Dominik spun his pen in his hand, thinking to himself as he sat at his desk. He reminisced over the morning spent with Salina. She'd been especially soft these last few days, Dominik bathed in it. Soft and needy for him, just how he likes her. After all, their one year anniversary of their first wedding just passed.

He loved getting her attention. Right now, she's decided she had enough of him however and went out with Vivienne for lunch.

But the morning was making him reminiscent. He thought back to himself as a boy, he wondered if his ten year old self knew he'd met the center of his universe that day.

Maybe he did, considering Salina ran circles in his mind even when he was young. But then, he probably saw her as more of a new toy he needed to have. That only he could have. Not the love of his life.

Dominik chuckled at the thought.

A boy, making himself look bigger than he truly was, followed after a strikingly similar looking man out of their car.

"These people are thorns in my side, this meeting will be a waste of our time. But it is necessary evil," his father, Andrei, murmured to him in russian.

"When you're pakhan- you will surpass even me. These annoying meetings I make today are for you. To keep the people under you happy- you must make them feel important."

Andrei gripped his son's shoulder tightly before they got to the front door of the house. "But remember. Everyone is below you. They're wastes of time. A means to an end to get to our goal."

"They're not Ivanov's," Dominik responded for the first time in their mother tongue. His face was stoic even as his shoulder crunched under the hard grip of his father. Andrei squeezed even tighter in approval of the answer, finally releasing him.

And with that, the door was opening. Beaumont greeted them at the door. He had a look that the young ten year old Dominik recognized, concealed nervousness.

His smile was just slightly strained, only a trained eye would catch it. His teeth were clenched as he casually brushed a hand through his hair to wipe his brow of any sweat gathering.

"Pakhan Ivanov," the russian word sounded botched on the frenchman's tongue. It obviously irritated Andrei to hear it.

"Don't attempt a language you don't understand. Boss is just fine." The words were practically seered in Dominik's mind. As their mafia expanded, more and more people butchered his father's title. It was easier now to adapt to english.

Dominik's thoughts were derailed when he saw a collection of shiny things in the center of the family room ahead of them. Shiny, pink wrapping paper made each present sitting in a pyramid very eye catching.

Sensing his son's attention being shifted, he too looked at the ridiculous mountain of gifts.

Laurent Beaumont saw what they were looking at and hummed as he gestured to them. "My daughter's birthday today. It's the first since uh... we lost my wife. I was trying to make it special but she's none too pleased with my work responsibilities."

"The children are needy things. Birthdays are considered a hazard in our household. Right, boy?"

When Dominik didn't respond immediately, staring at the presents with an unreadable expression, his father's grip on his shoulder dragged his attention away.

"Yes," he immediately agreed to whatever Andrei had said.

He nodded in approval before grunting at Laurent to get this over with.

They all walked through the halls, Dominik did his best to keep up with the conversation as usual. Beaumont was pleading his case to Andrei. The frenchman wanted more responsibility and more money, as of right now he's only a step above the regular lackeys. He had his own successful enough business and his hands were too dirty to go back now.

From what Dominik understood, that's what got him in the mess with his wife in the first place.

Dominik's eyes trailed to pictures, he could make out a little girl in most of them. That must be the daughter, for a moment his body turned. He stepped towards the picture, to get a better look.

His father gripped the back of his neck. An ugly sneer on his face made Dominik realize his mistake. But still, as he fell back in line his eyes strained to try and look at the picture better.

When Beaumont left the room to seemingly attend to commotion in the house before the meeting fully started, Dominik was caught off guard.

A fist slammed into his cheek. Dominik's eyes went wild, fully alert as he whipped towards his father. His fists balled up, preparing himself for another attack and readying himself to strike back.

"Get your fucking head straight, boy!" Andrei snapped in English. Whenever Andrei spoke to him in english he knew it was do or die. His father was even more intense during meetings and business appointments.

The pain in his cheek throbbed but no tears stung his eyes. It sent a jolt of adrenaline through him and kept him on his toes while stiffly settling in his seat as a frazzled Beaumont came in.

