Evelyn

Damian and I were glaring daggers at each other when I announced the condition of his wedding. "This wasn't part of the plan," Damian grunted.

"Well, it's part of my plan; the choice is yours," I said.

"I'll assume that this stay faithful rule will apply to you as well?" Damian crossed his arms.

"Of course, it applies to me as well," I growled. I should've given Damian a stupid answer to that dumb question.

"Okay, I agree, I'll stay faithful," Damian nodded.

"You better because if you cheat on me, I'll divorce your ass and leave with Ezra. You got that?" I huffed.

I walked past him, feeling proud of myself. With these conditions, I can have some semblance of freedom.

(A few days later)

I was resting on the couch after I finished working out. I checked on Ezra, and I found him sleeping in his room. "I was just about to check on Ezra. Is he asleep? Damian said behind me.

"Yeah, Ezra is not feeling well," I said.

"Shit, I wanted to say goodbye before I left," Damian said.

"Why? Where are you going?" I turned to face him. When I finished what I was saying, Damian's phone rang.

"Sorry, I need to take this," Damian pulled out his phone and answered.

"Nu kak dela, Nikolai," Damian said. Is that Russian? Does Damian speak Russian?!

"Moi samolet vyletaet v techenie chasa. Ya budu v Rossii segodnya vecherom. Horosho, uvidimsya," Damian hung up, but he let out a deep sigh.

"Was that Russian?" I said.

"Yes, I was meant to tell you I'm leaving for Russia in an hour. I have family there and I need to talk to them about Ezra's situation. I also have a few meetings over there. Otherwise I would have taken you and Ezra to meet the family," Damian said.

"How is your family in Russia?" I asked.

"My mother was Russian, and she fell in love with my father when he took a trip to Russia," Damian explained. "I'm half Russian, Half American in blood. Now I have to go; I'll be taking Pheonix with me, and if you need anything, go to Parker or Gregory and do not leave this house,"

I nodded. "I won't, Damian; I won't put myself or our son at risk," Damina nodded, smiled softly, and walked off.

So Damian is half-Russian; why do I find that sexy and hot at the same time?

A few days passed, and I had not heard from Damian since he flew to Russia. I'm hoping to get a call from him to tell me when he will return. I heard my phone buzz on the desk and laughed to myself. Speak of the devil, and he shall appear. I opened my messages and saw that I got a message from Robert.

"Hey, beautiful, I hear you're in New York. I'm in the city too on business, fancy meeting for dinner?" Robert texted. My heart sank when I saw the text. He wants me to go to dinner with him, and Damian would lose his mind if I did this. But he's in Russia, so he'll never find out, and besides, what's wrong about going to dinner with a dear friend I miss? Why should I give a damn if Damian likes Robert or not?

"Robert, it's good to hear from you; I'd love to meet you for dinner; where and when?" I texted back.

"At the Italian on 5th Avenue at 7," Robert quickly responded.

"Perfect, see you then," I texted back.

Now, I need to find a way to sneak out without anyone noticing. There's no way I'm having a bodyguard with me at dinner. I came up with a plan.

I put my plan into motion when it came close to 7 o'clock. "Parker, can you come to my room for a second," I said when I called him.

"I'll be right up," Parker said, then hung up.

Play it cool, Evelyn. Parker entered my room. "Evelyn, did you need anything?" Parker said.

"No, I need a favor. I have a terrible migraine, and I'm going to bed early. Can you take care of Ezra and put him to bed?" I asked.

"Yeah, of course. Do you need me to get you some aspirin or something?" Parker said.

"I have already taken an aspirin. Thank you, I just need to lie down in a dark room," I said.

"Don't worry about Ezra, Evelyn, Gregory and I will take good care of the little man," Parker smiled.

"Thank you so much, Parker, and please tell everyone that I don't want to be disturbed tonight," I said.

"No problem, get some rest, Evelyn. I hope you feel better in the morning," Parker left my room.

That went way better than I thought it would go. I hope Parker doesn't get in trouble if I get caught—time to get ready. I put on black pants and a black shirt and put my hair in a bun. I'll sneak out the back door and call a taxi when I get down the road.

It wasn't easy sneaking past everyone, but I got past them without them seeing me. I called a taxi, and the driver took me to my destination. I walked into the restaurant and saw Robert waving me over to him.

"Evelyn, I'm happy you could make it. You look amazing," Rober said. "Please take a seat," Robert pulled the chair back, and I sat down. "I ordered pizza, I hope you don't mind,"

"Not at all; thanks, Robert," I smiled. I took a slice of pizza and began to eat.

