Chapter 109

We pulled up to the airport in record time. Keenan dodged more than one cop and ran every red light on the way. Throwing open the doors, Lec and I made sure to do a quick sweep before letting Keenan and Ria out just in case he needed to take off with her.

“Well, well. It took you long enough.”

Lorenzo rolled up on us, smiling as he leaned forward in his wheelchair. There was a guy next to him and he stepped forward, grabbing our luggage as we took it out. Reaching in, I helped Ria step out of the car. She smiled and hugged Lorenzo, kissing him on the cheek.

“I’m surprised you agreed. Having to leave all your women behind.” Ria chuckled but it sounded far more malicious than happy.

“Yeah, yeah. I had to sell Terrance too. But I plan on getting one just like her. Terrance 2.0 wherever we end up.”

I shook my head. “We are supposed to not stand out, Lorenzo.”

“See here, cognato, I’m doing this out of the goodness of my heart. For my little sister.”

Lorenzo handed me a folder and I opened it. Sure enough, there were freshly made passports, birth certificates, everything we would need to get out of the country. We would probably need to switch identities a few times in the next month until we settled down but this was a start. Somehow, he even included Lec which was impressive. Even Lev wouldn’t have been able to do that in such a short time.

“Kto etot idiot na kolesakh?” [Who is the idiot on wheels?] Lec asked as he came over to us.

“This is my brother, Lorenzo. Or you would know him more as Wizard.” Ria introduced him and Lorenzo bowed from his seat.

Lec furrowed his brow. “I thought…”

Keenan slammed a hand on his shoulder. “We really don’t have time for this. I will tell you on the plane. We need to go.”

He was right and our group moved as the guy next to Lorenzo took all our luggage with us inside to the counter. We were helped at a separate counter and I realized Lorenzo had pulled a few more strings than what I thought was necessary. The guns were left in the car but with how Lorenzo set up our ‘security check’ and escort into the airport, we probably could have gotten away with keeping them on us.

“Jude will take the car and dump it. The first stop will be in Dubai. From there, I have a two night stay at a hotel, we will swap passports, move onto South Korea, then swap again on the way to Australia.” Lorenzo spoke as we walked to our flight.

“What do we do in Australia?” Lec asked, looking to me like I knew what the hell the plan was.

Ria answered him. “We have a small safe house in Australia where we can stay off the radar. It’s not a long-term place but it will be good for about a month or two. We can plan where we want to live from there.”

“I was thinking the French Riviera. Somewhere beautiful.” Lorenzo added. “A big house. So I don’t need to be anywhere near you.”

I rolled my eyes but Ria was the one who snorted. “No one would want to be near you either. You live like a pig. There isn’t a maid service on this planet that would clean up after you.”

“Lies. I got my deposit back from my apartment!”

“You threatened them.”

“I…no! I mean…maybe…but I did clean up!”

“Please. I think your sense of smell is paralyzed too.”

“How dare you!”

“At least you took a shower before you came.”

“Yeah, well, I’m not running to another country because I’m a serial killer.”

“Contract killer. But I’m not wanted by fourteen different countries for hacking and espionage.”

“Sixteen…”

“Not something to brag about, fratello.”

Lec leaned into me, whispering. “Are they always like this? I’ve never seen Ria…”

Keenan chuckled, answering him. “Worse, actually.”

“You’re kidding...”

I shook my head. “This really is tame. Wait till you get them alone. They are like twins, not just siblings.”

We got to our gate and I let Keenan take care of Lorenzo as I made sure Ria was okay. She smiled at me but it was still so strained. They were already loading the plane when we stepped up. The attendants scrambled to help us as we showed the First Class tickets.

It was nice once we got seated. Lorenzo, Ria, myself, and Keenan were in one row while Lec was one seat head of Keenan. But it didn’t seem like on this flight there were any other first class passengers. The center divider between the two center seats could come down and it was the first thing I adjusted so I could see Ria. She smiled at me but looked away when the attendant offered her champagne.

“She can’t drink. She’s pregnant.” Lorenzo called from the seat next to her.

Ria rolled her eyes. “Can you shut up and let me handle it, Lor? I swear.”

Keenan reached out and tapped my arm. I turned to him but he looked utterly shocked. Lec was leaning forward as well.

“She’s pregnant?” Keenan asked. “I thought I heard something but I didn’t think that’s what you meant…”

I nodded. “I had to hear it from Juri when he threatened to take our child away and use them against Ria to force her to be Kharon.”

Their jaws dropped and Lec shook his head. “Juri…said that? No fucking way. No way. He has kids. He…”

“Lec, I wouldn’t have thrown away my entire family for anything less.” I smirked. “I’m not stupid.”

“Hey!” Keenan snickered and Lec pointed at him. “You hush. You’re leaving everything behind too. Didn’t you have a fiancé?”

Keenan shook his head. “Not anymore. Plus, my parents are older and I hardly talk to them anyways. They didn’t like when I went into the military. They were completely against it. My grandparents were off-grid hippies and that seeped into their bones. When I told them I was going into the military, it was like the world was ending. They cut contact with me the day I left.”

“The hell? Most parents would be proud.” Ria leaned over, now taking part in the conversation.

“Yeah, well, not them. When I got out, they tried to pick up contact again but it just became…’we told you the military was a bad decision. Look at you, all fucked up’. So I just stopped taking their calls.”

