I was pleased with the chapter. We cannot get rid of Darla can we? Jacob is going to be stupid enough to follow Peanut again, well for sure he has lost his kids now. Sunny may have been sore but she sure didn't turn him away!! Awesome update!

Ahh... Sunshine's father needs a keeper. I actually facepalmed when I saw him saying, "I'm going to make it rain."

 I mean, what? 

Gahhh.

I hope your holidays were lovely.  

just gets better and better...love it

Ok I read this again for the third time and something sticks out at me. Sunny says the money she gave Jacob was her money that she earned . Then again she says back to school and work. I am sure Nikki told her she could not work and he gives her an allowance. So does she see her life with Nikki as work?? As something she has to do to provide for herself , her brother and her dad? If so, then maybe she is not in love with Nikki but playing the role she has to play to make it through this situation. Or maybe I am reading too much into "work" because she really does seem to genuinely care for Nikki. I just don't know where Sunny's heart is really..that is brilliant writing on your part! Why I just cannot get enough of this story!!

Author's Response:

Hi Nene. Thanks as always for your insightful comments and questions. You are definitely one of the reviewers i look and wait for. I will now proceed to ignore all of your comments and questions except one because, well, I'm evil. (Mwah ha ha).

Sunny definitely meant school for her and work for Nikolai and i went ahead and added some words to that effect.

 Thanks again! 

Thank you for the update.  Nikolai wants to marry Sunshine, I am not surprised at that turn of events. I hoped Jacob would beat his gambling habit but he is not ready.  Please update soon.

Another update!!! What a wonderful surprise!!

I'm still behind in reviewing but have decided to summarize.

I had an "oh, shit" moment when Darla realized who Sunny was with. I hoed that Jacob would keep his damn mouth shut. Darla was begging to be killed challenging Nicholai, then attempting to betray Jacob. I do hope that she left to save herself from all of the destructive men in her life. Nicholai has shown both Jacon and Darla exactly how scary he can be.

I'm not surprised that Jacob relapsed and so quickly. His bottom has got to be much lower than his daughter being in the third year of her five year arrangement with Nicholai. He is a very sick man.

Sunshine holds on to hope while Benjamin loathes the man. That was powerful, but still not motivation enough.

Then they decided to cut ties with him. Darla left him. I was surprised that she cut and ran. I'm curious why.

What a lovely traditional touch taking Sunny to meet the person he probably cares for the most besides her. Nicholai is in love with Sunny and wants to marry her. He is right that he cannot ask her now. And I'm starting to wonder what her answer would be.

There are chapters where I believe she might genuinely care about him, maybe love him a little/a lot/too and others where I imagine on the last day of her time in her fifth year, she tells Nicholai to kiss her ass as she walks away from him. I'd guess she'd have to walk away from her father too, as he'd failed to "rescue" her.

And let's not get started on babies. Babies are a bad reason to committ to a relationship. When are people going to stop using them as pawns? Nicholai has to explore other options to keeping Sunny.

Someone suggested Nicholai setting her free and seeing if she would return to him, start their relationship over with no strings or conditions. That's reasonable. But as possessive as Nicholai is, he probably wouldn' risk it. Unforunately it will be his heartbreak and loss.

You blow me away with the way you tell this very complicated tale. Keep up the great work, and keep those updates coming.

Great chapter... could you churn out a few more before you leave on your trip... lol... Just joking...

That was a great intro. For a while there I thought you were describing Sergei (and you may well be) until I read the part about the 'half-eaten candy'... way to go...

Nikolai didnt help his cause with his stint in the last chapter. Darla and Jacob were both on a path of destruction and there was no need for him to help Jacob along nor to solicit the assistance of Darla. That was way upseting to read. I am glad he finally sent Darla on her way but the deed has already been done. She remains transfixed on Sunny and his relationship with her. I suspect like Jacob, Darla too is bidding her time, waiting for the big payback.

