DO NOT COPY! ALL OF THE WORK IS ORIGINAL AND BELONGS TO THE CREATOR

Pregnant.

The word pregnant could hold many different emotions for people. For some, it could be heartwrenching joy. For others, it could be despair or even unpreparedness.

But, for Lena Sarkisova, second-in-command to Nadia Ruslanna who was the leader of the Orliny Glaz, there was pure fear.

Nadia had warned Lena about that. Had warned her not to get attached to Alexei Kazankov, Nadia’s other second-in-command and the best hacker in all of Russia and possibly in all of Eastern Europe.

Of course, Lena tried. But she couldn’t resist. And, it seemed that neither could Alexei, for one moment they were sitting in the room with their shoulders touching and the next, Lena was hiding away from the world with a positive pregnancy test in her hand.

At that moment, Lena knew she had two options. She could either run away and try to raise the child on her own, or speak to Nadia and Alexei. She knew the former wouldn’t work, for she would be found and killed within moments, even if she was a mother. That was just the gang life.

So, Lena knew she had to go with the latter of telling Nadia and Alexei. She decided to speak to Alexei first.

*****

Alexei’s face was stark white, his glasses pushed to the top of his head, his blue eyes wide with shock. The papers he was working on were on the ground, the pen lost somewhere.

Lena nervously wrung her hands, butterflies flitting in her stomach, both the good and bad ones.

Alexei rubbed a hand up and down his face, then stood off his chair and motioned for Lena to come to him.

Lena was nearly paralyzed with fear, but she knew that deep down, Alexei would never intentionally hurt her, especially because she was now a woman with child. That was just one of the rules he abided by.

Lena stepped forward, but Alexei decided to move towards her, enveloping her in his arms. His hands smoothed her hair and he kissed her temple.

After a few moments of silence, Alexei spoke up, his voice deep but his eyes alight with newfound happiness which Lena knew he was trying to conceal. “So, do you know what you’re going to do?” he asked her.

Lena bit her lip. “I think I’m going to keep the child. It’s kind of been my dream to raise a kid, and even though nineteen is earlier than I expected, I think I want to do it.”

This time, Alexei didn’t try and stop the wide grin on his lips, and he leaned down, his arms encircling Lena’s waist, pressing his lips to hers.

Lena smiled into the kiss and wrapped her arms around Alexei’s neck, before breaking away to take a breather.

“Does Nadia know yet?” Alexei asked, pulling Lena in for another hug.

It seemed as though Alexei couldn’t stop touching Lena, but she didn’t mind.

However, as soon as the question was asked, she froze and didn’t answer.

Alexei pulled away and looked into Lena’s honey eyes, scanning her face. “Lena? Does Nadia know?” Alexei tried again, unsure of whether he wanted to know or not.

“Does Nadia know what?” a voice sounded from the entry of the room.

****

Nadia paced around the room, fuming, while Lena nervously played with her tiny gold earrings, her elbow propped on the table.

“How did this happen? Aah? Skazhi mne, kak?” (Tell me, how?)

“Well, Nadia, when two peopl-” Alexei began, a taunting grin laced across his lips, but Nadia shouted, interrupting him.

“Do not play games with me, Alexei! I’m not an idiot. I warned you. I warned you both not to be so careless. Why would you do something like that?”

Lena’s patience snapped. “Why are you lecturing us, you hypocrite?!” she shouted.

Alexei’s eyes widened and Nadia’s face became stone-cold.

“Why am I lecturing you?” Nadia seethed incredulously. “Let me tell you why, Lena Sarkisova, and maybe you’ll understand. I was seventeen when it happened to me. And I had to lose that child because, at the age of eighteen, I’d be taking over the gang, and a teenager in a gang can’t risk this. I’m now twenty going on twenty-one and I know better. I can’t have a child while I’m working because my priority is you. You, Alexei, and everyone else!” Nadia continued, tears starting to form in her eyes.

Lena sighed. “Nadia, I know, and I’m sorry you had to go through such horrible shit. The crap your parents gave you is horrific. But I’m not you. I have Alexei. We’ll be fine,” Lena assured her leader.

