It’s Misha who takes a step forward to get in my uncle’s face. His eyes dart to Sasha when my cousin mirrors him and takes a step closer. My Uncle Vitaly laughs when the two crazy guys start sizing each other up.
Misha’s eyes turn back to my uncle. “I don’t think you’re taking this seriously enough.”
My uncle laughs and reaches a hand into his back pocket. Misha’s entire body stiffens, his own hand reaching around to where I know his knife is sheathed. When my uncle pulls out a package of gummy snacks, Misha looks even angrier. I think he would’ve been less offended if my uncle had pulled a knife on him.
Opening the bag, my uncle pops in a gummy and says, “Relax, kid. This is my serious face.” He chews another gummy as he looks around at all of us. “The thing you don’t understand, Misha, is that a grandkid is involved here. No one is going to risk losing access to Lyra. A rift between our two families would affect Max and Talia, right?” He looks back over his shoulder at me and smirks. “I guess I should say grandkids, because I’m guessing Sitka’s already pregnant.”
“Fucking hell,” Volodya groans, obviously not having allowed himself to think that far ahead.
I know how much cum I gave my girl, though, and my uncle isn’t wrong. My Uncle Vitaly sees the truth of it on my face and laughs before eating more of his snack. While he chews, he grabs another package from his evidently endless supply and says, “Hey, Valeri. Catch.”
Valeri snags the bag out of the air with a grin on his face, ignoring the scowl both his brothers are giving him.
“Don’t think I didn’t notice you staring,” my Uncle Vitaly says.
“Thanks, man,” Valeri says, already ripping his bag open and digging in.
“Now that snack time is over,” my dad says, “maybe we can figure out how to handle this.”
“It’s always snack time if you do things right,” my Uncle Vitaly mutters.
“We’re handling this by me marrying Sitka,” I say again. “It’s already handled.” I look over at Volodya. “I love your daughter. I know you’re pissed at me for daring to even look at her, but this was never a game to me. I want to marry her, and I give you my word that I’ll never hurt her.”
I look over at her brothers. “I get why you brought me here. I would’ve been pissed too if I were you, but I don’t want thisbetween us. Sitka loves you too much, and I refuse to be the person who comes between you and her.”
“So you’d let her go if it became a choice between you or us?” Yuri asks.
“No,” I tell him. “I’m never letting her go. You two need to get over it is what I’m saying.”
They look like they’re about to reach for their weapons, but before they can try, Volodya says, “He’s right.”
“What?” Misha asks, looking over at his dad.
Volodya looks at his sons. “I’m not losing Sitka over this, and I’m sure as hell not missing out on being a grandpa. Besides, if he really was fucking around with her, the show you put on for him would’ve scared him off. It obviously didn’t.”
“What show?” Yuri asks, trying to feign innocence.
Volodya raises a brow at him. “Nothing happens in this Bratva without me knowing about it, and that’s especially true if it involves my sons.”
“It needed to be done,” Misha says, not wasting time with any excuses that we all know would’ve been bullshit anyway.
“Debatable,” their dad says, “but I understand why you did it.”
“You okay with this, brother?” Vasya asks him.
Volodya turns his eyes to mine. Not mincing words, he says, “I will fucking gut you myself if you ever hurt my daughter.”
I swear I feel my entire family stiffen at the threat, but I’m completely unfazed when I hold my hand out to him. “It’ll never happen,” I say. “I’m completely incapable of hurting her.”
He searches my face, looking for any signs of deceit, and when he’s satisfied there are none, he shakes my hand. “I want to talk to my daughter alone before you see her.”
“Fine,” I agree. “She hated lying to you. It wasn’t something she did lightly.”
He nods but doesn’t say anything.
The peace is short-lived, because my Uncle Vitaly immediately asks, “So where are you two planning on living? You gonna do the six-month thing like Max?”
Before I can answer, Volodya growls, “He’s not taking my daughter all the way across the country and keeping her there.” He points a finger at me. “I’m serious, Damien. I’m not losing my daughter over this after I’ve already agreed you can marry her.”
