Chapter 21 - Arina

I don't say a word to Luka on our drive. He doesn't say anything to me either, but he watches me with a fascination I'm not sure I like.

It feels like we're in the van forever, and I keep wondering where he is taking me when, suddenly, we stop.

"We're here." He climbs out of the van and holds out a hand to help me.

I ignore his hand and step out of the van, looking around in wonder. It's a sprawling estate, beautifully landscaped with a mansion of a house as I turn to look behind me.

Standing on the steps are a red-haired woman and Kervyn Milov. Luka touches my arm and guides me toward the mansion's entrance. I walk up the stairs hesitantly and come to stand in front of Kervyn, which is not what I pictured meeting him would be like.

"You're definitely related to us," he says with a soft smile.

I frown and clench my fists. "You have no right to take me out of my life to bring me here and mock me."

Kervyn looks surprised and looks at the red-haired woman who steps forward. "Take you out of your life? We rescued you from the man who kidnapped you. Igor Sidorov."

I shake my head. "You saved me for what reason? What could you possibly want from me?"

Luka steps forward. "She doesn't know."

"Doesn't know what?" I say. "I demand to know what's going on."

Kervyn holds his hands up. "We didn't know we had a sister."

I'm stunned into silence. The years of hating them, the plans to destroy them, the thoughts of what luxurious lives they lead.

"You're lying," I finally say. "My mother said you drove her away."

"Our father perhaps, but he was a rotten bastard." Kervyn gestures to the front door. "Why don't you come in and have something to eat? I'm sure you're hungry."

The woman gives me a reassuring smile. "I'm Penny, Kervyn's wife. I promise we mean you no ill. Besides, everyone will be here soon."

I look at her, confused. "Everyone?"

"Danil and his wife. Luka's wife. Arseny and his wife. Mama Milov." She lists off the people. "The kids are all at Danil's house with the sitters."

I look between Kervyn and Luka and then slowly follow Penny into the house. She leads me to a dining hall that could seat fifty people if it wanted to, but I'm used to that from Igor's house.

Penny smiles and touches my arm. "Sit beside me. I don't bite, I promise."

I nod and sit beside her. Luka sits opposite us while Kervyn sits at the head of the table.

"Let me bring you up to speed," Kervyn says. "We only recently found out about you. We were tipped off when you were kidnapped that you may be a Milov. Arseny, the third brother in the family, did some digging and some research, and we figured out you were related to us, and since then, we've been waiting for an opportunity to get you back."

"Get me back?" I say bitterly. "You claim never to have known about me, and suddenly, you just want to have a sister in your life."

"Family means everything to us," Luka says, leaning forward on his arms. "We would do anything for family. We are excessively loyal. To a fault sometimes. We will help you divorce Igor, and you can stay with us and have the life you should have always had."

"That's not going to heal years of hurt." I look between Kervyn and Luka.

"We know, but we'd like to give it a try." Kervyn looks up as the front door opens and the hallway fills with noise. "Here they are now."

They stream through the door, my other two brothers and their wives, and a third woman who must be Luka's wife. Then, an elderly woman comes in after them, locks eyes with me, and stops. "This is her?"

I swallow hard—my brothers' mother. I never thought I would ever confront her. I don't even know what to say.

She gives a large smile and comes forward, cupping my face in her hands. "Thank God you don't look too much like your father. He always was a dirty, cheating bastard."

I swallow as she lets me go and goes to sit opposite Penny.

Kervyn clears his throat. "That's my mother. We all call her Mama Milov."

"You will do the same now that you are part of our family," she says from her seat.

Kervyn gestures around the table. "This is Danil, second eldest, and his wife, Asher. Arseny is third in line, and his wife, Elena. You know Luka, and this is his wife, Hannah. You know I'm Kervyn, the leader of the family, and you've met my wife, Penny."

I look around, unsure what to say.

"Are you okay?" Asher asks quietly. "You look like you're going to be sick."

"I haven't been feeling well," I finally say. "That's why I was at the pharmacy."

Penny instantly gets up. "What's wrong? I have a whole medical aid cupboard, and I have something for everything."

"Uh, I'm nauseous."

"I'll be right back," Penny says, hurrying out.

Kervyn smiles proudly. "All the women in our family make excellent mothers."

Asher sits beside me on the left. "Sit down, take a load off."

"You're that artist," I say quietly. "I've been to one of your exhibitions."

She smiles. "I hope you liked it. I have another one coming up, and we can all go together."

I look around, not sure what to do with this kindness.

"Who tipped you off? Who knew that you didn't know I existed?" I ask after a moment.

Luka shifts in his seat. "Igor's brother, Matvey. He dropped by my casino one day to tell me about you and told me to do with the information what I would. We obviously had to verify it at first."

"I knew your mother," Mama Milov says. "She was an escort. My husband loved women a little excessively. But I didn't know he'd driven her away or that she was pregnant. Please, you must believe me. I would never see a child on the street."

I look around at the expectant faces, and I'm pleased when Penny comes in carrying two bottles and a glass of water. "A few drops of this, and your nausea will settle."

I stare at the glass of water. Matvey wouldn't keep something like that from me. Would he? Would he keep it from Igor? Igor loves me, and he'd never do anything to hurt me.

"We have a room made up for you, and the girls will take you shopping for whatever you need," Kervyn says. "Please, stay with us. I'm not going to hold you prisoner, but I'd love a chance to get to know you. We've all taken off work for the week to get to know you."

