Chapter 39: A few days later: Recovering

When I woke up in the small hospital within the Estate, everywhere ached.

The only thing that made me want to keep my eyes open and not slip back into unconsciousness to avoid the pain was Sonia’s worried gaze as she peered down at me. I managed a smile for her, or probably a grimace, but the sentiment was there.

Relief filled her eyes, and she smiled back. That was more than enough reward for the effort even that small movement took.

Doctor Rawlins fused over me for a few minutes before telling me I was going to be fine. Thank God!

“I’ll pop in again to see you tomorrow. For now, I’ll leave you two alone,” the doctor said, smiling at us before leaving the room.

“Get up here, baby,” I said, patting the bed beside me.

Sonia grinned and climbed up onto the bed. Pulling her close, I kissed her fiercely.

When those bastards had their hands on her, I had been terrified that I might never see her again. With a gun to her head, the thought of losing Sonia before she was even truly mine had cut deep like a knife through my heart.

Pulling away so we could catch our breath, I placed my forehead against hers, closed my eyes and breathed in her scent.

We had always been drawn to each other. Sonia and I were always meant to be. Fated. I knew that now, just as I knew, there was no way I could live without her.

“Did they hurt you?” I whispered, dreading her answer.

“Just cuts and bruises,” she murmured back.

“The blood?” I asked.

“Ivor’s. I killed him,” she replied softly, a small hitch in her voice.

Taking her face in my hands, I looked her in the eyes.

“What did he do? What happened, Sonia?” I questioned.

“It doesn’t matter, Romi. I don’t want to talk about it. It’s over now,” she said, pulling away from me slightly. The hint of sadness lurking in the depths of her eyes belied the easy smile. It had affected her way more than she was admitting.

Lifting her chin, I brushed a light kiss across her lips.

“Tell me, baby. It will help to talk about it,” I encouraged, needing to know.

Sonia had killed someone, and I knew that her soft heart would take issue with that. She would need my understanding and support until she properly came to terms with everything. So, knowing exactly what occurred was important.

Sighing heavily, she nodded. Settling her back down beside me, I kissed the top of her head.

“Tell me everything from the beginning,” I said, and she did.

After learning what had happened, I turned her face up towards me and smiled. Inside, I was seething. If Ivor wasn’t already dead, then I’d have ripped him to pieces with my bare hands. I wanted to rage and vent my anger at the ghost of the bastard, but I didn’t let my emotions show. Now was the time to show support and understanding and not give in to my inner demon.

“You were very brave. I’m proud of how well you fought. Both Ivor and Siri planned to hurt you. You had no choice but to fight back and kill Ivor. It was self-defence, and you need to focus on that. You would never have killed him if he hadn’t put you in a position where you had to. You aren’t to blame for his death. He is,” I stated firmly.

Getting things off her chest seemed to have eased the tension in her shoulders, but I could see she was still unsure how to deal with ending a life.

“Remember, Ivor was a dead man, but the minute he laid hands on you, his death sentence was always going to have been a long and excruciating one. Killing him quickly saved him from the long bout of torture he would have suffered at the hands of me or your brothers. So, you actually did him a favour,” I said in all seriousness.

She shook her head at my somewhat skewed logic, but it had the effect I wanted: Her mouth turned up into a bemused smile. I grinned, and she laughed.

No doubt killing Ivor, no matter how right she had been, would haunt her for some time to come, but at least for now, she was facing it, and we’d work through any problems she had together. After all, I was an expert at that myself; I couldn’t help but think ironically. I never enjoyed killing, but I did what I had to do, and I accepted it. In time, I would help Sonia to do the same.

We kissed slowly, and I sighed. I enjoyed sex hard and fast most of the time, but with Sonia, I was quickly learning I liked things slow and gentle, too. With her, the only thing that mattered was that we were together. It was great to just lie here and enjoy being in each other’s arms again.

After a while, the door opened, and Nonna hurried inside.

“Nino,” she cried when she saw I was awake.

I smiled at the Italian endearment for a boy child. No matter how old we got, Nonna still treated us all like the beloved ‘grandchildren’ she had adopted as her own.

Rushing to my side, she took my face in her hands, much as I had done to Sonia’s earlier, and kissed my cheeks.

“It is so good to see you awake, and I have great news for you both,” she gushed.

“The wedding is off!”

Sonia squealed in delight and threw herself into my arms. I hugged her tightly and grinned. At last!

Leaning back, I kissed her hard and fast before turning to look at Nonna again.

“That’s great news, Nonna, but if the wedding is off, what alternative arrangement did they come to?” I asked.

“Well, it’s not actually off, but it’s no longer Sonia and Dariusz that are getting married, but Glowacki and Marta,” she cried.

“What?” Sonia asked, the shock evident in her voice.

