Wrong Number. Right Don (Sinful Mafia Daddies)

by Natasha L. Black

“I love you, Nicole.” “I love you, too,”

More than good. We’re absolutely perfect.

Our daughter, Anya, is only four, but she’s already fearless and dramatic, and she knows exactly how to wrap her father around her little finger.

“More than okay. I’m happy.” And I mean it. Completely, wholly, undeniably happy.

We’ve built something rare and precious with our little family. Anya is happy and healthy, and our son, Nikolai, has just turned one. Liliya is woven into their days, and Semion has stayed blessedly silent. I couldn’t ask for more.

“You? The great and powerful pakhan is surprised by domestic bliss?”

It’s been three years since we stood on the Amalfi Coast, surrounded by our families, the ocean behind us and a lifetime ahead. The sun slid toward the horizon as we spoke our vows, gilding the water until it gleamed like blown glass. My dress blew in the breeze, and Sergei looked at me like I was the only thing in the world that mattered.

That day marked the beginning of a new chapter, not just as husband and wife, but as partners, truly and fully. He promised me forever, and every single day since, he’s kept that promise.

I never asked him to change for me. I just asked for honesty. And he gave me exactly that—every unvarnished piece of himself.

I’ve got good people in place. And more importantly, I’ve got something worth staying alive for.”

Anya has collapsed in the grass, laughing up at the sky. The sun catches her face, her dimples, the little gap between her front teeth. She’s pure magic.

“I used to think I had to choose between a life I loved and being a mother.”

“You don’t have to choose,” he says simply. “You’re both. You’re incredible at both.”

Mia, and her new boyfriend, who works in finance and blushes every time she flirts with him in front of us.

“Not just the house or the business or even Anya and Nikolai. You gave me the freedom to be myself. The safety to have a life I never could have even dreamed of.”

“I love you too.” He smiles. “More every day.”

“I saw, my dove,”

Anya beams, always pleased to be the center of Sergei’s attention. Sergei looks at me over her head, something soft and wonderstruck in his gaze.

“I don’t know what I did to deserve any of this,”

“Whatever it was, I’m gla...

“Does my wife have a spare second to accompany me to our bedroom? I have some unfinished business from last night.”

“Can’t a man show a little devotion to his beautiful, brilliant wife?”

“I have exactly seven minutes until dinner is served, and I intend to use them wisely.”

Liliya watches us from the window with a familiar mix of exasperation and affection, shaking her head like she’s given up trying to wrangle either of us.

When my parents finally arrive, we all sit down and happily eat the delicious roast chicken that Liliya made, a perfectly mismatched family.

I stare at my son’s iPad longingly, wishing it was socially acceptable for me to watch the game on it.

She’s our eldest, the light of our lives, and we couldn’t be prouder.

At fourteen, she’s valedictorian of her middle-school class, president of the art club, and president of the National Junior Honor Society. She definitely gets her smarts from her mother. And she probably got her love of art from her grandmother. But she’s still stubborn and tenacious as ever, and that is all from me.

“Only if you clap loud enough when Anya finishes her speech,”

And my heart does that thing it always does when I look at her. It swells with a pride so deep it hurts. I don’t hear all the words, but I don’t need to.

I see the girl standing up there, the one who used to climb into bed with me when thunderstorms scared her, who cried when she accidentally stepped on a ladybug, who once got into a fist fight with a boy in third grade because he made fun of Nikolai for having “a scary dad.”

Then a girl who got stood up on a bad date texted the wrong number, and everything changed. What would’ve happened if she hadn’t? God forbid, what if she’d texted the right number and that douchebag decided he’d made a mistake in running away from her?