“A necklace? Who did you steal it from?” I say, trying to make a joke out of it.
He shakes his head violently. “It’s not that. It’s what that fucking key opens in the wrong hands, Drago.” His voice breaks. “I left it for her as a safety net if I died. She wasn’t supposed to actually find where I’d hidden it until she read my will. Fuck.”
He starts pacing, running his hands through thinning grey hair, panic bleeding through the cracks of the man I once thought was indestructible.
And for the first time since this war began, I feel something colder than fear settle in my bones. Because whatever that key unlocks… People will kill for it.
And Lily is wearing it in plain sight.
“Looking at the footage today, she isn’t wearing it anymore.”
He shakes his head. “That doesn’t fucking matter. Get that picture taken down, please, Drago.”
“I’ll work on it now. What else do you need me to do, Lev?” I ask, but I know the answer. This is where it goes wrong.
And I know it. I know it with the kind of certainty that settles in your bones right before everything fractures.
“I need you to collect my daughter and bring her to me.” The words land heavy. A command, not a request. And normally, I’d never go against him. But this is different.
I press my palm flat against the counter, grounding myself in the cold stone, and look him dead in the eyes. “No,” I say firmly.
For a split second, the room stills, and Lev blinks before pulling a cigarette from a pack. “No? What the fuck do you mean no, boy?”
I don’t rise to it. I pour vodka instead. Heavy measures, because fucking hell, I need this. The bottle clinks softly against the glass, the sound far too calm for what’s unfolding.
“Lily’s mental health matters in this. We cannot go in there and take her from her home with no explanation. It’s not happening.” The words hit low.
Lily isn’t just a piece of a game we can just pick up and move to where it suits us. I’ve seen the cracks in her armor, even when she didn’t want anyone to.
I know how fragile her mind can be, I know the demons she’s dealing with. The last thing I want to do is hurt or scare her. Not when she’s working so damn hard putting herself back together.
He lights the cigarette with shaking fingers and exhales directly into my face, smoke curling between us.
“Since when has her mental health become concerning, Drago. What aren’t you telling me?” His eyes sharpen. “You said, repeatedly, she’s happy here. That photo you just showed me, she’s happy.”
The lie I told him tightens around my throat.
Jesus Christ.
I did it to protect him, to spare him the truth, to keep him from carrying yet another failure on his back. I knew what it would do to him if he understood what his absence had cost her. What could have been avoided if he hadn’t let her go. If he hadn’t believed distance was the same as safety.
“She is, and she isn’t, Lev,” I say quietly. “Sit down. I need to tell you what happened five years ago, and then we can reassess our options.”
His hand freezes halfway to his mouth. And it’s like he knows I’ve been hiding things from him. Truth is, I didn’t trust him not to drag her back to Russia. He isn’t like me. He makes irrational and impulsive choices. He doesn’t always think the whole thing through. That’s why I left it. I made the decision I would holdthis information and still keep her safe. Therefore, fulfilling my duty to him still.
“Did someone hurt my daughter?” His voice is rough now. Stripped bare. No empire. No power. Just a father, one with a lifetime of regrets.
I nod. Running a hand over my face, I feel the weight of everything I’ve carried alone for years settle deeper into my chest. This truth will destroy something between us. I know that too.
But I will protect Lily. That is the line I’m choosing here.
The side that I’ve been on the whole time.
Even if that means protecting her from her own father. Even if it means he never forgives me for it.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Lily
