Chapter 16
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Drago
We’re on the jet back to the US, and Lev’s sound asleep, his breathing steady beside me, so I pull up the monitor feeds from Lily’s gallery and slip my headphones on.
Her sobs hit me instantly.
They don’t just reach my ears. They carve straight through my chest, the kind of sound that lodges itself in your bones and refuses to leave.
The pain she carries… I wish I could rip it out of her and shoulder it myself.
I lean forward, elbows on my knees, jaw clenched tight. I wish I could see her smile again. The real one. The one from before. The one that lit her up from the inside out.
What the hell happened to you, lastochka?
I rewind the footage, slowing it down, watching every second with surgical focus. Zooming in. My body goes rigid the moment I see her.
Maria.
A low growl slips out of me before I can stop it. This explains why Lily is so upset. Her mother might not have been the one to hurt her physically, but she brought the man into Lily’s life who did.
She is the most useless mother in the world.
She wasn’t always like that. Before she left Russia, she was a good mother to Lily. Then something in her cracked. Greed, maybe. Or resentment. She wanted the life Lev couldn’t give her at the time. The luxury. The attention. The illusion of power.
Boyfriend after boyfriend paraded through Lily’s life like disposable accessories— until the husband.
The one I left bleeding out on the floor.
My jaw tightens as the memory surfaces. I left my mark so there would be no confusion about who he’d crossed.
I don’t regret it and I never will.
Now the question that makes my blood simmer is simple.
What the fuck does Maria want with Lily now?
Money, most likely. It’s always money with women like her. She shows up when there’s something to gain and disappears when things get hard.
I scrub a hand over my face and lean back, exhaling slowly.
If Maria thinks she can waltz back into Lily’s life and take something from her…
She’s forgotten who’s been watching all these years.
“Nice place,” Lev says as I walk him through the different levels.
I show him everything. The safe rooms. The office. The gym. Every exit. Every contingency. Every place he could disappear if he had to. “Thanks.”
I grab two glasses from the cupboard and pour vodka without measuring. “Here. You probably need this.” I slide it across the island.
“Za zdorovye. To health,” he says as he lifts his cup.
I knock mine back, the burn barely registering.
I check my phone to confirm Lily is home. Safe. For now.
Then I look back at him and drop the bomb. “Maria came to see Lily today.”
Lev’s expression hardens instantly, jaw locking like a loaded gun. “What did she fucking want?”
“To apologize.”
He lets out a sharp laugh, pouring another drink. “Yeah. Did my little girl slam the door in her face?”
Pride flickers through his anger.
“Basically, yeah.” I don’t tell him about the sobbing. About Lily collapsing against the glass once Maria was gone. That grief belongs to me alone for now.
“I’ll see Lily soon,” Lev mutters.
I nod, though doubt coils in my gut. I don’t think Lily is ready to forgive either of her parents, and I’m not sure she ever will be.
I pull up the gallery’s social feed and scroll until I find the photo from the showing. The one where she looks radiant. Untouchable. Alive.
I turn the phone toward him, and his eyes fill immediately. And then the color drains from his face.
“Is that on a public domain?” he asks, voice gone cold.
I frown. “Yeah. Her gallery’s social media page.”
“Blyaht. Fuck.” He slams his fist into the marble, the sound cracking through the room.
My pulse spikes. I only see Lev look like this when shit is really bad. When he’s panicking.
“Lev. I need you to explain,” I say carefully.
He turns to me, bloodshot eyes sharp with fear.
“Drago. Lily is in trouble if they’ve seen that.” He snatches the phone back, jabbing his finger at the diamond key necklace resting against her throat.
“A necklace? Who did you steal it from?” I say, trying to make a joke out of it.
He shakes his head violently. “It’s not that. It’s what that fucking key opens in the wrong hands, Drago.” His voice breaks. “I left it for her as a safety net if I died. She wasn’t supposed to actually find where I’d hidden it until she read my will. Fuck.”
He starts pacing, running his hands through thinning grey hair, panic bleeding through the cracks of the man I once thought was indestructible.
And for the first time since this war began, I feel something colder than fear settle in my bones. Because whatever that key unlocks… People will kill for it.
And Lily is wearing it in plain sight.
“Looking at the footage today, she isn’t wearing it anymore.”
He shakes his head. “That doesn’t fucking matter. Get that picture taken down, please, Drago.”
“I’ll work on it now. What else do you need me to do, Lev?” I ask, but I know the answer. This is where it goes wrong.
And I know it. I know it with the kind of certainty that settles in your bones right before everything fractures.
“I need you to collect my daughter and bring her to me.” The words land heavy. A command, not a request. And normally, I’d never go against him. But this is different.
I press my palm flat against the counter, grounding myself in the cold stone, and look him dead in the eyes. “No,” I say firmly.
For a split second, the room stills, and Lev blinks before pulling a cigarette from a pack. “No? What the fuck do you mean no, boy?”
I don’t rise to it. I pour vodka instead. Heavy measures, because fucking hell, I need this. The bottle clinks softly against the glass, the sound far too calm for what’s unfolding.
“Lily’s mental health matters in this. We cannot go in there and take her from her home with no explanation. It’s not happening.” The words hit low.
Lily isn’t just a piece of a game we can just pick up and move to where it suits us. I’ve seen the cracks in her armor, even when she didn’t want anyone to.
I know how fragile her mind can be, I know the demons she’s dealing with. The last thing I want to do is hurt or scare her. Not when she’s working so damn hard putting herself back together.
He lights the cigarette with shaking fingers and exhales directly into my face, smoke curling between us.
“Since when has her mental health become concerning, Drago. What aren’t you telling me?” His eyes sharpen. “You said, repeatedly, she’s happy here. That photo you just showed me, she’s happy.”
The lie I told him tightens around my throat.
Jesus Christ.
I did it to protect him, to spare him the truth, to keep him from carrying yet another failure on his back. I knew what it would do to him if he understood what his absence had cost her. What could have been avoided if he hadn’t let her go. If he hadn’t believed distance was the same as safety.
“She is, and she isn’t, Lev,” I say quietly. “Sit down. I need to tell you what happened five years ago, and then we can reassess our options.”
His hand freezes halfway to his mouth. And it’s like he knows I’ve been hiding things from him.
Truth is, I didn’t trust him not to drag her back to Russia.
He isn’t like me. He makes irrational and impulsive choices.
He doesn’t always think the whole thing through.
That’s why I left it. I made the decision I would hold this information and still keep her safe.
Therefore, fulfilling my duty to him still.
“Did someone hurt my daughter?” His voice is rough now. Stripped bare. No empire. No power. Just a father, one with a lifetime of regrets.
I nod. Running a hand over my face, I feel the weight of everything I’ve carried alone for years settle deeper into my chest. This truth will destroy something between us. I know that too.
But I will protect Lily. That is the line I’m choosing here.
The side that I’ve been on the whole time.
Even if that means protecting her from her own father. Even if it means he never forgives me for it.