ROSALINE

27

ALEXEI

"Thank you, Amir," I shook hands with the man and walked back to my car to drive back to the hotel. I needed a drink, a very strong one. "I'm so glad that is over, man," Vlad said with relief as he got in the back seat with me.

"Ready, boss?" my driver asked and I nodded.

"Anything from Yeka?" I asked him. I saw his face pale, "Everything is going fine. Do you have any idea why she's giving me an attitude?" I clearly knew what was going on.

"Did you try asking her?" I asked him. "She walked away immediately. The second time, she held a gun to my face and a knife to my neck and told me to stay at least six feet away from her," he said with a sad sigh.

He deserved it though. "Think about what you could have possibly done wrong," I patted his shoulder and brought out my phone. I saw a text from my sister.

'I don't understand why we have to go to school, Alexei. Come and take me away. Let us go to Disney land and see Cinderella, please. I don't like how dad is looking so gloomy!'

I chuckled. I will reply her text when I get some rest.

It's been five days since I've gotten here. I informed my father and grandfather about the incident with Sahin and told them about Blakely.

My mother was proud of me and so was my grandfather. They both went to see Blakely and Rose.

Rose.

I don't know why the sound of her name made me feel a kind of way that I found weird. I wasn't sure if I liked it or not, but I knew it was foreign to me.

For some days, she would pop up in my mind and I would instantly forget what I was doing.

That smile, those soft giggles and her loud laughter. I liked them more than I was supposed to.

It was because of her I was doing this.

After rescuing Blakely, I made an appointment with an agent to issue documents about her from the US government.

After seven days of hard work, I was able to make Blakely Houston my legal child and changed her last name to mine. The US government agreed to stay out of my business as long as I helped them in supplying ammunitions and resources on their enemies.

They know better than to double cross me.

"Time to drink my whole life away and drown all my agony and sorrows in bottles of whiskey," Vlad sang making me look at him. "Stop being an idiot. Being drunk, makes you do the most idiotic of all things," I pointed out with annoyance.

"I have nothing to be happy about. My whole life is like a coma. It's a fucking pause!" he exclaimed and continued to babble in our mother tongue.

I rolled my eyes.

Yeka did this to him.

She was oblivious of his feelings for her and he was oblivious of her feelings for him. And I wasn't going to be the one to mingling in this type of relationship.

All I wanted was to see Rose and have her in my bed laying in my embrace. Something about holding her in my arms was very addicting and I didn't want to quit it.

∞

"Yay!" Blakely squealed as I twirled around with her in my arms. "Did you like that?" I asked her as I placed her back on the floor. She giggled and nodded, clapping her hands.

Over the past few days, her communication had gotten better and she had improved with her surroundings and trust. She calls me mommy often and loves playing with Vera, Alina and Anya. Yeka too was getting fond of her.