Page 81 of Forgotten Vows
Konstantin was alive, and he was pissed that Raisa was with me and that we’d had a son. When we took it to the confederation of Bratva leaders, we “won” our case. A blood test had been ordered, and if anyone still wanted to dispute that Lev was my son and heir, they could have those paternity results when they came in. Luka’s word carried well enough.
With him backing this acceptance and claiming Lev as a young member of the family, it was enough to get others in line.
What I found interesting, though, was how many people were still grumbling about Luka taking Gabriella as a wife. Miguel Lopez was a rat, screwing over the Dubinin Family, the Riveras, and the Vipers Cartel. He might have tried to find a get-rich-quick scheme lying to and manipulating other crimefamilies too. That was all on him, and any association with a family or group didn’t carry much weight, in my opinion.
“What are you thinking about?” Raisa asked as the car brought us back to Luka’s fortress of a residence after dropping off Lev.
I shrugged. “This and that. I was thinking about what we noticed people talking about yesterday at that council meeting.”
She arched one brow. “Well, I imagine Emil and a couple of spies were wearing wires to record some of the this and that.”
I smiled slowly, watching her relax in the back seat with me. She was truly one of a kind. I never had to worry about explaining anything to her. This woman had been born and raised in a crime family and wouldn’t ever be naïve or clueless about how things worked.
She’d never shy away from when the going got tough. It bothered me to recall that she’d had to kill men herself, but that was only a sign of more respect owed to her.
I hadn’t found a woman to love and marry. I’d found a partner. An ally. That mattered so much more.
“Yes,” I replied. “Emil did take the necessary steps to ensure we could gather what auxiliary intel we could.” He always would. We all had to think outside the box in this effort to be one step ahead.
When we arrived at the house, she kissed me before walking off to find Gabriella, who had asked for her help with Andre this morning. Watching those two women form a friendship was just one more piece of how things were looking up around here.
I went to find Luka, ready to discuss more about what we learned yesterday.
He was in his study, finishing his coffee. Something else waited on his desk, and I had to laugh once.
“You don’t have to go to so much trouble to flatter me.”
He smirked, looking up from the array of rings splayed out in the flat cases. Allan stood next to the desk, nodding and no doubt there to offer my uncle his advice about the rings. I bet he’d retrieved them from the vault for him, too.
“Getting something to give to Gabriella?” I asked as I sat.
Luka shook his head. “No. Preparing for when you propose to Raisa.” He sat back as I leaned forward to peruse the jewelry that had been in the Dubinin Family for many generations.
“That will need to happen sooner than later,” he reminded me. “For the sake of Lev’s safety and everything else that’s going on.”
I frowned a bit. “I don’t want to propose to her because I have to.” I glanced up at him. “Like you did with Gabriella.”
“I told her that I would marry her because I loved her. I just didn’t really go about it well.”
He hadn’t gone about fighting with her well, either. He and Gabriella had made both of themselves so miserable for months when they could’ve just talked it out.
Hey, at least she only hid a pregnancy from you. Raisa hid her pregnancy, childbirth, and the first seven years of Lev’s life from me.
Eventually, the sting would disappear forever. As I looked over the rings, one of which I’d use to propose to her, I knew that the next child we had, I would be there the whole time.
“Perhaps you could simply have Raisa pick one for herself?” Allan asked.
I scrunched up my face and shook my head. “No. That’s not romantic.”
“Some would claim that it’s not romantic to hurry to marry a woman just so her father won’t cause trouble,” Luka said. “Why couldn’t he just be dead already?”
“He let too many people think that hewasdead for so long that he became a forgotten name,” I replied. From how distortedhe’d looked in that video, I bet Konstantin had needed extensive time in a medical facility to be stitched back together, then also lengthy spells of recovery.
I closed the flap over the ring case. “I’ll pick one later.”
Luka nodded. “Just don’t wait too long. We’re going to the church in an hour to look at it and see about planning.”
I chuckled. “I have to officially propose first.”
