Like she knows she can soften me with Isabella, to which she isn’t wrong.
“Did Declan forget how a phone works?” I ask.
Charlotte chews her lip. She’s hiding something.
“No.” She trails off.
“Voitelnitsa, tell me what’s on your mind.”
I still call her a warrior, because she is one. I kept her alive for five years in Vlad’s prison, and I nearly died getting her and Isabella out. There’s no version of her I don’t recognize.
“I wanted to speak to you first.” She says quietly.
I place Noah on the mat. “Isabella, can you go grab the books in the corner and read to Noah while I talk to Mommy, please?”
She nods and trots off.
“Drago, you know me better than anyone. You know how much I love being a mom. But you know I need to fight again. That I can protect my kids just as well as any of the guys can.”
I scratch the back of my neck. I don’t like this, because it reminds me too much of myself. Charlotte, like me, was born into a war we didn’t ask for. Trained to be lethal to survive. But that is so ingrained in us now that it never leaves. That thirst for blood. And no matter how happy or content you are with your new life, the old never leaves. It’s always itching to step back in, because if you stop, you become weak.
And if you’re weak in this life… You die.
“Charlotte, I don’t get involved in your marital issues with Declan. He’s my boss.”
She wrinkles her nose. “And you’re my best friend, Drago; the one who helped me raise Isabella in Vlad’s prison. The one who taught me how to fight.”
I nod. I helped turn her into an assassin.
“And Declan, he’s protective. He’s worried about the Preacher. They all are. Stephanie has just given birth to Wren. You guys need an army, and I want to be in it.” She finishes, rushing out her words.
I let out a breath. My loyalty lies with Charlotte. But the Quinns are the men who dragged my dying body out of that pig farm in Russia. They’re the ones I owe my life to. They’re the ones I now answer to.
“What do you want me to do, Charlotte? Stop beating around the real question and ask it.”
Her eyes darken. “I’m telling Declan I want in, properly. And I need you to tell him I’m ready to fight.” She says, her fists already clenched at her sides.
And damn, it makes me proud. That despite everything that could have broken her, it’s only made her more fierce. More powerful.
I step closer. “Are you?”
She lifts her chin. “You know I am, Drago.”
“What does he want to speak to me about? Was that real?”
“Yeah. He does. Enzo is coming.”
Good. I need him. The Russian links to the Preacher are twisted, and he’s the only one who can help me untangle them. The only one that has power over most of the fucking world at this point. His contacts are endless, his hacking skills superior even to mine.
“Lev is due to call me shortly with an update on how his search in St. Petersburg is going.”
Lev. The closest thing I ever had to a father. The man who taught me everything. The one who shaped me into something nearly indestructible. Together, we built an empire between rival families in Russia. Now he’s on the ground there while I stand here.
“How can we trust Lev if we’ve never met him?” she asks.
“Because you trust me. And he’s the one man I’d give up my fucking life for.” I tell her.
But it’s deeper than that. It has been for the last five years. Because of his daughter. The other person I’d give my life up for. The woman that I held in my arms a few years back as her world caved in on her.
