“Wow. So he kept you. Interesting.” The sadness beneath her words lands heavier than any accusation. I step closer, and she inhales sharply.
“I was never his kid, Lily. I was his asset. He trained me, and we worked together, still do now. I wasn’t his to protect.” I let the truth sit between us.
She nods once.
“Where is he?” she whispers.
She’s nervous. She has her hands in her sleeves, her little tell.
“Outside. Would you like a tour of the place first?”
Her eyes drag over me again, slower this time. “Yeah. Why not? Show me my new prison, Drago.”
Fuck.
The way she says my name wraps tight around something detrimental inside me.
And standing there, with her barely a breath away, I know this arrangement is going to test every ounce of control I have.
Because protecting her was already destroying me.
Wanting her?
That might finish the job.
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Lily
Okay. Bella was right. This place is insanely cool. A whole ass swimming pool. A sauna.
It feels obscene, being brought somewhere this beautiful when my chest is tight and my nerves are stretched thin.
He opens the door in front of us and gestures for me to go inside.
The room steals my breath in a way I wasn’t prepared for.
A four-poster bed that looks like it’s meant to be ruined. An en-suite that gleams. A walk-in wardrobe bigger than my childhood bedroom. Everything is soft, quiet, and expensive.
A girl’s dream.
“Oh shit,” I whisper.
“What?” he asks from behind me.
His voice is closer than it should be. His presence fills the room like it’s always been meant to. I can feel him without touching him, like my body is tracking every breath he takes.
“I forgot my crystals. And my jewelry.” The words tumble out sharper than I mean them to, panic curling up my spine.
I spin to face him. “I need to go home.”
I don’t even know how much the necklace my dad gave me is worth, but my throat feels wrong without it. Bare. Like something important has been taken from me without my consent.
He shakes his head.
Something cold settles in my stomach.
I try to brush past him, needing space, needing air.