“The arrangement has been changed. Glowacki asked Marta to marry him instead, and she agreed,” she cried, clapping her hands together gleefully.

“She did?” I asked, confused.

“Marta and Glowacki have become quite close since he was injured, and if you ask me, this might start out as an arrangement between them, but I believe it could very well turn out to be a love match,” Nonna said excitedly. Her small frame was practically buzzing with energy as she grinned widely.

It was hard not to get caught up in her enthusiasm, especially when it was the best news I had ever heard.

“Well, I best get going. I’m meeting Marta. We’ve a wedding to organise.” Nonna grinned.

“Oh, this is going to be so much fun. It’s been a long time since there was a wedding in the family. So, much needs to be done,” she said, hurrying off in excitement and closing the door behind her.

After Nonna left, Sonia and I snuggled on the bed and smooched. There really wasn’t much choice as my bandaged shoulder and ribs and the fuzziness in my head left over from being sedated meant that my movement was limited. So, kissing was about all I could physically manage right now. My cock didn’t like that, but tough. It would have fun as soon as I had more strength. Besides, the feeling of her in my arms was enough.

Eventually, my belly rumbled loudly as if suddenly reminding itself it hadn’t had food in days.

“Oh, babe, you must be starving. I’ll go make you something,” Sonia cried, jumping up. With a peck on my cheek, she was gone before I could protest.

My heart swelled at the sight of her hurrying to take care of me. I truly loved that woman.

Leaning back against the pillow, I closed my eyes, planning to take a nap while Sonia was gone.

The sound of the door opening again roused me. Prising my heavy eyelids open, I smiled, expecting to see Sonia returning, but I was surprised to see Miki, Ash, and Marko entering the room.

“Glad to see you’re awake,” Marko said, and I nodded to him as he leaned against the wall.

Miki moved across the room and stood looking out of the window, his back to me. Ash stepped towards my bed and halted at the foot, looking uneasy.

My eyes flickered between the two. They’d better not be here to tell me that even with the marriage off, I couldn’t be with Sonia, or I swear to god, I’ll kill them. I fumed silently, waiting to see what they had planned.

“Romi,” Ash said before taking a deep breath.

“It’s difficult for me to think of my baby sister with any man, but finding out about you and Sonia felt like the ultimate betrayal. It was against all our codes, and I was livid that you, our cousin, and Blood Brother would have a fling with her,” he said, holding his hand up to silence me as I started to speak.

“I know you love her,” he stated.

“I didn’t believe it at first, but you saved her from Siri and took a bullet for her. You also allowed us to beat the crap out of you when you could easily have fought back. So, all things considered, it’s pretty bloody obvious you love her. It’s also obvious how much she loves you, too,” he said, sighing heavily before continuing.

“I should have known your feelings would have to be strong for you to get involved with her. So, if there must be a man in Sonia’s future, then I’d want it to be you. I’m sorry, I should have given you a chance,” Ash said, looking sheepish.

Before I could say anything in reply, Miki turned around to face me just as Sonia slipped into the room carrying a tray of food.

After placing the tray on a table near the bed, she turned to face her oldest brother, hands on hips, eyebrows raised.

“Well, what have you got to say for yourself?” she asked, her pinched expression clearly showing her annoyance with him.

She wasn’t going to make this easy on him. I held back a grin. That was my Little Miss Trouble!

Miki took a steadying breath, ignored her attitude, and turned towards me, obviously determined to say whatever he’d come here to say.

“You betrayed me, Romi. Not only did you go behind my back to pursue a relationship with my sister, but you did so even after I’d arranged for her to marry our ally. You put me and Glowacki in an awkward position at a time when neither of us can afford to look weak. We have unknown enemies lurking in the background, just waiting to cause us more trouble. We cannot have any more dissension in our ranks,” he fumed.

“You shouldn’t have arranged the marriage in the first place,” Sonia shouted at him.

“I wouldn’t have if I’d known about the relationship. You were obviously involved well before I agreed to the arrangement,” Miki shouted back.

“You’re right. We should have told you. It was my fault we didn’t. I knew you’d all have issues with it. I knew you’d see it as a betrayal, so I tried to deny my feelings for Sonia. I’d only just admitted them to Sonia when you made the arrangement. We couldn’t tell you then without enflaming matters. So, we decided that finding an alternative solution first would be better. I asked Uncle Maxim for help with that, but he couldn’t come up with anything,” I tell him.

“I am aware,” he said, frowning, obviously having spoken to our dyadya.

“However, a suitable alternative has been found now,” he continued.

“Glowacki will marry Aunt Marta.”

“We know, Nonna told us. What made you think of that?” I asked.

“I hope you didn’t make that arrangement without asking her permission first!” Sonia cried angrily.

“Of course not. I’ve learned my mistake,” Miki replied, huffing out an exasperated breath.