Lorenzo was taking a sip of his champagne glass, trying to look classy. “We will find Keenan a good woman wherever we end up.”

“Speak for yourself. If you think you’re naming things after women under our roof…” Ria threw the middle finger up at her brother.

I laughed and shook my head. Reaching over, I took Ria’s hand and kissed it. “Ria, we need to have that chat.”

The look she gave me almost made me not be mad at her. Almost. I closed the door on my side, cutting off Keenan and Lec. She reached over and shut the door cutting off Lorenzo. He had already closed off his seat though as we taxed out. The pilot announced our takeoff and I waited as the plane picked up speed. As we rose into the air, I felt myself being able to breathe lighter despite the pressure.

Ria finally spoke as we leveled off and the attendant came around, getting our food order. “Marek…”

“Why didn’t you tell me?” I cut straight to the point.

She looked down. “I…I didn’t think it would make it.”

“What would make it? Us?”

Ria shook her head. “The pregnancy. I was convinced between the trauma that Enzo did to me, going after you, and then going after my father, that I was going to lose the pregnancy. I was okay with it. I knew we could try again. But then…when we got back, Kam said they were still toughing it out…”

“You had the entire time while we were in the hospital to tell me.” My voice cracked and Ria looked like she was going to cry. “Not having the whole picture nearly cost us, Ria. If I hadn’t had The Contract to fall back on…Ria…we could have lost so much more…”

“I’m sorry, Marek. I just…I didn’t want to tell anyone before we had the talk with Juri and I didn’t think Kam would tell him.”

Sighing, I shook my head. “Kam is part of the bratva, Ria. She probably never meant for that information to be used like that. If anything, it might have been to try and help him go easy on you. But I needed to know. I would have never put you in the situation to begin with if I knew.”

“I know. I’m sorry…” Ria hung her head.

Slipping my hand to her check, I lifted her head. “Ria.”

She hummed, nuzzling into my head.

“I am so fucking ecstatic. I’m so happy you have no idea but I was scared going into that meeting and I nearly lost my focus. You can’t do that. Not again. We are in this together. You and I. As a family.”

Ria nodded and smiled. “Vmeste.” [Together.]

“Insieme.” [Together.] I spoke Italian back to her.

Getting up, I leaned over and kissed her. She parted her lips for me as I dove my tongue into her mouth. It tasted like the sparkling water she had been drinking instead of the champagne. Settling back, I didn’t feel completely slated but it would be okay for now. Just thinking that I was going to be a father made me restless.

“Marek?”

I looked over at her. Ria was smiling. But it wasn’t just a smile. Her face was lit up, tears falling. The light in her eyes returning for the first time since parting with her as we took revenge for Aleksei. Everything about her took my breath away and I couldn’t help but smile, my eyes glossing over with hers.

“Thank you.”

Shaking my head, I let out a chuckle. “Don’t thank me, zhena. I love you. More than anything.”

Ria nodded. “I know. All you’ve done is show me that.”

“Good. Then I know I at least did one thing right.” I reached down into my backpack and pulled out a jewelry box. “This was my mother’s. She gave it to me when she realized she might die before I ever found someone I would love.”

She took it gingerly, chuckling as she did so. “I’m glad I got to meet her.” Ria gasped as she opened up the box. “Marek…this is…”

“Before, I promised you that I would protect you. It was a rushed contract but I promise you now that I will do everything to protect you, love you, take care of you, and give you all that you desire.”

“Marek…” Ria slipped the solitaire on her finger. “This is…a lot.”

I smiled. “I know. You don’t have to wear it every day. But I want you to know, I’m committed to you in every way. I love you, Rosaria Baranov. I love you more than I ever thought possible.”

Ria was fighting the tears but she started to giggle before giving me the biggest smile I had ever seen from her. “I love you too, Marek Baranov. Fuck, I love you so damn much. I didn’t know it was humanly possible to be this happy.”

“Alright. That’s enough fucking sappy sob talk. Please. We still have to hear you.” Lorenzo’s voice called out.

“I’m going to kill him.” Ria rolled up the sleeves of her sweatshirt as she sniffled.

Shaking my head, I rolled my eyes. “Don’t worry. You’ll be able to get him back tenfold. Just wait till he brings home his first girlfriend.”

“First?! Who said I never had a girlfriend before? I’ll have you know, I was engaged before I left the mafia.”

Ria laughed, wiping the tears from the corner of her eyes. “You didn’t even speak with her once. You also said she was unworthy of your greatness.”

“Oh my god, if I have to listen to the two of you on this entire flight, I will move back to business class.” Lec growled out from the other side.

I started to laugh with Ria. This whole situation could have been so much worse. But what was left of our little family wasn’t too bad. I was going to be a father. We were on the run from my own brother. A bounty would be on Ria. Lec and Keenan would be considered traitors. Then there was the shit show that was Lorenzo. Still…I couldn’t bring myself to regret any of it. I was happy, truly happy. A family of our own making.

Everyone was snickering around me and I blinked, realizing I hadn’t caught the last bit of what Lorenzo was saying.

“What?”

“Don’t worry about it.” Ria chuckled.

Lec started laughing harder. “Lorenzo called your pullout game weak.”

Rolling my eyes, I shook my head and chortled along with them. “I mean…in this case…he isn’t wrong.”