Page 94 of Bought to Bear Bratva Heir

"No. And to answer your question, I got it six and a half years ago." A smile tugged up my lips. "Don’t you recognize it?" I asked. "You saw it years ago when we were shopping. It was the week before Christmas and we had just been ice skating. Do you remember?"

Slowly she lifted her eyes to my face. "Yeah, I remember. It was in the window of that little antique shop. But we didn’t go inside and I didn’t say anything, so how did you know?"

Chuckling, I shrugged. "I saw how you looked at it, like it was the most beautiful thing you had ever seen. You tried to hide it. But I saw. So I went back and bought it."

Heat flushed her cheeks. "You bought me a ring six years ago?" she whispered.

"Longer. It was before we found out you were pregnant. I knew then that you would be my wife."

And wasn’t that the truth.

"I am sorry it took me so long to ask you, Daisy. But I’m asking now, and if you agree, I will spend the rest of my life, every single second of every single day, making things up to you and making you happy," I croaked. "I swear it."

She didn’t say anything. She just kept looking at me. Almost like she was trying to read my thoughts.

"Fuck, Daisy," I groaned finally when I couldn’t take her silence any longer. "Please, just put me out of my misery."

Gripping my shirt front, she yanked me forward with more strength than I expected. Her mouth found mine.

"Yes," she whispered against my lips.

I didn’t dare believe what I was hearing. "Daisy, don’t—"

"I’m not joking, I’m not playing games, and I am not running ever again. I want to be with our family. I want to be with you because you are the only man I have ever loved."

God, I felt the same. She was the only woman I had ever loved, and she would be the only woman I ever loved for the rest of my life.

"Does this mean you will stay? That you will be my wife?"

She kissed me again. "Yes, Ilya, I will be your wife."

Epilogue 1

Daisy

The sun was shining for the first time in weeks, hitting me straight in the face as I pressed the tip of my nose against the cool glass in the back of the elegant wedding car.

My wedding car.

It still hadn’t sunk in. I was marrying Ilya Popovitch. It still felt like it was a dream that he had even asked me to begin with, and anytime I looked down at the priceless ring on my finger and remembered he had bought this for me years ago, my heart would swell and my eyes would fill with tears.

Ilya loved me. He had always loved me, and he wanted me to be his wife. Little old me, who had gone to him six years ago as a clueless, penniless virgin. I don’t know what I had done to make him fall in love with me, but I finally knew he did.

He showed and told me every single day.

Which was probably why we were getting married today. Exactly seventeen days after I had been rescued. Ilya hadn’t wanted to wait, and honestly, I didn’t want to either. We had already wasted so much time.

The car slowed, and my breath caught in my lungs as I lifted my eyes to the church we would be saying our vows in.

That’s when it hit me.

This was really happening. Within the next hour, I was going to be Ilya's wife. My heart thundered in my chest.

"Mrs. Popovitch?"

It was only then that I realized that the door had opened and a man was leaning down, hand extended. Taking a deep breath, I took it. The simple but gorgeous white gown fluttered around my feet as I stood.

"Thank you," I whispered.