“It’s time to blow your candles, baby,” Fyodor told her the next night.

“I know, but could we wait for a few minutes more? I’m sure he’s going to arrive any moment now.” She pretended not to see the strain in her stepfather’s face and turned to her other brothers. “You t-think so, too, right?”

“Of course,” Sergei said automatically even as he mentally cursed his youngest brother to perdition.

“You know how Vassi is,” Misha said. “Anything less than a grand entrance for him is unacceptable.” But even as he spoke, he mentally vowed to beat Vassi up if he dared to skip their little dove’s eighteenth birthday.

Pretending she was convinced by their assurances, she looked up at her stepfather with a bright smile, saying, “See? They think he’s coming, so we’ll just need to wait a bit longer.” She gestured to her guests, saying vaguely, “I’ll just go around and say hi to people while waiting…” Her voice trailed off and she quickly whirled away before they realized how perilously close to tears she was.

She danced and chatted with her friends, drank more than she should, but somehow heartbreak kept her sober, and she just couldn’t make herself stop counting the minutes that passed and Vassi still didn’t arrive.

The grand celebration Fyodor had thrown for her eighteenth birthday was a spectacular success and even though close to four hours had already passed since guests started coming, no one was in the mood to leave. The dance floor was completely packed, and with a popular DJ spinning tracks while waiters served an endless supply of champagne, the party was likely to continue for hours.

It was almost midnight when Sergei suddenly appeared by her side, the sight of him causing her high school friends to suffer a frenzy of excitement.

“Seri.”

“Y-yes?” She almost didn’t want to look at him, knowing that whatever he had to say was about Vassi.

He smiled down at her.

And seeing it, she almost broke down.

His voice was wry as he told her, “Your favorite brother has finally made his appearance.”

Oh.

He nodded towards the main doors, and she didn’t even stop to think.

She just ran.

She reached him in less than a minute, and he looked up even before she could call out to him, as if sensing her presence. He looked drop dead gorgeous in his white tux, and his smile was the definition of devilish charm.

“Happy birthday, solnishka moya.”

She smiled up at him. “Thank you.” Then she punched him in the guts, as hard as she could, and she was rewarded with his very real groan of pain.

“What the fuck?” His voice was muffled, Vassi bent over as he clutched his ribs.

“That’s for being late,” she said sweetly when he straightened. The crowd, hearing her explanation, relaxed, and most of Seri’s friends even cheered and laughed.

“You pack a strong one, leech,” Vassi muttered. “Did you join the UFC while I was gone?”

“Ha. Ha.” But it was hard to be sarcastic when she was busy fighting back sudden tears. She was just so relieved that he hadn’t skipped her eighteenth birthday.

Fyodor and the other boys came to join them. “I won’t even ask you why you’re late,” her stepfather said darkly. “Whatever your excuse is, it’s unacceptable, so…”

Before she realized what was happening, Fyodor had also given his youngest son a hard jab in the middle.

“Papa!”

Sergei and Misha were cracking their fists.

She quickly stepped in front of Vassi, throwing her arms wide open like a human shield. “Don’t hit him!”

Her older brothers scowled.

“So…do you assholes get it now?” Vassi wrapped an arm around her shoulders from behind and pulled her close. “I will always be her favorite brother.” He looked down at Seri. “Right?”

She mumbled incoherently. It was not unusual for Vassi to hold her this way, but somehow---

It felt different tonight.

Or maybe it was always like this, and she was the one who had changed.

“Enough horsing around,” Fyodor said irritably. “We can finally get her cake out now that Vassi’s here.”

Vassi was visibly surprised. “I thought you’d have her blow her candles right after dinner?”

Sergei looked at him pointedly. “Seri thought we should wait for you.”

Vassi flushed.

Seeing that Sergei was still seriously pissed, she quickly ducked out of Vassi’s hold and gave her oldest brother a quick hug. “Don’t be mad, please? For me?”

Sergei shot Vassi a grim look before saying reluctantly, “Fine. For you.”

She beamed. “Thank you, Sergei.” She glanced at Misha expectantly.

Misha rolled his eyes. “You know you don’t even have to ask, little dove. You have us wrapped around your little finger.”

