Page 20 of Bound By You

He gives me a sad smile.

"This isn't goodbye, Phoebe; you're not disappearing on me again, you hear? You're like my little sister. Now, I have to go and get our money back, and inform Damian of everything you've shared with me. I expect our normal weekly phone call."

I chuckle and nod while he starts to walk out of the room, and I clear my throat. He knows what I am about to say and beats me to it.

He turns slightly and says, "I'm not ready to formally meet him yet, cuz. Denying your child, and leaving the mother to struggle and have to depend on others, only to try and get in touch again after twenty-nine years? It wasn't right. The only good thing about everything was having you as family. Just…just tell him to give me time." He sighs, and I nod. "I know, Sergiand, if it helps, I know he regrets it, especially after Aunt Valeria ripped into him when she saw you last year in the background while I was FaceTiming her. I believe he's still sleeping on the couch, and she blames him for keeping her child from her, even though you're not biologically hers. She sees you as hers…so just think about it." He gives me a sad smile, walks back up to me, wraps his arms around me, and squeezes me tight, before he kisses my head, then he leaves.

I wipe away a tear. Sergi has struggled a lot with his birth father. I just hope they get to figure it all out. Uncle Juan is actually an alright guy for a Don; he just made the wrong decision at the time.

I look at my watch. Shit, I have fifty minutes to get to the airstrip.

I quickly grab my bag and head back to my bike to strap it on, then I head to my uncle's plane.

As soon as I'm seated, I text Abby.

Me: now back on the plane; see you in about 7 hours.

She texts back instantly, making me chuckle.

Abby: good! The fucking goose is back again!

I burst out in laughter; I'm the only one able to contain Goosy.

She sends me a picture, and it's of Goosy and Ares having a face-off with a window between them. Goosy has his wings spread wide while Ares' hair stands up on his back. I lose it to a fit of laughter again. I can't wait to get home and not think about Alex for at least forty-eight hours. I sigh and lean my head back against the seat.

Home.

ten

Alexandr

I'm pacingmy brother’s living room, fucking pissed at myself, at Phoebe, at the world, and at fucking Sergi for disappearing for two fucking hours when we need to come up with a fucking plan.

I need to throw something; I eye the crystal vase on the table just as Sofia shouts, "Don’t even think about it, Alexandr!" Damian chuckles while I grunt and sit next to him on his sofa.

"We need a fucking plan. Where has Sergi gotten to? I have shit to do!" I grunt out.

Damian raises an eyebrow at me. "You mean shit like confronting your mistress and checking yourself for diseases, because we both know you haven't been wrapping with her, or shit like going to Basil because we know he had a guy follow her, and find where your now ex-fiancée lives and stalk her?"

Sofia chuckles, and I glare at her, making her giggle like a girl. "I wouldn't look at me like that, Alexandr. Just because the brute there knocked me up again doesn't mean I can't smack some sense into you. What on earth were you thinking, making a coke addict stripper your mistress?" I go to defend myself. Iknow I messed up. I know the reasons why I took Candy as a mistress were weak….

But Sofia is not done reaming my ass.

"I don't care how many happy endings she gave you when Phoebe left; she left for a good fucking reason; you've been sleeping with her sister,her fucking sister, behind her back, and you expected her to say, 'Oh, don't worry, love, I forgive you?' How many fucking times have you hit your head? Then you go and make that slut your mistress because she took 'care of you,' and you try to act like Phoebe leaving was out of the blue. How fucking stupid are you? I mean, come on, you know Phoebe, we all do; she wouldn't have just run off for the sake of running off, she would have had a good fucking reason. And not once did you think, 'oh, maybe she found out about the other women.'" She uses her fingers to quote the last bit of what she said, and I go to defend myself again because I did think maybe she knew, but Sofia chuckles so darkly that even Damian leans away from her a little.

Pregnant Sofia is a scary Sofia.

"Or, let me guess, you did think that but, instead, thought, 'no, she'll never find out about that' like us women are some dumb fucking cunts. If that were me, I wouldn't touch you with your brother's dick! For the last two months, you have acted like you had a right to fuck those women and get a mistress because, to you, it's her punishment for leaving whenyou’rethe one who was fucking her own sister like it wouldn't matter to her, so do you want to know what I think?"

Oh shit, I look around to see if I can make a run for it. I fucking hate it when Sofia says it like it is. Damian snorts when he sees me looking toward the kitchen archway, and I glare at him while Sofia continues, "I think you should leave poor Phoebe alone. Go put a ring on your mistress, or Selene instead; neither of them would mind your manwhore ways becauseseems as thoughyou can’t keep it in your pants." She shouts the last bit, and I stare at her with wide eyes while Damian clears his throat, wanting not to anger his hormonal, pregnant wife. When she was pregnant with Maksim, she threw a meat cleaver at him for complaining about having a sore back. He ducked just in time, and then she proceeded to cry her eyes out because she could have killed him, while he mumbled how glad he was that he missed the mood swings with Mila…but not quietly enough. I stood there in the kitchen in stitches and watched while she grabbed his glass of scotch and threw it at him. He slept on the sofa for about a week.

"Malyshka, this thing with Candy and Selene, while completely wrong, which he understands now, he was just trying to forget Phoebe because she hurt him, broke his heart. He fucked up, he knows this, give him a break, yeah?" he states calmly, and I look at him again with wide eyes, like he has a fucking death wish.

Her scowl has gotten scarier, her eyes narrow, and Damian swallows hard, probably regretting coming to my aid now. "Well, that's okay, then, isn't it? I mean, that's exactly what you did, right, darling?" she sneers.

Oh shit, she has never brought his infidelity up. After counseling, they decided to keep it in the past, but thanks to me, it's being resurrected.

Damian looks at me enraged, and I give him a sheepish smile, which soon turns to a grimace with Sofia's next words, "But hey, at least you didn't fuck my family member, right? Oh, no, wait, you fuckingdid!" she shouts, her face red with anger.

---