"I told you." I lift my chin and meet his gaze with the imperious stare I've been practicing for weeks. "You'll ruin my makeup…" I let my cool expression harden into a glare so he gets the point, though I'm not angry with him. "These women spent hours making me look like this, and I won't have you destroying their work before I even leave this house."
For a moment I think I've pushed too far, that the real Lev is going to override the game we're playing and take what he wants regardless of my protests. But then a slow smile spreads across his face, and I see pride flickering behind the heat in his dark eyes.
"There she is," he murmurs. "You are exquisite."
He moves so fast I barely register it, one hand fisting in my newly styled hair while the other grips my hip and pulls me flush against his body. His mouth crashes into mine in a kiss that's hard and demanding and absolutely devastating, and I'm gasping when he finally pulls back.
"When you're this feisty," he growls against my lips, "it's impossible for me to keep my hands off you."
I chuckle, knowing if he messes up my makeup, there'll be no way I can fix it on my own, so with a palm splayed on his chest, I push gently. "If you want a Mafia Donna," I murmur against his lips, pulling back just far enough to meet his eyes with a challenge in my own, "you're going to have to work for it."
His answering grin is wolfish and warm and full of promises I fully intend to make him keep. "I've never been afraid of hard work."
"Good." I smooth my hands down his chest and then push him back, creating space between us again. "Because I have a meeting to attend. And I expect to be treated with the respect my position demands."
Lev laughs a delicious, warm sound and takes a step back with his hands raised in mock surrender. "As you wish, Donna Veche. I live to serve." The way he says it stirs longing in my chest. It's impossible and stupid and I shouldn't think that way, but I believe I'm lost now, helplessly in love with a man who stole me from the street and not wanting to change a thing.
I turn back to the mirror and check my reflection one final time, making sure his kiss hasn't smeared my lipstick or mussed my hair. A few minor adjustments and I'm perfect again, polished and powerful and ready to face this meeting with Ana's ally.
Luka Kolar has absolutely no idea what's about to walk into his meeting.
And neither, I think, does the woman I used to be.
23
LEV
"Ready?" I ask.
Vivika turns to look at me, and I see Ana Veche staring back from behind her carefully made-up eyes. "I was born ready."
I almost smile at that.
Vivika isn't the same woman she was when I took her from the street, and it isn't just her appearance. She's morphed into something wicked and rigid, and it's a frighteningly good representation of what a woman hardened by this life really is. She's gotten the act down and now it’s time to show her off.
We step out of the car and move toward the designated meeting point, a large warehouse at the center of the complex where Yuri's arranged for us to meet Luka Kolar. My uncle's already there when we arrive, standing in the shadows near the entrance with Dimitri and Fyodor flanking him like faithful hounds. Several other family soldiers have positioned themselves around the perimeter. I don’t see weapons, but I know each of them is armed.
"Lev…" Yuri nods at me and then lets his gaze travel over Vivika, approval flickering in his weathered eyes. "She looks the part."
"She is the part," I say, and I mean it. I've seen this woman transform herself thoroughly over the past several days being locked up in that safehouse. She's ready for this.
I watch Vivika as she moves to stand near the warehouse door, with perfect posture and a cold expression. "I've never been more certain of anything in my life."
"Good, good…" Yuri's eyes pan across the warehouse and then land on me. "If anything goes wrong?—"
"It won't." I assure him and nod as I move past, joining Vivika where she stands.
When Kolar agreed to this meeting, he sounded reluctant. It isn’t often that an enemy reaches out with terms of cooperation and a request to be heard out. We're banking everything on Kolar's naivety about Ana's real status. We said we have her. He wants to see her. It's the only reason he committed to showing up.
Minutes pass like hours, and tension builds until it feels thick enough to choke on. The wind shifts and carries the distant sound of boat horns from the river, and I check my watch three times a minute, it seems.
Because something feels wrong. It prickles at the back of my neck and screams "danger" even though everything appears calm on the surface. It's a simple meeting for a conversation, not a staged coup, but my gut doesn't lie, and Yuri's over-alert stance doesn't help.
When I hear the engines coming from the east, multiple vehicles approaching fast, I know before I see them that something'sgone terribly wrong. Luka Kolar drives a single armored sedan. He travels with two bodyguards at most, preferring discretion and tact. Whatever's approaching sounds like an army.
The first car rounds the corner and my blood turns to ice.
It's a convoy of black SUVs, at least six of them, and the lead vehicle bears a symbol I recognize instantly—the crest of the Veche family, emblazoned on the hood like a declaration of war. My stomach drops as the convoy screeches to a halt in a semicircle around the mouth of the warehouse, doors flying open and men pouring out with weapons already raised. There must be thirty of them, maybe more, spreading out within wide flanking maneuvers.
