Page 113 of His Wild Attraction

“Thank you,” I replied, holding his intense gaze for a beat.

“You got him pretty good,” Marat mumbled, looking at the photo that Josef had apparently sent to each of them.

“Broke his jaw, shattered his cheekbone, and destroyed his nose,” Adrik murmured.

“Yeah, I dabbled in MMA when I was in college,” I replied.

“Really?”

“Yeah. I mean, I can shoot and use a knife okay, but I prefer using my hands.”

“I get it,” Adrik said. “We should spar sometime.”

“No thanks. I mean, I’m good, but you’re a fucking beast, Adrik.”

“Ha! I suppose I am,” he said with a smirk.

“You know, Andres, we’ve done many bad things, but we’ve worked hard to become a legitimate business. Even harder to bury our not so clean past. But we still have connections,” Adrik said, his voice even.

I nodded.

What could I say?

I knew all about that chapter in the Volkov family dedicated to criminal undertakings. And really, I was fine with it.

Maybe that made me a worse man than I thought I was, but I didn’t have it in me to judge them.

Truth was there wasn’t that much difference between the corporate world and the criminal one. Though, perhaps one was more honest than the other.

Of course, it was up to interpretation which was which.

“It all comes down to fundamentals, but in my experience, every powerful organization steps over the line now and then,” Josef stated.

“Yes. Agreed. I suppose it is up to Karma to bring us all to task eventually,” Adrik replied.

“You know how karma deals with men like us?” Marat asked, a grin splitting his stupid handsome face.

“How?” I asked.

“It gives us daughters.”

I’d expected someone to laugh, but instead, all four of us went quiet.

My brain short-circuited. Thoughts going immediately to Ellie.

I imagined the others were thinking of the women in their lives.

Marat would undoubtedly picture Destiny and Lucy. While visions of Michaela and Sofia filled Adrik’s head. Meredith, with her swollen abdomen, was likely consuming Josef’s every thought.

I couldn’t blame them for pausing. I couldn’t blame myself either for the sudden intense joy that raged through me at the thought of having a daughter, of adding to my beautiful family.

A son.

A daughter.

A life.

With Ellie. My Lupina.

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