“What is going to happen after all this?” I asked. “What are we going to do, Gavril?”
He arched a brow. “Have a kid, have a lot of sex, you know, that sort of thing.”
I rolled my eyes. “I mean our future and your, um, business ventures.” I really didn’t want to ruin this moment between us, but if he was going to continue to support human trafficking, then I needed to know.
What I was going to do about it, I wasn’t sure, but I would work hard to change his mind if that was what it took.
To my surprise, he didn’t immediately tell me it wasn’t any of my business. “Do you want me to stop?” he asked quietly.
I nodded. “I do.”
I couldn’t stomach the fact that he was bringing innocent women into a life they didn’t ask for or deserve. I would fight him every step of the way if I had to until I could change his mind. That was what people did for those that they were trying to save from themselves.
Gavril let out a long sigh. “Then I will.”
His answer surprised me. “Really?”
“Yes,” he answered. “I can find other means of business. It might take some time to figure out how to produce the same amount of money, but it’s possible.”
I didn’t know what to say. Twice now he had shocked me, once when he admitted his feelings and now this.
“Who are you, and what have you done with Gavril Kirilenko?” I teased, the weight of my worry now lightened somewhat. He was listening to me. He was including me in his decisions.
It was like I had stepped into another universe, a parallel one, where he was giving me the man I had always hoped I would have.
Okay, maybe not everything, but still.
He lifted his lips in a small smile. “Maybe it’s time for me to do some changing for the better. After all, I have a kid to think about.” Gavril leaned forward and brushed his lips against my forehead. “And a future with you.”
I let out a sob and he gathered me close, rubbing his hand down the length of my back as my tears wetted his chest. “I didn’t mean to make you cry.”
“It’s these stupid pregnancy hormones,” I squeezed out. “I don’t normally cry this much.”
Gavril chuckled into my hair. “I think I can get used to it.”
What I wanted to tell him was that I was just happy. Flat out, amazingly happy at this moment. Even if the world was falling apart outside of this room, right now was all that mattered and all I would remember.
“You know, I used to sit in this room,” he said after a moment. “And play my piano, wondering if anyone would ever care to hear it.”
“You can play for me anytime,” I answered, snuggling against his chest. Next to Gavril, I felt safe, protected. Even after everything between us, he was the one that made me feel like nothing could touch me.
His hand smoothed over my hair. “Then I will move the piano upstairs after all this is done.”
“What if your men don’t agree with your plans?” I said instead, my heart squeezing as a new thought crossed my mind. Gavril was telling me everything I wanted to hear, but he couldn’t fight his enemies by himself. He had an entire Bratva to worry over, to keep happy unless we wanted to die pretty quickly. He needed the men to protect him, and I needed them to do their job.
I felt him loosen a breath. “If they don’t comply with my demands, then they will become my enemies. It’s no different from what I would do in any other situation.”
I remained quiet, now afraid of what could be coming down the pipe once he made his ultimatums. I wanted to tell him that it didn’t matter, that we could figure out how to dissolve his trafficking deals later, but I also knew that if it continued to go on, then other women could suffer. I couldn’t live with the fact that I could have stopped it now instead of later.
That, and I was terrified of this war now. What if my plan didn’t work? I could be putting this baby in danger. Ultimately it was the one thing that I should worry about protecting, but I was going to put myself in the line of danger, and therefore our child would be as well.
What kind of parent was I?
I was the kind that wanted a future free of violence for our child. I wanted to be free of Jon, of him lurking around every corner.
I wanted Gavril to be back on top and not have to worry about his deals or his own men stabbing him in the back.
Most of all, I wanted this to be a true relationship between us, a true marriage that we could actually be happy in.
The only way for all those things and more to happen was for me to step up and take my place beside Gavril, to help him win this war and simultaneously fight Jon until he no longer existed in my world or in Gavril’s, for that matter. There was a lot more at stake now, more ammunition that he could use.
I couldn’t let them rip away this future.