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“I knew it was a girl,” I tell him, walking over with Alina, who quickly pulls the two of them in for a hug.
“Congratulations, brother,” Roman says, while Danil laughs and smacks Lev’s shoulder.
“Man, you’re going to have your hands full,” Vitaly tells him. He laughs and waves a hand at Lev’s solid frame and pierced face. “I pity the poor fucker who comes knocking on your door and asking for a date.”
Lev groans at the thought. “She’s going to have bodyguards. Lots of them.”
Jolene laughs and shakes her head, but we all know he’s being serious. That little girl is going to be heavily guarded, and I can’t say I blame him. After what happened to Alina, I can’t imagine letting any future daughters we may have out of my sight. I keep my arm around Alina while we pass around the sonogram pictures, and it’s impossible to not think about the possibility of one day having our own. I try not to think about it because I don’t want to overwhelm her. She’s been through way too much to even think about kids right now, but there’s no denying that the thought of a pregnant Alina makes me very fucking happy.
“I can’t wait to get started on your nursery,” Katya tells them. “I’ve sketched a few ideas for you both to look through. Just let me know what you want, and then I’ll get started.”
Jolene grins and gives a small, excited jump that has Lev scowling and putting his hands on her shoulders in an obvious attempt to keep her grounded. She laughs and tilts her head back so she can look up at him. “It was a very small jump,” she points out.
He smiles and kisses her nose while he rests both his hands on her pregnant belly. “Small jumps are still jumps. I don’t think our daughter should be bounced around in there.”
Jolene laughs again. “You do know that’s not how it works, right?”
He laughs and gently pats her stomach. “Pregnancy has made you sassy,malinkaya.”
She pats his hand right back and says, “Yeah, you keep telling yourself that.”
He leans down and whispers something in her ear that makes her eyes widen and her cheeks turn a bright red. Before he stands back up, he kisses her cheek and lets out another laugh when he sees how flushed she is.
Clearly flustered, Jolene tucks a strand of hair behind her ear and clears her throat. She looks over at Katya and gives a small laugh. “Think we could look at those sketches now?”
“Yeah, of course, I left them upstairs.”
When Jolene starts to follow, Lev swats her ass as she goes. She looks over her shoulder at him, but anger is the last thing on her face. Lev gives another laugh and watches her walk off. Simona and Emily join them, and when Alina looks up at me, I smile and kiss her.
“Have fun,malishka. I’ll be here if you need me.”
“Okay,” she gives me another kiss before joining the others with Finn right at her side.
“Do I even want to know what you just whispered to my sister-in-law?” Vitaly asks.
Lev laughs. “No, you do not.”
As soon as the women disappear upstairs, Danil leans against thecounter and sighs. “Okay, everything’s on track for the auction. Casimir’s been keeping up the dark web side of things, dropping pics of girls that they think they’ll be betting on. It’s gotten a lot of attention, and there’s no hint of anyone suspecting anything. In fact, guests have already started arriving. Five of them checked into hotels in the city this morning. The rest will be arriving tomorrow.”
“Has Dominic’s man arrived?” Lev asks.
Danil shakes his head. “No, thank god. Lars’s flight is scheduled to come in tomorrow afternoon. No way in fuck could we get him to behave himself if he were in the city already, and I can’t say I blame him. The temptation would be way too fucking great.”
“Tell me about it.” I give a harsh laugh, remembering how hard it had been to keep myself away from Konstantin once we learned he was the one keeping Alina. It had taken all four of my brothers to do it and the firm knowledge that I would be putting her life at risk if I acted too soon.
“You did the right thing,” Roman reminds me.
“Knowing it was the right thing didn’t make it any easier to sit around and wait.”
“No, but sneaking out and killing those men probably helped,” Vitaly says, making me smile at the memory.
Lev leans against the counter. “What are your plans with Konstantin and Osip?”
Everyone looks at me, waiting for my answer. I know they’ve been wondering, especially since it’s been over a week since my last visit to the garage.
“Timofey and Pyotr are keeping them alive for me,” I tell them. “I’ll end it soon enough.”
Knowing I need to handle this in my own way, they drop the subject and we start going over the plans for tomorrow night. The truth is I’m not exactly sure what I’m going to do with the two bastards. With Finn here, I’d feel better about leaving Alina to go finish things with them, but something stops me from doing it. It just doesn’t feel like the right time yet.
