Page 69 of Ruthless Vows

“She was happy today. Spending time with her family.”

I arch an eyebrow at him. “Careful, Ruslan. You almost sound fond of her.”

“She’ll be your wife, Mr. Volkov. I have no choice to be fond of her. But she makes it easy,” he adds after a pause.

That makes me chuckle, a sound that seems to surprise him.

“You smile a lot more now,” he notes. “I’m grateful to her for that if nothing else.”

I rub at my jaw, wondering at that. There’s no denying the positive influence Lucia has had on me. I’m grateful to her too. She makes life better, I didn’t realize how hollow my life was until she brightened it up and now I can’t imagine not being with her anymore.

“Did anything else happen at the compound?” I question.

Ruslan hesitates before he tells me, “Miss Maranzano disappeared for a while with Adrian Rossi. She informed me that they were going for a walk on the compound and asked me not to follow them. They returned about thirty minutes later.”

My jaw tightens. I don’t like the sound of that. What could they possibly have to discuss that they left the main house to do so? I don’t like the relationship between her and Rossi. I feel a flare of possessiveness in my chest.

“Alright, thanks for the hard work, Ruslan. You can head over to the hotel now. Let me know as soon as there’s any new development.”

He nods once before walking toward one of the black cars and entering the driver’s seat. Lucia’s not in the living room like I expected when I enter the house. I find her in the kitchen instead, hovering about as the chef prepares dinner. Despitemyself, I smile as soon as I see her, especially at the sight of the brown smudge on her cheek. I think it’s cocoa powder.

“Hey, Ivan,” she greets with a smile of her own.

She leaves the chef’s side to stand in front of me. I place a thumb on her cheek to wipe the powder off before leaning down to kiss the area.

“How was your day,krasavitsa?”

“Pretty good,” she states. “I’ll tell you all about it later. Right now, Mrs. Benson and I are making dinner.”

I look towards the older woman in my employ. She inclines her head once in respect before turning her focus back to the meal she’s in the middle of preparing. I look at Lucia.

“I wasn’t aware you knew how to cook.”

“I don’t. But she agreed to teach me. We’re making tiramisu. And we’re having chicken cacciatore for dinner. It’s an Italian dish. When I told Mrs. Benson I’d never had it before, she insisted that as an Italian, I had to at least try it once.”

“That’s nice,” I say.

“Yeah. You can go take a shower or get changed. Dinner will be ready in thirty minutes,” she tells me.

“I could get used to this,” I murmur, leaning down to kiss her despite current company. “But really, you’re the only dinner I want to eat,milaya,” I whisper in her ear once we break apart.

Like I hoped, her cheeks heat. She practically pushes me out of the door. I chuckle as I leave, going to my bedroom to change as she requested. When I return, the table has been set for two. She and I take our seat to have our meal.

“Thanks for the food, baby,” I say before digging in.

“Technically, my contribution to the meal was only some encouragement and handing Mrs. Benson the things she needed, but you’re welcome.”

I smile and start to eat. It’s mostly quiet as we do so, with occasional hums of delight from Lucia. It’s pretty clear she likesthe food. I wait until we’re having dessert before bringing up her visit to her sister.

“So, did you like seeing your family?”

“Of course,” she says, her amber eyes growing brighter. “There was a little hiccup at the start, though. I decided to come clean and tell my sister about the real start to our relationship. She didn’t take it well, and I understand why. I hate that I lied to her. But by the time I left, she and I were okay. We’re good now. I had lunch with her, Nico, and Sabrina. Adrian was there, too. It was nice being with them. Nico even asked me to extend an invitation to you to join us next time.”

“I’ll consider it,” I drawl. “Did anything else happen?”

She shakes her head. “It was pretty uneventful. I think Ale smiled at me when I was carrying him. He’s the most adorable baby. I can’t wait till he’s walking and talking.”

“I’m happy you’re happy,milaya,” I say sincerely, and I really am.

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