Page 49 of Bound By You

We pull up to the beautiful house as Phoebe whispers, "Wow."

I smirk, then look at the house. It's a white, three-story house with a wraparound porch, decorated with white ribbons and balloons for our wedding, which she has no idea about. I turn to her again, placing my hand on her cheek to turn her head my way, and when my eyes connect with hers, I whisper, "It has eight bedrooms, eight full baths, and one half-bath on the ground floor. The master bedroom is on the third floor; it's the only one on that actual floor, with his and hers walk-in closet in an adjoining room. The bathroom has a walk-in shower and a jetted bathtub that fits at least five people. The second floor has four bedrooms, all of which have smaller walk-in closets and baths with a walk-in shower, too. And on the ground floor, we have another two bedrooms—I turned one into a mother-in-law suite, and the other into an office, removing the shower and bath, but leaving a toilet. There's an open-plan living room and kitchen, with a dining room off to the right-hand side, and a breakfast bar in the middle, creating a wall between them. And the basement has a bedroom that I stripped and made into amovie/playroom for our nieces and nephews. Again, I removed the shower and bath, but kept the toilet.

There's a pool out back in a fenced yard. I put a nice play set up, with slides, sandboxes, and swings for when the kids come over. And you have a barn full of animals, and inside the house are two dogs that you need to name, as well as Ares—oh, and I also brought you Goosy. A few miles down the road is your brand-new veterinary practice, full of all the appropriate equipment, with an apartment above that Abby has dibs on.”

Taking a deep breath, I peer into her eyes, pouring all of my love into my gaze.

“Welcome home,Malen'kaya ptitsa."

She has tears running down her face as she launches herself at me, pressing her lips to mine. I kiss her back with as much passion as I can. I slow down after a few minutes because I can feel myself getting harder, and soon, I won't be able to stop myself, so I lean my forehead against hers.

I whisper, staring into her beautiful eyes, "Marry me."

Her tears fall faster, and I continue, "Make me the happiest man and become my wife. Let me hold you every night and wake up to you every morning, let me give you children we can raise on this farm together. Marry me."

She lets out a sob and nods frantically, before I pull the red ruby and diamond ring out of my pocket and place it on her finger. This time, I kiss her with more fire.

I'm finally getting my girl.

After a little while of holding my girl, I help her out of the Mercedes SUV and walk her around the grounds. I take her to the barn to the left of us, and show her all the animals. She squeals in delight, seeing them all, making me chuckle.

Angel ofwhat?

Then she goes to pet—yes, fucking pet—Goosy, before we head back to the house. I skip showing her the garden, knowingit's all decorated for the wedding. The pool is covered, so we can walk on it, and there's an arch filled with flowers at the end of the yard, with chairs on either side to make an aisle. Sofia has put petals on the ground as a walkway, too. I want to surprise Phoebe, and I also don't want her to back out if her mind wanders to my mistakes, like I know it does sometimes. When we reach the front door and I open it, a loud cheer erupts from our living area, where our family stands. The women have tears in their eyes and, to be fair, so do some of the men. Knowing we could have lost her, in a way, this is our miracle.

Her father walks out among the men, and she goes to him willingly and hugs him tight. After she was released from the hospital, they sat and discussed everything. Selene was the main problem with their relationship. Selene was jealous of how close they were before their mother died, despite having all of her mother's attention. When Phoebe was sent away, Selene got all the attention and loved it; she took advantage of it as she got older. I look to the side, and see her standing away from others with a scowl and what looks like a little bit of sorrow in her eyes. I just don't know if it's because this could have been her life—well, part of it, because I never would have fallen for her, and would still be fucking around—or because her sister doesn't spare her a glance.

I shake my head.

I understand why Basil brought her with him, but I don't think he understands the repercussions of his actions if she causes any shit. My woman is back to full health now; she still needs regular check-ups, but she's already gone on a couple of missions to stop the cartel from getting their purchases from some of the Romanians that are left after Sergi and I went on a killing spree. Someone else has taken over and decided to stupidly continue human trafficking, mainly children under the age of sixteen.

Phoebe was pissed and got back to the gym before she should have; we argued a bit about it, but as usual, she won. I'm a sucker for her, and I ended up being her fucking sparring partner. I've never been so hard, sparing with my woman. Hopefully, she doesn't shoot her sister today; that would be messy but one hell of a wedding memory.

I pull my girl back into my arms, and her father chuckles. My mother comes up to us and looks at me. I know what they're all waiting for; they know what I was doing today. That's why we're all here, so I lift her left hand up and kiss the ring, and my mother squeals in delight, while everyone cheers and claps. Then the women, except for Selene, who is now glaring at my woman, whisk my wife-to-be to the basement, making me scowl and the men laugh. I shake my head, then head up the stairs to our new bedroom to change into my tux, with Damian and Sergi close behind. All our guests head outside to the yard, where my girl will hopefully meet me.

twenty-six

Phoebe

After showingme around this beautiful house and getting the surprise of all our family, Abby, Sofia, her mom Victoria, Avery, and Maria dragged me away toward the basement.

I look at them, confused, until we get to the basement, and I see the wedding dress I originally picked to marry Alex months ago. I spin around to look at them in shock as Maria smiles softly.

"Upstairs, there is a minister, and the yard has been decorated. What do you say, Phoebe?"

Tears stream down my face again.

He wants to marry menow.

I look back at the beautiful dress. It's white, which is fitting, I guess. Still can't believe I nearly died a virgin. For over a month, I've been doing everything I can to get him to sleep with me, but nothing,nada. I thought maybe he was still getting it elsewhere, which was difficult for me to process, then I remembered he put a tracking app on his phone, and more times than I can count, I checked it. I always felt guilty, and he normally came home tome crying about it, because I still couldn't fully trust him. He would hold me and tell me it’s okay, and it keeps my mind at peace. Things will take time; we still haven't really spoken about our past, not wanting to rock the boat, so to speak, but I know we need to, especially before we get married. But now I don't think we have time because he's thought of everything I might need for today so I don't back out.

I guess he wanted to keep our original plan and wait for our wedding night to have sex, and that's why he kept putting me off. I could kick myself for continuing to punish him his past actions. At least he'll get a nice surprise ,when he realizes that I am, in fact, still a virgin.

The dress is gorgeous; it has beaded lace with a sheath skirt, spaghetti straps, and a sweetheart neckline. The buttons on the back are pearl buttons, and it has a matching tulle overskirt. It's not flashy or in your face, it's simple, and I love it. I never cared about having a massive or over-the-top wedding, I just wanted my groom. I turn to look at Maria, and she has hope in her eyes, and I know, without a doubt, that even though it'll be painful to relive the past, I will still want to marry him…because I am bound by him. He's my everything, so I nod frantically, words escaping me, and she wipes her tears and takes me over to the dress.

They all help me get dressed. Sofia does my hair, curling it a little, then adding a flowered crown, then my matching veil to the crown. Avery, who has tears in her eyes, does my make-up light. She’s happy for me but sad for what she's lost, because her love made stupid mistakes.

When she's finished, I take hold of her hands and give them a little squeeze. She smiles a watery smile at me, and I lean forward and kiss her cheek, whispering, "Have courage." She nods. She's confided in me a lot over the last month; she spent much time with me, and I know how much her heart hurtsfrom Sergi's betrayal. She's said before that the Bratva stuff, despite being shocking, was something she could look past, after she really thought about it. In her mind, the men he killed were horrible human beings; they were and still are to this day kidnapping children, but it's the fact he slept with Mindy she can't get over. He betrayed her, and she's had one too many people betray her in her life.

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