A topic for a different day.
Today was supposed to be beautiful.
“I think the fact that you know you expect different things from your son than what was expected of you means your first concern is not an issue, Kolya.”
Her brother’s brow dipped as he muttered, “I don’t understand.”
“Our father would have never worried about whether he was going to be a good father to begin with. All he cared about was the fact that his boys became what his boys needed to be—other versions of himself.”
A quick understanding dawned in her brother’s eyes, but in true Kolya fashion, he didn’t acknowledge her words. Still, she could see the gratefulness in her brother’s soft smile. Another unusual thing for him—Kolya was soft in nothing, except for maybe with his wife, but Viktoria knew better than to tell him that.
“You came!”
Viktoria didn’t even get the chance to ready for the oncoming attack from her sister-in-law before Maya pushed past Kolya’s large form and came for her. Maya was a sprite-like thing. Tiny as a fairy compared to her very large and intimidating husband. Her smile was blinding, whereas his scowl was terrifying.
And yet, when she hugged Viktoria, it felt like little bars had come to wrap around her body and were squeezing her tight. Someone else, and Viktoria would have been quick to tell them to back the fuck off. She might even tell Maya that on one of her bad days, but she knew she would get a comment from Kolya for doing it, too.
Not today, though.
Today, she hugged her sister-in-law back.
“Of course, I came,” Viktoria said.
Maya pulled back with one of her big smiles. “I know, but Konstantin said you were … not having good days lately, so I didn’t want to assume. It would have been okay if you weren’t feeling up to it, yes?”
Okay, so maybe she loved her sister-in-law for more reasons than just the fact she was Kolya’s wife. Maya was one of the few people in Viktoria’s inner circle and family who didn’t push her for more than she was willing to give. The woman always seemed to understand that sometimes, people just had to deal with their own shit on their own time. It wasn’t something that could be forced.
And Maya expected nothing from Vik. She was there if she needed her. That was exactly what she needed a lot of the time. She wished the rest of the people around her could understand that, too. Easier said than done …
“Also, Konstantin should learn to keep his mouth shut,” Maya added, winking.
Viktoria laughed. “I tell him that all the time.”
“And he never learns, does he?”
“He’s a fixer,” Kolya muttered behind them. “He must fix all the things.”
“Don’t tell him that.”
“Never,” her brother agreed.
“Here, I’ll take that,” Maya said, reaching to grab the gift Viktoria had been holding. “I’ll put it with the others, but in the family pile. We’ll open those first.”
“Sure.”
By the time Maya had put the gift in the pile with the rest of them, someone else had come up to distract Viktoria’s brother and his wife. She was left alone in the entryway of their living room, where she was again reminded of just how crowded this house was at the moment. All the guests moving from room to room and chatting had her anxiety picking up all over again. As much as she tried to ignore it and push it back down to deal with it later, it continued pressing up in her throat like vomit that wanted to spill from her lips.
Fuck.
Viktoria swung around, ready to slip out the back for a breather on the porch, when she nearly ran headfirst into Konstantin. He arched a brow at her sharp glare and scowl at having her quick exit interrupted by him.
“Thank you for showing up,” he told her.
Viktoria didn’t even swallow back the cutting retort that was at the ready—her standard to use when she needed to get the hell out of a situation in a hurry. “Thank you for reminding me daily like a child that I needed to be here, Konstantin.”
He sighed.
She pushed past him.
It was easier this way.
• • •
“You know, to some people in that house,” Viktoria said as she scratched a spot behind Kolya’s dog’s ear, “you are the most terrifying thing here, I think.”
Sumerki’s stubby tail wagged fast. He was as black as night, and in the dark backyard, he could probably blend in enough that someone might miss him if they weren’t looking for him. But then when he opened those eyes of his—big, yellow, and bright—a person couldn’t miss him at all. He was massive. Probably well over a hundred pounds of solid, pit bull muscle. She had seen this dog go after a poor, wild rabbit once.
It had stood no chance.
He could be vicious.
Nasty as fuck.
But with her, Sumerki had always been a giant baby. She knew people gave the dog a wide berth of space whenever he was out with Kolya. He could, and usually did, act as her brother’s protection a lot of the time.
It was amusing.
She was so distracted with Sumerki that she didn’t notice the form coming up to her side until he sat right down beside her on the steps. The shriek that came out of Viktoria when she realized it was Pav was inhumane, she was sure of it.
Her heart thundered.
He just grinned.
“Are you trying to give me a heart attack?” she asked him, glaring.
Pav cocked his head to the side. “You’re … interesting when
