Chapter 102
DRAGO
My phone rings, and when Lev calls, I answer.
“Lev. Any news?” I ask, in Russian.
“Yes. First, how is my daughter?”
My eyes flick to the screen. Lily’s tracker blinks back at me. Home. Safe.
“Lily is fine, like she always is.”
He grumbles.
“I need security tightened on her. Or to try and get her to come home.”
I rub the back of my neck. “Why?”
His pause is the kind that makes my chest tighten. This isn’t small.
That makes my heart hammer in a way it shouldn’t.
Being here was always a risk to the operation, but I kept my distance. I stayed careful. She kept her life normal, like I promised myself I would make happen for her. After what she went through, she deserves it.
“That name you sent me, the lackey from the club in Phoenix. It’s bad, Drago. Really fuckin’ bad.”
“Well, tell me.”
“It’s easier for you to see than me to tell. I’ll send you an encrypted file. It’ll show you all the girls in that second club you mentioned. And the men running it. They’re from Abram’s old crew.”
Abram’s name lands like a stone. I feel the air go thin.
I pause, shaking my head. “Abram’s dead? We fuckin’ did that years ago.”
That was before I started working for Vlad. Before Charlotte, before any of this.
“Yeah, well, he had sons. And they’ve been enlisted in the US.”
My jaw ticks.
“So The Preacher is Russian?” I ask.
He tuts.
“Perhaps. Perhaps not. There are links. Most dead ends. But, we’ve got some names to work with. I’ll get on the ground here in Moscow. You’ll have to work on the US side. But I need you to promise me you’ll keep Lily close.”
“What does this have to do with Lily? Is she at risk from Abram’s family?”
I don’t see how. I carefully keep her out of hands that bite.
Lev is a ghost now, shadowed and silent, and technically, so is she.
Lily’s mom fled after the incident, probably out of guilt.
And it left Lily all by herself. It fucking hurt me to watch that from the sidelines.
How she put herself back together, with the help of Hallie.
But even then, she kept everything close to her chest. Like the true mafia princess she is.
And I do my duty. I stand in the shadows, making sure she doesn’t crumble. Because she’s not just part of my job. She’s my best friend’s only daughter.
“It’s deeper than that, Drago. Just please, trust me for now.”
This man taught me everything. He’s my oldest, meanest friend. I answer the only way I know how.
“Sure.”
“Email is coming through now. It will give you names to go after; I think hunt the Russians, it’ll get you closer to the top.”
“Got it. Thank you.”
Even as Lev talks, I can’t stop a small ache: why won’t he tell Lily he’s watching her? They haven’t spoken in years. Even before that night. Since her mom moved her here.
I’ve worked for a lot of families, but mine and Lev’s network is still top of the list. Priority. Always.
I pull up the message and open the first attachment. Pages and pages roll out—names, faces, a catalogue of girls who look like they’ve already been hollowed. It’s the kind of dossier that makes the stomach flip.
I keep scrolling. Hundreds of pages. Each snapshot a small, dead eye. They make me sick.
Then I stop.
A pair of wild eyes stares back at me—and my chest drops.
It can’t be… can it?
I bring up the Inferno roster and search Lyla’s name, then compare the two images side by side.
Bingo.
Fuck.
The twins.
I dial Reggie. No answer. Rowan—same. So I call Declan.
“Declan, we have a problem.”
“What?” I hear the urgency in his voice.
“Lyla. She’s part of The Preacher’s organization.”
“Fuck,” he hisses.
I pull up the rota for today. She’s not due in.
“Where are the twins, Dec?” I ask.
“They were in Inferno for some games with Bella or something. I’ll have to check with Con.”
A cold knot settles in my chest. This feels wrong on every level.
“We need to get Enzo in on this. Call him. I’ll find Reggie and Rowan. I don’t trust this, Declan. Tell Charlotte what’s going on—we need her clued up just in case.”
Charlotte is an asset, trained harder than most, and now she’s a mother. Cross her and you bleed to death.
“Will do. Con says the twins are at Father Byrne’s church.”
I nod, already slipping into the feeds, hacking into the church security. My fingers move faster than my brain. It’s what I do.
I tap into the monitors and freeze.
“Declan…”
“We’ve got a serious fucking problem. Lock down Decadence. Now!”