The Russian Roulette [The Mafia Chronicles #2]

Chapter XXXIII

Sophie laid in her bed, staring at the sun rising in the sky through her room's window. The only sounds she heard were birds chirping and the occasional sounds of soldiers saluting each other to change thier guarding shifts.

She loved the serenity that comes with the early hours of the morning; like the world couldnt be any more peaceful.

A small rustling sound took Sophie's attention. She turned to find Alexi sitting uncomfortably in the chair, his head leaned back, and his eyes closed. His rhythmic breathing told her he was asleep.

Sighing softly, she got up from her bed and opened the closet in the room to grab a blanket. Knowing his neck was hurting him from the position it was in for the long hours of the night, Sophie grabbed a pillow too, placing it between his shoulder and neck, allowing his head to rest while covering his with the blanket.

She owed him some of the warmth he gave her the night before.

Returning back to bed, Sophie chose to read a book as she waited for the sun to fully rise. It was safe to say that she was fully engrossed in the book, making her lose herself while reading it, and in turn, forgetting completely what the concept of time is.

"Good morning." Alexi's gravelly morning voice took her out of the bubble she was living in. Sophie lifted her head to see Alexi's hair in its disheveled state, and his eyes still droopy with sleep.

Sophie replied, mirroring his words with a small smile, before turning back to the book she had in hand. Alexi did not like that. He would be damned before a book took his wife's attention away from him.

Alexi stood up from his seat and folded the blanket he knew Sophie covered him with and returned it back to its closet, alongside the pillow. And from the closet, he made a beeline to Sophie's bed and sat himself right next to her.

Sophie noticed the warmth before she realized Alexi's side was pressed to hers. That morning was particularly chilly, and she would be an idiot to reject the warmth...or thats the excuse she liked to use.

He swiftly lifted her legs from under the blanket so that he could slide his under hers, tangling thier legs under the blanket. His arm slid around her back, the tips of his fingers resting at the curve of her hips.

Sophie's breath hitched as she felt him drawing circled with his fingers around the exposed skin above her pajama pants waistband. She turned her head to look at Alexi's face, his eyes not moving from the book in her hands. Her eyes flickered from one corner of his face to another, revisiting the familiar scars and the new ones that formed, before looking down at his neck and finding the tip of his dragon tattoo peaking from his dress shirt.

His sleeved were rolled, putting his new tattoos on display. Sophie had to resist the urge to touch every drop of ink on his skin.

"Why did you get those tattoos?" She asked after a few moments.

Alexi did not take his eyes away from the book, instead he raised his hand and flipped to the next page before answering. "To cover the burns from the bombing." Sophie poked even more, urging him to tell her what had happened to him after she was taken. And he did.

He told her about the fire and the debris. he told her about the gunshots and the dead bodies. He told her about the day he saw the security footage of her bieng taken.

"They drugged me." She defended herself. "I know. I should've known then, but I was too blinded by rage to care for context." Alexi explained how he had checked the rest of the security footage, bank documents, and text messages after they returned from the meeting.

He did not deny that it was his duty in the first place to confirm all the information before he made a rash decision.

"Was it painful?" Sophie asked, referring to the burns. Alexi hesitated for a moment, closing his eyes, before he nodded. "I'm sorry you had to go through that..." Sophie whispered.