They drove down the long lane and pulled up in front of a beautiful gray brick mansion. It was large but not Lucian-Fane-ostentatious. About the only extravagance that might have made someone roll their eyes would be the fully functional infirmary taking up a large chunk of square footage at the back of the house.
Only three people resided here full-time since Alek had moved out; Vasily, Dmitri, and Yuri. The MD had the run of the basement here the way Maks did at their place. Only difference was, Yuri’s lab consisted of test-tubes and beakers where Maks’s was made up of computer equipment.
When everyone got out of the truck, Alek’s gaze once more went to the car seat Sacha was unclipping. He’d barely taken his eyes from it the entire drive, which had been made listening to either the radio or Maks or Sydney talking to their respective staff members about issues that had cropped up at the clubs in their absence.
“Take the baby inside,” he said to the girls. “Maks, can I have a minute?”
Micha brought the girls up the stairs and were greeted by Aron, one of Vasily’s men who opened the door to them. Grigori and Lucas, who’d driven behind the limo, went with Anton to the den above the garage where the boys normally converged when they needed some downtime.
Alek and Maks pulled their collars tight against the cold and remained by the limo that would be sent back in the morning. There was no rush since the company the vehicle had come from was owned by Alek and Gabriel.
“Your kid is a pretty little thing,” Maks finally said after the silence between them stretched. “Still trying to wrap my head around it. Can’t wait to see her animated. When they’re asleep, they don’t seem real. If she doesn’t wake up before me and Syd leave, I’m poking her.”
“Do that. I want to see her eyes.”
“Listen, I’m sorry I blindsided you with the info back at the convention center. I guess I could have handled it better. But when that fucking piece of the puzzle finally fell into place, all I saw was her deception. Now I’m getting the bigger picture. Actually, my Aussie painted a fucking landscape while you were giving Sacha bristle burn.”
“If I promise not to be as preachy with you as I was with him, can I put in my two cents?”
They turned to see Sydney coming back across the drive. She was still bundled in her coat.
“Hear her out,” Maks said. “Just to get the perspective.”
Even though he didn’t think he needed it, Alek nodded.
“Some of this might come across as insensitive, but I don’t mean it that way. Okay?” Sydney waited for him to nod again before she began. “I can’t stop hearing Sacha ask Vasily not to take her baby away from her. You just met your daughter, Alek. Think about how you felt holding her for the first time.” She gave him a second to do that then reached up and gave him a hug. “That must have been so amazing. Congratulations.”
He looked at Maks’s over her head and got an eye roll.
“Women,” the idiot muttered out loud.
Alek hugged her back. “Thanks, Sydney. It was a life changer.”
“I’ll bet,” she said as she settled back. “Now think about a year from now, when that little girl is deep in your heart and owns your soul. Imagine someone coming in with the power to take her from you then.”
He shoved his hands in his pockets and started rattling some coins as the humor in the air dissipated. He wasn’t sure the idea of taking Lekzi away from Sacha was still a possibility—if it ever really was—but he let Sydney continue because the perspective couldn’t hurt.
“Sacha carried that baby for nine months. Alone. Every night she probably laid in bed, talking to the peanut, vowing to keep her safe, to do the best she could with what little she had. That, too, she did alone. She walked into that huge hospital, in excruciating pain, knowing it was time and her life was about to change. That she did alone. She laid in that bed and pushed her child from the protection of her body, all by herself. There would have been no one holding her hand but some stranger whose job it was to do so. There would have been no one there to support her. No one to tell her they would get through it together. She was alone, and she became that baby’s champion. She brought her home, alone. She laid awake at night, terrified of sleeping just in case she woke up to find her child had stopped breathing at some point and was gone. Yes, that’s what we do. And Sacha and I did that alone. I lived what she went through, Alek. She may have had her friend there for a chat, the one who was babysitting, just like I had Emily, but it’s still not the same as having a partner who is struggling with the same fears you are because they love your child as much as you do. Gabriel is the perfect example of what a woman’s dream partner is. He might be a little grouchy about it, but he’s invested, and that’s everything.”