The Final Hour (Volkov Bratva #3)(21)

“Your family wanted you to try this one,” Mariah said coming into the room, a garment bag over her shoulder.

As she helped her put it on, Lauren knew this one was different from all the others.

This time, when she walked out, Lauren couldn’t contain her smile, and seeing her excitement, the others brightened up as they exclaimed.

“I love this one,” Lauren said happily, going to stand in front of the mirrors.

No matter if she were wearing one of the ugliest dresses on the planet, no one could tell her that with the way she smiled.

This was the dress.

The under layer was made of satin, and another layer of lace on top. It had a sweetheart neckline that dipped low in the front, but the lace overlay still covered her chest, sweeping around to the back where there was a long line of pearl buttons from the nape of her neck, down to the small of her back.

“This one is amazing,” Alex agreed, snapping a photo with her phone.

“It seems we’ve agreed on this one,” Mariah said with a smile, clasping her hands in front of her.

Before Lauren could agree, Susan came over, wanting to look over the dress, wanting to make sure she could make the necessary changes in the time she had left.

“You have to stand still, Lauren. You know how this goes.”

She did know, after years of seeing Susan do this to countless brides, but that didn’t make it any easier. Standing there as her mom poked and prodded her was exhausting, but Susan was determined to make sure the dress was perfect, even if it meant Lauren had to endure the torture of standing there.

Once she was done, Lauren knew that this was it when she saw the tears forming in her mother’s eyes.

“Cameron would have loved to see you in this dress,” Susan said dabbing at her eyes with a tissue.

If Lauren wasn’t crying before, she was crying now, but they were happy tears because in her heart, she knew he would have been happy too.



Once they were back—and Mishca was surprisingly not busy working on the opening for his new club—they were all gathered around in the living room, looking at invitation mock-ups that Alex had put together.

“Why do we need wedding invitations?” Lauren asked as she flipped through the sample book, then up to Alex. “We already know who’s coming.”

“But we don’t. We have no idea who has kids, or if they’re coming from Russia, not to mention people that need to RSVP their dates.”

“What about this one?” Lauren asked as she picked up one of the cards, holding it out for Mishca to take a look at, waiting to see his reaction to it before she voiced her opinion.

He stared at it for a while, blinked, then stared at it some more. Finally, he said,“It’s pink.”

That was it. That was all he said.

“To go with the cherry blossoms,” Lauren explained, pointing them out in the book where hundreds of different flowers were present.

He tried to hide it, but his distaste was clear. “But it’s pink everywhere.”

Trying to hide her smile, she took the card back from him, placing it on the desk. “If you don’t like it, just say that.”

“Okay.” He clapped his hands together, sitting back against the couch and closing his eyes. “I don’t like it.”

With the way he was acting, it almost felt like he had been doing all the work when this was the first thing he had been involved in when it came to the wedding planning.

“You never like anything I make!” Alex exploded, coming around from her position on the floor where she had also been waiting for his answer.

Mishca shook his head. “You’re being a little dramatic, no?”

“What color would you prefer? Gray? Black?”

He shrugged. “Perhaps something darker.”

If Mishca wasn’t careful, Alex just might strangle him for not taking this seriously.

“But that’s so boring. This is supposed to be the happiest day of your life, and you’re trying to make it dark and depressing. Like you do.”

“Ask Lauren if she likes it,” he said, immediately looking over at her, knowing that the only reason she had shown it to him was because she hadn’t wanted to hurt his sister’s feelings.

Alex blinked over at her, smiling sweetly, and for just that look, Lauren wanted to tell her that she did like the design, but she had never been a really good liar, and it was her wedding.

“Maybe a touch less pink?” She asked by way of compromise, not wanting to dismiss the color entirely.

“Fine, I’ll use this for my own. What do you want then? Something black like Mishca’s heart?”

While he appeared wounded, his hand covering his heart, he didn’t bother commenting.

“Cherry blossoms would be cool if you could incorporate that into it. Maybe some reds, have the stock paper slightly off-white.”

“If that’s what you wanted, why didn’t you just say so?”

Alex left in a huff, though Lauren doubted she was really upset now that she had something to work with. This was going to be a long and tiring process.





Despite their time restraint with the wedding fast approaching, Lauren took a day off, in part because she needed a break from all of Alex’s enthusiasm, and because Mishca had asked her to spend it with him.

He was still naked in bed, the sheet pooled at his waist, an arm thrown over his eyes to block out the shining morning light.