“What the hell do you mean he invited you!” Lev yelled, pinching the bridge of his nose. “Alessio, what the hell is the meaning of this?”

“I merely invited your brother to our humble home. Seems he did not know we were married. Kind of like you seemingly didn’t mention him.” Alessio said, pissed off beyond anything I had seen before. 

“And you thought it a good idea to just invite strangers!” Lev yelled. 

“Hardly a stranger. I checked with your sister. She was forthcoming with all kinds of information about your brother, Nikita.”

I took this moment to look over Lev’s brother, Nikita. He was a pretty good looking man. He was fit, and wore suit pants, his dress shirt top three buttons were undone. His hair drew me in. It was long and jet black. It reached his ribcage. It was so long. He looked just as annoyed as Lev did. 

“He is still a stranger, Alessio.” Lev hissed. 

“Not anymore. I got to know him pretty well on the car ride from the airport.” Alessio said as he shrugged, but you could see how mad he was still.

“I wish you would have brought this up to me.” Lev sighed. 

“So you could do what, Lev, lie to me? I have been open and honest about everything and you couldn’t even tell me you have a brother? But you told me about your sister and her children.”

“This is different.”

“I don’t see how.” Alessio yelled, and then thought about it for a minute and looked at Lev. “Is it different because he’s adopted?”

“No. Goddamn it, you just wouldn’t understand, Alessio.”

“Try me. I have two younger brothers, Lev.”

“That…” Lev yelled, pointing his hand at Nikita. “Is the reason my sister and I’s parents are fucking dead. His own parents too.”

“Lev.” Alessio hissed. “He is staying.”

“Like hell he is.” Lev snapped. 

“Watch your tone with me, or you’ll be sleeping on the fucking couch, dear husband.” Alessio spit out the last word like it was bitter in his mouth. 

“Thanks for the invitation, but clearly I’m not welcome here.” Nikita said, turning around, leaving the room. 

“Do you have any idea how hard I worked to even get him to come here? You better fix this, Lev. Do you fucking hear me?”

“Alessio, I—--”

“Fix it.” Alessio said, pointing at the door. 

“You’re going to regret having him around. He is a walking problem, Alessio.”

“Welcome to younger brothers, Lev. Go.” Alessio sighed and rubbed his forehead before he looked at Vito. “You two can go now, too. I want to be alone.”

“Are you sure? Are you—--” 

“Let’s go Ilya. He wants to be alone.” Vito said quietly. 

“But—”

Vito pulled me out of the office, and I could hear Lev and his brother arguing in angry Russian. 

“Wait! I want—--” I said, only to get cut off by Vito. 

“When did you get so nosey, Ilya?”

“It’s different when I can understand the drama.”

“Their family problems are not ours. You have enough family drama of your own, Ilya.”

“That’s different.”

“You have a movie night with Matteo tonight. Let’s go.”

“Do you think Alessio and Lev are going to be ok?” I asked, when we got back into Vito’s wing and he hung his coat up, and took his shoes off before looking at me and crossing his arms. 

“I really don’t know Ilya. I assume they are going to be alright, even if they are mad at each other for a little while. I don’t see this as being the reason for anything drastic.”

“Lev looked really mad, but I get why Alessio was pissed off too, but I don’t like that he blamed his brother for his parents’ death.”

“I know nothing about that, so I can’t speak on it, but Lev still feels something about that event,” Vito replied and headed to the kitchen. “Do you know what Matteo and you want for dinner?”

“No clue. Did you want me to ask him?”

“No need, I’ll just make something customizable and he can fix it up himself.” Vito said, looking through the freezer. He pulled out a container, and I remembered what it was. 

“Wait, take that out! I saved it for you.” I said, excited to see the honey cake. I forgot all about it. Vito looked at me as I rocked on my heels and tried to take the container from him. 

“Ilya, what is it?”

“Honey cake. Lev brought it for me, and I wanted to save you a piece. You weren’t here, and Matteo suggested I could freeze it for you. I forgot it was there.”

“Like the one from your parents?”

“Yes, but not as good as my mothers.” I hummed. 

“Do you want to share it once it defrosts?” Vito asked.

“No. Thank you, but I saved it for you.” I replied.

