Epilogue

Brooke

Six Months Later

I couldn't believe this day had finally arrived. I mean, of course I knew this day would come since I spent the past three months planning every little detail to make sure it was as perfect as our love story. I never realized I had an opinion on things like color palettes, plate shapes, place settings, and chair bows. It was stressful and made me more grateful than ever that I wouldn't have to do this more than once because Ilya was it for me.

He was my end game.

My fairytale ending.

"Mommy! Mommy," Karina called out as she skipped into my bedroom with an ear-to-ear grin on her face. "Look what Daddy bought me because I'm his little princess."

I turned to find my daughter in her purple pajamas, a lopsided ponytail adorned with a sparkling tiara that I had no doubt contained real diamonds. "Wow, that's some tiara."

Her cheeks turned pink. "Daddy is the best, isn't he?"

"Absolutely. Where's Grandma Elena?" Elena had insisted on staying the night at the house with us and it was no hardship having her around. We'd grown close over the past six months, and she adored Karina, who felt the same, and she was even fond of Lara, who was the only person who could go martini for martini with the family matriarch.

"I am here," she answered, and stepped inside my bedroom in silk lavender pajamas because Karina insisted we all wear purple for the all-girls sleepover. "Karina, sweetheart, where did you get the coffee?"

Karina stopped bouncing on her toes and turned to her grandmother with a sweet giggle. "I'm too young for coffee, Grandma. You know that."

"I must have forgotten due to my lack of caffeine."

Lara's voice boomed loudly from the kitchen. "Coffee's ready. And breakfast."

All three of us rushed down to the kitchen in need of fuel and sustenance, fixing up cups of coffee before we gobbled up scrambled eggs and toast for me with the addition of bacon and sausage for everyone else. The room was mostly silent other than the sounds of eating.

Soon enough breakfast was over, and the hair and makeup team had arrived to turn all of us into royal beauties. Elena went first and then Karina so they could get to the church early and oversee the last-minute details, leaving just Lara and me behind.

"It's your wedding day!" She grinned at me through the mirror. "How are you feeling?"

"Excited," I admitted. "Nervous, but only because I don't like being in front of a church full of people. But I'm ready to marry Ilya." That was the only thing I cared about today, saying I do to him and making our love and our family official.

The morning flew by once I put my butt in the makeup chair. It was a blur of hands and arms, hairspray and eyeshadow until I looked the absolute best version of myself. I looked like a different woman altogether. More shiny and sophisticated than I'd ever looked in my life.

"Damn, girl, you look amazing."

I smiled as tears welled in my eyes because this was it, the day I thought would never come. Almost a decade later, here we were, getting our happy ending. "I do look pretty good, don't I?"

"Let's get you tucked into that dress and get to the church before Ilya burns down the whole city looking for you."

I laughed. "He's texted about fifteen times to make sure I was awake, getting ready, and just now to make sure we were leaving for the church. It's good to know he's a little nervous too."

"Not nervous, honey," Lara whispered as she tucked the big white dress into the back of the limo and slid in beside me. "He's eager as hell to give you his last name."

"Me too," I whispered, and watched as the limo left everyone in the dust as if the traffic had parted just to help me make it to my wedding on time.

Twenty minutes later, I stood at the back of the church on the other side of the pine doors with stained glass windows that cast a rainbow glow across my dress. My heart raced against my chest, but the moment the music began, a calm settled over me. I was ready. More than ready.

Ryan took his place by my side so he could walk me down the aisle and give me away. "You look beautiful, Brookie."

I smiled at the nickname from my childhood. "Thank you, Ryan. And thanks for being here for me today."

"We're family and I wouldn't want to be anywhere else." He leaned in and brushed a kiss to my cheek. "And I couldn't miss the little princess in her purple dress that I've been told is aubergine ." He rolled his eyes as if he'd been corrected too many times already.

"She just likes saying aubergine," I assured him before I hooked my arm through his and the doors to the church swung open.

"This is it," Ryan leaned over and whispered in my ear. "Are you ready?"

"Hell yes, I am."

"This is a church," he replied with a smile.

"And I am who I am," I responded with a wide grin. "I'm ready. Let's get me married."

Karina left first, tossing flowers down the aisle, before Lara practically danced behind her.

Then everyone stood and turned to face me.

The wedding march began, and my feet began to move, but I didn't remember any of it because my gaze was hooked on Ilya. He was stunning in his black tuxedo. His blond hair slicked back expertly, his piercing blue eyes full of love and clouded with emotion. His full lips stretched into a gorgeous smile. It was that smile that helped me forget that many of the faces belonged to the bratva and other underworld organizations. I still wasn't comfortable around many of them, but with Elena's help, I was growing into my role as Ilya's wife, his support, or as she called it, his backbone. I was determined to live up to what she saw in me, to be everything he needed me to be because that's what he'd been for me.

Finally, I was at the altar with him, his arms wrapped around me.

"We're not there yet," the priest admonished, making the church laugh.

"Sorry, Father."

Ilya rolled his eyes. "Yeah, sorry, Father." He wasn't sorry at all, and I loved him for it. "You look like a dream come true, Brooke."

I smiled and touched his freshly shaven face. "And you look like the boy of my dreams all grown up."

With a stern expression on his face, the priest began the ceremony, and the next thing I knew, Ilya's ring was on my finger and then his lips were on mine. Our first kiss as husband and wife.

It was the same wildfire it always was, hot and needy and threatening to burn everything around it, but there was also the hint of something sweeter. Something deeper and better.

Something like forever.

"My wife. I will love you forever."

Tears began but I shook them away and cupped his gorgeous face. "I have loved you for what feels like forever, Ilya, and I always will."

He kissed me again, softer and over far too soon and whispered in my ear, "I can't wait to put another baby in you, wife. This time I will be there for everything."

I paused for a moment wondering whether this was the best time to tell him, then figured now was as good a time as any, and whispered back, "You don't have to wait. I planned to wait until we were alone in the limo to give you the good news. We're having a baby."

"It wasn't pre-wedding flu?"

"Nope. It's the baby flu."

Ilya kissed me again, long and so filled with love that my legs began to shake as the priest cleared his throat. Loudly. Neither of us could pull away though, not when the life we dreamed of was here right in front of us. The entire church erupted in laughter and whistles and catcalls before he pulled back with a sexy smile. "I love you, Brooke."

"I know, and I love you too, Ilya. Now let's go celebrate."

"Quickie in the limo, lots of food, and dancing?"

"Sounds like the perfect way to start the rest of our lives together."

His nostrils flared and his gaze darkened as his grip tightened on my hand and we rushed from the church. "The rest of our lives," he purred in my ear. "I like the sound of that."

Me too.

I liked it a lot.

In fact, I loved it. Almost as much as I loved him.

THE END