Page 50 of The Bratva King's Twins

Back home, I was ignored or bullied, and I promised myself I would never have kids in a similar situation. I didn’t want my children to know that pain and the heartache of not feeling like they were enough.

I wanted to give my babies the experience I never had, and with the Levovs, I knew that was possible.

In his family, I was treated like an equal, and there were no unspoken expectations of me. They welcomed me with open arms, and for the first time in my life, I felt like I had a family.

It left me warm and comforted, and prepared to reach that next stage in life with Ari.

When dinner was over, we were both embraced by each of his siblings, and Lara especially was completely over the moon about it. We said our goodbyes and the two of us headed back home.

We were both in good moods, but Ari looked completely full of love and excitement.

The moment we parked and he helped me out of the car, he threaded our fingers together and carefully pressed me against the side of the vehicle.

He hovered above me with an almost hazy smile, his lips just inches from mine.

“That went incredibly well,” Ari murmured, letting me feel his tempting breath against my lower lip. “Now, what was I saying about that dress ending up on the floor?”

Chapter 23 - Ari

As he normally did, Benedikt lazed in the chair across from me as he looked through some paperwork, scanning through it at his leisure.

Of course, I never let him act quite so nonchalantly in front of the others, but so long as he was doing his work, I didn’t mind. I was willing to make certain exceptions for my siblings if they didn’t run too far with them.

“According to my numbers, we would have a better return on our investment by going with warehouse A instead of warehouse C,” he murmured, turning the paper around to show me. He pointed at respective pictures. “We’d have to dump more into A initially, but the return would be far more worth the cost than the other.”

Nodding, I considered it, stroking my chin absently. “What about B?”

“As far as I know, Andrei put his bid on that one. He’s still finalizing the sale.”

“Damn him,” I mumbled. “He’s always on it.”

“Maybe, if you ask him nicely, he’ll let you utilize some of the space.”

“Nah,” I said, waving off the idea. “I’d like to keep us as separate as possible. I can’t have him thinking we’re not capable of running our side of things on our own.”

“What, you don’t want to owe him any favors?”

“Of course not,” I retorted, snickering. “One moment I’m asking him for the space, and the next I’m kissing his ass just to get more. You know how he can be.”

Benedikt laughed to himself. “He’s Mr. Charity, then conveniently needs our guys for something after.”

“Exactly,” I agreed, despite being on good terms with Andrei. “We’re strapped for manpower as it is. between getting those new jobs ready and keeping tabs on the De Lucas.”

“Speaking of, has Vivian asked about her family lately?”

Recalling the last time the topic came up, I could only think about how much of a difficult thing it was for her to talk about. We weren’t able to finish our conversation about what side she would choose, but at that point, I didn’t need to hear the answer. I already knew she was with me, and that wouldn’t change because of her abusive brothers.

“I was the one who brought them up before. I was trying to get some more insight into them, and I didn’t plan on telling her the details, but she managed to get them out of me anyway,” I explained, walking him through it. “She didn’t have much else to share that I didn’t already know, but she did seem upset knowing they were interfering.”

“Did it come as a surprise to her?”

“It seemed to. I don’t think they ever stuck their necks out for her before, so it must be strange to her.”

Benedikt cocked a brow. “And if they did come for her, you’re certain she’d stick by you?”

Letting go of a breath, I nodded. “By now? Yes. If it happened weeks ago, I’d have my doubts.”

He looked at me with scandalized interest. “Things are getting better at home, huh? I had half the mind to assume she wouldn’t let you close enough to—”

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