Before Seri could thank him, the celebrity host Fyodor had hired for the party announced that the cake was being brought out. “A round of applause, please, and everyone greet our birthday girl a happy birthday again!”

The guests clapped and yelled their birthday greetings, and Seri could feel herself flushing with pleasure. With Vassi here, everything was perfect.

The cake was gigantic, a three-tier red velvet creation designed with edible crystals. The eighteen birthday candles were spread all over the cake, and the host said, “On the count of three, please blow the candles and make a wish. Three, two, one---”

Outside the hotel’s panoramic windows, fireworks exploded in the sky and the crowd gasped and cheered.

She turned to Fyodor in surprise, and his boyish grin made him look decades younger. “Happy?” he asked gruffly.

She threw her arms around him. “I love you, Papa.” She hugged him tightly, too choked up to say more.

Fyodor hugged her back just as tightly, and she knew he had understood.

He might not be her real Papa, but in her heart, he was the only father she could ever love.

She blew her candles one by one, and the crowd laughed when she had to tiptoe and stretch up so she could blow the candles on the second layer.

There was one last candle on the topmost layer, and she stared up at it in consternation, wondering if she had to jump just to---

Before she knew it, Vassi had her by the hips and lifted her up in the air. She cried out in shock, “Vassi!”

He grinned up at her. “Blow, solnishka moya.”

Ooooh. Even as her heart squeezed with happiness, her dirty little mind couldn’t stop conjuring another image, and something else for her to blow---

Stop it, Seri. This is not the time for…things.

She forced herself to look at the candle. Taking a deep breath, she closed her eyes and made her wish.

Please let Vassi love me back.

She blew the candle.

When she opened her eyes, the first thing she saw was…Vassi.

And it felt right.

He slowly lowered her to the floor. “What did you wish for?”

She couldn’t make herself answer, could only look at him with mute hope.

His jaw clenched, and she knew he understood. She also knew that while it felt right for her, it had not felt the same for him. “Vassi---”

He suddenly smiled at her, and she fell silent, confused and just more than a little bit…scared. She used to think she loved everything about Vassi, but now she realized it wasn’t true. That smile of his was…different, terrifying, it was a smile that was too savagely beautiful, like a smile meant to hurt.

But there was no time to think about it.

The rest of her family closed around her, and she was lost in a chain of hugs as Fyodor and the other boys greeted her again. When they stepped away, other guests surged forward, and Vassi disappeared from her gaze.

She returned their well wishes with vague replies, forcing herself to concentrate on her guests, but it was futile. All she could think of was Vassi’s smile.

That savagely beautiful smile, which was already making her heart break even though she knew she could very well be paranoid.

Half an hour passed when she felt Vassi’s presence behind her, and she stiffened as he curled an arm around her waist. He smelled faintly of alcohol, and because he had never tried to imbibe liquor in her presence, she whirled around in surprise.

And there it was again, that savagely beautiful smile---

“I have a couple of people I want you to meet.”

Ah.

For a moment, she almost wanted to shove him away.

For a moment, she almost wanted to shout at him, It won’t work.

Because she knew this game he was playing.

He was going to introduce her to girls like Shelby, and it would be his way of telling her that she was hoping for a lost cause.

He would not change his mind about her.

She heard herself say, “Sure.”

She lifted her gaze---

Oh.

---and realized that she had grossly underestimated Vassi.

In front of them were a couple of guys, all of them incredibly good-looking, almost as gorgeous as Vassi really, if she tried to be a little less biased. She recognized their names, their faces – they were so famous she had watched all their recent films, and every one of it had been a blockbuster success.

“I want you to meet my friends,” Vassi was saying. He introduced his friends one by one, and when it was all over, he asked one of them – Christian – to take her to the dance floor.

And even as Seri paled, Vassi only smiled down at her. “He doesn’t bite, leech. You know I won’t trust you to anyone who’d dare hurt you.”

And this time, his savagely beautiful smile did what it was supposed to do.

It drove the point home.

He might want her. He might lust for her. He might even love her---

But not as much as he loved their family.

And could she really blame him?