I’ve almost done it so many times—but I haven’t seemed to get the right moment.
Oleg pulls the car door open for me. I climb out just as his phone starts ringing. He flicks it to answer.
“Rodion? What did—oh—ok.”
He holds the phone away from his ear. He presses a button on the screen and switches the call to loudspeaker as we climb the stairs into the house.
He pushes the front door open and leads me to the living room.
“Ok, we are both listening.” Oleg finally says.
“Raisa? Can you hear me?”
“I’m here. I can hear you,” I say, narrowing my eyes in confusion.
“Listen, I was shocked when I heard you were already so far along into your studies. I guess I hated the fact that you felt you needed to hide it from us. That you thought we wouldn’t support you. Raisa, I am your brother and I will support whatever you want to do. If you have a dream of being a doctor, then I am not going to tell you that you can’t do it. Chase your dreams with fierce passion—“ He pauses, I don’t say anything because I feel emotionally overwhelmed by his words. “And Oleg,” Rodion continues, “I think I was wrong about you. Seeing how you were there in a second to help my sister with Renat’s injury, how you trusted her, and knowing that you have been supporting her and helping her achieve everything, man, I’m sorry. Ok. I was wrong about you. Definitely. Thank you for being the man my sister needed and felt safe enough to share her secrets with.”
I can’t help the tears that are flowing down my cheeks. But these are happy tears, I am so excited that my brother not only knows the truth but has finally accepted that I want to be with Oleg, he isn’t going to keep fighting this.
“Thank you, Rodion. This means so much to me,” I manage to say between tight sobs.
“Don’t cry, Raisa. I’m happy for you. I’m happy you found someone who sees you and supports you. Oleg—you better look after her. I’m happy—but I’ll be there in a second if you hurt her in any way.”
Oleg chuckles, wrapping his arm around me and holding me in a tight hug. “Thanks, Rodion. I appreciate that.”
We end the call with my brother and I can’t stop grinning.
Oleg is smiling down at me. “Well, that was an unexpected call—“he chuckles.
“That was the best call ever. My brother is happy for us. This is the best news ever. They won’t fight you or your family anymore and all of this horrible tension can be over.”
I wrap my arms around his neck and kiss him.
Tonight isn’t the right time to tell him that I love him.
Too much has happened already.
But at least Anya is safe and Rodion isn’t going to be a pain in the ass anymore.
Chapter 25 - Oleg
The shootout at the Sidorov warehouse caused issues amongst the families, so now I am being forced to explain why one of our allies got taken out by us without any discussion amongst the others.
Of course, it isn’t difficult to explain that they kidnapped Anya and that alone would be explanation enough, but I need to do better than that.
I need to find a way to explain that the Kuznetsov brothers helped to get Anya back and that my allies should now also accept them as their allies.
But this won’t work if Rodion isn’t serious about working with me.
So, before I can meet with the families, I have to meet with Rodion.
Leon wants to come along and he is currently standing in my office, glaring at me.
“I promise you I will handle this. I caused this shit show, so I will sort it out. Leon, this would be a waste of your time. I will sort it out.” I say, for the third time.
“Are you sure? Because you told me marrying that girl would solve everything, but our sister still ended up getting kidnapped, “ his eyes are piercing into me. I know he’s pissed off about what happened to Anya and so am I, but me marrying Raisa had nothing to do with that.
“Leon, if this isn’t resolved by tonight, then I will come to you and ask for your help. But I promise you, it will be sorted out by then.”