“Nice to meet you, sir,” I curtsey. Like an actual curtsey and the man chuckles.
“Nice to meet you. I see that you have made my boy’s demons cower in fear. He needs a good woman,” the man kisses my hand like a gentleman.
“Oh,” I blush.
“Ivan, are you walking back?” Tim asks him.
“I am, I want to spend time with Adelina,” he says, never taking his eyes off of me.
“We will see you back at the apartment,” Konstantin gets in the car behind Tim.
“Shall we?” He offers me his arm and I gladly take it. We walk in silence for a few minutes. I feel like Ivan loves the quiet. He also has a lot on his mind right now.
“Thank you,” he says softly.
“For?”
“For saving me, in more ways than one,” he admits.
“I meant what I said, I love you. I felt that after Clifton and I didn’t want to lose you.”
“I’m thankful for it all the same, but from now on can you not meddle in that side of the job?”
“Because you asked, yes.”
“Where do we go from here?”
“I hope that we can see more of each other. See where our love goes,” I reply.
“I agree. If your father allows it,” Ivan says.
“He will. He will want me to be happy. I think we will be very happy together, I mean if that’s what you want, or see it going that way,” I’m stumbling over my words.
He stops in front of an opulent building and I just know it’s the one he lives in.
“I want that,” he bends over and kisses me, searing into my brain that he owns me, ruining me for other men, not that there will be other men. Only Ivan.
Epilogue
Three years later
Ivan
“I now pronounce you man and wife,” the priest gives his blessing and we turn to the congregation which erupts in applause. Marrying Adelina is a dream come true.
The night her father and brother came over for dinner, we joined forces and are one big bratva/mafia. Sharing in profits, Italians, and Russians patrolling together. We’ve upped our game to gun running and knowing Italian can come in handy when dealing with the Mexican cartel. Both families reap the profits of the casino. I still fight, but it’s only when we want to make a statement as I did with Pavel. If we have an enemy in our hands, one that did us wrong, I play with him in the ring. I’m done killing unless I have to.
A year ago, a man tried to take Adelina from Sofia’s shop. The stupid man didn’t know I was there. I killed him, didn’t even care. You don’t touch what’s mine. And we’ve learned that fighting makes for great sex. Adelina is a little vixen in the bedroom. No complaints there. If anything we are happy and in love.
“We have to go to the limo,” she elbows me, feels like a kitten trying to swat me.
“Yep, sorry,” we walk down the aisle, smiling and thanking guests who wish us well.
Local kids toss flowers, her request instead of rice, as we walk out the door to the car to take us to our reception. We’re having it at the high rise, letting people have full access to the pool and gardens, and they can take a tour of the apartments. We’ve started renting them out, her brother just moved in. He lives on the same floor as Tim. We’ve all gotten close, having what Adelina calls family nights every week, her father even comes. He’s in charge and we answer to him, who answers to my father. It works.
“Did I tell you that you look beautiful today?” I ask her coyly as we settle in.
“You did, I thought the priest was going to hit you with his bible since you kept interrupting him to tell me,” she giggles.
