Page 31 of Loved By the Hacker

“That was already in the cards for him,” I vowed.

“Good.” He cleared his throat. “Coral’s happy, and that’s all that matters. Now the bad news for you, son, is if I so much as get an inkling about something when it comes to you, I wont keep my mouth shut. She’s been through enough.”

“Agreed. If I do something to hurt her, I’ll cut off my own balls, sir.”

“Good.” He smirked, then it fell. “Love isn’t easy. Marriage isn’t easy. And, fuck, parenthood.” He shook his head. “But it’s all wort the work you put in. You work at it, communicate with one another, and I promise you no matter what, it will all be worth it. Even if your little girl shows up with a stranger saying she’s going to be having his child and marrying him without you knowing him.”

“You can trust me to keep her safe and to take care of her. I know she doesn’t need that, but I will. She’s everything I could have ever dreamt of and more, Marco. There won’t be a day she won’t know just how much I love and respect her.”

“Good.” His tone was gruff with emotion. He patted me on the back and looked at me. “Let’s get back in there. I’m sure Coral’s stressed about us talking out here so long, and that’s not good for my grandbaby.” I nodded and followed him inside. But before we reached the door, he turned with a glimmer in his gaze.

“Oh yean, one more thing….”

Coral

“You promised him what?” I asked, sitting crisscross on our king-sized bed.

“Butterfly—“

“No.” I shook my head. “I can’t believe you would promise that!”

“Baby,” Oleg chuckled and moved onto the bed, pulling me into him. Not that I resisted. I loved being in his arms. Slowly, the frustration that had started to grow as he told me what they had talked about started to seep out of me.

“What if I don’t want a big wedding, handsome? Did you think about that?” I was pouting and knew it.

“He didn’t say a big wedding. He just said he would appreciate us not running off to a courthouse and elope. He wants to be there. Your mom wants to be there.”

“You know why he asked you this, right? Because he knew I would say no,” I mumbled. I loved my dad, but sometimes, we were too much alike and bonked heads. I’d been ready to run out to see what they were talking about with every tick of the clock, worried he was going to rip into Oleg. I knew my mom had told him what I’d shared about my past with Jack, and I could only imagine what he had thought about when not only did I bring my new boyfriend for him to meet, but I did it wearing a huge rock on my finger and telling him he as going to be a grandpa.

“You want to elope?” Oleg asked, and I could tell by the look on his face that if I did, we’d be taking the first flight to Vegas.

“No!” I rolled my eyes. “But that’s not the point.”

“Baby.” He laughed and kissed my forehead. “I want a wedding. The size doesn’t matter, but I would like our family and friends there when I vow to spend the rest of my life with you. It’s important to me, and I think it’s important to you.”

“It is,” I begrudgingly agreed.

“Then is it that big of a deal if he thinks we’re doing a little something for him that we were going to do anyways?”

“I guess not,” I sighed, settling in closer and resting my cheek on his chest, Oleg’s heartbeat under my ear a steady beat that soothed me. “What else did my dad say?” I glanced up. I saw a moment where Oleg hesitated, and I knew there was one thing about the conversation I would never find out about. For whatever reason, Oleg thought it better to keep it from me, and I hoped that trusting him never backfired on me.

“That he’s never seen his girl so happy.” My eyes softened as I pressed my lips to his warm flesh.

“I’ve never been this happy.”

“Hmm,” his deep voice rumbled before he carefully flipped me over, pressing my back to the mattress as he brought his body over mine. “That sounds like a challenge.”” He winked, and I giggled.

“A challenge, huh?”

“What if I try to make you just that much happier?”

“I don’t know.” I chewed on my bottom lip, loving the way he looked at me. “You’re going to have to try hard. Really hard,” I flirted, and my soon-to-be husband was more than up for the job.

And I couldn’t wait to see what life had in store for us.

Epilogue

Oleg

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