by V. F. Mason
They bonded instantly and couldn't keep away from each other. This fact didn't make anyone happy, because young love was dangerous territory, and since both kids were part of the family for life, no one wanted unnecessary complications. And those could be huge if they decided to try it and then break up. This would require choosing sides, and no one wanted to play a part in it.
“Honey—” I started, but she shook her head, not even waiting for my response.
“All the girls throw themselves at him. If I don’t grab my chance now, he will be with them.” Then she murmured, “Especially Elena.” Wrapping my arms around her, I hugged her tight to my chest where she hid her face, and I rested my chin on top of her head.
Unfortunately, her words held truth, and I wasn't sure a young man could resist the allure of sex if he had no reason to hope to be with the one he wanted. And I didn't know how to soothe my baby except to offer her comfort. Then she let go of me, took a step back, and focused her attention on Dominic. “Thanks for nothing, Papa. I won’t ask again.” With that, she left, shutting the door loudly behind her, and it was my turn to get furious.
Dominic and I had a rule to never argue in front of the kids and to act like a united front all the time. The strategy mostly worked well, except when the kids started to grow up.
Then my idea of raising girls and his were very different.
“Don’t even start.” His spun his chair, facing the huge window that opened to a view of the headquarters, so I couldn’t study his expression. I came closer, gentling my voice, because talking with him while I was angry seemed pointless and never effective.
“They are in love and he is—”
His amber eyes clashed with mine. “She is in love, but he isn’t.” Extending his open palm to me, he waited until I sat on his lap and wrapped my arms around his neck. Lacing his fingers through my hair, he brought my mouth closer and devoured it with a soul-searching kiss, pushing his tongue inside and entwining it with mine as I moaned into his mouth.
Before I could thoroughly enjoy it though, he stopped, and whispered against my lips, “Do you feel the way I love you?” Nodding eagerly, I closed my eyes as his finger trailed down my cheek, creating goose bumps. In all the years we had been married, not once had I doubted his devotion and love for me. Physical desire was a constant presence in our lives, and I doubted it would ever change. “He would never love her like that.” Resting my head to the side, I put my hand on his chest.
“Dom, no one would be good enough for her in your eyes.”
He growled, “It’s not about me not liking her growing up. At some point, she will have sex.” His face turned green as though he was about to puke. “Not that I ever want to think about that, but I understand. Timur is not the man for her. The way I look at you, it is the way he looks at Elena. Not Lily. And fuck if my daughter will ever be second best to anyone,” he finished, and my mind swirled as I digested the information he sprang on me.
Elena was Kostya’s daughter. She and Lily were like day and night. Elena dreamed of being a teacher. She wore dresses and girly things, and overall, she had the views of traditional women. The three of them had hung out together all their life, as they were close in age, but I never sensed any love triangle vibes from them.
“How do you know?”
He rubbed his chin on my head and exhaled heavily. “Vitya told me. Timur asked Kostya to date Elena. That’s what the girl wants too. They will go to the dance together. I just spared Lily’s humiliation by her asking him—” His voice halted as something caught his attention, and we both watched through the window as Lily ran outside, raging left and right. She came to a halt when she noticed Timur and Elena on the swing we had constructed when all the kids were small. The boy kissed the girl on the cheek, and they held hands tightly.
Oh, no. My poor baby.
Lily’s eyes widened as realization hit her, but she quickly covered it up and flew in the direction of the shooting range before the kids registered she was there.
“Dominic.”
He squeezed my shoulder. “I know, krasavica. We cannot help her.” A swift knock snapped us out of our depressing thoughts. A broken heart wasn't something either of us had dealt with, and we never wanted our girls to experience it either. “Voidite,” Dom called, and in a second, Jake entered the room and bowed his head.
A smile spread on my face as I rose to greet him. “Darling.”
He hugged me close, and I could barely wrap my arms around his waist he was so huge. Leaning back, I joked, “When did you grow up?”
He grinned, exposing little dimples on the right side of his face, which with his steel grey eyes framed in thick black lashes, brown hair, and ripped physique made him one dangerous but handsome young man.
“In the States, Aunt Rosa.” He winked as Dom growled, and I had to roll my eyes.
“Seriously, darling? He is a kid. Our kid.” All the kids in the Bratva were considered ours, as they all were equally loved by everyone.
Dom just shook his head, joined us, and clapped Jake on the back as he gazed at him with pride. “Good to have you back, son.”
Jake blushed slightly and ran his hand through his thick hair, chuckling. “Yeah, I decided to take the position.”
Frowning, I questioned my husband. “What position?”
“We needed a good lawyer. He agreed to supervise our dealings when he was here.”
Not liking that Dom didn't consult me first about it, I dropped the subject for another time. However, considering how Vivian was adamant about her son not being part of the Bratva, Jake’s decision surprised me, to say the least.
“Does your mom know?”
He winced, resting his hand on his nape. “Dad is talking to her about it as we speak.”