"So I hear you are getting married?" Robert said.

Oh great, is my marriage national news now? "Yeah," I said, dejected.

"You don't sound pleased about it. Are you okay?" Robert asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine; it's just that everything is happening so fast, and I'm feeling a bit overwhelmed," I nodded.

"Evelyn, you know you can talk to me about anything? I'm here for you," Robert smiled.

"I know, but honestly, it's all good," I said.

I could tell on Robert's face that he didn't seem convinced, but he gave me a nod. "Alright,"

We spent the next half hour talking about how Robert's business has been growing, and he plans to expand. I wish him the best; he is a good man and deserves success. We left the restaurant. "Thank you for a wonderful night, Robert. I had fun,"

"You're more than welcome, beautiful. Do you want a ride home?" Robert offered.

"No, I'll get a cab," I was about to grab my phone, but Robert approached me and tried to kiss me. "Wha- Robert, what are you doing?" I pushed him back. "You know I'm getting married, why would you try to kiss me?"

"You don't want to marry the man; just admit it. Marry me, Evelyn, and I'll adopt Ezra as my son," Robert said.

"How dare you!" I huffed. "Goodbye, Robert, till we meet again. Right now, I'm resisting the urge to slap you, and I better leave before I do that," I walked off in anger and called a cab home.

I snuck back inside the mansion and went to sleep. I hope that today will be fine. I hope that no one noticed that I was gone last night. I checked my phone to see if I got any messages, but I saw nothing in my inbox and nothing from my darling fiancee. What the hell was up with Robert last night? I'll text him later; I need time to cool off from his stunt.

I dressed and checked on Ezra, but he wasn't in his room. I then went downstairs and saw Damian. He's back from Russia and looks unhappy, but what else is new with him? Who is he talking to? "Damian?"

"I'll call you back," Damian hung up and angrily faced me.

"What's wrong with you?" I asked.

"Should there be something wrong with me?" Damian scowled.

"Where is Ezra? He's not in his room?" I asked.

"Ezra is with Parker and Pheonix. He's safe," Damian scoffed.

"Where is Ezra, Damian, ANSWER ME!" I roared.

"Calm the fuck down," Damian growled.

"I will not calm down. Ezra is my son and I don't want him going anywhere without me," I said.

"Do I need to remind you that Ezra is my son also? If I want my men to take him out, then they damn well will! Do you understand? Besides, you weren't worried about Ezra last night when you fucked off to meet lover boy," Damian scoffed at me.

"What? How the hell do you know where I was last night?" I grunted. "Did you have me followed?"

Damian smiled as we heard the front door open and close. "Evelyn, meet Artem,"

"So, this must be Evelyn?" Artemsaid.

"Is it that obvious? Evelyn, this is my cousin, Artem; he came back with me from Russia," Damian said.

"Nice to meet you, Evelyn," Artem waved.

"Wish I can say the same," I hissed.

Damian rolled his eyes. "I'll meet you in my office in a few minutes and take you to the warehouse," Artem nodded and walked to Damian's office.

"Why is Artem here?" I crossed my arms.

"I asked him to accompany me back to America to help with Ezra's situation," Damian said.

"Let me guess, another crimina?" I scoffed.

"Russian Mafia! How do you think my parents were allowed to fall in love and marry? My father was the leader of the Black Dragons when he married my mother.

"Are you serious?" I gasped.

"Artem's father, Nikolai, my uncle, is head of the Russian Mafia, and you WILL show Artem and the rest of my family with some respect. Artem is here to help our son; it would do you good to remember that," Damian said, then angrily walked away. "One more thing, we will continue the discussion about Robert late, this is not over, not by a long shot!"

(Later that Day)

Pheonix found me in the kitchen drinking tea and told me that Damian wanted me to see him in his office. There's no running from this now. I only hope he will listen to my side of the story. I bet he has pictures of me having fun and talking to Robert and immediately jumped to a conclusion. I knocked on his office door. "Come in," Damian said.

"You wanted to see me?" I said, giving him attitude.

"How about you lose the attidute, babe," Damian hissed.

"How about you stay out of my business, babe," I hissed back.

"Let's pick up from where we left off this morning, shall we?" I rolled my eyes at him. "Don't roll your eyes at me, Evelyn,"

"Just get on with it, Damian. What do you want to talk about?" I said.

"You and Robert! Why did you sneak out of the house to meet with him?" Damina questioned.

