The morning brings clarity to my problems with Ivanna, much like the daylight that breaks over my vineyards at dawn. As I drink my espresso and watch the workers arrive for la vendemmia, I thought about my family.
For so long it had been Karlen, Lucia, and me. Yes, there were cousins, but my son and my aunt were the two people who mattered most to me. I will gladly take a bullet for either of them at a moment's notice.
Now Ivanna matters to me, as well. Regardless of how it started, she and this child are part of my family. I'd waged a war to get her out of Nikolai's clutches, and I will die before I let her go again.
It is past time to prove it to her.
But first things first. Picking up my phone, I text my son that I expect him in my office in the next ten minutes.
