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“Thank you,” Maya said with a smile. She turned to look at her sister. The fact that she was at Maya’s wedding spoke volumes of the magnitude of what had happened. Maya had been convinced she’d never see her again. “Are you ready?”
“Me?” Elena laughed. “I’m always ready. Now, let’s get going. You wouldn’t want to be late for your big day, would you?”
“No, but we’re already here.” Maya quirked a smile. “I don’t think I’m going to be missing anything.”
Elena shushed her, then waved her out of the car. With a laugh, Maya opened the door and stepped out. All eyes had turned in her direction, but there was only one pair she was interested in, and the total, smitten adoration expressed in them lit her up from the inside.
With Elena to her left, trailing along a few steps behind her, Maya crossed the sidewalk and came to stand with the rest of the group by the stairs. She smiled at Kostya, and he awarded her with a glowing smile in return. “You look more beautiful than ever today,zolotse,” he told her.
Maya blushed. “And I think you look ridiculously handsome.”
Viktor clapped Kostya on the back. His smile said everything, but he spoke regardless. “You’ve found yourself a beautiful fiancée, brother. I think it’s time you made her your wife.”
“Maya?” Kostya offered her his hand, and Maya’s blush grew until it heated her cheeks and left her flustered. She’d spent every day of the past six months living with Kostya, rarely parted from his side, but even so, she couldn’t get over the weightless feeling in her stomach and the brimming love in her heart. They’d fallen for each other fast, and as time wore on, she’d learned they just kept falling for each other more and more, each and every day.
There would be no end to the way she loved him, and the look in his eyes and the way he smiled for her and never any other told her the same was true of his feelings for her.
As a group, they traveled up the stairs and entered the Town Hall, Kostya and Maya in the lead. Elena and Roman chatted—mostly Elena, with occasional commentary from her lover—while Alexandra and Viktor offered their support silently. They passed through security checkpoints and on to the waiting area, outside the registry office where they waited until their name was called to sign the paperwork.
The ceremony was quick, nothing like the typical Russian Orthodox weddings Maya had attended as a child or the second one Viktor and Alexandra had celebrated after he’d ruined their first one with his impatience. When Alexandra had told that story, she’d laughed, but she’d then confessed that at the time, she’d been heartbroken at how callously he’d behaved. Maya was told that Alexandra had been planning her wedding for years, long before she had a groom. As much as Maya had grown to really like her sister’s best friend, they were very different people, and the idea of planning such an extravagant affair was far too overwhelming and not even remotely exciting to her.
She didn’t regret the simplicity of her big day. She’d rather spend it with her small family than work herself to the bone preparing a celebration for hundreds of people, many of whom she barely knew. And as she initialed where required and signed her name on the bottom line, the same thrill ran through her that she thought she would have had if standing before an altar, pledging herself to Kostya in front of a sea of faces.
She’d picked the pen up as a single woman and set it down as Kostya’s wife.
With a radiant smile, Kostya cupped the back of her head and guided her to his chest for a gentle kiss. Maya grinned into the kiss, feeling like she might start to laugh at any moment. Her wedding had been a simple affair, but that didn’t stop it from being the most wonderful day of her life.
All that she needed to be happy was Kostya.
“Congratulations,” Alexandra said warmly. “Welcome to the family, Mrs. Sokolov.”
“Thank you.” Maya blinked away sudden tears, beaming. Alexandra was now her sister-in-law, a fact she was still struggling to wrap her head around. She’d gone from having no family to speak of to being at the center of a tightly knit group of people who genuinely cared for her, and it was a shock she knew she’d need to adjust to. “All of this is so…so perfect.”
“Like you.” Kostya kissed the side of her head, then threaded his fingers through hers and squeezed. Maya squeezed back. “I love you, Maya, my beautiful bride. I can’t wait to see what the future holds for us.”
“I see an extravagant wedding in your future,” Elena predicted. “Crystal chandeliers, a gorgeous reception hall, lots of dancing…”
Maya furrowed her brow. “I’m sorry…what are you talking about? Kostya and I don’t have any of that planned.”
With a laugh, Elena held up her left hand. There was a beautiful diamond ring on her ringer, the center stone flanked by many radiant smaller ones. “Next year, Roman and I are going to be hosting the party of the century. You’re going to be there, right? Because I’m going to need two matrons of honor since this one will be in baby-momma mode.” She pointed to Alexandra, who was nodding her head.
Maya cupped her mouth and laughed, the brimming love in her heart spilling over at last. “Elena! Of course!”
In their own ways, each of them had found their perfect life, unexpected in so many ways. For years, Maya had cut contact with her family and forged her own path, but in the end, her happiness had come in stitching together the connections that she’d severed. Time had changed everything—both for the good and for the bad. But here, with people she cared for, and beside the love of her life, she had a feeling that weathering the bad was about to become much easier.
“Shall we go,zolotse?” Kostya whispered in her ear. “I believe Elena has a busy afternoon prepared for us.”
“I do!” Elena chirped up.
All Maya could do was laugh. She looked up at Kostya and found his gaze ever as adoring as it had been when she’d stepped out of the car for the first time. His heart was hers, and hers was his. No matter where they went, or what they did, she’d love it, as long as they saw it through together. “Let’s go.”
They left together, three couples with the world at their feet, and with love like no other in their hearts.
End of Deadly Knight
SOKOLOV BRATVA BOOK THREE
Savage Boss, January 12, 2023
