“My emotions are all kinds of complicated. Counseling is helping me unravel them, but the truth is, other than being free, I don’t know how I feel. When something reminds me of the good side of my dad, I get upset, but all I have to do is catch a look at my back in the mirror and ...”
I pull her close to me. “It’s not easy.”
She nods.
“Remember what you told me about grief?”
Her gorgeous blue eyes turn up to me. “We process things, but we can take the good lessons we learned and gain something from the loss.”
She snuggles close. “I get you, Kon, and Max.”
“You said that before he was gone.”
“I have the courage to tell you all that I love you. I don’t have to hold back those emotions anymore because I’m afraid my dad will shove you away or buy you or bully you.”
“Anything else?”
“I’m twice as ambitious. I don’t have a fallback. I’m doing what I want to do and I’m going to take the business world by storm my way.”
I grin and kiss her passionately. “Now you can take my pants off.”
She laughs and we fool around a little, but don’t have sex until early in the morning. I’m convinced it’s the best way to wake up with Juliana. Once we finish, we tease each other in the shower, and then I have to go deal with my part of the will – taking over the company.
The whole thing feels surreal. I can’t believe I’m taking over a multimillion-dollar company, and getting millions in the shares of the company that Uncle Tony owned. It’s overwhelming.
But when I get back to Juliana’s, since I basically feel like I live there, I find a surprise. Konstantin, Max, and Juliana pop confetti guns and congratulate me on being the boss. The guys cheer me on, Max offers to show me the ropes if I need it, and Konstantin promises the support of the Volkovs.
Somehow, I’ve gone from someone who barely has any family to having more than I could want. I don’t know what to do with all this. Juliana kisses the corner of my mouth. “You deserve this, Gio. All your hard work is paying off.”
“I love you,” I say.
She hugs me tightly. “I love you too.”
As we eat cake, talk about the future, and don’t discuss hitmen, Juliana’s father, or anything of the past, I start to think about what else the future could hold for us. Could we really make this work?
But all it takes is Juliana laughing and flashing that loving smile at me that softens her whole face. I know that we’ll find a way. None of this has been a coincidence. There’s no way. Uncle Tony could have hired other people – professionals. Max could have been killed. Juliana could have taken a page from her father’s book and bullied her way out of the situation.
All of the maybes and possibilities and yet we’re here. Us three men in love with the most amazing person in the world and capable of being around each other without jealousy or competition. We’re just happy.
This is fate. It has to be.
“What are you thinking about down there, love?” Julia asks me.
“You. Us.” I motion to Kon and Max. “The fact that we are going to make this work.”
“It’s just going to get better with time,” Max agrees.
Konstantin raises his glass. “To a long and happy future for us.”
“Without half the danger.” Juliana raises hers.
We cheers and drink, but I have this feeling deep in my gut, that the only problems in our future are the petty kind. Normal fights and bickering. We’ve worked hard and our future together is our reward.
No more pretending. Just us living our best lives possible.