“It seems we owe you for rescuing Lilia from your rogue man,” he said, practically choking on the words. “And the information we received yesterday went a long way to saving many of our properties.”
Went a long way? The Collective had a very good chance of kicking their asses once and for all if I hadn’t turned my guys from Russia loose on them. I shoved my ego aside. None of thatwas important. What was important was Lilia—and it was clear she had used those five minutes with her cousins to tell them nothing more than that I’d rescued her, kept her unharmed while she was with me, and helped them keep their reigning title as the most powerful crime organization in LA.
Not a word about the marriage. Did she still not view it as real? She refused to meet my eye, but said firmly, “We’re here to make a deal. Right, Aleks?”
“We’ll see,” he said. He waved for me to have a seat on the only chair left in the small room. It was next to Lilia, but her cousin Rurik leaned over and dragged it further away from her before I could sit down.
She made a very small noise in her throat but kept her eyes trained on her cousins as she outlined how I hadn’t been part of any of the attacks within the last few months—not exactly the truth, but I had definitely been trying to keep Luigi in check for a while.
“They’re a completely different organization now,” she finished. “I witnessed the utter decimation of all the bad actors yesterday… er, last night. Anyway, there won’t be any more wars between the Collective and the Petrovs.” She gave each of her sullen cousins a hard look. “At least not any started by Gavril.”
“You’re really buying what he’s selling?” Rurik asked her.
She sniffed airily. “He saved your life when he could have easily retaliated.”
“That’s true,” Aleks said.
“Only time will tell,” Daniil added.
We continued hashing out the details of a tentative peace treaty. I was so stunned, I mostly went along with whatever they said. I thought I came here to fight for my wife, but no one knewwe were married. Once everything seemed settled, at least for the moment, Lilia still made no move to tell them.
The three men rose, and Lilia popped up. I remained seated, my chair blocking the door, and gave her a long look, my arms crossed. Did she think she was going home with them and not me?
Hell no.
But she returned my look with one full of pleading for me to understand. I didn’t, or rather, I didn’t want to. I didn’t want to give her up. What the hell was going on? A peace treaty was nice, but it meant nothing without Lilia.
Nothing meant anything without her.
Her cousins shoved past me as I slowly stood. Once they were out, she rushed to my side. “Please, please, let’s just take this slow. It’s the only way.”
Before I could answer, she hurried out, instantly flanked by Rurik and Daniil as if she needed protection. From me. The man who’d been keeping her safe all this time. With an iron band around my chest, I followed them outside into the courtyard. I barely felt the heat of the sun, promising to deliver a scorcher of a day even though it was still only early spring. My insides were slowly turning to ice.
She was really going to leave with them, and short of pulling my gun and shooting them one right after the other, I had to go along with it. Aleks begrudgingly held his hand out to me, and I shook it in a state of stunned disbelief.
“Invite him to dinner,” Lilia urged.
“I don’t think that’s necessary,” Aleks said, looking at me to confirm I didn’t need such hospitality to seal our negotiations. I didn’t say a word.
“This Sunday?” she asked, poking her cousin in the back.
“If that’s good for you,” he said, looking pained.
“I’ll make it work,” I said, shifting my gaze to Lilia. This was when she told them the truth, right?
She gave me one more hopeful look before Rurik put his arm around her and whisked her to a waiting car.
I let her go. What choice did I have? My insides churned; I was on the verge of exploding. Her pleading voice echoed in my mind, the only thing keeping me from charging the car as it slid away from the curb. Take it slow.
My fists clenched, my jaw tight, I turned and stormed back to where my own car waited. She was mine, and I would be damned if I took anything slow.
Chapter 43 - Lilia
There was no point. I pushed away from my desk, ending work early. I was behind, and not even because I hadn’t been able to get to a computer for weeks. Because I just wasn’t into it. It was a great story, at least I was fairly sure it was. Who knew? I could think of only one thing.
One person.
Not even the familiar clack of my beloved keyboard could distract me. When I went downstairs for a snack, Katie was overseeing the table decorations in the dining room, acting like it was a state dinner or something with the fine gold-rimmed glasses and embroidered linens.
