Page 10 of Daddy's Reluctant Queen

Today, however, it’s a little different. I come bearing good news. I look up at the clear blue sky just as a cool breeze brushes my face. It’s a perfect day.

“Hey, honey,” I say to her gravestone. It sits mute, her name carved in stone underneath a little angel statue sitting on top. “I’ve got news. The best news. The man who killed you is dead. Finally.” I feel a little laugh bubble up from my chest. “Shot him down myself, just like I promised. He’s burning in Hell for what he did.”

Nothing but the sound of the wind, but I imagine that wherever she is, she’s smiling. Maybe even jumping up and down and clapping with joy. It’s a better thing to imagine than what I know is probably the truth. Angela wasn’t cut from the same cloth as me. The act of taking matters into one’s own hands was not something that she believed. In her mind, there was a system to adhere to and laws that needed to be obeyed. She still believed in old-fashioned thoughts of upholding the very thing that’s had its foot on the necks of people since its inception.

The bald faced fact of it is that Angela hated it that I was Bratva as much as I hated it that she was the D.A.

But she loved me and I loved her and in the end, that’s all that mattered.

I sigh, resigning myself to the undeniable truth of her stance and say, “I know that this way of life wasn’t your cup of tea and it might’ve delighted you if I could have left it instead, but that’s just not what happened. I hope you understand that when Marius decided to kill you, he accrued a debt to me. A debt that had to be paid. That always has to be paid. He couldn’t be allowed to walk around with his life after taking yours away.”

I squat down in front of the grave, tracing her name with my fingers. “Enough about him, though. I’m sure you’re more interested in our son. Luka is fine,” I say. “More than fine. Growing like a weed. And he’s still got your eyes and your hair.A headful of blond ringlets. Natalie’s been good about keeping it cut short. I’m hopeless with that kind of thing, so I dread to think what it would look like without her help.”

I pause as the elephant in the room enters my mind. The moment that she found out she was pregnant enters my mind. She asked to meet in our special place—a little garden in the outskirts of the city. I found her sitting on a bench right next to a row of begonias, tears in her eyes.

“I’m pregnant.”

It was a shock. We’d been careful up to that point, or at least I thought we had. We both knew what it would mean if a child came from our union. It would mean that we would have to make choices that neither of us wanted to make.

We talked for a long time on that bench. Weighing our options. We talked until we finally fell quiet as the sun started to set. We watched the sky change from blue to gold together, with her resting her head on my shoulder.

“What are we gonna do?”She’d whispered it. It wasn’t really a question, but rather a thought. What were we going to do?

We went back to her apartment and made love all evening. As the dawn started to light up the sky outside her window, she said words to me that I’ll never forget.“We’re in trouble… aren’t we?”

“I’m not letting you or this baby go. Do you understand that?”She looked up at me from the crook of my arm, her blue eyes watering with tears.

“I’m sorry. If anyone finds out?—”

“I know the law. Your bosses can’t ask who the baby’s father is and they can’t fire you for being pregnant.”

She lifted her head and stared at me with those eyes.“And the brotherhood? What happens once they find out?”

I sighed.“You are going to have to decide, then. Either we do this or we don’t.”

Final words that I’ve lived to regret. Making her decide, making her choose… I should have made the choice for her.

It wasn’t enough. Or at least I thought it wasn’t. A week later, she split up with me and I assumed…

That’s all in the wind, though.

“They still don’t know.” I say that to her grave. “No one except Natalie and Ignat. I won’t lie to you, though. The older he gets, the harder of a time he’s going to have with it being a secret. I’ve been trying to think of ways to introduce him to the Bratva. I mean, it’s not uncommon for men like me to have illegitimate children or take on wards. I could always introduce him as the product of a random hookup, but… I can’t be sure that someone won’t eventually link you to him. And besides all that, I don’t ever want to deny you. It’s not anyone’s fault that he’s our son and I’m not ashamed of our relationship.”

I hear the sound of a car approaching and I glance over my shoulder. Coming down the lane, roughly a hundred steps away, is a silver Mercedes. I recognize it. It’s Ignat’s car.

I turn back to her. “If I can think of a way to do it, I will,” I tell her. “If there were some way I could let the Bratva know about Luka, bring him into the fold properly, I’ll find it. You might not want for him to become what I am, but honestly… it’s safer than being out in the world and just knowing about the life. Especially if anyone discovers who his parents are. Forgiveness isn’t exactly a thing with Bratva.”

I stand up as the sound of soft footprints approaches. “But don’t you worry. I’ll make a way for Luka, Angie. Don’t you worry.”

I smell Ignat’s cologne before I see him. He says, “I thought I’d find you here today.”

I glance at him as he stands by my side. “Have I become that predictable?”

“Only to me,” he says. “But then, any goodsovietnikknows the movements of his Pakhan.”

“Hmm,” I say. “Suppose I should be thankful for that. Leaves no chance for any of my enemies to kidnap me.”

He scoffs. “As if they would dare try. You know, with the elimination of the Penza, the Arkhangelskaya are set to become the most powerful Bratva on the East Coast.”