Dom laughed, and I nudged his stomach, but that didn't stop the words from spilling from his mouth. “They are actually talking now?”
“Believe it or not, Pakhan,” he replied, right before Lily rushed in back, breathing heavily.
“Dad, there is some guy downstairs who wants to see you.” And then she stopped as Jake’s eyes landed on her, and they studied one another.
“Lily?” he finally whispered, and she furrowed her brows.
“Jake. You’re back. Good to see you.”
Jake cleared his throat. “Nice to see you again.” And Dom, next to me, tensed.
She nodded, put a strand of hair behind her ear as she blinked rapidly, and then said, “So, Dad, see that guy, yeah?” And with that, she was gone again like lightning.
“Off-limits, Abdulabekov,” Dominic snarled, and it startled me, as I didn't expect such a reaction because of one small exchange—although I did feel an unfamiliar surge of energy around them.
“Until when?” Jake asked straight, not budging under Dom’s fury. His hands fisted as he awaited the answer, and to diffuse the situation, I placed my hand right in the middle of my husband’s chest, patting it gently and hoping he’d calm down.
“Until she is legal to drink.” Jake opened his mouth to say something, but Dom cut him off, “Legal, as in the States legal. Four years, Abdulabekov.” Calling the boy by his surname was rude as hell, but it indicated how unsettled Dom actually was.
“Fine.” With that, he left, chasing after my girl while I tried to understand what just happened.
“Fuck me,” Dom muttered, while I leaned my head against his chest, and we hugged close.
I had a feeling life at the Bratva headquarters would get very interesting in a few years. “Would he?” I suddenly asked, and Dom exhaled heavily.
“Yes, he would love her as much as I love you.”
And somehow, it settled my heart.
Dominic
Walking inside the hallway of my house, I threw the keys on the counter, removed my jacket to hang by the door, and inhaled the smell. It always amazed me that so many years after Rosa got her dream house, the sense of empowering peace it gave me never went away.
I turned off the li
ghts downstairs, as the big wooden clock showed twelve and everyone would have been sound asleep. I usually came home before dinner to have time with my family, but Radmir came back, and we had some important matters to discuss.
“Give me that, you freaking loser,” Monica shouted, while Sorcha screamed.
“You psycho! Let go of my hair.” What the ever-loving fuck? Bursting inside my twin daughters’ room, I stopped, shocked as Monica held Sorcha’s head in a tight grip in the crook of her elbow and tugged on her hair while Sorcha tried to escape, but it didn't do much good, because Sorcha kept on holding some stupid notebook in her hand, out of Monica’s reach. My young ladies behaving like some of the Bratva’s new recruits? It ended now!
“Girls,” I barked, and they froze.
In an instant, they let go of each other and hugged tight, plastering on fake, wide smiles in the process. “Hey, Papa. You came to tell us goodnight?” They batted their lashes at me, probably hoping it’d take my attention away from their argument.
“What’s going on here?” Cutting straight to the chase seemed like the best solution with these two.
Identical green eyes, which they inherited from my mother, looked at me with all the innocence they could muster, and replied cheerily at the same time, “Nothing at all, Daddy. We were just getting ready to go to bed.”
When would they learn that hiding stuff from me was pointless? They were dealing with the master.
“Girls.” Just that one word, spoken in my no-bullshit tone, made them frown, huff, and finally start to speak at once, and I instantly regretted wanting to know the truth.
“She stole my diary!”
“It was lying around, so what was I supposed to do?”
“She won’t give it back to me!”
“Not until she lets me use her makeup box!”
“Dad!”
“Dad!” Finishing on a high note, they folded their arms, stuck their tongues out at each other, and turned away, each one of them gazing in the other direction.
Praying for patience I didn't possess, I wondered why my fourteen-year-old girls acted as if they were three. The room that used to have a princess theme all over it with Disney cartoon pictures on the walls transformed into a war zone when it was divided in two. One half was all sunshine and stars, as Monica dreamed of becoming a pop singer one day, and Sorcha had dark colors with rock posters spread on her side, as she dreamed about the same career but in a different music genre. She still couldn't decide between hard rock and metal.
When we simply offered for them to change rooms, they refused. Apparently, it was a matter of pride, but the truth was twins just couldn't live without each other. Yes, most of the time they argued, but if you hurt one of them, the other one would come after you with a baseball bat, no joke.
Lifting my arms, I crooked my fingers for them to come closer, and in a second, they hugged my waist from both sides, and I barely restrained myself from chuckling. “Ladies, who are you?” They mumbled something into my side, so I had to ask again. “Who?”
“Princesses.” Their grumpy voices were hilarious, considering it was their favorite nickname.
“Correct. And my princesses don’t behave like that. Kiss and make up.” The look of astonishment and wounded pride was easy for me to see, but I just raised my brow so they exhaled heavily, shook hands, jerked their chins, and went to bed. But not before I gave them a kiss. “Goodnight, ladies.”
“‘Night, Daddy.” Offing the light, I closed the door behind me and then decided to check on my older one as well, even though she insisted I had to stop this habit of just barging into her room.
