CHAPTER TEN
Drago
My phone rings on the table. I bite down on my paintbrush and lean over to grab it.
Unknown number. Lev.
Carefully, I place the brush, still slick with red paint, onto the table before answering. I hate being distracted when I’m in my art space.
It’s a hobby I took up after Lily bought the gallery; she inspired me in a way. I find it calming. A way to tune out the mess around me and just focus on the beauty on the canvas.
“Old man. All good?”
“Will be once I get the fuck out of this place.”
I chuckle. It’s been over a year since I last saw him. It will be nice to be reunited. The old guy means more to me than I’d ever admit out loud. The father I needed in this life. “The plan’s in motion. Won’t be long. Just lay low, be at the location on time. Not before.”
Declan agreed to let Lev stay at my mansion on Decadence property. Mine sits tucked away in the far corner, hidden fromthe rest. Quiet. Secluded. Surrounded by forest and the lake that cuts through the land.
It’s peaceful. Not that I need scenery to inspire my art. Not when my mind is occupied by something else.Someone else.
“I think these are Tatiana’s men hunting me. I recognized one of the fuckers,” Lev says quietly.
I grunt. When Ivan Volkov died at the hands of his own son, it left a void in Russia. One that needed filling. The Volkovs wanted nothing to do with their father’s rotten empire. That made it inevitable.
Tatiana took it. She takes everything she wants.
The smaller families either bent the knee or were wiped out. Her father, Vanos the Butcher, died in prison. And now Russia feels her grip tightening.
“Probably. You were in her territory. We aren’t welcome any longer.”
I already have a plan for that. Once the Preacher is dealt with. If Enzo gives the word.
“I’ll see you soon, okay?”
Lev sighs. “Lily never replied to my text.”
My fist tightens, but relief cuts through it. No response is better when he’s being fucking hunted. Lily needs to remain a ghost to anyone in the mafia world.
“Do not contact her again until you’re here, Lev. I’m keeping her safe. And don’t even say her name on a line, secure or not.” I snap.
I don’t mean to, but I can’t help it when it comes to her.
“I won’t. Just hurry up before I get my tongue ripped out by a demonic woman on a power trip.”
I snort. Accurate.
“We’re on it. Trust me. I’ll speak to you later.”
The call ends. I reopen the tab to Lily’s social media for the art gallery. The first thing I notice is the picture of her withClaude. It makes my chest tight. Seeing her smile, but the pain behind her eyes. She is the most beautiful woman I’ve ever set eyes on. She sparkles brighter than that diamond necklace around her neck.
Seeing another man have his hands on her? That floods me with rage, making my knuckles turn white as I clench them. Knowing that I could never be the man standing beside her.
A notification pops up telling me she’s on a call. And my gut twists. This doesn’t justfeellike an invasion of privacy. It fucking is. And she deserves better than this. But I have to keep her safe. And this is how I know how to. If I can’t be beside her, I have to use other means.
Stick to the rules I gave myself. Her protection can only be from a distance. I can’t allow myself to fall any deeper.
I pull up the feed tied to Lily’s phone and listen in. Resting my elbows on my knees, eyes drifting to the window as the wind stirs the leaves outside.
