Page 6 of Sweet Child of Mine

“Here are the first photos.” He handed me the pictures and pointed to a tiny speck. “There’s your baby. Congratulations.”

I stared at the photos and tried to figure out what to do. My panicked brain kept considering running and hiding somewhere just me and the baby. Looking up at Andrei and Amelia, I blinked several times.

Andrei scowled darkly at me. “Don’t even think about it.”

“What?”

“No running. Everyone you love is here. Let us help you,” he demanded, crossing his arms over his chest.

Amelia patted my hand and quickly signed, ”You have to tell him.”

I knew she was right. What was I going to tell my child if I ran? Besides, I wasn't a runner. I didn’t run when my parents were killed. I put on my big girl pants and did what I needed to do. I needed to do the same now as well. Breathing in deeply, I nodded. “All right. I’ll tell him.”

Chapter 3

Nikandr

From Kostya’s office, I watched as Leilani worked the bar. Her graceful movements were beautiful to see as I watched her take care of the crowd in front of her. She smiled, flirted, and laughed as she filled their orders. I also noted how Andrei stayed close to her. It made me wonder if something was going on between them and I didn’t like that at all.

My eyes never left her as Daniil stood next to me and looked down at my woman. “Did you hear what happened yesterday?” he asked.

I finally turned to look at him. “What are you talking about?”

“Leilani. Yesterday, before things got busy, she fainted. Andrei went with her to the ER. It wasn’t serious otherwise she wouldn’t be back working tonight.”

I growled as I grabbed his shirt and asked, “Why didn’t you call me?”

“You were involved at the warehouse and Andrei texted me that everything was ok and she was back at home resting.”

“Gavno,” I snarled as I just as suddenly let him go. I looked back down at the bar and my eyes widened when I couldn’t find her. I was just about to go look for her when there was a knock on the door. One of our men opened the door and stated, “One of the bartenders needs to speak with you, boss.”

It was only Daniil and myself but when Kostya wasn’t around it was normal for the men to refer to us as boss. I nodded and almost immediately Leilani came in looking somewhat pale and nervous. Daniil gave me a subtle and quietly excused himself.

My eyes wouldn’t leave the woman in front of me. My feelings for her ran so deep that simply being this close to her filled me with so much light that my darkness hid and I felt a measure of peace. As I truly looked her over though, I noticed that she looked like something was seriously wrong.

I moved quickly to stand in front of her and took her hand into mine. “Moy tsvetok, are you alright? Daniil just informed me of what happened yesterday.”

She wouldn’t meet my eyes and I didn’t like that. I’d been giving her space but now I felt as if I shouldn’t have. My protective instincts had always been crazy about my little flower. They were off the charts just from her body language. “Yeah, that’s what I wanted to talk to you about. C-Can we sit down?”

“Of course, come sit here,” I said as I held her hand and sat next to her on the couch. “What's wrong, Lei? Whatever it is, I’ll take care of it.”

For some reason, my words seemed to make her more nervous than less. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her onto my lap. Fuck, keeping my distance. This was my woman and no one and nothing would harm her, period.

“So, um, when I went to the ER yesterday they took blood work to make sure I was okay. I knew I’d fainted because I hadn’t eaten but still, they wanted to rule everything out. So, um, that night I was drunk. Did we have sex?”

“Yes, moy tsvetok, we did. Quite a bit. Why?”

“So, um, surprise! I’m pregnant.” Leilani watched me for my reaction, preparing herself for my rejection but that would never happen.

I blinked several times as a big smile filled my face. I couldn’t have wished for something this wonderful to happen. Leilani was mine and she’d be mine forever. “Moy tsvetok, my beautiful flower, you bless me more than you could ever imagine. I could only dream of having a child with you. A little you and me, how could I not be ecstatic?”

“Really?” she asked as she held my face and looked deeply into my eyes, tears filling her eyes.

“I hope these are tears of happiness,” I told her as I wiped them away. “I wish you would have called me when you were at the hospital. I hate that you went through that alone.”

“Andrei went with me. There is nothing between us but friendship, Nik. I don’t have the right parts for him. He also was able to get my best friend, Amelia, there. So I wasn’t alone.”

I was relieved I wouldn’t have to worry about Andrei. I didn’t want to kill one of our people and Leilani deserved to be surrounded by people who loved her. “I’m glad Amelia was with you. Moy tsvetok, I’m so sorry I had to leave you so many years ago. I’m so sorry about your parents. I wanted to reach out to you, but I was afraid. The war in Moscow was far from settled and I feared that if our enemies discovered you they would hurt you to get to me. I couldn’t risk it.”

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