“I want to share it with you.”

“Ok.” I said, nodding. 

Setting it on the counter in the container, he took it out of the container and unwrapped it. He took a fork out of the drawer and sliced into the cake with it. He seemed to enjoy the cake even as it was frozen. 

“Is that not gross?” I said, confused. 

“No, It’s actually pretty nice while frozen.” He said, slicing off another bite with the same fork and holding it out for me. “Open.” I did as he said and opened my mouth. He slipped the fork into the mouth and pulled it out when I wrapped my lips around the fork. 

“Mm. It’s good frozen.” I said, surprised. 

“Frozen cake is pretty good. Is that the first time you’ve ever had a cake frozen?”

“I didn’t even know you could freeze it.” I replied. 

He took the cake out of the wrapping entirely and set it back in the container and headed to the couch with it. “Come along, Ilya.”

I followed him to the couch and sat down beside him. He took another bite and then started giving me bite after bite until the cake was gone. I frowned at him. “That was for you.”

“I had all I wanted. You like it, and I would rather you eat it and enjoy it than have it get wasted.” Vito said, a smile on his lips. 

“You’re different now.” I said without thinking about my words, and he frowned before he spoke. 

“It seems like that, doesn’t it?” 

“What happened to you while in their care? If you call it, care.” I asked. 

“They broke a few bones, tried to get information out of me, and then when they realized that would not happen, then tossed me into the back of the vehicle. And then Viktor found me. The rest, you know.”

“If they did something terrible to you, Vito, I am the last person you need to hide that from.” I whispered. 

“I know Ilya.” He said. He wrapped his arm around me and pulled me against him. “When I told you I would hurt you, I need you to know I wasn’t serious. I do fear hurting you accidentally.”

“I know. But Vito, listen. You wouldn’t hurt me in any way that someone hasn’t tried before.” I said, truthfully. 

“I hate that.” He grunted.  

Moving to look at him, I watched him breathe, our eyes meeting when he looked at me. “What are your plans with Caio tonight?”

“Work, unfortunately.”

“If you need a hand, I can help.”

“You are helping. You keep Matteo busy, and he is doing the same for you.”

“Oh. Hm, I didn’t think about that.” I hummed. 

Moving again, I got into Vito’s lap. I wanted something from him, a kiss. But I wasn’t sure how to get it, did I ask? Did I just take it? Would he be ok with this? Trying my luck, I asked. “Can I have a kiss?”

“A kiss, is that all?”

“At this moment, yes.”

“Shake a paw first.” Vito whispered, and I blinked, before I realized what he said. He got me with the same shit I had been doing to him. The whole pet ‘joke’. 

“Bite you? I can do that.” I smiled, showing him my teeth.

“You bite without being asked to.”

“I like to bite you.” I whispered, before leaning in and pushing my lips against his. He slipped his hand into my hair, and tsked, before he used my hair to pull my lips off his lightly. The light sting on my scalp was a pleasant reminder that his hands were touching me. 

“Kiss me again.” I demanded, and he raised an eyebrow at me. 

“Demanding things won’t get you your own way, Ilya. Use your manners.”

Exhaling loudly. “Kiss me again. Please.” 

“Sure. Thanks for using your manners, good boy,” Vito said, praising me, as he pulled me closer again, and pressing his lips to mine. I hated the way his words made me feel when he praised me. Even if he did, call me a good boy. I fucking liked it. 

“Again.” I hissed when he pulled back. I heard the door open and extended to see who it was. Caio and Matteo came inside, and Matteo saw me and the back of Vito’s head. 

“Are we interrupting?”

“No. I was just demanding that your father kiss me again.” I sighed before getting off his lap. “It can wait.” 

Vito fixed his clothing before he stood up, and Caio raised an eyebrow at him. Vito told him to keep his comments to himself. Caio just laughed. Matteo shook his head, muttering as he came over to the couch. 

“He’s been so weird since he came back. Like he faced his own death, and now he’s scared to lose everything he took for granted before. I mean, I think it would be the same for anyone, but shit,” Matteo said, quietly making sure Vito and Caio didn’t hear him. 

“I agree.” I said, and looked at Vito once more, before settling into a crime show with Matteo.