Total pages in book: 187
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 177397 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 887(@200wpm)___ 710(@250wpm)___ 591(@300wpm)
She swears she has never once hated me for the email I sent in desperation, but she isn’t as skilled in lying as she is in detecting liars. I felt her disappointment, and I carried it for the three weeks it caused our contact to be sporadic.
The stress of worrying that I had caused irreputable damage to our friendship was enough for my obstetrician to order me to a month of bed rest.
It was my phone call to Nikita for a second opinion that reopened the communication lines. She gasped in bewilderment when I told her I was pregnant before she claimed credit for Amaliya’s conception.
I was quick to remind her that a thirty-second leg hump isn’t enough to conceive a child but that I was more than happy to give her a chance to prove my theory wrong the next time we had a sleepover.
Her laugh soothed the cracks in my heart no amount of groveling from Andrik could fix, and her reply fortified the flimsy patch job. “I told you it was you.”
We’ve spoken every day since. Sometimes multiple times a day.
The remembrance adds mushy gooeyness to my voice when I answer, “Yes. All those are ready to go out.”
When she gathers the plates of cupcakes in her hands, I snatch up a handful of napkins and stuff them into Maksim’s chest before telling them I’ll meet them outside with the real birthday cake shortly.
Maksim grumbles about being bossed around, but since he is still under Nikita’s spell as much now as he was the night they wed, he follows his wife out of my home without further protest.
We have staff who could restock the snacks table, many of them, but on days like today, when we want our home filled with family and friends, we give them the day off.
It doesn’t make the shell of our home as echoing as you’d think. Anoushka is here, and so is Konstantine, Lilia, Vanka, Mars, and Daniil. Even the driver who didn’t go over twenty when we drove Amaliya home from the hospital has made an appearance.
Everyone of importance is here. There’s just one person we’re missing.
It isn’t Ellis, as you may suspect. Shockingly, he is still a part of our lives. More because he could only react to the lies that were presented to him. He only learned the truth along with Andrik.
Ellis treated Mikhail so poorly because the federation had flipped the story of Luiza’s alleged affair onto Stasy. For over thirty years, he believed the one woman he genuinely loved had birthed another man’s child. Her alleged betrayal made him a shell of the man he could have been, and Andrik, Mikhail, and I had to suffer his heartache with him.
Although he believed Stasy had betrayed him, just like Andrik, Ellis couldn’t stay away. He hid Stasy where he thought she would be safe, underestimating how desperate my mother—who I still struggle to remember isn’t actually my mother—was to prosper in the world of the mega-wealthy.
The instant she discovered who Stasy’s late-night visitor truly was, Dina exploited her connection for all it was worth.
We still have a long way to go before the aftermath of the federation’s downfall will stop cracking the foundations I will never stop fortifying for my children, but we will get there eventually.
Andrik will make sure of it.
The efforts he’s put in to fix my relationship with Aleena is proof of this.
There are so many plot twists in our story, but Aleena’s forced involvement hurts me the most. I can’t imagine how she felt when she was made to carry a child for nine months, only to have him cruelly stripped away.
We’ve tried to make things right with her. We’ve done everything we can to take away her pain and replace it with joy, but now the ball is in her court. We could only release her from her shackles. Anything after that is up to her.
“She will be here, милая.” Andrik sneaks up on me with the agility a man his size shouldn’t have before he reminds me of his mind reading capabilities. “She is your sister and our children’s aunt. How could she not come to her niece’s first birthday?” After banding his arm around my waist, he tugs me back before pressing his lips to my neck. “They also don’t serve mедови́к until noon. Did you miss the memo that the Romanovs don’t do family celebrations without that ghastly dish?”
Romanov is our new last name. It is steeped in history, so it was the perfect choice for a direct descendant of Russian royalty.
“Until she shows up with the curdled dessert none of our guests will wish to share, how about we test page twenty-two’s stability on a kitchen counter for the umpteenth time this year?”
I swoon like crazy when he tilts in close. He’s hard, and I’m too horny to remember today isn’t meant to be about me.