Ivan
I’m sitting out front enjoying a cigar, something I don’t often do when Tori arrives home. When she gets out of the car, I can see worry etched on her face. She’s upset about something.
I put out the cigar and catch her as she walks up the stairs. “Hey, what’s wrong?”
She shakes her head. “Nothing’s wrong. I’m just hungry and need a rest.”
I frown. “Tori, I’ve come to know you better than that. If something is bothering you, you can tell me. I can help you fix it.”
She shakes her head again. “It’s just silly family politics with my sister. I don’t really want to talk about it right now.”
I kiss her forehead. “I hope it gets sorted out. Having siblings is a blessing in any family.”
She nods, and I let her go inside, but I wait for Aleks. As soon as he comes up the porch, I ask, “What happened?”
“She was fine one minute, and the next, she was emotional,” Aleks comments. “Don’t know what’s wrong.”
I frown and glance down the hallway she walked down. “I don’t like to see her unhappy.”
Anastasia comes toward me as I walk into the house. “Father, who I love,” she says sweetly, and I snort, “What do you want?”
“Come with me,” she says, taking my hand and leading me inside to where Tori sat down in the lounge.
“Sit,” she instructs me, pointing at the couch beside Tori. Tori glances at me, but I shrug. I don’t know what this is about.
Anastasia smiles brightly. “Father, who I love,” she teases again. “Whatever are you up to tonight?”
“Relaxing?” I suggest. “That was the plan, at least.”
“You relax too much,” she says with a clap of her hands. “I’m in the mood for some good-hearted old-school fun. The three of us are going to the arcade to play games and bowl.”
I shake my head. “Ana, don’t you have friends to do that with? I’m far too old to be playing arcade games.”
She widens her eyes and juts out her bottom lip. “Don’t you want to spend time with me?”
I groan and look at Tori. “See what I live with between the two of you? Fine,” I concede. “Fine! We will go with you tonight.”
“Thank you,” she squeals and hugs me tightly. “Like, we’re leaving in half an hour.” She prances off, and I shake my head. “Change into something comfortable. This child can bowl for hours.”
Tori gives me a sad smile and nods, getting up and kissing my head before she makes her way to the bedroom. Maybe this will cheer her up. I go into the bedroom after her, changing into some track pants and a golf shirt. Nothing fancy, but I’m still presentable.
Tori side-eyes me, and I smirk. “What?”
“You have some, um, definition happening in those pants.” she blushes, looking away.
“Something you can look at all night long,” I tease, going to her and wrapping my arms around her. I kiss her softly, then smack her bum lightly. “Come on, we better hurry, or my child will be most upset.”
She smiles that sad smile again, and it breaks my heart.
She’s still subdued when we arrive at the arcade, but I know my daughter, her bubbly personality will make it fun, and Tori will soon have a good time.
We start by ordering pizza at the bowling alley and getting our bowling on. We play against each other, and Anastasia wins the first round easily against us. I’m surprised. I didn’t realize she’d been practicing.
Tori just barely lost to me, but every time she threw the ball, it would spin, and she would burst into giggles-it was a lot of fun. In the second round, Tori and Anastasia tied. I may have deliberately made a few gutter balls on accidental purpose. In the third round, though, I don’t hold back and wipe them both out on the scoring board.
“You’re a cheater,” Tori declares as she eats another slice of pizza.
“You lulled us into a false sense of security.”
“I’m strategic,” I say, sipping on my beer. Nearby some guards watch over us, ensuring no one comes over and bothers us. Anastasia waves down a waitress, “Can we get another pizza and a large cheesy fries.”
I shake my head. “Who is paying for all this food?”
“You are,” she says with a grin. “Because you love us.”
I chuckle and sip my beer again before setting it down. Once the extra pizza and fries arrive, the girls devour them. I don’t know who is more hungry, but it’s fun to watch. I manage to squeeze in one slice for myself.
