Chapter 57

I’ve never seen my mom as happy as she is today. For someone who swears she doesn’t like having people touch her, and who likes to say she’s an introvert, her crimson dress and the way she blushes under the attention says otherwise.

I love it.

I watch her walk down the aisle to both my dads as I stand by their side. I can’t help but thank the gods out there for this happy ending. Not just for them, but for me too.

Life has looked so gray so often for me that I never thought I would find a home, let alone with so many people who support me. It’s been a little over a year now, and while the pace of our missions has slowed, the work hasn’t changed.

We bounce back and forth from our house in Russia and the one in Norway. I find that Russia feels more business-like, and Norway is much more family focused. There’s a club that they run for two weekends in a row when in Russia while I stay with my brother and his family.

He has insisted I call him Alexi, but as long as he still dresses like the Dark Knight, I don’t see my name for him changing anytime soon. He is such a badass. He has the coolest car and an awesome motorcycle he is going to teach me to ride when I turn sixteen in just a few months.

Nessa still shoots with me, and I have gotten pretty decent at long range shots. I prefer the gun range though because my shoulder doesn’t hurt nearly as much after that.

Alexi and Damien have taken their training with me to the next level, and so has Evie and Lev. They all say that if I want to attend Mafie University, I have to work hard to get there just like everyone else.

So, unlike most kids, I get up at six in the morning on my weekends to go on seven to twelve mile runs with Evie.

Lev and I chill in the mornings, where he walks me through some coding and surveillance on his computers, but I have found I mostly enjoy drone programming since I can basically get the machine to do the job for me.

Then it’s off to the gym with Alexi and Damien in the afternoon. We spar and hit the bag for a few hours before finding something insane to get up to in the evenings. Damien loves driving his car a lot like Nessa does, so he will take me for rides around their property or Alexi will take me on his bike.

They really are like a second family to me. When Nessa picks me up on Tuesday mornings, we go for a drive around some of her favorite spots and hit an ice cream parlor. Even when it’s snowing outside. It’s our little tradition.

I watch my mother walk down the aisle in her glowing gown, behind two beautiful twin girls in red dresses of their own. Ani is still using sign language and has decided to only use speech if necessary, so when she gets to the end, I sign to her.

“You look beautiful. Great job.”

She blushes, and Ami takes her hand to stand on the other side next to Laney and Evie. Adrian is beside me and Akio…

“Ready to get this party started?” Akio asks as Nessa steps up to the center, both of her men joining her.

He’s a great officiant, cracking jokes to lighten the tension while also bringing in the seriousness of the commitment.

After he and Adrian got married a few months ago, he got his license to do ceremonies. He has no plans of making it a thing, but he said it felt like it helped him take back some of the power that his parents tried to strip from him.

I have come to learn that everyone here has their own stories that brought them all together. Most of it stems from judgment and heartache, while others are just from living a life in the underworld.

If I know anything now, it’s that crime families aren’t like the ones in the movies. There is love, even among bloodshed. There is acceptance, even if there’s revenge. And there is peace, even in the face of tragedy.

Handing my fathers their rings, I smile at them. Some of the kids who’ve been adopted have opted out of calling their new parents mom or dad, instead sticking with their names. But for me, there was no question.

Boris is my Pops, Cillian is my Daddio that I sometimes call Da because I know that means something to him. And Nessa, the woman in a bright red dress, with hair that looks like flames in the night, she is my mother in all the ways that matter.

“Kai,” Nessa says, breaking me from my thoughts.

I look out at the few guests that were invited, then back at her. “Yeah?”

Did I miss something?

“Would you come here?” She gestures between herself and my dads.

Slowly, I step up, wondering why she wants me in the center of this.

“I promised Cillian and Boris forever together,” she says, Laney handing her a small box. Opening it, she reveals a black beaded bracelet with a metal piece in the center just like the ones they have for Aiden. When she flips it over, the word ‘together’ is written inside.

“But this is our promise to you too.” She takes my hand in hers while I stare at her in shock.

“Will you, Kai Kelly-Mikhaus, be our son? We promise to never leave you, never turn our back on you, and to always support you.”

“There will never be a day where our love for you is a question, no matter the battles we may face,” Boris says.

“And there will never come a time that we will not fight alongside you,” Cillian says.

My eyes water as I look between the three of them, nodding because getting out words becomes a struggle. Nessa fastens the bracelet around my wrist. That’s when I notice there are two red stones on either side of the center plate, and two are missing from hers, replaced with the black from mine.

“She’s your sister, and now she can be with you too,” Nessa whispers just for us.

My arm wraps around her, and my fathers embrace me too.

“Together,” I say so low I don’t know if they can hear me until they all agree.

“Together.”