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|Ilya Zharkov|
|Six days later|

My feet took me into the guest bedroom just below the master "Here are the—Apollo!" He was sitting on the bed with his cock out on top of a piece of paper as he drew the outline of it with a sharpie. "What the fuck are you doing?"

"What does it look like I'm doing?" He said in a duh tone "I'm making art using art. It's the first page of a love letter for my wife," the man grinned as his eyes fell on me. "You look pretty in navy blue."

"You gave me this sweater—"

"Exactly. Great taste and a big cock can't be bought."

My right eyebrow arched as I approached the bed to lie beside him "You can get a penile enlargement."

"Yeah but I don't have to." Once he was done with the outline, he handed me the notebook "Do you want to draw yours too? You can use the corner of the page," he joked "I'm kidding, babe, you have quite the large fifth limb," Apollo commented, shoving his cock back in his underwear. "But just for funsies you should measure it against mine."

My right eyebrow arched as I looked his way "You're a sore loser."

"What is that supposed to mean?" He crossed his arms "Are you saying your fifth limb is bigger than mine?"

"You said it, not me," a smirk curved my lips as I left the notebook between us to bent my elbows and place my hands under my head.

|Sybella Fiori|

"Be careful with aunt Sybella," Arabella told Napoleon as he lay down beside me. We kept in touch, she visited me once a month with the kids and Apollo; they did the same with Ilya and never took sides which was amazing.

"I'm not going to hurt her, mamma," Napoleon said; he has recently started rolling his r's which I'm so proud of.

"You might not mean to hurt her, just be careful okay?" Arabella said calmly.

"Sì, mamma," he replied.

"Napoleon is so perfect," my fingers ran through his smooth dirty blonde hair as he rested his head on my left thigh.

Arabella chuckled lightly with her eyes on her son, who was being hugged by little Artemis "Are you and Ilya planning on having kids any time soon? I mean, sex must be restricted but once you can have sex, it's going to be so hot; make up sex is the best–well–maybe angry sex, I don't know."

I chuckled "Yeah, I do want to have a baby with Ilya. I was actually planning to ask the chef to make his favorite dish tonight so we can have a romantic dinner in bed while talking about the future. What about you? Are you and Apollo planning to have another baby soon?"

She nodded as her smile grew which can only mean that– "I'm eight weeks pregnant."

"That's amazing, I'm so happy for you," my eyes welled up. "I'm sorry," the salty droplets ran down my cheeks "I don't mean to make this about myself, I'm so sorry."

"It's okay, sweetheart," she reached for my hand and hooded it with hers "tell me what's in your mind. You haven't had the easiest year, let alone the last couple of days; it's normal to be overwhelmed, tell me what you're feeling."

My lower lip quivered "I can't help but wonder where would Ilya and I be if I hadn't ran off. Maybe we would have a baby already–"

"Stop tormenting yourself with all those thoughts, Sybella," she scooted closer to cup my cheeks and wipe my tears off of them. "You can cry as much as you want and scream and kick but do not torment yourself, there's no point in doing so because you're back together with your husband and you've cleared up everything. Besides, Ilya doesn't love you because you're able to give him a child, he loves you because of everything that you are," her gaze was so tender.

It's odd how she's the young among us and she's the most emotionally mature one, filled with wisdom and the ability to keep her head cold in this sort of situations. We both had rough childhoods, incomparable ones because she lacked love and compassion, whereas I didn't have money and maybe not love of a blood bond but there has always been someone there for me, which is most likely the reason for her emotional maturity.

"Thank you for everything this past year, Arabella," my left hand fell on top of hers. "Now, let's talk baby names, have you given it a thought?"

She nodded as her smile turned into a grin "Lorenzo if it's a boy and Stella if it's a girl."

"Those are beautiful, Arabella."

"I'm glad you like them because you'll be the godmother and I'm not asking, it's just a simple statement."

A chuckle left my mouth "I would've gladly accepted had it been a question."

"Great because you're already stuck with my other children if something should happen to Apollo and I. They weren't baptized because Apollo and I aren't much into religion but when Artemis was born, my mother-in-law asked us to baptize them just in case heaven exists and shit so Ilya is their godfather."

"Don't they have a godmother already?"