Alexei, on the other hand, bit his lip, watching Lena from the corner of his eye. He was the only one who truly knew what happened to Nadia. Not even Lena was aware, and Nadia knew that. He could tell she was struggling to get her temper under control so Lena wouldn’t find out.

Nadia cursed, burying her fingers within the roots of her hair and tugging at them, closing her eyes, and swearing under her breath in Russian.

“Nadia,” Alexei spoke. “Nadia, stop,” Alexei continued, standing up and cautiously coming to look at Nadia.

“Lena,” Nadia said, ignoring Alexei temporarily. “Not that you asked, but you and Alexei have my blessing.”

Lena let out a breath of relief.

“Oh, and Alexei,” Nadia said, turning her cold gaze upon her other second-in-command.

“Nadia,” he acknowledged.

“If you so much as insult her or give her a backhanded compliment without realizing it, I won’t hesitate to kick you to the Antarctic Ocean.”

Alexei grinned and Lena smiled, terrified because she knew Nadia was being completely serious. There’s my best friend I know and adore, she thought to herself.

“Um, Nadia?” Lena started, about to question her leader on how she would continue her line of work if she was pregnant, but Nadia beat her to it.

“Lena, you will still be my second-in-command, but I cannot have you on the front lines. If anything, you can work from within and plan, but my order is final. You are banned from being in the action. You will spend these next months inside the building, and once the child is born, you’ll take a year off. Both you and Alexei.”

Alexei started to protest, saying he was fully capable of it, but Nadia shut him up with a silencing glare.

Alexei huffed a breath, but then turned to Lena and winked at her.

Nadia clapped her hands, an excited gleam coming in her eyes. “So, when’s the wedding?” she asked casually, receiving choking noises from Lena and Alexei.

“What? You want to be parents to that child? It’s clear you have feelings for one another. Spend some more time together, get to know each other better, and yippee-kai-yay if you fall in love, get married!” exclaimed Nadia, obviously teasing as she noticed the heat rising to Lena’s face.

Lena flipped her leader off and received a laugh in turn.

*****

Eleven months had passed since Lena was pregnant, and three had passed since she gave birth to a baby boy whom they named Nikita.

“I know I told you that you’re not allowed to work, but tonight, you’ll be in the VIP section of the club,” Nadia stated, adding the finishing touches to her smoky eye-shadow.

“Oh?” Lena asked, leaning against the doorway, having a suspicion that Nadia was going to be baiting tonight. It would explain why she meticulously used the hair straightener to curl her hair and even hair-sprayed them to perfection. Even though Lena was now a mother to a newborn, she couldn’t help but miss the thrill she received from helping Nadia bait.

“You’re going to help Alexei watch over the club while I bait tonight,” Nadia answered Lena’s unspoken thoughts and question, applying a blood-red lipstick shade.

“Lena!” Alexei’s voice rang out, and a moment later, he rushed into the dressing room with a screaming Nikita. “Lena, help me, please!” he begged. “I’ve been trying to get Nik to stop crying for the past hour, but he doesn’t want to!”

Lena chuckled and lifted Nikita into her arms, patting his back and rocking him gently.

“Normally, I’d offer to hold him, but I’m too busy getting ready,” Nadia joked.

Alexei’s face darkened. “Nadia, be very careful. He’s extremely dangerous.”

Lena held a confused expression on her face. “Who is it that you’re baiting, Nadia?” she asked, a hint of nervousness creeping into her voice.

Nadia’s bright green eyes met hers in the mirror. “Lorenzo DeLuca,” she said, placing an accent on his name.

“DeLuca?” Lena spluttered. “Are you mad?!” she asked.

“No, actually, I’m not. I’m sociopathically creative and psychotically lethal,” Nadia said, grinning at the people behind her as she put the straightener into a basket which was then placed into a cabinet.

Nadia flounced her curls and grinned, her red lips revealing her dazzling white teeth.

Nik had stopped crying now, and Alexei narrowed his blue eyes. “Traitor,” he hissed. “You’re supposed to like me!”

Nadia looked amusedly at her best friends, loving their interactions. She gave a pointed look to Alexei that Lena couldn’t decipher, but she didn’t have much time to think about it, for Alexei walked across the room and pressed a chaste kiss to Lena’s lips, then gently kissing the crown of Nik’s curly-blonde head.

