Page 59 of Claimed in Sin
"I'm fine."
"You're not fine, Stepan. You're moody and angry, and I'm worried about you."
His hand moves to the back of my neck and his fingers curl around, forcing me to look up at him. "I'm better now," he says, and then he kisses me tenderly. But I know he's lying, hidingbehind some façade he thinks I'm going to buy into. I don't believe him for a minute.
But I wrap my arms around him and breathe him in. We haven't had a spare moment alone since things started happening and I need to know if he's upset about the baby.
"Can I ask you something?"
"Yeah, of course, baby. Ask anything." His hands grip the sides of my face firmly and he rests his forehead against mine.
"What do you think about having a baby with me?" The tiny spikes of tension in his chest and shoulders show me he's uncomfortable, but not angry. "Because you haven't said," I continue. "You've been so busy with work..." I sigh and rest my chin on his sternum. "I need to know, Stepan. I need to know if you're okay with this or if you're doing all of it out of obligation because you feel responsible and you're too decent to walk away."
His thumbs brush over my cheekbones and when he speaks, it's not what I expect.
"I couldn't be happier about having a baby with you, Marina. When we met, I had no clue what this would become. I knew who you were, but not what I would feel for you, and now that I have you..." He kisses me again, so gently, I whimper for more. "I'm never letting you go. Do you understand?"
I savor the feeling of being accepted and loved, but it doesn’t explain why he's still so tense. I can't let this go. My insecurity will drive me insane. "But you’re so on edge and agitated."
Stepan pulls away, letting his hands slide to my shoulders, then down my arms to my hands. He stands at arm's length and looksme in the eye with a serious expression, but I see him relenting internally.
"Well, I'm not fond of how he treated you, and I have some anger to work out there. And I'm a little concerned about raising a kid in this world I live in. Now I know for sure why my cousin is so adamant that we do things the right way all the time. It's the right way to do it... To raise a kid, I mean."
Then he smiles and I see the flash of his ornery side popping out. "And how the hell will this world survive a Stepan Junior?" He winks at me, and it makes my heart burst. I know things will be okay if he just keeps smiling.
"Oh, you're funny." I grin. "Because we're having a girl, and her name will be Reign."
I try pulling away, but he grabs me around the waist and pulls me back against his chest so my back is to him and his chin rests over my shoulder.
"Good try... I want a boy, and I want to teach him to fish and bike and shoot a gun." Stepan's lips press to my cheek. "And I want him to know how incredible his mother is, every day of his life."
My heart is full.
I thought that life could never surprise me. Things were so structured and organized around my time and my activities, and especially with the arranged marriage, I thought I would never know what an adventure felt like.
Now I know life will never be normal again. It's full of ups and downs, chaos, and surprises, and the best part is, I get to go through it all with the man I deeply love.
Elira is going to flip out when she hears how all of this turned out.
30
STEPAN
Sergei Belova signs his name at the bottom of the page without looking up. He sets the pen down, pushes the document across the table toward Roman, and leans back in his chair. Everything about his posture says he'd rather be anywhere other than here, but he showed up like he promised, along with Filipp and a smattering of guards, who were told to wait outside.
Roman picks up the pen and adds his signature beneath Sergei's and it's done. Officially, we have an alliance with the Belova name, not to outshine our Radin family businesses, and as such, a peace deal. It's taken a long time to get to this place of agreement, including some concessions on trade routes and holding Sergei back from his desired attacks on other families in the region, but it's done.
The public-facing businesses are aligned. Sergei's distribution network feeds into ours, our supply chain backs his, and the contracts sitting on this table make it official. It can't be unwound by a petty disagreement or squabble. Though, in ourworld, a handshake and blood oath would've sufficed, but Sergei is a tough cookie to negotiate with.
"I trust that you'll honor the agreement," Sergei says, eyes flicking to mine. Funny how he's ignored Timur and Kazimir who've both been a part of all the negotiations. He seems to think Roman runs the place and I'm his second. Though, part of me knows that's only because of what's happened with Marina.
Roman caps the pen and tucks it into his jacket pocket. He glowers at Sergei, not fond of his doubts. If Roman is anything, it's faithful to a fault. The man once let his wife go after stealing from him based on a letter written more than twenty years earlier, saying he owed a debt. Roman keeps his word.
"You don't have to worry about us keeping the contract intact. What you need to worry about is that you've got a problem with the Orlov side," Roman says. "Their finances were tangled up with yours before Orlov died, and now they're pulling threads."
Sergei glowers at him, but Timur's been monitoring Sergei's accounts for weeks. None of this is a surprise to any of us. We wanted to know what we were getting into bed with, and if Sergei doesn’t control this, we'll end up being forced to go to war with what's left of Orlov's family. We will, of course, consume them, but fighting isn't our preferred method of business.
"Here's what you need to understand," Roman continues. He folds his hands on the table and leans forward, narrowing his eyes at the man. "We're allies now. That's what those signatures mean. If the Orlov organization has a problem with you, they have a problem with us. If they come after your accounts or your territory or your people, they're coming after the Kuzin empire, and nobody in this region can survive us."
