Lev stood on the steps watching me, though, a curious expression on his face. “I overheard you in the foyer.”
I nodded. There was no point in hiding my suspicions—or the fact that I was sleeping with Elena.
“She’s pregnant?” he asked, smiling but also wide-eyed with surprise.
“I’ll find out soon enough.”
“Fuck.” He laughed once. “Holy shit! You’re serious.”
“I hope she is.”
He patted my back, almost in a congratulatory manner as we walked up the steps together. “This would be welcome news. Good news!”
I grinned, knowing that they’d all be excited for the family to grow. Lev wouldn’t be threatened by this. He was fully on board and always had been with the concept that he and Alexei were“spares” as the cousins and not brothers of the family.
“An heir would only strengthen the family. A new generation to raise to take us further.”
“I can only hope.” As we walked inside and up to my office, he asked more about how sure I was to ask for a test. It felt silly to say I was only guessing, but I refused to lose this optimism.
Becoming the next Pakhan was a taxing and overwhelming identity crisis to get through.
But the idea of becoming a father filled me with a deep thrum of excitement and pride that I could barely contain.
As soon as I’m through with these morning meetings…
We’re going to find out just how real and lasting our little affair is going to be, sweetheart.
Nothing could wipe this grin off my face as I started imagining all the wonderful what-ifs of the future bringing me a son or daughter.
And a wife.
32
ELENA
The following morning had me facing the same predicament I’d woken up to yesterday. Nausea hit me as soon as I was semi-conscious. My stomach roiled with the need to be empty, even though I’d barely picked at my dinner last night. That wasn’t only because I’d been struggling with a low appetite but also because I’d been a guest at their family dinner.
Adrik had asked me to eat with him, his brothers, and his cousins.
While they weren’t strangers, it marked a decidedly different approach to who I was here.
Not just the accountant who was investigating this big matter of a network made by their supposedly dead uncle.
Not just the woman their leader was sleeping with.
But a… guest.
I couldn’t have eaten much because I was talking or listening to them. I wasn’t sure how family dinners were supposed to go.My father and I never were close like that, and it had just been the two of us when I was younger. And these men were from a criminal organization.
Shocked that they’d come together as an ordinary family, I realized that they struggled with separating the business side of their life with the family one. I was the same, I supposed. Because over the course of the night, they had me talking about the investigation almost without a stop.
So, there wasn’t much in my stomach to begin with.
I darted out of the bed and rushed to the bathroom. I gagged, but nothing actually came up.
Moving this quickly reminded me again how sore I was. After Adrik walked me here to the guest house, he’d treated me to hours of sex that had me deliciously raw now.
I exited the bathroom, dreading what it could mean when he wasn’t sleeping.
