Page 57 of Defiant Devotion

As soon as the doctors and technicians were dismissed, we gave Sonya and Oleg a chance to catch up. Eleven years was a long time to catch up for, though, and Sonya was prepared to take it one step at a time.

“Who?” Oleg demanded after they expressed the utter joy of seeing each other again. Oleg finally stopped telling her how he’d never given up, how he’d always prayed for this day. Now, he wanted to get down to business. “Who?” he ordered again, scowling.

“Easy, Boss,” Lev warned, holding his hand up. “No stress.”

Oleg didn’t spare him a glance, focused on Sonya. “Who took you?”

“Someone who will pay,” Sonya replied diplomatically and calmly.

“Of course, they’ll fucking pay. Whoever dared to take you will feel the wrath of the Baranov might and?—”

“Easy,” she scolded, firm but gentle. “I’ll have you know you were almost killed today—twice. Your heart is recovering. I may not know all the details about what’s been happening with yourhealth yet, but I am confident you have to listen to the doctors, to Lev. To me. Take it easy, Uncle.” She leaned in to kiss his brow, holding his hand. “I am here. I am safe. And I’m never going anywhere again.” Smiling more, she placed her free hand on her stomach and glanced up at me. “I can trust that my baby’s father will see to it.”

Okay. Sothatcat is out of the bag.

“Baby?” Vik exclaimed.

“Itoldyou,” Kelly insisted with a smile.

“Whose baby? From captivity?” Lev asked.

“You will have a child?” Oleg asked, wonder and joy in his eyes as he patted her hand that still held his.

“One thing at a time,” Irina joked lightly.

“Yes, I’m having a baby.” Sonya stood and came to lean against my side.

I wrapped my arm around her and hugged her close. “Weare having a baby.”

Lev’s jaw dropped. Vik’s did the same.

Oleg chuckled. “Now that’s something I thought I’d die before seeing.”

Lev scowled. “You’renotdying.”

“I’ve never seen you dumbfounded like that,” Oleg teased of Lev.

Already, Lev was returning his attention to me. “Warner, you’ve a lot of explaining to do.”

“And we will.” Sonya pressed her hand to my chest, and damn if that didn’t make me feel good. Every touch of her hands comforted me, grounding me with the fact that she would be mine. “We will both explain. There is so much to say and learn and catch up on. But I would rather do that at home. I want to see my sister.”

We all agreed this reunion would be better accomplished at home, with Eva, and we all prepared to see what we could do about getting Oleg discharged. Even though he’d just woken up, this was the Baranov family. They’d make it happen. They’d get whatever nurses and doctors they wanted for home visits.

It was clear that no one wanted to leave Oleg unattended here. Sonya didn’t. So it was with expedited arrangements that we worked on having Oleg discharged. While we waited, Sonya zeroed in on Irina, wanting to know how in the hell a Petrov princess could be within this circle of Baranovs.

I got the impression that Sonya wanted to shareherstory after she heard from everyone else. If she’d been deprived of information for so many years, I couldn’t fault her for being so hungry and eager to get answers from everyone else.

Nurses came and went from the room to prepare for Oleg’s departure. Doctors and techs did too. With team effort, many collaborated on getting Oleg ready to go home. The nurse who’d move into the mansion to oversee his recovery was critical in orchestrating it all. She couldn’t be cheap, but the Baranovs would spare no expense for their leader.

All the while, Irina and Vik explained how they’d gotten together. Vik told her how he’d gone to the college campus to pose as a professor to get more intel out of Irina, but they both fell in love. Irina wasn’t shy to admit how Igor Petrov had usedher, expecting her to spy like a soldier. When Irina explained that Igor used her brother as leverage to ensure her compliance, Sonya seethed and wished the man dead.

“No one wants him dead more thanme,” Irina said hotly, crossing her arms.

“And me,” Vik added before kissing the top of her head. “And we will kill him.”

“If Boris hadn’t died and I didn’t have that heart attack,” Oleg said as he waited in a wheelchair to be wheeled out of the room, “we would’ve been focusing more on taking him out.”

“Now I understand why you would’ve worried at seeing me near Eva at that restaurant,” Irina told Sonya as we all walked out together. “You remembered I was a Petrov.”

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