Page 60 of Defiant Devotion

The moment we entered the house and I saw my sister, though, I cautioned myself from getting too far ahead with happiness.

Eva narrowed her eyes at me and crossed her arms. Surprise showed on her lovely face, and stubborn antagonism was evident in the line of her closed lips clamped together.

I drew in a deep breath, saddened that this was how our reunion would start.

“So, you live.”

“Eva,” Oleg scolded harshly at her greeting.

“Uncle?” She lost the scowl for me and looked at him with happy surprise. “You’re… you’re…”

“Alive as well,” he grumped. “Almost killed twice today, though. He saved me.” He pointed at Ben. “Then she saved me.” He pointed at me and smiled. “And then she saved me too.” He put his hand on Irina’s back. “Which is why I’m disappointed in your acting like Sonya’s return isn’t something to celebrate. Taking care of this family, of the Baranov legacy we share, is priority.”

He frowned but accepted Eva’s hug. She really was happy that he was well and home. “I agree. And I’m sorry.” She looked from him to me. “But I’ve spent the last eleven years hating that my mother ran away with her and didn’t want me.”

I cleared my throat. “The Ilyins took me and Mother. We were held captive. They killed her ten years ago, and I’ve plotted to escape and come home to our family every single day of those years.”

Eva left Oleg and approached me slowly. “You were taken?”

I nodded, trying my best not to cry at the sight of my baby sister all grown up. We’d lost so much time, and I hated that she’d assumed something so false. She’d let such anger and resentment fester all this time. “I would never leave our family. Mother wouldn’t have either.”

Eva let out a cry, sobbing as she ran to me. Wrapping her arms around me, she hugged me tight. But just as quickly as she embraced me, she released me. “Wait. Youarepregnant.” She looked at Kelly and Irina. “It’s really you. And you’re… pregnant.”

I nodded, smiling again as we hugged once more. Words could wait. I had a decade of missing hugs from her.

“And I killed my father.”

That statement was Irina’s, dull and blunt. She still had a dazed, vacant expression regardless of Vik standing with her and keeping his arm around her.

“What?” Eva furrowed her brow again and looked at her friend. “What did you say?”

“Alothas happened today,” Lev summarized, almost flippantly. He kissed her and rejoined Oleg to assist him further into the house.

“Come along, Irina. Sit,” the Boss urged, beckoning Irina to enter his favorite lounge with him. We all followed in, and Eva didn’t leave my side.

“Am I dreaming? Is this really happening?” She frowned up at me.

I couldn’t take my eyes off our uncle guiding Irina into the room. He already saw her as one of his own, a former enemy and now ally. Oleg used to rule with such an iron fist, but I’d never doubted that he had a big heart. And he proved it again now.

A teenager came into the room, signing to Irina, and she responded with gestures as well.

“That’s Maxim,” Eva explained. “He’s—oh. You’ve got a lot to catch up on.”

I nodded then tipped my chin at Irina. “But given how shaken up she seems, I think we need to start with what happened today and work backward.”

Eva smiled, a real one, and hugged me close before I sat with Ben. “I am so glad you are home.”

I arched a brow. “And that I hadn’t run away?”

A shameful frown covered her face, but I wasn’t going to allow that. I hadn’t come home to hold a grudge. “Eva, relax. My disappearance couldn’t have been a simple thing to explain or understand. We’ll talk.”

With one more nod, she moved over toward Lev as the family gathered for a meeting.

“Igor Petrov had a soldier attempt to smother me at the hospital,” my uncle began. “And the Ilyins paid off a nurse tokill me as well. On the way home, Igor joined his men in an attempt to run us off the road and opened gunfire.” He patted Irina’s knee, as she sat next to him, Vik at her other side. “Irina approached in kind and killed him.” Lifting his chin, he almost smiled. “The Petrov family will disintegrate and will no longer be a threat to the Baranovs.”

We all sat in silence, deferring to him.

Then, loudly and awkwardly, someone reacted in a shout. “Oh, thank fuck.”

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