Page 9 of Born into Sin

Yelena reaches into her bag and pulls it out so he can see. “We’ll be safe, Dad. I promise.”

He still looks like he doesn’t want to let her out the door, but instead of giving in to that fear, he kisses her head again and tells her he loves her before wrapping his arms around Aunt Alina and looking at the three of us.

“Be careful. Keep your phones on and text if you need anything at all. Sergei, Aleksandr, and Feliks are watching you today. Let them know if anyone makes you uncomfortable.”

“We will, Dad. Don’t worry,” Yelena tells him, giving him another hug. She’s always been extremely close to him, and where most daughters would get annoyed with how overprotective he can be, Yelena’s always understood it and never once tried to make him feel bad about it. “I’ll even bring you one of those cinnamon pretzels you like so much.”

“Thanks, honey. Make sure you get your Uncle Vitaly one, too. You’ll never hear the end of it if you don’t.”

“Better just get enough for all of them,” Aunt Alina says with a laugh. “They can munch on them while they grill our supper.”

“Good thinking, malishka,” he tells her, kissing her head.

After promising to bring back more than enough pretzels for everyone, we finally leave the apartment and step into the elevator.

“Okay, I wanted to wait until we were all together before I said anything, but guess what I heard,” Svetlana says as soon as the doors shut. Before giving us a chance to guess, she smiles and I swear her honey-colored eyes sparkle with mischief. “Dominic Alessi just bought La Dolce Vita.”

“What?” I quickly ask, thinking of the nightclub that I’ve thought about trying to sneak into on more than one occasion. The Bratva owns a few strip clubs, but they don’t own any place that I’d want to hang out at, and even if I wanted to, our asses would get caught the second we walked through the door.

“You have to be twenty-one to get in,” Yelena reminds us.

Svetlana raises her brows at me and gives a soft laugh before walking out of the elevator when the doors open. “Dominic’s going to be at supper tonight. Maybe we can convince him to let us into his nice club.”

I laugh and shake my head, following her to her car. “You’re out of your mind, Sveta. We haven’t seen Dominic in years, and I doubt he even remembers us. Plus, there’s no way in hell he’s going to go against our dads and let us sneak into his club.”

“Maybe he will.” Svetlana gets in the driver’s side and looks over at me when I sit down in the passenger seat. “I mean, your dad did shoot him.”

“Yeah, and then Dominic saved his life,” I say, because we’ve all heard our parents teasing my dad about it.

Svetlana ignores me and looks back at Yelena. “What do you say? Are you in?”

Yelena laughs and shakes her head. “No way. Sorry, guys, but I can’t do that to my dad.”

I smile back at her, letting her know we’re not mad that she wants to sit this one out. “I’m pretty sure this is doomed to fail anyway,” I tell her.

She looks between me and Svetlana. “Please don’t do anything stupid.”

“No promises,” Svetlana says and then turns the radio up so she can sing along. She’s equally loud and off-key, and Yelena and I can’t help but bust out laughing.

We spend the next few hours at the mall. Most of the time is spent on me trying to find the perfect pair of shoes, but when I see them, I know every second of the hunt was worth it. They’re the exact same shade of pink as my dress, and they have the cutest straps that wrap around my ankles.

“Oh my god, please tell me you’re finished,” Svetlana groans from the chair she’s lounging in. Yelena’s on her phone, but her lips quirk up at Svetlana’s tone.

“Yes, I’m done,” I tell her. “But you have to admit the wait was worth it. Look at these things.”

They both look over. Svetlana nudges Yelena’s shoulder. “Are you at all surprised that her toes are already painted the exact same shade of pink as her dress and shoes? Because I’m not.”

“I think they look amazing,” Yelena says. “And no, I’m not at all surprised.”

“I like pink,” I say in my own defense. I shove the shoes I’ve been wearing in my bag because I plan on wearing these for the rest of the day, and then walk over to pay for my new favorite shoes.

We spend another hour looking around. I grab a shirt I think Sasha will like, and then pick out a pair of earrings for Mia with little witch faces on them that I know she’ll love while Svetlana and Yelena each grab a few things. Before we leave, we place a huge soft pretzel order, and when we head back to the parking garage, I wave Aleksandr over, handing him three of the pretzels. He immediately tries to wave them away.

“Please take them,” I tell him. “We got extra for you guys. It can’t be all that much fun following us around the mall all day.”

“It’s fine,” he quickly tells me like this is the most exciting job ever.

I laugh and insist he take the pretzels. “You can still tail us to the farmhouse while you eat them.”

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