“Declan… I’m sorry about yesterday,” I say immediately. “Lily needed me.”
Declan leans back in his chair, studying me. “I get it. If it were Charlotte, I would’ve done the same.” He pauses. “Well this escalated quickly, I had no idea you and Lily would be so…”
“Serious?” I finish.
“Yeah.” His gaze stays locked on mine. “You can talk to me, Drago. I’m not just your boss. We’re family.”
It hits like a knife to the ribs.
Family.
Something I never thought I’d have. Not here. Not in America.
I clear my throat, my jaw tight. “I’m not used to this… talking dynamic.”
Declan lets out a low laugh. “We had to learn. The more secrets you keep, the more it hurts everyone.”
I nod slowly. “Yeah. I just learned that head-on.”
His brow lifts. “Lev found out.”
I don’t bother denying it. “Yeah.”
“Oh shit.”
“It went as badly as you imagine,” I mutter.
Declan exhales. “Does that change anything with Lily?”
“No.” The word is immediate. Absolute.
I rest my ankle on my knee, grounding myself. “What did I miss from the meeting? What do you need me to do?”
Declan’s mouth curls into something wicked. “You’ll be in the peace talks with us. Everyone else will be surrounding the church or Decadence.”
I nod. “And who’s taking the Preacher out?” My voice drops. “When do we do it?”
Declan takes a slow breath. “Once the Preacher identifies himself, we’ve got men waiting at the border,” he says. “They take him and his men out before he even gets back into Ohio. But the peace talks remain peaceful. We keep the lie intact.”
I clasp my hands together, thinking fast. “And what if his plan is the same?” I press. “What if he plans to wipe us out the second we walk out of the church?”
Declan scoffs. “You think Enzo didn’t cover every eventuality? We’ve got armored trucks and an army surrounding us. Our city is on fucking lockdown. Eyes and ears everywhere. Every bar on our payroll is reporting.”
He holds my gaze. “We’re the good guys in this battle.”
I snort. “That makes a change.”
“The Preacher knows we have the advantage,” Declan continues. “He knows our faces. He knows we outnumber him. That we hold the power—not just here, but across the states. He wants his business to keep going. He wants money, control over his people… not war with us.”
“And Tatiana?” I ask.
Declan scrubs a hand over his stubble. “What about Tatiana? She gets that necklace. Your debt is paid. She’s not our problem.”
I sigh. No one quite understands what it’s like to truly be in the sights of Tatiana. The lies she tells. The way she manipulates. The power she holds. Russia is her starting point. If they think she won’t build an army to come here, they’re mistaken.
“If she delivers us the Preacher, I owe her the necklace, yes. She’s sending one of her men in with the Preacher. She’s going to have eyes and ears on us… an advantage.”
My jaw tightens. We cannot let her have anything on us. Not if I want freedom in my near future. Although I have leverage on her. Things I will take to my grave to keep Lily safe.