After we’ve paid for everything, we go into the outdoor arcade. The indoor arcade has video games, but the outdoor games have bigger prizes you can win, and I know Anastasia has her heart set on a giant teddy bear. We find the cutest one of the lot, and luckily for me, it’s a shooting game.
I pay the guy for two rounds and pick up the pellet gun. I make my stance, take aim, and let her rip, hitting the targets perfectly.
Tori looks at me amazed, and I chuckle, “My father was an avid gun collector, and he always said he’d never raise his kids not to handle guns safely.”
“It’s unfair if you’re a professional,” the booth owner says.
I look at him, raise an eyebrow, and Anastasia picks up the pellet gun. “My turn.”
She also fires off accurate shots, missing only two.
“You won one giant teddy,” the booth owner gloats. I look at him, then grab him and pull him to me, so our faces are inches apart. “I believe I won two.”
“Of…of…of course,” the man stammers as he sees the guards advancing. “My mistake.”
He gets the two giant teddy bears, and I take them. I give one each to Tori and Anastasia and then smile. “Let’s go play some more games. I’m enjoying this.”
“Me too,” Tori says with a genuine smile.
The rest of the evening is filled with laughs, more food, and more games. By the time we get home, we’re exhausted. Leonid is waiting for me on the front porch, so I send Tori and Anastasia in to get ready for bed without me.
“What is it?” I ask, sure it has something to do with Evgeni.
Leonid holds out paperwork to me. “I don’t know what makes you think you can trust a Sorvino, but Ivan, you can’t.”
“I will trust her until she does something that breaks that trust,” I roar at him, now at my wit’s end with this conversation. I rip the papers from his hand and look at them. It’s the contracts.
“I wouldn’t sign if I were you,” Leonid says quietly.
“I’ll do as I see fit,” I say coldly. “Now get out of here.”
He leaves, and I dump the contracts on my office table before getting changed and washed up. Tori is already in bed. She seems to be asleep already. So at peace. I climb into bed behind her and spoon her. I stroke her hair softly, careful not to wake her up because I need to admit this before it makes me explode.
“I trust you so much. I trust you’ve done the right thing for our family and us. Dammit, I trust you with my heart, something I thought I didn’t have anymore. Vittoria, I love you so damn much.”
I kiss her bare shoulder and settle down, closing my eyes.
Vittoria
I can’t believe what he said. I know I shouldn’t have pretended to be asleep, but I didn’t want him to ask more questions about why I’m upset. I
find lying to him difficult, but I know Leonid brought the contracts back. I stayed in bed when Ivan got up, and I’ve been too scared to have breakfast in case he’s waiting for me for an explanation.
He loves me. Oh my God, he loves me. He trusts me with his heart. And I fucking love him. I love him so damn much that I feel like I can’t breathe. And I haven’t even told him about the baby. Oh God, what if he finds out how I screwed him and kills the baby and me.
I touch my belly protectively. I can’t let anything happen to my little one. I’m seriously considering having Alessandro pull me out of the situation, but leaving Ivan would break me.
I don’t know what to do, and I’m craving cheese so fucking badly.
I eventually drag myself out of bed and go to the bathroom to shower and freshen up. I wear a loose-fitting cardigan over some tights and my sneakers.
As I walk out of the bedroom, I see the office light is still on and go over there. Ivan is pouring over the paperwork, and I knock softly. “Hey.”
Ivan smiles when he looks up. “You’re looking cheerier.”
I give him a small smile. “I’m always happy when I see you,” I say, and I mean it.
I walk further into the room and stand by him. “Is there anything you need me to explain?” I try to sound as casual as I can.
He chuckles. I love his smirk and his damn chuckle. He looks up at me. “You’re so shy, but you really shouldn’t be. You’re seriously intelligent and will go far in life, Tori. You just need a little self-confidence.”
