Chapter 25

twenty-five

Alexandr

Four weeks—that's how much longer she had to stay in the hospital, and I barely left her side. She contracted an infection and had to stay for three more weeks. It killed me, but it also gave me a chance to finish the redecoration of the farm I bought my girl in the Adirondack mountains, after she'd agreed to give me a year to win her back…before she nearly died. With the help of my men and my family, we basically had it stripped and remodeled. It looks amazing.

Sofia went into labor in our new living room; our new niece weighed only six pounds and is absolutely perfect. She's the second child I've had to help deliver. They named her Aurora Victoria Volkov, and Sofia's mother burst into tears when she heard the gorgeous girl was named after her. Sofia's mother has come a long way, and she and Sofia are closer than ever.

Phoebe's been home for about a month. I brought her back to my penthouse to recuperate before I shocked her with her new home. She's been getting her strength back every day, and I've ensured she hasn't been bored, and enrolled her in vet school at the University of the Adirondacks. She's been doing the coursework at home, but the practical starts when we move. She doesn't know we're moving yet; she thinks she has to commute. I thought it would take a lot to convince her to move back to New York, but it didn't.

When I brought it up a week before being discharged, she shocked the shit out of me because she smiled and stated, "I've already signed the farmhouse over to Abby; she wasn't too happy but understood that we'll FaceTime every day and visit when we can. If we want this to work, then we need to try harder, which means me coming home." Then she kissed my lips softly, all while my love shined brighter for her.

Phoebe brings me out of my mind when she asks, "Are you going to tell me where we are going? I thought you were taking me to the university, but you drove past it."

I chuckle and squeeze her thigh where my hand has been since we started driving. My cock twitches.

Fuck.

I have the biggest case of blue balls going. I haven't seen any action apart from my right hand since Phoebe came back into my life; that was roughly six months ago, but I want to do it right.

When we get to our destination, our whole family will be there, including Avery, which was fucking hard, convincing her to come. She hasn't seen Sergi in nearly three months, despite him trying. But for Phoebe, she said yes, because they've become close. I've also got a minister at the new house. Dad managed to get us a marriage license with help from someone on our payroll, bending the rules for us, and I'm marrying my woman today. She just doesn't know it yet.

We get to the gate cutting off the road to the farmhouse, and the guard lets us in. Phoebe looks at me in confusion as we pull in. It sits on over twelve acres of land, with a built-in security fence. I filled those acres with four horses, some pigs, goats, a couple of dogs. There's also Ares, who had been staying with me since Phoebe's attack, and I even bought Goosy off the old man in the farmhouse opposite Phoebe's in California.

She may kill me for this, but when she graduates, she wants to have her own practice at her own farm, so I ensured a building was built three miles away from the house, with an apartment above. Abby even said, once she graduates, she'll move into it and work for her friend. She said the farm isn't the same without Phoebe, and she'll likely sell it and give the money back to Phoebe. I just chuckled; like hell, would my woman accept a penny of it.

We pull up to the beautiful house as Phoebe whispers, "Wow."

I smirk, then look at the house. It's a white, three-story house with a wraparound porch, decorated with white ribbons and balloons for our wedding, which she has no idea about. I turn to her again, placing my hand on her cheek to turn her head my way, and when my eyes connect with hers, I whisper, "It has eight bedrooms, eight full baths, and one half-bath on the ground floor. The master bedroom is on the third floor; it's the only one on that actual floor, with his and hers walk-in closet in an adjoining room. The bathroom has a walk-in shower and a jetted bathtub that fits at least five people. The second floor has four bedrooms, all of which have smaller walk-in closets and baths with a walk-in shower, too. And on the ground floor, we have another two bedrooms—I turned one into a mother-in-law suite, and the other into an office, removing the shower and bath, but leaving a toilet. There's an open-plan living room and kitchen, with a dining room off to the right-hand side, and a breakfast bar in the middle, creating a wall between them. And the basement has a bedroom that I stripped and made into a movie/playroom for our nieces and nephews. Again, I removed the shower and bath, but kept the toilet.