Throughout the story Jacob has not shown much strength of character and even with his addiction he should know that it is him and not Nikolai that is responsible for the mess that his children is in. Yet he persists in chasing the 'golden opportunity' and there is Darla with profound words giving an explanation why his children have 'abandoned' him - you could only bend so far. The fact that he has lost his son seems to blow over his head. I am at awe that he still thinks that winning this money will solve all his problems. What is even more ironic is the fact that he seemed annoyed that Sunny would want to give him Nikolai's money for rehab, yet he doesnt seem to mind having itch money gotten from the same man. I bet Nikolai was responsible for that raid.

Nilolai has a strange code of honour. He wants Sunny to come to him freely yet he is doing things to ensure that she remains bounded to him. He will be better off laying his cards on the table, telling Sunny his exact role in the relapse of her father (not that it seems like Jacob has ever stopped gambling) and taking Stanislavsky's advice to set her free. His true strength and love for her lie in his ability to give her up. I dont know if he has reached that place yet. Eighteen Sunny months may not have healed the broken parts of him and most of all his fear that she would leave at the end of the period. But therein I think lies his true path to happiness, fully accepting the gift of Sunny in his life (for how ever long that time is) and the fact that she cannot truly be with him under these circumstances. He is only half way there...

Great Update.  Now Nikolai's godfather has approved Sunshine and little Kostya has definitely approved of her, Nikolai can hopefully move forward with his ideas of making their relationship permanent.  I can certainly visualize their children...Beautiful.

The only problem I see, however, is if Sunshine discovers that Nikolai left money for her father so he could continue his addiction.  I think she will be upset with Nikolai, but she is SOOOOO in love with him, she might be willing to forgive him.  We'll have to see....

And where is Darla?  Why has she disappeared?

Thanks for the Update.  It was a Nice surprise. 

Nyeesha

I hope Nikki doesn't do something stupid like getting Sunny pregnant without her knowledge. I don't think Sunny will forgive him when she finds out that she gave her father money even though he didn't cause her father to relapse. He knows he's wrong in what he's done in continuing to "keep" Sunny. How can he trust any feelings that she might have for him since he is almost her "captor"? That is why I'm still not sure how she really feels about him. And Nikki knows that any proposal would be tainted by their current situation. Yet, he can not let her go. He seems afraid that she will leave with the quickness.

I am so impressed with Sunny's strength and wisdom at the tender age of 21. She has bended but not been broken. Nikki will break before she ever does. I wonder if he realizes that? ;-)

She knows Nikki a lot more than I think he even realizes. She seems to care for him; but that may be only because of her sweet nature and how she views people in general. I love the fact  there is some ambiguity regarding Sunny. She's an open book; yet she isn't. 

One of fav stories.

Awesome update!!!!

Nikki is so in love with Sunny I wonder if she is in love with him too are just binding her time and bending with her situation with him.  I personally think that she is too in love with him but she is going to be very very very upset with him if she ever finds out that he had anything to do with her father's relapse into gambling and Darla was leading him to water so to speak.

Great story!
Great update!

As Always Thank YOU!

Enjoy your vacation...

In the begining of chapter I thought that was Sergei talking but then in the middle to the one it seem like the little boy Kostaya.  AM I wrong. 

I was mad last chapter at NIkki but  pop certainly did not need his help.  He is on a collision course heading for diaster.  

I Know Nikki love Sunny but it seems like he wants to wait to propose marriage but maybe he should lay all cards on the table or set her free.  DON'T TRY to get her pregnant since he like kids.. 

I held my breath through most of this chapter. Sergei seems to have a serious death wish. Can he not feel the radiation of intense, insane possessiveness/obsession and irrational jealousy radiating off of Nikki when they speak of Sunny??? Nicholai does not believe Sergei worthy of breathing the same pure fresh air as his precious Sunshine, much less befriending her. If his brother Anatoly notices, Nikki’s acutely finer senses sure as hell notices too… or first.Sunny does need others in her life besides Nikki. I’m glad that she asserts herself with him. She must receive regular infusions of normalcy in order to remain the bright ray of goodness that Nikki worships in her. His isolation, control, and desire to monopolize her outside of classes will eventually suffocate her, turn her bitter and resentful, jaded by life, stifling that which he most cherishes about her. When that light, ray of Sunshine dims, she will become as expendable as Darla. I don’t think either one of them wants that.