Page 81 of Ivory Oath

Right now, my vors are delivering the news to Liev’s fiancée along with a payout. More than enough to get her back on her feet.

It could have just as easily been Viviana getting the bad news tonight. Widowed, days after our wedding. Dante left once again without a father.

I blink hard to clear my head. “Christos’s niece is getting married tomorrow. I say we crash the wedding.”

Even Anatoly looks tense. “She’s marrying the D.A.’s son. You think he’ll risk showing his face at a high-profile function like that?”

“He arranged the entire marriage. He’s going to want to make sure it goes off without a hitch.” Men like Christos—men like my father—don’t know when to let go. They’ll cling to whatever scrap of control they can get until the very end. “Christos would rather die than admit that he’s scared of me. He’ll be there just to prove that he isn’t.”

Raoul stands up. “I’ll check out the location.”

Anatoly frowns up at him, clearly surprised to be the only one pushing back. After a few seconds, he sighs. “I guess that leaves me to round up the soldiers and weaponry.”

Before I can say anything else, my phone rings. I recognize the number immediately and pick up. “This is Mikhail.”

“Nice meeting,” Anatoly whispers, standing up. “Goodbye to you, too.”

I roll my eyes and he only laughs.

The way he can flip his work brain off and on like a switch is as annoying as it is impressive. I’d probably be better off if I had the same switch. The only way I can seem to relax is when I load my family up and get off the grid.

The other end of the phone crackles and then a familiar voice cuts through. “Mikhail. Good to hear from you again. This is Dr. Rossi.”

“Thanks for getting back to me. I know it’s late.”

“I gave up normal hours the second I started medical school,” he says with a laugh. “Babies don’t keep a nine-to-five schedule.”

He made the same joke when I met him almost ten years ago. Alyona was so nauseous I had to pull the car over five times on the drive to his office so she could be sick. We walked in thirty minutes late and found him eating lunch. He waved us in anyway.

“You left a message with the nurses station and they told you I wasn’t accepting new patients,” he recounts, clearly reading the notes in my file. “Well, what Marcy didn’t know is that you are not a new patient.”

“No,” I breathe. “I’m not.”

There’s a beat of silence before Dr. Rossi speaks again. “I was so sorry to hear about Alyona and Anzhelina. You can’t imagine how sorry.”

A house fire. That’s what the papers ran with. It’s what my father paid the papers to run with, to be more accurate. I burned the house to the ground because I couldn’t stand looking at it, and my father made it work in our favor.

Dr. Rossi would be even more sorry if he knew the truth.

“Thank you, Doctor.”

The heaviness hangs there for a second before Dr. Rossi chimes back in, voice chipper. “But most people don’t call me unless they have exciting news to share. I’m assuming you have a new little one on the way?”

“My wife is pregnant.”

Saying it out loud still gives me a rush. That Viviana is my wife. That we have a family. I wasn’t sure I’d ever want this again, but now, I’m biting back a smile. After the clusterfuck of a day I’ve had, that’s almost a miracle in and of itself.

“Congratulations, Mikhail! I’m thrilled for you. So let’s see what we can do.” He hums and I can hear him drumming his fingers on his desk. “It’s short notice, but I can see your wife tomorrow afternoon. Would that work for you?”

I should have taken Viviana in sooner. The second she told me she was pregnant. But, as always, life had other plans. I snag the appointment and thank Dr. Rossi for squeezing us in.

I wasn’t able to be there for her or Dante the way I should have been, but I’m going to make up for that now. There’s a lot I can’t control, but I can do absolutely everything I can to make sure this baby is healthy.

“Yes,” I say quietly. “That’s perfect.”

35

MIKHAIL

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