Knocking three times, I waited for her soft “Enter” and peeked into the bright room, as Lily had issues with darkness. The color purple dominated her room. She had a queen-sized, white bed, carpet, and sofa, and lavender curtains, which matched her purple desk and laptop. It had space, as she had minimum clothes and her cupboards were filled with books on gun history instead.
Another thing I preferred to ignore, since I still couldn't wrap my head around her career choice. The pakhan’s daughter wanted to be on the other side of the law. Joke on fucking me. “Hi, my delicate flower.”
She groaned, slapping her palm over her forehead as she stood near the table, examining Michael’s latest gift, a Beretta 98.
“Papa, seriously. You have no idea how lame that sounds, so I’m gonna enlighten you. The nickname sucks,” she stated, her fingers furiously wiping the sticky goo from the gun. “Just use my name.”
Resting my shoulder against the wall, I crossed my legs as I watched my kid focus all her attention on the task, and it didn't escape my notice how her cell phone lay somewhere on the bed. She never let go of the thing unless something upset her.
“You’re my oldest child, pretty girl. You can never be just Lily for me.” She stopped her movement, held my stare for a second, and then rushed into my arms, hiding her face in my chest. Without saying anything, I patted her back and tried to give her as much comfort as I possibly could. “We all love you, malish.” She nodded, but still refused to face me, so I continued, “There will be other dances, baby girl.”
“I have a feeling you won't let me go even to my wedding dance.”
We both laughed, but despite what she thought, I had no illusions that my babies were growing up. Someday, they would want to go out and explore life, and all I could do was let them, but protect them first. Like a shadow, which they didn't feel or know about.
“Maybe. Go to bed, little one.” Hugging her one more time, I checked the alarms in the house one more time and finally reached the master wing, where my wife lay sound asleep, hugging my pillow close.
All those years had passed… we both aged… but she never stopped being the most beautiful woman I had ever seen.
My krasavica.
I removed my clothes, took a quick shower so the grime of the long day would go away, and joined her. She immediately placed her head over my arm and hiked her leg over mine. Possessive little thing.
I was almost drifting to sleep when the low buzz of the phone snapped me right back up. Cursing at who would bother to call at such a late hour, I picked up the phone, growling into it, “What?”
A chuckle greeted me. “Hello to you too, brother.”
A smile spread through me, and I murmured quietly, not wanting to wake up my woman, “Damian, as usual, you don’t pay attention to the time.”
“Fuck, I forgot about the time difference between the countries.” Some rustling could be heard in the distance as a boy shouted loudly. “Dane has his hockey practice now, so I thought I’d call.”
“How is he doing?”
“Awesome. Best on the team.” Pride slipped into his voice, and then he asked, “The girls?”
“Good, I’m the future father of a prosecutor and singers. How is that?” We both grew silent, as we always did during such moments, and then I finally said, “We did good, brother, didn’t we?” All the nightmares, cells, years in captivity when we had no one but each other… years apart when we grew up to be strong men who could withstand anything… all this had prepared us for this happiness, for this moment in life, when we had our family.
Yes, some people didn't have to come through all this to get to their happy ending. But our journey led us to ours… Rosa and Sapphire and what they gave us. And if we hadn’t come through all the dark aspects of our life, we might never have met them. Who would want such a life?
Two lonely boys, who only had each other to survive, healed their souls with love. Wasn't it the greatest gift of all?
“Yes, brother. We sure did.” His voice echoed in the night, as Damian and Dominic Harrison forever found peace.
The End
Sovietnik’s Fury
Coming Soon
First of all, as always I want to thank God and my family for everything they do for me. I couldn’t have done it without them. I love you all so much!
Damian and Dominic…They would always
hold a special place in my heart and I’m so happy they got the happy ending they both deserved so much. It hurt a bit to say good-bye to them, but I’m leaving them in a good place.
Huge thank you to Hot Tree Editing team for helping me with my editing process. Especially Becky, Peggy, and Kayla. Plus beta readers and final eyes, who gave me valuable feedback and made sure I covered any plot holes I had.
Thank you, Sommer from Perfect Pear Creative Covers for fabulous cover.
Lindee Robinson for beautiful cover photos.
L.J. Anderson from Mayhem Cover Creations for formatting, banner and teasers. Always a pleasure working with you!
Thank you to Ena and Amanda from Enticing Journey Book Promotions for hosting my blog tour.
Kiki, Ruth and the team at The Next Step PR. Thank you for guiding me and for everything else you do for me. Also thank you for hosting my cover reveal and release blitz.
Thank you to my V’s Sapphires, ladies you are amazing!
Thank you to all the bloggers for spreading the word about Pakhan’s Rose and Pakhan’s Salvation, and leaving reviews.
And finally to all the readers who took a chance on this journey of love between Pakhan and his Rose. Thank you to each one of you.
Sociopath's Obsession
Sociopath's Revenge
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Table of Contents
Introduction
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