I shift in my seat before I take Penny's glass and drink the tart mixture. I pull a face and set it down.

"Sorry, I should have mentioned it doesn't taste nice, but give it a minute. It's super gentle. Even pregnant people can take it."

I swallow slightly. I don't say anything about my pregnancy. I don't want them to hold it against me.

I don't know if I trust what they're saying, but there's a longing inside me to get to know them and see what life could have been like.

"Tell us about yourself," Danil says, lacing his fingers together and sitting back. "Where did you grow up?"

"Downtown," I say. "My mother died when I was younger. I was in an orphanage for a while." My voice is low and steady. "Then I was adopted by a rather cruel family. I'm sorry, I don't know what to do with all this information you're giving me. I have lived a horrible life, and I knew about you guys, and in a letter to me, my mother implied you knew about me. I… I don't know what to do right now."

Kervyn sits forward. "Would you like something to eat? Or would you like to lie down? We don't have to go over everything right now."

I swallow and look around. "I don't know, everyone's come over to see me."

"We can come over again," Arseny says. "We don't stay far, and we can bring our children. You can meet them. We didn't want to today because we thought it would be too much."

"How many children do you all have?" I ask, looking around.

Penny smiles. "Kervyn and I have a son and a daughter. Asher and Danil have two daughters. Luka and Hannah have twin boys, and Arseny and Elena have a daughter."

I raise my eyebrows. "That's a lot of kids."

"We like big families," Kervyn chuckles. "Which is why we're so happy to find out we have a sister. We've never had a sister before. It should be interesting."

"We go to these lunches every week," Asher says. "Just us girls, and we catch up on the family news."

"Sundays, we eat at Mama Milov," Hannah interjects. "She cooks everything from scratch, and it's delicious."

I swallow and put a hand on my stomach. "Maybe I will lie down. I'm sorry, you're all being very nice, but I feel a little overwhelmed right now."

"Of course," Penny stands up. "You all talk amongst yourselves while I show Arina to her bedroom."

My bedroom. Not a guest room. My bedroom.

I follow Penny and look around. "You and Kervyn seem…"

"An unlikely pair?" She grins. "It was a rocky start, and to be honest, I wasn't entirely convinced he loved me, but our love blossomed. Much like all the relationships do in this family."

We go upstairs, and she opens a set of doors into a beautiful Victorian-looking room. "Forgive me, I've been reading historical romance, so I'm remodeling the house to a more antiquated look."

"It's beautiful. I love four-poster beds," I smile at her. Thank you for being so nice."

"Not at all. If you wake up and you're hungry, just head to the kitchen. We have a night chef who will whip you up anything you want, and if you need anything at all, please just knock on the doors at the end of the hallway. That's my room."

I nod. "Thank you, Penny."

She leaves, and I sit on the bed.

This is all too surreal.

I don't know what else to do, so I kick off my shoes, climb under the covers, and curl up. The bed feels empty without Igor in it, and I toss and turn most of the night, going over everything in my mind.

By the time Penny knocks on my door, I'm in tears and wound up. I sniff and call out in a shaky voice, "I'll be up in a second."

"Arina?" Penny calls. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah," I call quickly, my voice cracking.

She opens the door and stands there. "I'm a mom. I know when someone isn't alright. Did you have trouble sleeping?"

"Yeah, I'm exhausted." I sit up and look at her. She has clothes in her hand. She walks over and puts them on the bed. "Come have breakfast with us, then I'll give you something to ease the anxiety, and you can sleep."

I nod. "I'll be down in five."

She gives me a reassuring smile and leaves the room. I get up and pick up the clothes, going to the bathroom. I have a hot shower, and when I climb out, I open the cabinets to look for a hair dryer.

There, in the back, is a stack of pregnancy tests.

I shakily grab one. They must be Penny's. I read the instructions quickly and then will myself to pee on the stick.

There's a knock at the door. "Arina?" Penny calls.

Dammit, she is so mothering.

I set the pregnancy test on the counter and call out. "Just drying off. Be there now."

"Okay," Penny calls back.

I get dressed while I wait impatiently for the test to yield its results.

Once the plus sign confirms I'm pregnant, I throw it away and lean against the counter.

Shit.

I fix myself up. I'll need to deal with this. I'll just tell Kervyn that Igor is my husband, and we're having a child together, so we need to make nice with the families.

How hard can that be?

I walk downstairs to find Kervyn waiting in the hallway for me. "I thought you might get lost."

"It is a huge house, but after being at Igor's mansion, I'm used to big houses."

Kervyn frowns. "Yes, well. Everyone came over for breakfast. This way."

I follow him nervously. I was hoping to talk to him alone. Maybe after breakfast.

As we walk in, I hear Danil saying to Arseny, "We need to make Igor pay for kidnapping Arina."

I look at Kervyn, but he's walking to Penny to kiss her head.

"Arina," Arseny says. "We were just plotting revenge against Igor."

I give him a hesitant smile. "I don't think that's necessary."

"He crossed our family," Kervyn says. "He kidnapped you and held you prisoner. He deserves whatever we dish out to him."

I look at Penny nervously and then at Kervyn. "He didn't treat me badly."

"That's at least in his favor," my oldest brother says, picking up his cutlery. "But the fact he thought he could take you at all is a mark on this family."

I can't bring up the pregnancy now. They'll probably have him assassinated today. I mean, yes, he did kidnap me, and he did force me to marry him, but we were happy together, weren't we? He'd never do anything to hurt me, would he?