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“You didn’t answer my phone call or text message. And why do you look all handsome, when you’re supposed to be watching your daughters?”
“I knew it would be the only way to get you to come over.”
I open my mouth to give him more shit, when his confession catches me by surprise.
“I have clearly made a hundred mistakes when it comes to you and me. I promise you everything I have done was with good intention.” He blows out a breath. “I thought your family was behind Eva’s murder. I found her in your gallery and saw that you and Luca were there minutes before. But then it burned down while I was with you. I never gave the cleaning crew the order for that. I couldn’t talk to you about it because I didn’t even know what was happening. But then I saw a message from your brother afterwards and took it to mean you were conspiring against me.”
“I would never.” My hand comes up to cover my mouth.
“I know.” He steps up to me. His constant need to touch me has his hand resting on my hip. “I was so scared of losing you. How my first marriage ended really fucked me up. I never recovered from losing Nina, because I refused to acknowledge the pain that came with it. I placed my fears onto you, and that wasn’t fair. I promise to never do that again.”
He gets down on one knee. “Katrina, will you please be my wife again?” I stand frozen as he lifts a beautiful diamond ring into the air. “I’ve been hearing what you’ve been saying. I want you to feel like you belong. I want you to take over my shipping department. I want you to be part of my business. We’re partners in every way, and I can’t live with you not in it. My heart doesn’t know how to beat when you’re not around.”
My own heart soars. He sees me. He loves me, including all my faults. I love him too, and I’ve never stopped. He has proven to me that he wants to be in this 100 percent, and he has my back.
I fall to my knees, hugging him. “Yes! I love you so much.”
“Thank fuck,” he whispers before he captures my lips with his. “My next option was kidnapping you and never letting you go,” he says between kisses, and I can’t help but giggle. “I know you get wet for me when I get all demanding and possessive. Don’t try to deny it.”
“Did she say yes?” Charlotte’s voice interrupts us.
“She did!” Demetri calls out, and her tiny body squeezes between us, wrapping her arms around our necks.
This is my family now. The thought warms me from the inside and out.
This is where I belong.
Myhappinessatgettingback together with Demetri is overshadowed by knowing that I need to tell Demetri the truth about Charlotte.
“Why are you still tense?” His hand rubs up and down my thigh. We put the girls down to sleep for the night and are now getting ready to watch a movie.
“I need to tell you something, but you can’t freak out.”
His body tenses immediately. Each muscle becomes sculpted like stone. “By you saying don’t freak out, I know I cannot make that promise.”
“Mikhail said something while he was holding me hostage.”
His eyes widen and his forehead creases with anger from his cousin’s name.
My heart is pulsing out of control, and I dread seeing the hurt in his eyes when he learns the truth. “He said that he and Nina were together before and after you two were married.” He nods, continuing to listen to me, and his hands clench into fits. “He also said that…” I glance upstairs, double-checking Charlotte is not on the stairs. “Charlotte was his and Nina’s baby.”
Demetri’s head flies back as he scoffs. “Charlotte is my baby girl. No one will ever take that away from me,” he growls.
“Should we do a paternity test?”
“Absolutely not. Out of the question. She is mine in my heart and soul. I don’t need some test to tell me that.”
“What about when she’s older and—?”
He cuts me off. “There will never be a reason for her to ever consider an alternative. I’m the head of the Bratva, and I control everything and everyone. She is my baby girl. Mikhail has ruined enough of my life. I never want to hear his name again.”
Demetri’s body vibrates with fury. I can’t tell if he’s refusing to believe what Mikhail told me, or if he just wants to pretend the information doesn’t exist.
“Are you going to be okay?” I dare to ask, knowing he’s internalizing everything.
His hand starts to rub up and down my thigh once again. “I have everything I want. My wife and two perfect daughters. I’m more than okay.”
“I’m here if you want to talk about this, even if it’s a month, a year, or a decade later.”