"Not really, since we own the church where they were baptized I asked the priest to keep the position open for whenever Ilya got married so here I am, giving you a great responsibility," she told and we both chuckled. "I love my husband's sisters but they were spoiled, like Apollo, so they lack knowledge in the responsibility department."

"Zeus forbid something might happen to you but if it does, I'll gladly take care of your babies whom I already love as my own," my eyes gazed at the gorgeous DiStefano children who seemed to have fallen asleep whilst their mother and I talked.

Someone walked into the bedroom without knocking and it happened to be Ekaterina with Chiara who is Arabella's little sister "I found this little zaika in the wine cellar, counting bottles."

(Bunny.)

"She loves math, she wants to be a teacher when she grows up," Arabella said as Chiara approached us to sit on her sister's lap.

"I know you said to stay with mamma Minerva but she said I could explore–"

"It's okay, tesoro," Arabella said with a smile "Apollo and I are going to make a delicious lunch for everyone, do you want to help?"

A big smile adorned the face of the eight year old "I would love to."

"Perfect," Arabella stood up in six-inch heels, carrying her sister. "I'll see you at lunch, okay?"

I nodded "Don't worry about the kids, I'll take care of them."

"Grazie, bella," the woman blew a kiss at me before walking past Ekaterina and out of the bedroom.

(Thank you, beautiful.)

Ekaterina approached the bed with a smile "U etoy zhenshchiny krasivyye deti," she commented, making me chuckle.

(That woman has beautiful children.)

"Eta zhenshchina i yeye muzh velikolepny," I replied to what she smiled.

(That woman and her husband are gorgeous.)

"Ty i moy syn tozhe velikolepny, osobenno ty, no ne govori yemu," Ekaterina grinned as she sat on the mid-century Italian grey velvet armchair when he gets tired of lying in bed.

(You and my son are gorgeous too, especially you but don't tell him.)

"Ya prishel syuda, chtoby pogovorit' s vami o Giuliano. Kak vy znayete, Antonio i Stavros prosledili yego peredvizheniye do malen'koy kvartiry na Monmartre, a ottuda do aeroporta, no tam on smeshalsya s tolpoy," she took a deep breath. "No my nakonets vyyasnili, kakim reysom on letel I kuda."

(I came here to talk to you about Giuliano. As you know Antonio and Stavros traced his movements back to a small apartment in Montmartre and from there to the airport but there he blended with the crowd. But we finally figured out which flight he took and to where.)

"Those are great news!" I threw my arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug that caused me pain but this is much more important than my pain.

"Don't get too excited, my darling," she carefully pulled away. "He's in Budapest and we have footage of him getting off the plane but none of him actually leaving the airport. The tapes have been reviewed time and time again for the last three days but nothing."

"You've known this for three days?"

She nodded "Ilya, Arabella and I agreed that we shouldn't put you through the stress without being sure."

"That's my decision to make—" I tried getting up but she held me down; the woman is incredibly strong and if it weren't for my wound, I would've been able to accomplish my action. "I need to help—"

"For that you need to heal," she told in a stern tone.

Tears stung my eyes "He's out there, free and my baby girl is nothing but ashes," I sobbed. "He mocked me and made me think that my life was perfect when it was all an act to have his vendetta for something that wasn't my fault! He told me to take care of myself because I'm the only person I can count on!"

"Sybella, I believe you, you don't have to prove anything to me," she cupped my face and looked at me with loving eyes filled with sadness. "It pains me to see you like this and not be able to hand you the coward. We have to be patient because sooner or later we'll find him."

"I can't be patient, this it too—" my eyes went wide as I processed all of the memories I thought were lost. "Giuliano had a girlfriend! She wasn't from Italia so he rarely saw her and when they saw each other it wasn't at the flat because I was little and the walls thin," a relief smile curved my lips "she was Hungarian!"

Ilya stormed into the bedroom "What was her name?!"

Napoleon whimpered "Stop yelling."

"I'm sorry, little guy," my left hand rubbed his back gently. "Were you eavesdropping?"

My husband shook his head "I was simply passing through."

"Our room is the last one on the hall," my right eyebrow arched.

"Unimportant," he knelt by the bed "what was the woman's name?"