"I wanted to meet an old friend for dinner and I didn't want a bodyguard coming with me," I explained.

"Or you didn't want to be seen fucking around?" Damian scoffed.

"Don't be ridiculous, Robert and I are just friends. We never dated, and I don't plan on being with him now. He asked me out many times over the last two years and I always said no," I said.

"If you want to see Robert, that is fine by me, but let's not forget that you put the stay faithful rule in place. We can can always go back to the original idea of having a fake a marriage," Damian said. "Just say the world and you can have Robert, but never try to play me, Evelyn,"

"I don't want Robert, and I will tell you that nothing happened!" I yelled.

"Really, nothing?" I sighed. "I'm waiting,"

"Robert tried to kiss me," I said.

"Did you kiss him back?" Damian said calmly.

"NO! I pushed him off me," I said.

"Okay," Damian nodded.

"Just like that? You believe that?" I said.

"After last night, I don't believe a word you're saying, babe. But I had Parker follow you when he saw you were missing. He took pictures and footage of you and Robert, and I saw everything. So we'll leave it at that, yeah?" Damian raised an eyebrow.

"The footage?! I can't believe you were recording me!" I growled.

"Not me personally, but I had Parker do that. Also, you won't mind signing a pre-nub before the wedding do you?" Damina grunted.

"You think I want your money?" I was disgusted.

"You can never be too careful. We're done here, you can leave," Damian pointed to the door. "Parker should be outside, send him in,"

"Screw you, Damian," I opened the door and allowed Parker to enter through; I then slammed the door behind me.

(The Next Morning)

I went to the kitchen in my pajamas and rolled my eyes when I saw Damian and Ezra eating pizza. "Pizza for breakfast? Really, Damian?"

"He wanted Pizza," Damian said.

"Why didn't you wake me up, Ezra?" I asked my son.

"Daddy said no," Ezra said with food still in his mouth.

"Don't talk with your mouth full," I giggled.

"Don't ask him a question when he's eating then," Damian scoffed.

"Don't tell him not to wake me up," I glared at Damian.

"I'm more than capable of providing my son breakfast," Damian said.

"Yeah, quite capable of heating up leftover pizza," I said.

"What's the problem? Our son is fed isn't he?"

I scoffed. "No problem at all, father of the year. What a joke,"

Damian rolled his eyes. "We're having a party tonight to announce our engagement,"

"Lucky me," my voice dripped with sarcasm.

"Do you always have to be such a bitch?" Damian said.

Did he swear in front of our son?! "Bitch!" Ezra smiled.

"Nice one, Damian! Ezra do not say that word again," I said.

Ezra got off the chair. "Ezra, can you find Pheonix for me?"

"Okay," Ezra left the kitchen, leaving me with Damian.

"You can invite Robert tonight if you want," Damian said.

"And should I invite him?" I sat down at the table.

"He's your friend isn't he? You would want to see him be happy for you," Damian said.

"I thought you didn't like him. Besides, why would I invite him if you and your men are going to harass him the entire time?" I said.

"I don't like it when you sneak out of the house and lie to me. It has nothing to do with Robert," Damian said.

"I don't know if Robert is still in New York, but I'll text him,"

Damian nodded and went to find Ezra, whom he asked to find Pheonix. I texted Robert and asked him if he was still in New York, and Robert responded that he was. I then asked Robert if he would attend my engagement party tonight. At first, Robert was skeptical, but I said everything would be fine.

I hope the engagement party goes smoothly. I don't want things to get worse.

(Few Hours Later)

It has been a few hours since my argument with Damian, and the time for the engagement party is soon. I searched the mansion for Ezra and Damian but couldn't find them. "Phoenix, have you seen Damian or Ezra?" I said when I saw him in the living room.

"Boss was taking Ezra for a shower last time I saw him," Phoenix said. "But that was hours ago,"

"Thanks, Pheonix," I left the living room to continue my search. I went to Damian's bedroom and found them sleeping together. I'll admit, I found that cute and endearing.

"Damian, wake up," I whispered, but he didn't answer. "Damian?"

Damian groaned and stretched his body. "What's wrong?"

"You feel asleep, it' almost time for the party to start," I said.

Damian nodded. "Okay, give me a few minutes,"

"What's happening with Ezra tonight?" I asked.

"Ezra can stay at the party for a few hours, then Cathrine will put him to bed," Damian said.

"Okay, I'm going to get ready," I smiled.

I got dressed for the party, and I could hear faint noises outside. I hope everything goes okay.