"I love you," she whispers against my lips.
"I love you too." I pull back just far enough to look at her face. "I have since the first time you smacked me. I just didn't know it yet."
She laughs, that bright, surprised sound that never fails to make me smile. "You kidnapped me and I assaulted you and you fell in love with me?" God, the way she looks at me is so mesmerizing. I'd pay every cent I'm worth to have this, and the best part is that she gives it so freely. This is what love feels like. And I never want to live another day without feeling it.
"Something like that."
"You're insane," she groans as she shakes her head.
"Probably." I kiss her forehead, her cheeks, the corner of her mouth. "But you said yes, anyway."
"I did." She leans into me, her head resting gently against my chest, and I can feel her heart beating. "I really did.”
30
EPILOGUE
VIVIKA
The bridal suite at the cathedral has become my home away from home for the past few days as we prepare for our wedding. I'm standing in front of a full-length mirror while Inessa fusses with the train of my dress and Noemi adjusts the delicate lace veil that cascades down my back. Outside, I can hear the murmur of guests taking their seats, the soft strains of a string quartet warming up for the processional.
My parents are waiting in the anteroom, ready to walk me down the aisle. My mother cried when she first saw me in the dress—a reaction I wasn't expecting from the practical woman who raised me to be self-sufficient and skeptical of fairy tales. My father just smiled and told me I look like an angel, which made my mother cry harder.
They don't know everything about how I met Lev or the violence it took to get us here. I've carefully edited our love story for their consumption. As far as they're concerned, I met a businessman through work, fell hard and fast, and I'm now marrying into a family with extensive holdings in import and export. It's close enough to the truth that I don't feel guilty about the omissions.
My phone buzzes on the vanity table and I reach for it automatically, ignoring Inessa's disapproving look as she watches me pick it up.
"Vivika, you cannot be serious," she says, one hand resting on her belly. "You're getting married in fifteen minutes."
"It's Rurik. It might be important."
"Everything is important to Rurik. That's why he calls you twelve times a day." She chuckles, but she's being serious. I drafted him into our network because he has fingers everywhere, and what better way to save more women than to use an asset with such a large reach?
I answer, turning away from the mirror to speak quietly into the phone. "Tell me you have good news."
"The best." Rurik's voice is rough with satisfaction, and it sounds like our operation has gone exactly according to plan. "We found the source in Kazan. The man running recruitment for Yaros's network—he's been funneling women from the eastern provinces for years. Local girls, mostly… Students and runaways who are desperate."
My grip tightens on the phone. "And?"
"And we took him out. His operation is shut down permanently."
I close my eyes and let the relief wash over me. Another piece of Yaros's network dismantled, another pipeline of human misery closed forever. Rurik and I have been working on this for months, systematically identifying and eliminating the sources that fed Yaros's trafficking operation. This is the third major node we've taken down since the wedding was announced.
"What about his contacts? The people above him in the chain?"
"Already working on it. I've sent two of our best men to take his place—they'll snake their way up through the Veche hierarchy, identify whoever was coordinating with him, and trace the network back to its roots. Give us another few months and we'll have enough intelligence to bring down the entire structure."
"Good." I glance at the mirror and smile at how the good news makes my skin glow. Lev says happiness looks good on me, and seeing this, I'm inclined to believe it. "Keep me updated. I want to know the moment you have anything actionable."
"You're getting married today, Vivika. Maybe take a few hours off?"
"The work doesn't stop because I'm wearing a white dress."
Rurik laughs, that dry rasp I've come to associate with his particular brand of dark humor. "Lev picked well. I'll call you tomorrow with a full briefing. Try to enjoy your wedding."
He hangs up before I can respond, and I set the phone back on the vanity with a smile tugging at my lips. Another source eliminated, another piece of Yaros's empire crumbling to dust. By the time we're finished, there won't be anything left of the network that trafficked those women—and no one left alive will know how to rebuild it.
"Vivika Rozhkova." Inessa's voice is sharp with exasperation as she appears at my elbow, her pregnant belly bumping against my hip. "You're getting married in ten minutes. Whatever criminal enterprise you're dismantling can wait until after you've said your vows."