I blush slightly and stroke his hair back. “I’ve always been overshadowed in my family. I fought to prove that I had a place there and was worthy, but I still felt like an outcast. I still can’t find my voice.”
Ivan strokes my hand with his thumb as he holds it. “I’ll help you find your voice, and until you do, I will be your voice. Don’t ever be afraid to speak to me or in front of me about anything.”
I consider telling him to scrap the contracts, that he’s being swindled, but I can’t bring myself to betray my flesh and blood like that. Yet Ivan feels like family too. I’m torn between two worlds.
Ivan shifts his chair so that I can sit on his leg. “You like me sitting on your lap, huh?” I tease him, running my fingers through his neat beard.
“I like having you close to me,” he murmurs. “Any part of you. I will never let you go.”
I shiver as he caresses my back, and I lean down to kiss him softly.
“You have been so good to me.”
“It’s about to get better, quick, jump up and stand by the door,” he tells me.
I do as I’m told and wait.
“Close your eyes,” he says, and then I feel him tying something over my eyes. “Ivan?”
“Don’t stress. I want to surprise you,” he assures me. “I’m going to escort you out of the house to the car, okay?” “Okay,” I say shakily.
He guides me forward, but all I can think about is how he’s taking me somewhere to kill me, that he found out I betrayed him, and this is it. I’m going to die.
I try not to whimper. I don’t want to give him the satisfaction of knowing he scares me.
We reach the car, and we get in slowly. He’s trying hard to avoid bumping my head.
I can feel when the car starts, and we’re moving, and I won’t lie, being blindfolded in a moving car does nothing for my morning sickness. My stomach turns, and I fidget with my fingers. God, I am so scared. I pray silently that it’s quick and that he won’t torture me for what I’ve done.
The drive feels like it takes forever, and when the car stops, Ivan sounds amused when he announces we’ve arrived.
He helps me out of the car and guides me to stand facing a certain way.
“Okay, Tori, now you’re going to get what you deserve,” I can’t tell from his tone what he means, but I’ve resigned myself to this being the end.
He takes off my blindfold, and I blink in the bright sunshine. We’re standing in front of an empty office building. I look at the building, then at him, then at the building, and then back at him. “I’m confused, Ivan.”
“You want to practice law, so I got you your offices. This is going to be the starting home of the greatest corporate law firm in New York.” He declares it so happily, and I can’t explain the relief I feel now that I realize I’ve not been taken to be murdered. I turn back to the building and walk toward it. “Is it open?” I ask curiously.
He opens the door. “After you.”
I walk into the carpeted reception area. It’s huge. Ivan starts leading me around. “This is where we can set up two board rooms for you to meet with clients, and then this would be your office. It’s the biggest and gets the most light. I was thinking of putting up some wall-to-ceiling glass cabinet bookcases, dark wood, of course.” He’s rattling the stuff off as though he’s had this planned for years, and not like we’ve just recently discussed it. My stomach turns and tears well up in my eyes.
“What’s wrong? Don’t you like it?” he asks with concern. “I can get you somewhere else.”
“No, I love it. I don’t deserve it.” I start to cry, then plaster on a smile. “I’m just so happy.”
Ivan smiles and pulls me to him. “We’ll have to have secret, latenight office meetings just the two of us,” he purrs, leaning down to kiss me deeply.
I throw my arms around his neck, and he lifts me as we kiss hungrily. Desperate to devour each other-as though we are two halves of opposite worlds that somehow make a whole.
He puts me down and rests his forehead against mine. “I told you, I will give you everything you desire. If you want me to burn this world to the ground, I will.”
I look down, sighing softly. “I would do anything for you.”
He kisses my forehead and glances around. “We can get you an Lshaped desk, lots of space. I know you need lots of space to work. I’ve seen how you work.”
I smile and look around. “It’s perfect in every possible way, Ivan. Thank you so much. You will never understand how much this means to me. No one’s ever done something this grand for me. Just…thank you.” Ivan smiles and kisses me passionately again.