Lev stepped away, and my brothers walked up, shook her hand, and welcomed her to the family. The women followed, pulling her into hugs, and then I gestured toward the table.
I sat at the head, Sienna on my right, Katya next to her, and Pyotr on my left. Next to him was Ninel, then Mariya, everyone else filling the remaining seats.
After everyone’s plates had been filled, Mariya looked at Sienna. “So, Sienna, what special power did you use to capture my brother’s heart?”
I caught the flush in Sienna’s cheeks and shot Mariya a glare, but she just smiled.
“Let me guess,” Pyotr said, fingers pressed to his temples. “She was on the honor roll every year, and in her high school yearbook, she was voted first to become a millionaire.”
Sienna chuckled. “Actually…not a millionaire. A billionaire. I’m into tech and finishing my masters in about six months.”
“She's also in the honors society,” I said proudly, and her cheeks grew red again.
“So…we don’t have to go to Timur anymore if we want dirt on our husbands?” Katya asked sweetly.
Lev tilted his head, watching her with amusement.
“What information have you tried to get on Lev?” Marten asked as he took a sip of his drink.
“Who said we were looking for information on Lev?” Kira batted her eyelashes as she stroked the side of Marten's face.
“Listen, ladies,” Pyotr grinned, “for the right price, I can definitely spill a few stories from when we were younger that they’d kill to keep secret.”
“I know Pyotr can't spill any of my secrets,” Jaroslav smirked.
“Why not?” Vera asked.
“Because I’ve got a flash drive stashed away on Pyotr for a very special occasion,” Jaroslav said slyly.
Pyotr’s smile faltered. “Jay, you told me you got rid of that.”
“Maybe I did. Maybe I didn’t,” Jaroslav shrugged and smiled.
“I've got a better question,” Lev said, glancing between Sienna and me. “How did the two of you meet?”
“Sienna used to work at a small café off campus. One day, on her break, she was buried in this book—Protecting Data in a Hybrid World. Things…progressed from there.”
I felt guilty not telling them the truth, but revealing one secret today was more than I could handle, and that process was still ongoing.
Ninel chuckled. “Only you, Avit, would pick up a wife over a cybersecurity textbook.”
“Sienna,” Jaroslav started, “as you probably can tell, Avit is a man who does things by the book, everything well planned out. He doesn’t jump into decisions, especially huge ones like marriage, on a whim.”
He glanced at me, that intense stare he uses when he’s trying to peel back someone’s soul to get the truth. “You truly must be something special.”
Before I could shut that down or ease her nerves, Sienna placed her hand on mine. Her fingers were trembling, but her voice wasn’t when she met Jaroslav’s gaze head-on.
“Jaroslav, is it?”
He nodded.
Then she said something that blew my damn mind.
“Do you know how hard it is to find someone who actually wants to talk about the things I’m interested in? Someone who understands IT, or at least listens without pretending to?” she said. “Besides my friend Mandy, who barely understands half of what I say, the answer is no one. So when I met Avit, I lucked out. And unlike most guys my age, when Avit speaks, it’s because he has something to say…not because he likes the sound of his own voice. He's intentional. And he doesn’t try to change me into something I’m not, AKA a walking Barbie that will look good on his arm.”
She tilted her head. “Do you not believe in love at first sight?”
A slow, genuine smile pulled at Jaroslav’s mouth.
