Page 81 of Knocked-up Bratva Bride
I stepped up beside him while he pulled the door open.
My jaw dropped, and I forgot how to breathe. “Katya?”
***
Since we had my entire family and Winter watching over Leo, Damien led us to his study to discuss, with Katya and Fedor trailing behind us.
Silence covered the entire room once the doors creaked shut, and we sat down. Technically, I perched at the side of Damien’s leather chair while Katya sat across from her father, because I was too nervous to sit close to her.
I couldn’t stop staring at Katya.
She looked older than the last time we saw her, but healthier, with rosy cheeks and light makeup. She had also cut her hair to a bob length and dressed in baggy clothes.
That same stubborn expression I’d come to know so well remained on her face, but her countenance was sadder. I opened my mouth, but no sound came out.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said softly, hands clasped in front of her, fidgeting on her knees. Her voice had a tremble I didn’t expect, and it pierced right through me. “For a long time, about everything. About what happened between you and my, um…papa.”
I felt Damien shift beside me, but I didn’t dare move. I thought it would shatter the moment.
“I was angry. I couldn’t understand how any of it happened. It hurt like a bitch to imagine the two of you sleeping together behind my back. I mean, you were like a sister to me, Lena—”
Past tense.That meant we were on the road to reconciliation, but there was no promise of us going back tothe way things were before now. The harsh reality was that we couldn’t, even if we tried.
“And Papa, well, he did piss me off a lot.” She chuckled dryly. “He’d hurt me before. and it felt like he was ripping the Band-Aid off again, reopening all wounds. I couldn’t bear it. So, I left.
“Somehow, in isolation, I felt like I didn’t matter anymore to either one of you. That you took my place…. That he wasmydad. And you just—” Her voice broke, and I saw her jaw tighten as she fought it. “But I realized I never even tried to hear you out. I didn’t listen.”
Tears pricked the corners of my eyes. She didn’t have to say another word, and I’d already forgiven her. Heaven knew, I had forgiven her a hundred times over in silence.
“Months later, I found out what really happened. From the night at Gipsy—not knowing who he was, to why you agreed to get married to him,” she said it with a smirk. “He really is insufferable, isn’t he? Presenting a marriage to you like a business proposal. Typical. You wanted Superman, and life threw a Russian crime lord at you. Out of all of them, Damien Yezhov. The most complicated.”
“Hey, you’re running out of luck,” Damien scolded. But the two of them shared a fond look.
“I understand now,” she whispered. “And I felt awful for making you feel like your heart needed a limitation on who to love. I understand now why he loves you. Why you love each other. Maybe not fully, but I get that you didn’t take him from me. You gave him back to me, in a way. You make him happy.”
I couldn’t stop the tears anymore. They slid down my cheeks freely as I stepped forward, my hands trembling. I wondered how she had found out every single detail of what went down. If Damien had gotten in contact with her, he would have told me.
But what was more important was her forgiveness.
I wanted to go in for a hug, but I watched the timing.
“I’m so sorry, Katya,” I finally breathed after wasting seconds to find my voice. “For everything. For not waiting until I told you about the stranger at the club. For not pushing harder to explain. I made a mistake, too.”
Her lips trembled, and I saw her eyes glisten. “No, you didn’t make a mistake. In fact, he’s part of the reason I came here.”
I blinked, started. “Leo?”
“Yeah. I wanted to see him in person. “He’s…I don’t know. He’s so damn cute, it’s not even fair.” A soft laugh bubbled out of her. “Those big eyes? The way he tries to babble like he has something important to say?”
We shared a soft laugh, and, gradually, it started to feel like the old us again.
“I’m really sorry for not hearing you out, Elena. Our friendship should have been strong enough to survive anything, but I was scared. I thought I was losing everything. But…I think I was just afraid of letting go.”
Damien rose from his chair and stepped forward. He didn’t say anything, but rested a hand on Katya’s shoulder gently, and I watched the last of the tension in her shoulders melt away.
She sprang to her feet and wrapped her arms around him, hugging him very tightly. “Ya tebya lyublyu, papa.”
I didn’t have to understand Russian to know she’d told him she loved him. He said it to me every night, before we slept, and almost every morning.
