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Was this what Uncle Misha was betting on all along?
Well, now, I couldn’t let that happen. I couldn’t allow my uncle to worm his way into everything. Not now. He thought he had the upper hand, but that wasn’t going to be the case. Not anymore.
I figured out your game, Uncle,I thought.You thought you were being clever. No more.
The doors opened and Boris was standing in the lobby of the building, his eyes hidden by his dark shades.
“I want a list,” I started as we walked to the door. “Of my uncle’s whereabouts for the last two weeks.”
“Your uncle? He’s not anywhere near the gambling rings. You know that.”
“No,” I replied. “But I have a feeling that he was behind this. If not directly, then indirectly. I wouldn’t put it past him.”
“Yeah, me neither,” Boris replied as I slid into the car.
It was time for me to show my uncle that his plans weren’t going to work.
Chapter Twenty-One
Elia
“Ooh, I think this would be perfect on you!”
I took the dress that Aleksey’s sister, Alya, held out to me and held it up to my body. “I don’t know. I don’t usually pick out colors like this.”
She waved a hand at me before she dragged me over to a mirror so I could see for myself. “Yellow is your color, Elia! Trust me.”
I heaved a sigh as I looked at myself in the mirror. Alya might actually be right about the color. It did tend to bring out my darker features, and the dress was just a simple yellow sheath, the delicate straps seemingly too small for the fabric.
“Thisisa pretty dress.”
“I knew it!” Alya laughed. “See, Elia? It’s going to pay off for you to have a sister-in-law like me. Your wardrobe is getting a full makeover, and I won’t accept no for an answer.”
I gave her a shy smile before she bounded back to the rack, pulling off a few more brightly colored items. When Alya had shown up at the penthouse this morning, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I was just now starting to learn Aleksey’s moods, how to communicate with him, and I was terrified that his sister was just a female version of him.
That hadn’t been the case at all.
She was everything that Aleksey wasn’t. Alya seemed to be excited about the prospect of getting me out of the penthouse, and it hadn’t taken long for me to fall under her charm. I could see the similarities between the two siblings, but their personalities couldn’t be further from each other.
In a way, she reminded me of Luca, who had always been the rebel between us, the one who could stand up to our father and not worry about any sort of backlash.
Alya was the same way, even if her father was no longer around to dictate a future that she instinctively rebelled against. But still, I felt for her. She was a Mafia princess, which meant that she could be in the same position I was in just a few years. And while mine was an odd arrangement to begin with, I hated knowing that Alya could be experiencing the same helplessness about her own future.
Turning away from the mirror, I watched as she pulled more items from the rack, thinking about this morning and what might have happened between Aleksey and me. I couldn’t help the fact that I had been looking forward to spending the day with him. The threads of who and what I was before our marriage and my present reality had become so blurred that I wasn’t sure I could ever pull them apart again.
I liked my husband. I was starting to care for him, starting to enjoy his company outside of the bedroom. My entire life lit up when he smiled at me, when he kissed me, which was a far cry from where we had been just a few weeks ago.
It was odd. I didn’t know how to explain it.
“Elia?”
Shaking out of my thoughts, I gave Alya a smile. “Sorry. I was just lost in my thoughts.”
She arched a brow. “Lost in your thoughts or thinking about my brother?”
I tucked my hair behind my ears, hoping like hell that my cheeks weren’t flushed. “I, um—”
“Hey,” she interrupted, placing a hand on my shoulder. “It’s okay if you are. I won’t judge you.”