“About time!” Sonia said, lifting her chin in indignation.

“So, how did you persuade them to agree?” I asked, genuinely curious.

Marko stepped forward then.

“It wasn’t that hard. I think all of us noticed how Aunt Marta and Glowacki reacted to each other when they first met. It was hard not to see there was a mutual attraction. Also, Magdalena clearly adores Aunt Marta, and vice versa. After Aunt Marta stayed behind to support the girl when Glowacki was injured, I couldn’t help but notice how much time the three of them spent together. It made me think that a marriage between Glowacki and Aunt Marta might be more suitable, so I broached the subject with Miki,” Marko said.

“I then discussed the possibility of cancelling the agreement between you and Dariusz in favour of one between Glowacki and Aunt Marta, and they were happy to agree,” Miki said, finally breaking into a smile.

Running his hand through his hair in a gesture I knew meant he was nervous, he turned to Sonia.

“I was hasty when I made the arrangement with Glowacki. When Glowacki initially broached the subject with me, I didn’t think it was a good idea. However, once the attacks started happening and I found out that we had previously unknown enemies, it seemed like strengthening the alliance was the best solution. So, I took up Glowacki’s offer. I am Pakhan, and I need to do what I think is right for our Brotherhood,” he said.

Sonia huffed loudly, but he continued to ignore her attitude.

“But, I should never have agreed to an arranged marriage for you, Sonia. Especially without asking you first. I was wrong,” he said

Licking his lips, he gulped and said quietly, “I hope that one day soon, you will be able to forgive me.”

Sonia pouted.

“Maybe,” she conceded grudgingly, shrugging.

Covering my mouth with my hand, I pretended to cough so that they wouldn’t notice my smirk.

Miki huffed and turned towards me again.

Looking at me intently, he said, “An alternative arrangement has been found; the alliance is safe, and you are free to have a relationship with Sonia, on one condition.”

“And that is?” I asked, willing to agree to anything if it meant we could be together.

“You marry her,” he stated, a huge grin appearing.

Sonia gasped.

My mouth opened, but no words came out.

“Well?” Ash asked, rousing me from my state of shock.

“Absolutely!” I grinned as Sonia squealed in delight.

“Does this mean you’ll marry me?” I laughed as she threw herself at me.

“Yes, yes, yes, yes!” she cried, tears of joy running down her face as she smothered me with kisses.

I laughed at her enthusiastic response, feeling happier than I’d ever felt.

Several throats cleared, and she pulled back, finally stopping her onslaught.

Miki stepped forward and offered me his hand.

I took it, and we shook.

“That better be the one and only time you go against your Pakhan!” he stated firmly, narrowing his eyes at me.

“You can count on it!” I replied with sincerity.

He nodded and then moved away, letting Ash in.

Ash shook my hand enthusiastically.

Marko was next.

“Well, we always thought of you as a brother. Now, you’re really going to be one,” Marko said, and we all grinned, including Sonia.

“Am I forgiven enough for a hug?” he then asked Sonia, who jumped up and ran into his arms.

He squeezed her tight.

“Congratulations!” he said, smiling as Ash tentatively stepped forward.

“What about me?” he asked, looking unsure.

Sonia nodded and bit back a sob as the two embraced.

When they broke apart, Sonia turned to look at Miki, who was standing ramrod straight, tension radiating off him.

Miki took a step toward her but then she turned and ran back to me.

Miki tried to hide the hurt her rejection caused, but I saw it.

“Sonia, baby. It’s time to forgive and move on,” I whispered.

She turned and rushed back to him. He opened his arms, and she slammed into his chest, hugging him tightly.

“I’m still mad at you,” she said, her voice muffled by his chest.

“I know,” he said, kissing the top of her head.

“But I still love you,” she sobbed.

“I love you too, Sonia, and I’m sorry I’ve been an asshole.”

Ash snorted, “Aren’t you always?”

“No more than you,” Miki said, grinning.

“True, but Marko’s the biggest of us all,” Ash said.

“You got that right. Unlike you guys, I’ve never had any complaints from the ladies,” Marko winked.

“Me neither!” Ash cried.

“We’ll ask Gracie about that, shall we?” Marko replied before Ash rushed him, grabbed him in a headlock, and started ruffling his hair, just like they used to do when they were kids.

“Aw, little Marko thinks he’s a big man,” Ash mocked.

Sonia rolled her eyes and giggled at their antics, and I laughed and winced at the pain it caused me.

“Enough! Pair of idiots! Stop your carry-on. It’s time we left Romi to rest. Out!” Miki said, shaking his head at the pair.

He pushed the two towards the door and then turned to me before he left.

“Hurry up and get on your feet. We’re holding Siri until you can join us at the C, brother,” he stated, grinning.

I grinned back.

Sonia hugged me, and I sighed in relief. Finally, things were as they should be.