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Interesting slip-up.
I help her sit up, and she stretches and yawns.
“We are. Come join the guys and me. You need to eat something.” I reach for her hand and help her up. She’s still groggy, so I am careful to guide her. After all, she’s precious cargo—even if she weren’t carrying our child.
She takes a seat in the club chairs circling a table and reaches for a small sandwich. “Oh my god, guys. I can’t believe I slept the whole flight. Hey, how did you find me at my dad’s? I’ve been wondering since you stormed his office.”
“One of the losers he paid to snatch you from the villa caved pretty easily. It’s amazing what a few euros can buy. And your father’s cheap, so he hadn’t instilled much in the way of loyalty,” Ilya says.
She lets out a big rush of air. “Wow. But you got to me so fast.”
Fedor nods. “Yeah, well, it’s not hard to do if you have enough money.”
He’s right. That’s pretty much how it works. We can afford to hire private jets on a whim for this sort of thing.
But hell, even if we couldn’t have afforded it, we would have found a way to make it happen. After all, our girl was in danger. There’s nothing more important than keeping her safe.
She puts a hand to her chest and shakes her head sadly. “I can’t believe my dad ever thought he could best you guys. I mean, what a fool. I feel for the man, that he was that out of touch. But on the other hand, he’s an evil bastard,” she says sadly.
I get her ambivalence. He’s her father, after all. Orwasher father. But I keep that bit of information to myself.
Which reminds me, I need to confirm with our security people the manner of disposal they chose. Of course, I’ll do that out of Abby’s earshot. She doesn’t need to know the gory details of her father’s undoing. She’s suffered enough.
“Speaking of parenthood, Abby, who’s the father of the baby?” Fedor asks.
I know this has been eating at him. He could hardly wait for her to wake up to ask.
But Abby just shrugs. “How should I know? Could be any of you. We can do a paternity test if you want. But I prefer not knowing. That way, you’re all equally the baby’s father.”
Well, damn. I hadn’t even thought of that. I figured we’d identify which of us is the baby daddy, and that would be that. But Abby is right. Do we really need to know?Idon’t. I glance at Ilya and Fedor.
“Guys? You good with that?” I ask.
They nod slowly, accepting this different approach.
“Sounds great,” Ilya says.
“Yup. I like it,” Fedor says. “Does your mother know?”
“Yup. She’s the only one. Well, shewasthe only one.” Abby laughs and the airplane fills with her musical laughter.
We’re all silent for a moment, and my ears pop from the plane’s slow descent. It was a good flight back, although flights are always good on a private jet. There’s just no downside. The guys and I talked a lot of business, ate dinner, and played poker.
I won.
And of course, we checked on our sleeping beauty. Frequently.
“We’re proud of you, Abby,” Fedor says.
Her smile fades and sadness washes over her face. “For what? Sending my dad off to the firing squad? I’m not exactly mother-of-the-year material, am I?” she says with an edge of bitterness.
I reach for her hand. “Baby, you did what you had to do. It was hard. Very hard. But when it came down to it, your father left you no choice. It was you or him. That’s the bottom line,” I say.
She nods. “I know, Bogdan. I know. It will just take some getting used to.”
“Becoming a mother is going to take some getting used to, darling. But I know you’ll be a champ. And look, I’m sure your mother will be right there to help whenever you need it.”
Wheneverweneed it. Fuck, I am totally unprepared to be a father. But I’ll figure the shit out.