"Samara Horváth," I replied as my heart commenced racing. "Giuliano came back one morning with his forehead stitched up and bandages around his right hand because he had gotten into a fight. A few days later my tummy hurt so he called her and then called Antonio to tell him about her, that's when he mentioned her name."

"Then he must be in Budapest with her," Ilya got up and smashed his lips against mine to give me a kiss that his mother shouldn't be seeing. He pushed his tongue in my mouth as his right hand laced around my throat which was extremely sexy and it put me in the mood to try really hard to conceive a baby. "I love you, malyshka."

"I see you'll have no trouble giving me grandchildren," Ekaterina commented, making me blush.

"I love you more, bello. Would you take me with you downstairs?"

(Handsome.)

Ilya nodded before picking me up bridal style "Mom, could you take care of the babies whilst we are gone?"

"I most certainly can," she replied. "You kids go have fun."

My arms laced around my husband's neck as my eyes didn't move from his beautiful face; these past few days I've realized how lucky I am for having such a loving, supporting and understand husband like him. He is lucky too for having someone like me who would look past all those horrible years we had and because I'm talented, strong, smart, rich, witty, funny and so many more things. We are lucky to have each other and we deserve each other.

The room is on the underground level, and this is a room I didn't know but this house has been Ilya's since we married so he has changed a couple of things.

"This place is huge, bello," my eyes wandered around the all-black room that's filled with people and screens.

"It was recently finished," he placed me down on a black velvet armchair which resembles the one from the bedroom, but the backrest is taller and the armrests are bigger since it's custom made for my hubby; he designed it when we were together physically and was so excited because he had one made for me too. It's white for the bride and groom thing...it's cheesy but perfect.

"It's good to have you back, Sybella," Stabby stood in front of me with a smile. "You look stunning as always," we haven't seen each other since I ran away because Ilya had them removed from my escort to give me the space I needed.

I chuckled "Why thank you, Stabby, you look stunning too. Did you ask Bea out after all?"

He nodded "It ended after the third date because I—"

"There you are, babe," Ben said joining the conversation and my jaw dropped "I need you to approve the flower centerpieces—Oh! Sybella, you're here," he leaned down to peck both of my cheeks.

"And you're together," a grin adorned my lips as I felt my husband's hand on my left shoulder. "Why hadn't you told me?" I looked up at Ilya.

"Because we've been busy talking about us, besides, Ben told me he wanted to tell you himself," he told.

"Well, I'm beyond happy for you two," I stated, looking back at the couple which never did I see coming but I'm ecstatic. "So, why are you looking for flower centerpieces? You're getting married or what?"

Stabby nodded "He proposed a month ago and we weren't going to start planning for another six months but he's really stressed so he's overflowing himself with things to do," Stavros took the iPad from his fiancé. "Stop it baby, you need to go to bed, you haven't slept in three days."

"I'm busy—"

"Go before I ask one of the Athenas to make you do it," my husband stated.

"Ugh, fine," he gave his fiancé a sweet kiss and then pecked my forehead before leaving.

"Now that the man is gone, I imagine you're here to take control of the situation," Stabby smiled. "What do you want us to do?"

"There's a Hungarian woman that might be sheltering Giuliano, her name is Samara Horváth and she must be in her late thirties, early forties; she is a nurse and has heterochromia iridum," the memories of Giuliano talking about her are coming in pieces since it all happened near the time of his supposed death, and I blocked out most of that year due to the lack of grieving process.

"All right, boss," he said "I'm happy you're back."

"I'm happy I'm back," my right hand moved to meet my husband's on my shoulder.

Stavros smiled before leaving.

"You know my mother has already started planning the wedding party and so far she has called Dior, Givenchy and Armani to ask them all to make you a custom wedding dress," Ilya said, sitting on the left armrest.

"Sounds interesting, what have they said so far?" My head turned to look at hubby.

"They said yes on the spot, Chanel called and Zuhair Murad too so you have options."

A deep sigh left my mouth and with it a weight I've been harboring inside for over a decade. The feeling of having to prepare myself for the worst because nothing ends good for me, ever, but now everything has changed; the great love of my life and I have been through hell and back for one reason or another. Everything is out in the clear now and even if Giuliano is out there, I feel free to continue building my life without a drop of fear...partly because Ilya is beside me but mostly because I'm finally utterly and undeniably me.

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