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“Lyubimaya—”
“On top of all of that, I’m nervous to meet your surrogate mother and sister,” she interrupted, sniffling once again. “But most of all, I haven’t seen you since before dawn this morning because you had that early meeting. And I really just want a kiss. But everyone is saying you can’t come here because I’m still in this damned dress and it’s bad luck for you to see me in it.”
My chest tightened almost painfully. “Olena and Yulia are going to adore you,” I promised her. “How could they not? It only took a matter of hours before I fell in love with you,dragotsennyy.” More sniffling filled my ear, and I could picture her chin trembling, making my body begin to quake at the thought of her tears. “I want you to stand still for the seamstress, my love. Just a little longer and then you will be out of that dress. I promise you, the moment you are back in the clothes you arrived in, I will be there to wrap my arms around you.”
Behind me, I heard Oleksandr chortle, as if he were eating up the entertainment of the supposed lie I was feeding his granddaughter. But the old fucker had no idea that not a single word was fake.
“Swear?” she whispered, but it didn’t hide how vulnerable she sounded.
“I swear.” I started for the door, not sparing either man another glance or word. “See you soon.”
“I love you,” she murmured, the sniffle not as noticeable this time.
“I love you more.”
A soft laugh escaped her, easing some of the tightness around my heart. “Not possible. Be safe getting to me. I really need that kiss.”
Half an hour later, I walked into the dress shop. Victoria and her twin, Scarlett, along with Anya Vitucci and Allegra De Stefano, rushed out of their seats the moment I stepped inside, surrounding me so I couldn’t make it past the door.
“Did she call you?” Victoria demanded with an amused huff.
“Of course she did,” Anya answered before I could open my mouth. “She’s been all over the place from the moment we picked her up this morning. Then his family showed up, and she turned green from the nerves.”
“I missed her,” I told my future mother-in-law, refusing to tell her that Sofia had, indeed, called me. “I haven’t seen her all day.”
“Leave him alone, Victoria. The poor man needs his fix,” Allegra said with a girlish giggle. “We are all well aware of how that is. Dante stopped by only an hour ago to do nothing more than kiss me. And Adrian was here most of the afternoon. He said it was because he wanted to see Sofia in her dress, but his gaze barely left you.”
“She should be out soon,” Scarlett assured me, her amusement just as obvious as the other women’s. “Tavia and my daughters are helping her change out of the dress.”
Anticipation at seeing Sofia spiked up my heart rate, but I glanced around, expecting to see Olena and Yulia. Not spotting either, I stiffened.
“They were tired from the long flight,” Anya informed me when she noticed my gaze traveling around the sitting area. “Seeing Sofia in her dress appeared to take a lot out of both women. They couldn’t stop crying. Victoria encouraged them to return to their hotel and rest until the rehearsal dinner tomorrow night.”
“It was incredibly sweet to see them so emotional over your bride,” Allegra said with a happy sigh. “I think their happiness for you just sent them into a tailspin, and they couldn’t contain themselves.”
I wasn’t sure if it was as she said or because it was Yulia’s first time seeing her daughter in the flesh since giving birth to her. For Olena, she adored her step-grandchildren, but she’d given up hope of having a biological grandchild years ago. Coming face-to-face with the granddaughter she’d always hoped for must have made it difficult to contain her feelings. The emotional overload for both women must have been too much for either to contain.
Giggles caught my attention, and I looked over my soon-to-be in-laws’ heads to see Tavia Volkov exit a dressing room with Zariah and Ciana Donati. Right behind the youngest redhead, Sofia appeared. Dressed in a knee-length black dress, with her hair flowing over her shoulders, she was so damn beautiful that I couldn’t stop my reaction to her. Thankfully, all eyes were on the girls walking our way, and my suit jacket covered the evidence of how hard my body got at just the sight of my love.
Seeing me standing there with her family, Sofia gave a happy cry and practically bulldozed her way through her cousins and aunts before throwing herself against me. The moment her arms wrapped around my neck and she pressed her forehead to my chest, inhaling deeply, my world seemed to shift. Everything aligned perfectly. Nothing else mattered except holding her, protecting her and our unborn child, and ensuring she was happy every minute of the day.
Fuck Oleksandr and his goals.
I had goals of my own now, and they all revolved around making sure Sofia never stopped loving me.
