a slow breath, climbing out and heading up to the front door. I knock twice on the door, and almost immediately, Victoria pulls it open like she was waiting for me.
The expression on her face tells me she wasn’t.
Her eyes go wide, and her mouth falls open, and before I can say anything, she throws herself into my arms, squeezing me tight.
“I was just coming to get you,” she says, pulling back to look over my face. She cups my cheeks in her hands.
Then, I lean in and kiss my woman. It feels fucking incredible.
Her lips on mine are warm and soft—everything I’ve been missing, dreaming, fantasizing about. The cold that seeped into my bones vanishes at the slightest touch from her fingertips on my chest.
It’s perfect. She’s perfect. We are perfect.
It takes all my strength to pull away. “Timofei picked up me,” I explain. Victoria glances behind me and gives a wave to the man still standing by his car.
“I can’t believe he didn’t tell me! I got all dressed up to see you and bring you home.”
I look over her outfit and smile. She’s wearing a form-fitting pair of jeans and a lilac blouse that makes her breasts look amazing. Something tells me she chose that shirt on purpose. “You were really that excited to see me?”
Sitting in that conference room across the table from beady-eyed prosecutors, I imagined what it would be like to get home and find Victoria had disappeared. With me tied up with the D.A.’s office and her father off the hook, this would be the perfect chance to pack up and move away. She was no longer indebted to me, no longer forced to be around me, and she’d realize how shitty I’d been to her all those months. I thought she’d want nothing to do with me.
So seeing her here, still living in my house and taking care of Nikolas, feels like something of a fantasy. I don’t know how I lucked out, but I know that I did. Anyone lucky enough to be around Victoria should feel the same way.
“I wasn’t sure if you’d be here,” I say. For some reason, I’m having a hard time looking her in the eyes as I say that.
But I can feel her gaze on me—as fiery as ever. She cocks her head to the side and forces me to make eye contact.
“Matvei, I told you in the hospital that I’m not going anywhere, and I meant it. I waited for you. For this moment. I just can’t believe it’s really happening now.”
She hugs me again, and I wrap her in my arms, breathing in the smell I’ve craved every day since I was arrested.
I’ve dreamed that whole time about returning to her and Nikolas.
I don’t have to dream about that anymore.
Without warning, I reach down and heft Victoria up into my arms, carrying her into the house. I hold up a hand to Timofei to let him know that we’re good, then close the door and carry Victoria through the halls of the mansion.
Victoria has been busy in my absence, I see. She has hung up pictures from Nikolas on the walls, added a few more colorful throw pillows to the living room sofa, and the light scent of a rose candle burns throughout the first floor.
All of the additions are practically screaming her name, and I find myself not exactly hating it. Had this been one year ago, I would’ve tossed everything into the fireplace immediately. I would’ve despised how she turned my place into her own while I was gone.
But I’m not that same man anymore.
I’ve realized that this business doesn’t have to be my entire world. I spent so much of my time substituting human interaction for Mafia transactions that I forgot my own humanity for a while there.
That’s not to say that I won’t be returning, either. This is my life. This is the life my father raised me to live out. I just need to spend more time with the people that I care about. With the woman that I care about.
When we make it to the kitchen, I finally put Victoria down on the floor, stealing one more kiss from her. “It smells good in here. What are you cooking?”
“I’m baking cookies. I know you always snuck chocolate chip cookies when I’d make them for Niko, so I figured you’d like them.”