There's a pool out back in a fenced yard. I put a nice play set up, with slides, sandboxes, and swings for when the kids come over. And you have a barn full of animals, and inside the house are two dogs that you need to name, as well as Ares—oh, and I also brought you Goosy. A few miles down the road is your brand-new veterinary practice, full of all the appropriate equipment, with an apartment above that Abby has dibs on."

Taking a deep breath, I peer into her eyes, pouring all of my love into my gaze.

"Welcome home, Malen'kaya ptitsa ."

She has tears running down her face as she launches herself at me, pressing her lips to mine. I kiss her back with as much passion as I can. I slow down after a few minutes because I can feel myself getting harder, and soon, I won't be able to stop myself, so I lean my forehead against hers.

I whisper, staring into her beautiful eyes, "Marry me."

Her tears fall faster, and I continue, "Make me the happiest man and become my wife. Let me hold you every night and wake up to you every morning, let me give you children we can raise on this farm together. Marry me."

She lets out a sob and nods frantically, before I pull the red ruby and diamond ring out of my pocket and place it on her finger. This time, I kiss her with more fire.

I'm finally getting my girl.

After a little while of holding my girl, I help her out of the Mercedes SUV and walk her around the grounds. I take her to the barn to the left of us, and show her all the animals. She squeals in delight, seeing them all, making me chuckle.

Angel of what ?

Then she goes to pet—yes, fucking pet—Goosy, before we head back to the house. I skip showing her the garden, knowing it's all decorated for the wedding. The pool is covered, so we can walk on it, and there's an arch filled with flowers at the end of the yard, with chairs on either side to make an aisle. Sofia has put petals on the ground as a walkway, too. I want to surprise Phoebe, and I also don't want her to back out if her mind wanders to my mistakes, like I know it does sometimes. When we reach the front door and I open it, a loud cheer erupts from our living area, where our family stands. The women have tears in their eyes and, to be fair, so do some of the men. Knowing we could have lost her, in a way, this is our miracle.

Her father walks out among the men, and she goes to him willingly and hugs him tight. After she was released from the hospital, they sat and discussed everything. Selene was the main problem with their relationship. Selene was jealous of how close they were before their mother died, despite having all of her mother's attention. When Phoebe was sent away, Selene got all the attention and loved it; she took advantage of it as she got older. I look to the side, and see her standing away from others with a scowl and what looks like a little bit of sorrow in her eyes. I just don't know if it's because this could have been her life—well, part of it, because I never would have fallen for her, and would still be fucking around—or because her sister doesn't spare her a glance.

I shake my head.

I understand why Basil brought her with him, but I don't think he understands the repercussions of his actions if she causes any shit. My woman is back to full health now; she still needs regular check-ups, but she's already gone on a couple of missions to stop the cartel from getting their purchases from some of the Romanians that are left after Sergi and I went on a killing spree. Someone else has taken over and decided to stupidly continue human trafficking, mainly children under the age of sixteen.

Phoebe was pissed and got back to the gym before she should have; we argued a bit about it, but as usual, she won. I'm a sucker for her, and I ended up being her fucking sparring partner. I've never been so hard, sparing with my woman. Hopefully, she doesn't shoot her sister today; that would be messy but one hell of a wedding memory.

I pull my girl back into my arms, and her father chuckles. My mother comes up to us and looks at me. I know what they're all waiting for; they know what I was doing today. That's why we're all here, so I lift her left hand up and kiss the ring, and my mother squeals in delight, while everyone cheers and claps. Then the women, except for Selene, who is now glaring at my woman, whisk my wife-to-be to the basement, making me scowl and the men laugh. I shake my head, then head up the stairs to our new bedroom to change into my tux, with Damian and Sergi close behind. All our guests head outside to the yard, where my girl will hopefully meet me.