Grabbing her shoulders, I gave her a small shake. “He will be back, Angel.”
The mere thought of Viktor not making it out alive made me sick. It left a bitter taste in my mouth, and I rather chose not to think of it.
He was a motherfucking pain in the ass—one that I wanted to shoot multiple times in the ass, but he was still my brother. I have never doubted Viktor—it was my blind trust in him.
If there was someone I trusted enough to do this job, then it was Viktor. It was a gamble, a game—dangerous, but still a game to be played. Solonik needed to go down. Sooner rather than later.
As long as he was alive, my family and everyone else was in danger.
The only fucking problem was that he had too many connections. Behind our backs, he had build his empire, little by little—and now it was stronger. We knew only half of it.
It would have been easy to just kill him—put an end to this. But that would lead to a big fucking catastrophe. Everything was too connected. All our businesses. The whole corporation would go into chaos. He was too powerful to bring down without masking it and learning his plans.
“Princess doesn’t even remember him. You should have seen his face when he held her, but she was so scared and started crying. He was devastated, Alessio.”
Ayla’s voice broke through my thoughts, and I looked down at her again. Her fingers feathered over my cheeks, softly caressing.
“I feel like my family isn’t whole anymore, and I’m scared that it’s only going to get worse,” she continued.
Ayla gazed across the room, looking lost in her thoughts. Her face was drawn in, the look in her eyes making my heart clench. She looked so…desolated.
I knew how much family meant to Ayla. She has finally found her place—her family—and I knew she couldn’t lose any of us. It would break her more than it would break me.
“You aren’t going to lose us, Angel. I can promise you that. Nothing is going to happen to Viktor. After he’s done with this shit, he will be back home where he belongs, with us,” I said, kissing her forehead. “He’s going to be okay.”
My words held a hint of uncertainty, fuck, I didn’t even know if whatever I just said was the truth. But I needed to soothe her worries.
“You think so?” Ayla questioned, her lips feathering over my neck. She laid gentle kisses there before looking me in the eyes again.
I stared into the green pools of her familiar eyes—eyes that I had fallen so in love with.
My reply was quick. “I know so.”
She nodded silently. I knocked her forehead with mine. “Stop worrying, Angel. It’s not good for you or the baby. Viktor is probably having fun with all the new pussies he’s getting.”
Ayla glared, but it didn’t last long. When she stared at me through her doe eyes, her lips stretching into the most beautiful fucking smile, I couldn’t help but smile too.
Her happiness always got my heart swelling and beating faster.
“I just worry,” she mumbled under her breath. “I can’t help it.”
“Well, you shouldn’t,” I retorted, placing another kiss on her forehead, soothing the small frown lines.
Ayla laid her head on my shoulders again. While still holding on to her, I dragged both of us up the bed until we were laying on our sides. With our heads on the pillows, we faced each other.
My Angel cuddled closer to me, as close as the baby bump would let her. Her hand came up, resting over my cheek.
She let out a breathy sigh. “How is it that I love you more every day? I didn’t think it would be possible, but every day I love you even more than the day before.”
My hand tightened around her waist before smiling down at her glowing face. She was beautiful—even more beautiful during her pregnancy.
Kissing the tip of her nose, I let my lips linger there before answering. “I don’t know, Angel. I ask myself that question every day.”
With a laugh, she kissed me on the lips—a quick peck that left me wanting more. I moved in for another kiss, but Ayla was already speaking again. “Do you remember the first time we met?”
I nodded silently, wanting another kiss, but she continued to speak. Fuck, Ayla! I just want a damn kiss.
Forcing back a frustrated growl, I listened to her. “You gave me three choices. What would you have done if I didn’t choose to work for you? What if I chose something else? Maybe we wouldn’t be here today.”
I grabbed her by the hips, pulling her hard into my body. She stifled a laugh but quickly melted in my embrace.
“Angel, when I gave you three choices, it was just a show. In the end, I knew you wouldn’t choose the others. You couldn’t choose to go back on the street. All I knew was that you were running away from something dangerous and you needed somewhere safe. I was the only safety option you had. And you wouldn’t choose option three. Why would you chose for me to kill you when you wanted to live? You hid in my car because you wanted freedom. You wanted a life…why choose death then?”