Page 101 of Vasily the Hammer

“You can be honest with me.”

“Zvyozdochka,I was so furious that day that I was ready to kill your brother right then and there, but that wasn’t on you.”

“I can’t believe he survived today,” she grumbles, then stiffens up, flushing brightly when she realizes she spoke that out loud.

He’s not going to survive too many more days. But he’ll suffer in them. Prisons don’t have a whole lot of money for non-life-saving surgery.

“I was as gentle as I could be, and you were terrified, and I wanted nothing more in the world than to carry you out of there, but I had to... complete the task first.”

“I’m sorry if it was traumatizing for you.”

“You—what? You can’t apologize to me for that.”

She smirks at me. “I can, and I did. I know you, I know you were gentle with me, and I bet you told me you didn’t want to do it either.”

“Can I tell you a secret?”

“Hmm?”

“You enjoyed it.”

Any color she may have gotten to her face thinking about Tony drains at that. “I didn’t!”

“You did. And then I brought you home, and I brought you soap from Dima’s bathroom because he had girly stuff. You yelled at me when I tried to buy you dinner, so I lied and told you that there was a BOGO special at the pizza place and I was going to order a pizza for you, so you may as well tell me which toppings you like.”

“Did it work?”

“Yep.”

“Do you remember how I like my pizza?”

Oh, ho, ho. She’s trying to trip me up. She’s going to have to try way harder than that, though. “Extra cheese, and olives and mushrooms. Plus something sweet, not fruit. I got you cannoli.”

Or maybe it was a trap— she gives me the most victorious look. “You loved me. The very first day, and youlovedme? Gosh, what a sucker you were!”

I don’t deny it. What would be the point? “And then you stole my hoodie. I know you, Ana. I know everything about you that matters. Of course I love you.”

Her grin goes shaky, and she has to dab tears from her eyes. “Stop.”

“Never.” I lean over her, intent on having my way with her, only to look up and realize Artom is watching us. He looks really happy, but certainly, he has no idea what’s actually about to happen.

Ana tilts her head to him. “Hey, buddy? I tell you what. Daddy and I are gonna go clean up, and if you take a really good nap, we’ll order a pizza, okay? Whatever you want on it.”

“I want whatever Daddy’s pizza is!” he says as he closes the door.

The moment it clicks, Ana grabs my collar, gives it a sharp tug, and says, “We got an hour. Tops. Let’s do this.”

Sasha leans back in the booth with his hand on his chest, staring lovingly at the cake before him. “My God, this is the best medovik I think I’ve ever had.”

I nod and sip on my tea. It’s a traditional Russian tea— and by that, I mean it’s instant tea, orange drink, and lemonade powders mixed together with some cider spices. Apparently, Ana thought her Russian staff was all pranking her when they suggested it over tea brewed with fresh orange and spices until she went to the Russian market and found the products sitting together. And yes, her restaurant is a nice one, not quite fine dining but a comfortable step down, accessible to the masses for date nights but good enough for the wealthy to dine casually.

Those who aren’t Russian don’t need to know that the secret ingredient is Tang.

“I’ll be sure to pass your compliments on to the chef.”

“How is she doing? Did her memories come back?”

It’s wild that the last time I saw Sasha was when I was picking Ana up from the Consummate compound, not even an hour away from where she’d been living and raising my son. It turns out Dima was even in regular contact with them. Not about Ana, but just as a professional courtesy. He didn’t want shit to get stirred up because they got tingly over West Coast Bratva making regular appearances so close by.

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