"I apologize, my daughter she can be quite-"

"I don't care."

Dominik nodded besides his father, the intense stare of both the Ivanov boys pushing him to plead his case.

During the meeting, Dominik's mind kept straying. In the corner of the room, he saw a pink frilly dress hidden under a couch. Probably kicked under in a rush before they arrived.

His head tilted. He'd never seen something so pink, only ever on tv maybe.

He thought it was cute. It reminded him of those princesses in those movies. The movies he usually dismissed as absolutely stupid and ridiculous.

But, looking at the dress and the little girl who seemingly wore it, made him question how stupid they were.

Luckily, he knew he didn't have to pay attention much to this meeting. Sometimes, his father would quiz him afterwords and his wrong answers previously lead to proper punishments.

He doesn't get any answers wrong anymore.

But Andrei didn't think this meeting was important enough to quiz.

Beaumont was convincing, he did know that much. He knew his father would agree to bring him into bigger projects.

Dominik found his stomach doing something funny. He wondered if he would be brought to this house more. His eyes darted to the door, he could hear the light patter of feet outside the door.

He just wanted the meeting to be over- and usually he never wanted the meetings to be over. He craved the feeling of power that pulsed through these meetings.

But he couldn't wait for it to be over right now to get through that damn door.

But, no. Time dragged on with semantics and painful details about numbers and trade.

Dominik could tell by the slowing down of the conversation that it was ending soon. Outside, his fingers twitched in surprise when music sounded.

It wasn't obnoxiously loud, but enough to catch him off guard as well as the other men.

Dominik recognized the tune. He was grateful for it right now even if he did find the song annoying, because the men finished up as Beaumont rushed to get to the bottom of this.

Out of his seat before his father, Dominik followed after Beaumont. The larger man blocked his view as Andrei trailed behind him.

"Selly," Beaumont hissed over the "Happy Birthday" song playing from a pale pink cd player.

Out of the entire chaos of the scene, Dominik noticed the girl first. She was a little smaller than him, her brown skin glowed in comparison to his own pale pigment.

Her dark hair, that seemed to be curly but he couldn't tell much since it was braided down a little messily. As if someone untrained had done it, and by the way Beaumont smoothed it down he could assume he was the untrained one.

But besides all of that, besides her pretty face with her rounded cheeks and upturned nose he focused on her eyes.

It was like something struck through his heart. He even pressed his hand to his chest to check there was no injuries, that he hadn't been shot.

Her eyes were narrowed right at her father, a bright marker in her grip and pressed to the wall. The fire in her gaze and anger rolling off her was palpable.

"You liar," the girl growled at him. He now noticed a sash across her soldier that read birthday girl on it.

"I told you after the meeting, mon ange. We will celebrate. You've interrupted something very important."

"You interrupted something very important," the angel shot right back.

Laurent slid his hand over his hair, sighing roughly as he turned back to Andrei who was still looking at the artwork on the wall.

A large sun scribbled in messily was the main focus with an ocean and a boat floating atop. Above that in pink she'd just finished writing happy birthday with her name below it.

Salina.

Andrei grunted, "This is why I have a boy."

Laurent sighed with relief, "All we can do is give them our best." He tried to smooth things over and appeal to Andrei's fatherly instinct to possibly gain an upper hand.

"They owe us their best. I wonder if this is hers."

And the look Salina gave him was one Dominik would never forget because it made a chuckle bubble in his chest. He choked it down and his face didn't change but it was enough to grab Salina's attention.

Her angry eyes slid away from the adults, finding his own with more curiosity than anything.

She examined him from head to toe, before tugging on her father's shirt. She murmured something in french. He wasn't fluent in french yet but he caught parts.

"Boy" and "Party". Laurent chuckled softly at his daughter, rubbing her back and allowing her to lean against him.

"He can not stay I'm sure, mon ange. He's very important and busy."