Nadia made a fake gagging noise, rushing out of the room to get away from the lovebirds and to change into her jaw-dropping outfit.

Alexei grinned at her reaction, then turned back to face Lena. “Don’t worry, Oksana will watch after Nik while we’re gone.”

Lena sighed, nodding her head and gently continuing to rock Nik, loving how he snuggled deeper into her arms.

*****

Lena watched the club from behind its curtains of the VIP section. Her eyes trailed across the room, scanning for any threats or hazards that could harm Nadia.

And then she saw her best friend strut in, catching the eyes of both men and women.

From the subtle smirk Lena noticed from afar, she knew Nadia was aware of the attention she was given, and she was enjoying it.

Lena’s eyes swept the room, searching for Alexei, but he was nowhere. Her gaze focused back on Nadia, who was swishing her hips and slid into a barstool, “not noticing” Lorenzo.

She ordered a drink that looked something similar to Bourbon, but Lena couldn’t quite tell from the distance.

Lorenzo said something to Nadia and she turned to him, conversing before laughing at something he said.

Even though Nadia was the baiter, Lena couldn’t help but wish that it was real. That Nadia would mysteriously fall in love, even if it was with the heir to the Italian mafia. Lena wished Nadia could find her happiness somehow. She was so young and rising to power, relative to the Russian mafia. Nobody except Lena and Alexei was aware of that. That Nadia was the only living relative to the Russian mafia leader, Vladislav Medvedev, making her the only true heir to her uncle’s . . . industry.

Lena continued to watch as Nadia spoke with Lorenzo, ordering another drink when suddenly shots rang out. Screams were heard, and Lena watched as Lorenzo dragged Nadia down with him, shielding her body with his.

Inwardly, Lena was doing a victory dance. Normally, the Lorenzo DeLuca would never do such a thing for someone except people he liked or trusted. Lena knew that DeLuca was smitten with Nadia, whether he realized it or not.

The shots continued to ring out and then Lena heard Alexei’s voice., bringing her back to reality.

A hand gripped her arm harshly, pulling her into a small space, and when Lena blinked, she noticed it was a storage closet.

“Lena,” Alexei whispered, concern in his eyes.

Lena let out a breath. “Sorry. I got distracted.”

Alexei’s eyes hardened. “Don’t get distracted. Distractions get us killed in this line of work. You know that,” he said, his voice taking on a softer and more gentle tone.

Lena’s eyes widened as she remembered. “Nadia!” she gasped, making a move to help her leader and best friend, but Alexei stopped her, shaking his head.

“No. Nadia doesn’t want us to save her. She can handle it by herself. She doesn’t want us going into the open, especially because of Nik.”

Lena scoffed. “Freaking hypocritical sometimes.”

Alexei gave a half-smile. “That’s Nadia for you. She has great intentions, even though she can be a hypocrite. She’s been through a rough life, though.”

Lena nodded.

They stayed silent a few moments longer until Alexei broke it, huffing a deep breath. “Lena Sarkisova,” he started, bending down on one knee and pulling out a velvet box, revealing a thin, gold, diamond embedded wedding ring. “I know this is not the ideal way to propose to someone, but this is important. Ever since you became pregnant with our beautiful boy, I was drawn even more to you than I ever have been in my life. You made me smile more often and my eyes had their spark back. You brought happiness into my world every single day, and I’ll be damned if I ever forget that,” he continued.

Lena’s eyes welled up with tears. Though a storage closet wasn’t how she imagined she’d be proposed to, this was Alexei and a sort of life-threatening situation.

“Lena Sarkisova, would you do me the great honor of marrying me and becoming Lena Kazankov?” Alexei questioned, his eyes bright.

Lena grinned through her tears, nodding her agreement. “Oh God, Alexei, yes, yes, yes, yes!” she exclaimed.

Alexei stood up and took the ring out of the box, placing it onto her left hand’s ring finger, smiling brightly.

As soon as the ring touched her skin, Lena grabbed the collar of Alexei’s shirt and pulling him to her, crashing his lips onto hers. She felt him smirk against the kiss and back her into the wall, his arms encircling the curves of her waist and lifting her up.

*****