella raised hers.
“To what?” Annabella asked.
“To popping your cherry and with a man like Ivan Sokolov.”
Annabella blushed and then chuckled as they clinked glasses. Annabella then turned to look towards where Ivan was as she took a sip of her red wine.
“He can’t seem to take his eyes off of you at all.”
“The same goes for me.” Annabella said and then looked around at her friends. The men were all mingling with her friends and they all seemed to be having a great time.
“So you’re happy with this? With Ivan?” Louisa asked.
“Very. It’s so crazy how things happened. How connected we are.”
“Well, you don’t have much to go on, but he does look experienced. Was he gentle?”
“It was perfect Louisa. There’s no need to worry.”
“Well I do. I know a bit more about him then you do. About these types of men. Hell, if I didn’t leave for Texas to go to college I could have wound up married and popping out kids, cooking up meals like it was my only thing to look forward to, and being at the beck and call of a made man. So needless to say, I’m worried. He’s is a very powerful man. More powerful than the people I know.” Annabella swallowed hard. She stared at Louisa. “He almost didn’t want me, afraid to taint me, thinking I deserved better because I was a virgin. I told him about the scar and it turns out.” She paused and Louisa scrunched her eyes together.
“What is it?”
“Don’t say anything but his parents were actually the store owners of the place next door to my parents store front in the city. That explosion and fire was a hit, Louisa. A bad man went after them but they weren’t there. His parents were away doing business but the people they had run the place were there.”
“What?”
“Yes, I know, it’s so crazy, but yet it’s like fate. Like our pain, our loss was brought together and we found one another. He lost his parents and sibling too in a different situation.”
“Holy shit.” Louisa looked toward Ivan who seemed concerned because Annabella looked emotional.
“Are you sure he wasn’t part of that hit? That his parents weren’t?”
Annabella seemed shocked as she looked at Louisa. “No. Absolutely not. He would have told me.” Louisa gave her a serious expression. “No Louisa. He didn’t. He was truly upset that it was my family that died. That I survived and had the scar. It was like because his parents were killed too, and our lives were affected, and here we were instantly attracted to one another. It was amazing, shocking, and he was sincere with his emotions.”
“Okay, I just want to be sure. Men in these positions can’t always be trusted. They do things differently than traditional relationships. Business comes first.” She said to her. Annabella looked away and out toward the view.
“How did this happen anyway? Last text I got from you was you finding out some woman he slept with did business with him.”
“Don’t remind me. We talked about that and it?