The children's eyes stayed on one another. Dominik put together what was asked quickly. And he wished he could stay for the party.

"It's just you and me," she huffed. "We have enough cake."

Laurent's smile looked sadder after that, only patting her head and opting out of responding.

"We must leave," Andrei was sick of the interaction and this family. "Someone will be in touch."

Laurent went to leave Salina even as she clung to him, going to walk the Ivanov's out.

Andrei held up his hand dismissively. "I've had enough. We'll see ourselves out. Tend to your needy child, maybe she'll grow out of it," he shoved Dominik forward. The boy glanced over his shoulder, discreetly trying to get another glance.

Salina too peered over and watched him leave until he was out of sight.

But Dominik had already steered her name into his mind. Salina Beaumont.

He would see her again, he'd make sure of it.

Dominik flipped through his files, not having moved an inch as he got through the work day. He wasn't sure why he was reminiscing so much but he still managed to be a little productive.

Time passed on and he was honestly caught off guard when Salina strutted through his door.

"My love," she sang while swaying her hips temptingly.

Dominik's tongue trailed over his teeth at the sight. He hummed, leaning back in his chair while tossing his papers onto the desk immediately.

He pushed away from the desk just in time for her to lay herself on his lap. She straddled his thighs while grinning. Flipping her hair over to one shoulder, Salina ran her hands over his messy hair.

"Why aren't you kissing me?" her brow rose in question.

"Good question," he purred as he tilted his chin up to press a long, soft kiss against her lips.

Humming in pleasure, she pulled away to look at him properly. His skin tingled wherever her eyes roved over.

"What's up?" She laid her weight against him finally, trailing her nails under his eye and down his temple. She traced the shape of his lips as he leaned into her touch.

"Nothing," he gripped her slender hand in his larger one and kissed her palm. "Just thinking about you. How much I love you."

Salina practically melted, her eyes got shiny for a moment before she blinked it away. Her lips found his forehead, the bump in his nose and then his lips.

"I love you," she rested her forehead against his own. "Everything about you."

"You weren't saying that this morning when you left me."

It'd been very dramatic really, she'd wrestled her way out of the bed. He'd tried to claw onto her to keep her tangled in the sheets but she truly is scrappy when she wants to be. Legs, fists, and feet were flying as he tried to pin her to the bed, Salina screeching about making it on time to Vivienne for their breakfast. Dominik scowled at the thought.

"I know you felt how much I loved you every time I kicked you." Salina smirked before standing up. She didn't get far since he'd anchored his hands in her hips again, this time he wasn't going to let her win.

"Relax- god you're so dramatic," she cupped his jaw. "You're done working for the night. I want a bath. And I want you in there with me."

Grunting, Dominik kissed her sternum as it was right in front of him. "Go start the bath and I'll be there, yes?"

Pursing her lips, Salina deemed it acceptable before parting from him. "Two minutes," she held up her two fingers in emphasis.

He nodded, adding a salute just to see her grin in amusement. When she was out of the office, Dominik leaned back again and rubbed at his thumping chest.

He didn't like reminiscing usually. Remembering from before usually sent him spiraling for days and only Salina could pull him out of that rut. The last time he'd been a drunken mess.

This memory didn't fill him with the need for a drink, it made his heart beat a little harder but it did calm him. It put everything else into perspective. It was worth it, he knew it was.

Exhaling quietly, he gathered his papers and put the away properly before standing to finally give his wife the much needed attention she deserved.

~~~

eeeee🤭🤭🤭

first of a few epilogues, it's not my longest ever but i felt like this epilogue in itself deserved its own segement and im happy with how it turned out

it's unedited tho lol so watch out

school has actively been kicking my ass so i apologize for the delay but on top of that ive been working on something else!

if you haven't seen before here's the announcement- im working on Gunner's love story!!

Misfire!!

I'm very excited to be writing it and hopefully you all will be excited to read it when updates start around the end of May!

anyways 😌 thoughts on our first epilogue? my spring break is coming so more will be coming and im excited for the next one