Total pages in book: 84
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 82579 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 413(@200wpm)___ 330(@250wpm)___ 275(@300wpm)
He leans down and kisses me softly. “I love you,” he says, resting his forehead against mine.
My heart skips and my stomach twists. I press myself tighter into him. “Did you really just say that?”
He kisses me again. “I did. Should I take it back?”
“What? No, absolutely not.”
“You’re right. I take it back.”
“Lev, you’re not funny.”
“What? You want me to love you?” He kisses me again and again. “You like that I fell for you?”
“I love you too,” I say, brushing his cheek with my fingers. The way his face lights up confirms everything I’ve been thinking.
This is right.
It’s absolutely right.
“I love you so much that while you’re gone, I’m going to practice my fencing,” he said as we begin to walk back to the hotel.
“Oh, yeah? You think a week or two is going to make a difference?”
“I think when you come back, I’m going to beat the shit out of you on the piste.”
“I look forward to you trying.” I jab a finger in his side and he grunts. “And I look forward to winning.”
Chapter 41
Lev
Fed Jeweler looks different.
It’s not that it was rebuilt after the fire. Everything about the structure is new, but the neighborhood’s the same. It’s the same old shop in the same old diamond district in the same crusty section of Philadelphia. The same characters, the same problems. Nothing ever changes, not really.
But it’s different now. I can’t figure it out until I push my way in through the front door and greet Dasha. The salesgirl is leaning against the counter on her phone, looking bored.
“You’re back,” she says, perking up. “How was Canada?”
“It was so good I’m going back.”
“Really?” She seems skeptical. “I mean, it’s just Canada.”
“Business. Alex here?”
“In the back.” She waves a hand and sighs as she looks back at her phone. “Did I tell you about my new boyfriend?”
“There’s always a new one.”
“Not true! Sergei’s been around for—” She pauses, thinking. “Weeks. Probably. He’s such a bastard though—”
“Tell me another time,” I say, breezing past her, and I realize what changed.
It’s me. I changed.
The old Lev would’ve sat there and let her go on and on about some guy that won’t ever matter, mostly just to keep up the facade. Good, charming, happy Lev, always easy to talk with.
But that’s not me anymore.
I’m the head of the Federov family. My father’s old associates are falling into line, one by one. Some via phone, others in person, but they’re bending the knee now that Valentin’s spreading the good word.
Lev Federov is back from the dead.
“How many people did you have to kill to make this happen?” Alex asks me, grinning huge.
“Just one. How’s the shop?”
“Profitable. Despite your best efforts.”
“Bastard.”
“Idiot.”
I shake his hand and dip forward into a tight hug. It’s good to see my best friend again. “How’s my sister treating you?”
“You know Natalya. She’s always perfect.”
“That’s not the girl I remember.”
“Then you clearly don’t know her like I do.” Alex stretches and smirks at me, and if I didn’t know any better, he was being disrespectful. Except he really is as obsessively in love with Natalya as he pretends to be, and now I finally get it.
I feel the same way about Carmie.
I tell him about the trip, about Simon and Olivier, about my solution for the problem and about the honeymoon afterward. As I talk, I realize how it happened. How I fell in love with Carmie a while back, maybe on that very first night, and struggled to learn how to deal with it.
The monster inside of me has always been a dealbreaker. I’ve never let myself get close to anyone, mostly because I’m afraid of what might happen if they ever get to see the real me.
Except it didn’t scare Carmie. If anything, she kind of likes the darkness. Maybe just the watered-down, safe version, but still. She doesn’t look at me like I’m a terror.
It feels fucking incredible.
“Months in Canada,” Alex muses as he tries on one of our latest Rolexes. “That’s going to be a pain in the ass.”
“You’re not kidding.”
“What’s there to do in Canada?”
“Same shit down here, only more problems.”
“And Carmie’s going with you?”
“That’s what she says.”
He grunts and nods to himself. “You got a good one.”
“I know I do.”
We make more small talk. I don’t want to get to why I’m really here. All I want is to sit around with my friend and pretend like shit’s the way it’s always been, like Stepan’s going to walk in through the door any second now and everything will be okay. But my brother’s dead, my father’s dead, and Natalya and I are all that’s left.
“Listen, I need to talk to you about something.” I lean back in my chair. Alex looks up from where he’s polishing a bracelet. “It’s about the store.”
“It’ll be fine without you. Might be better, honestly.”