𝑅𝑒𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑃ℎ𝑜𝑒𝑛𝑖𝑥 ✔︎ || 𝐶𝑜𝑚𝑝𝑙𝑒𝑡𝑒𝑑

60

~ phoenix ~

I had never before been so happy to see the towering gates of the compound as we approached.

Seeing as Ilya's signature Lamborghini was unsuitable for the family accompanying us, we took a large, intimidating SUV, which I had to bribe Mikhail to get in. His reaction to the car was adorable. First, there was fright but that quickly dissolved into intrigue. The little boy clasped my hand the entire journey as we sped along the highway heading home. His sister, Viktoria was fast asleep in her car seat. Their mother seemed expressionless, often biting her lip, lost in thought.

Sitting in the seat directly behind Ilya, I played with the ends of his hair, occasionally massaging his stiff neck. I wondered why he was so tense. Did he expect someone to jump out at us?

I noticed a figure standing between the mechanical gates as they opened. I squinted to see it was Aleksey and I had to clench my hand to stop it from waving. Without doubt, the apathetic Hulk would ignore it.

Nonetheless, as he moved forward to open my door, I didn't hide my grin. To my surprise, the ends of his mouth quirked up. I considered throwing my arms around him... but nah, I shouldn't get ahead of myself.

"Welcome home, сука," he smirked, helping me down.

I narrowed my eyes at the endearment. "It's nice to see you too, Mudak," I shot back, remembering the curses Rina taught me. [Asshole]

"What is Мудак," Mikhail innocently questioned.

I stumbled for a response, hissing, "This is your fault," to the now grinning Hulk.

Huh, who removed the stick from his ass? Although to be honest, I wasn't sure if I liked this side of him either.

"Игнорируй их, детка," Lavinia sighed as she unstrapped her daughter from the car. [Ignore them, baby]

I shot her a guilty smile.

Aleksey then proceeded to help down little Mikhail, smiling down at him. I was pretty positive my jaw was hanging down.

Okay, seriously when did he get a personality transplant?

All this time, Ilya remained silent. With a soft smile, I walked over to him and pressed a soft kiss to his lips.

"What's wrong?" I whispered, pulling away.

He stared at me intensely, scrutinising my expression. Then, he asked, "Are you happy?"

It suddenly made sense. All along, he was unsure about how I felt - as if I'd change my mind.

I sighed. To be fair, I had been quite bipolar with him.

"No," I replied, seeing his face fall. Then, I grinned mischievously, "I'm ecstatic."

Glaring at me, he stamped another hot kiss on my lips. "Good."

Aleksey coughed loudly.

To my satisfaction, Ilya's narrowed eyes turned to him. I spun around and poked my tongue out at him, to which he rolled his eyes.

We entered the mansion together. Again, Mikhail's warm hand was enclosed in mine. No doubt the large glass balconies were daunting to him. We took the elevator to the penthouse, where we had decided Lavinia and her children would stay with us in the spare bedrooms until better accommodation was arranged.

When the elevator pinged at the top floor, I guided Mikhail to the games room, which I had only discovered a day before my kidnapping. A mini basketball court was set up with a plush ball. I showed him how to throw it into the hoop and watched him excitedly try to score. Aleksey strolled in after us, sitting at the pool table.