The Russian Roulette [The Mafia Chronicles #2]

Chapter XXXV

The sky was dark and consuming. It was littered with bright stars that shone bright, rivaling the fairy lights' brightness as they hung around Alexi's beach house.

Tables were decorated with white tablecloths and arrangements of flowers that ranged from lilies to lavenders. Plates of sweets and appetizers were prepared and presented atop the tables.

Sophie was awestruck, her jaw hanging open with her hands covering her mouth. A grin was permanently etched on her face as she turned to Alexi then to her family and friends.

Her parents were petting the Dimitris' new dogs, seeing that Dominik arrived earlier with them to help with the finishing touches, while Yasmin and Victoria held a confetti popper.

"Surprise!" They all cheered as the girls released the confetti on top of Sophie's head. A shaky laugh left Sophie's lips as she fought to hold her tears at bay.

It warmed her heart that all her friends and family put thier differences aside, moving on from the past, and joining hands with Alexi despite everything. She was itching to grasp a few strings of her normal life and at that moment it was almost like she did.

"You guys did all of this?" She whispered, her smile melting everyone's hearts.

Her friends furiously nodded thier heads. "We worked on it all day." Yasmin turned to point behind her towards her husband and his friends. "Leon set up all the décor, Kamal hung up all the lights, Michelle set up the wooden floor the tables are on, and Leo sulked in a corner." The girls glared at the Italian man who simply shrugged his shoulders.

"I offered to get people to do everything, but they insisted that we do it. I'm sorry Sophie, but I'm not roughening my hands for this." He took his hands out of his pockets and inspecting them like they were made of a rare diamond.

Yasmin groaned. "Those hands are already extremely roughened up already, they would need ten bottles of hand cream to soften them." she glared at him before turning back to her friend.

Yasmin gasped as she caught a glimpse of Sophie's teary eyes. Without hesitation, Victoria turned towards Leo before berating him in Spanish and throwing her beach sandals at his head. When he ducked away from her flying weapon, she resorted to berating him a bit more.

Yasmin held Sophie in her arms, who accepted her hug. She felt Sophie's shoulders slightly shake in her arms. "Hey, dont listen to him! he's an asshole." Yasmin tried to comfort her friend.

No one heard the gun clocking in Alexi's hand as he strode towards the Italian leader. The impassive expression that adorned his face did not show a glimpse of the rage he felt. His gun was aimed towards Leonidas's head; Leo did not move or express his emotions. A unanimous gasp left everyone's lips at the sight of one leader threatening another.

The three Dobermans that stood around the group of friends immediately switched to a fighting stance and snarled towards Leonidas as they noticed Alexi's gun bieng drawn.

How dare he? I'll make sure he meets his end tonight, maybe then he can see his dead mother again. Who knew Rosie could raise such a pretentious ass.

Sophie was hidden behind Yasmin, Victoria, and Alexi, who were all turned towards Leonidas with deadly glares. Thier deadly stares turned into surprised ones after they heard a soft laugh coming from behind them.

Turning towards the source of the laugh, they found Sophie's tearful eyes twinkling as she laughed. Her laughter progressively turned louder, till she hunched over holding her stomach, trying to take breath between laughs.

Once her laughter subsided, Sophie took a deep breath and spoke to her perplexed friends and husband. "I wasnt crying because he offended me. These are tears of joy. I was just overwhelmed by the love and care you guys put into this. You bieng here is simply enough." Her hands wiped her eyes as she sniffled. The dogs simply looked around aimlessly as Alexi slowly put down his gun, confused at the sudden change in demeanor.