Chapter 94
CHAPTER NINETY-FOUR
Lily
Song- Rain, Sleep Token
Three Weeks Later…
“Drago! What are you up to?” I call out, laughing as the sound of waves crashes somewhere ahead of us. The air is warm and salty, the sun beaming down on my skin like a blessing I don’t know how to deserve yet.
I can’t see a thing because Drago’s huge hands are covering my eyes again.
He even blindfolded me on the drive here like I was some kind of hostage—a very well looked-after hostage. I feel safe enough now that we’ve practiced blindfolding, using a safe word in the bedroom. So now, I can actually wear one for this surprise without being completely triggered.
“A few more steps, lastochka,” he murmurs in my ear, his voice so close it sends a shiver down my spine.
I shuffle forward carefully, my excitement buzzing under my skin. I know I’m in Monaco. I know I am. But I also know I only packed four days’ worth of outfits, so this isn’t a permanent vacation.
“Drago, I swear to God, if you’ve brought me somewhere illegal—”
He chuckles. “And open.” His hands lift away.
My vision floods with light, and my mouth falls open.
An infinity pool stretches out in front of me, glassy and perfect, blending into the horizon like the sea itself is spilling into it. Beyond it—blue water for miles. The sky is so bright it almost hurts.
I spin slowly, turning and turning, trying to take it all in—
And then I see it. Not a house. A mansion.
Georgian-style pillars. Cream stone. Balconies hanging over the view like something out of a movie. The whole estate is wrapped in trees, hidden away from the world, like it’s been waiting for us.
My chest tightens.
I can’t even speak.
It’s too much. Too beautiful. Too… us.
“This is…” I whisper, my voice failing.
Drago steps beside me, watching my face like he’s reading every thought I can’t say out loud.
“This is so beautiful,” I finally breathe, blinking fast. “This is exactly the kind of place I was thinking of. Quiet but glamorous. Like we could actually breathe here.”
I look back at the house, at the pool, at the sea.
“And still a perfect home to raise our family,” I add, then let out a shaky laugh because I’m rambling. “Although… this is a lot bigger than I was thinking.”
Drago’s mouth tugs into a smile. God, he looks proud.
I turn to him, trying to pretend my heart isn’t sprinting. “I guess we could have all our friends and family over, though,” I say, wiping at the corner of my eye like I’m not about to cry. “A lot.”
He doesn’t laugh. He just studies me, like he’s making sure I mean it.
“Do you think you’d be happy living somewhere like this?” he asks quietly. “Here in Monaco?”
My eyes go wide. “Absolutely,” I say without hesitation. “As long as you’re by my side, Drago.”
Something flickers across his face like the words hit him harder than he expected. Like, he still isn’t used to being wanted for more than what he can do with his hands.
He bites his lip and takes a step closer, taking my hands in his. “This is ours.”
I giggle because I had a feeling he was going to say that. And not a single dollar has left my bank account since Enzo deposited the millions there.
“Drago,” I gasp, giving him my best fake scolding look. “That is very naughty of you.”
His eyes darken with amusement.
“What if I said no?”
His fingers trail along my cheek, gentle but possessive. Like he can’t help it. “I took a gamble,” he murmurs. “That I knew what would make you smile.”
He winks. “And I got it right.”
My laugh is soft, full of disbelief. “Of course you did.”
He bends down, his lips hovering over mine, his breath warm against my mouth.
“Would you like to go see what I’ve done inside?” he asks.
I blink. “What you’ve done? How?”
He chuckles, like he can’t believe I’m still questioning him. “Not me personally,” he corrects. “What I’ve arranged.”
My heart swells. “I’d love to.”
He knots his fingers through mine and leads me inside.
The first room steals my breath again. A cream and gold kitchen, marble floors, and a grand dining table that looks like it belongs in a palace.
I stop dead in front of a painting in the middle of the wall.
Blue waves.
A familiar style.
My throat closes.
“One of yours,” I whisper, stepping closer.
It’s the one I watched him draw… after my dad found out about us.
Our future.
Drago nods beside me. “You said you wanted our house decorated with my art,” he murmurs. “So I had some shipped here.”
My chest aches in the best way. “It’s incredible, Drago.”
He presses a kiss to the side of my head, and then he takes me through the rooms—each one more stunning than the last.
Until we reach one wall, and I nearly choke.
Portraits.
So many of them.
Me, smiling. Me, furious. Me, soft. Me, vulnerable. Me, laughing like I forgot how to be afraid.
A whole wall filled with Lily Morozova through Drago Korolyov’s eyes.
“That’s still so much art of me, Drago,” I giggle, embarrassed and flustered.
His arm slides around my waist, pulling me in.
“I’m obsessed, Lily,” he says bluntly.
Heat floods my cheeks.
I tuck myself closer into his side. “I draw the line at a grand portrait on the staircase,” I warn him, teasing. “Like one of those regal ones where I’m holding a wine glass and looking down on my kingdom.”
He chuckles. “Okay. Deal.”
Then he lowers his voice, and the air changes. “There is one new piece I’d like to show you, though.”
I look up at him through my lashes, my pulse instantly quickening.
“Show me.”
He leads me down the hallway, his grip firm and steady like he already knows what I’m going to do. Like he knows my knees are about to turn to water.
He opens the double doors, and all the air rushes out of my lungs. The first thing that hits me is the scent. The aftershave that floods me with safety.
“You said you wanted a lifetime supply of that scent. Well, the guy who makes it lives out here, so we have as much of it as you need,” he whispers.
Now, it’s not so much about dragging me out of the dark when the panic grips me. It’s more about reminding me that even in the worst times, Drago was always there. That I am safe.
“Thank you,” I tell him, not being able to stop myself from stepping inside the room.
Every wall is lined with mirrors. A barre runs the length of the room. A ballet space. A sanctuary. Except one wall has a gap… and in the centre of it hangs a piece of his art, like a heartbeat.
I step closer slowly.
And then I see it.
A drawing of us.
Drago down on one knee, holding out a ring box, and me with my hands over my mouth like I can’t believe the world has finally given me something good.
He captured it perfectly.
The way we look at each other. The way we collide. The way we belong.
My throat closes.
A sob catches on my tongue.
“D-Drago…” I whisper.
“Lastochka.”
I turn. And my heart nearly stops.
Because he’s already down on one knee, just like the art, smiling up at me, holding out a box in his hand like he’s been born for this moment.
“Lily Morozova,” he says, voice thick, eyes shining in that way that tells me he’s barely holding himself together. “Will you do me the honour of becoming my wife?”
My lips tremble.
He swallows hard. “Will you marry me?” he pauses, taking in a breath. “Please.”
I nod instantly, before words can even form.
And then he opens the box.
A huge oval diamond sparkles in the center, surrounded by tiny blue crystals on a silver band—like the sea. Like Monaco. Like the life he’s trying to give me.
“Words, baby,” he grins.
But his eyes…
His eyes are full of everything real.
“Yes,” I choke out, laughing through tears. “Yes. Infinity times, yes!”
He’s up on his feet in seconds, his hand around my throat, not tight, just there, anchoring me, and his mouth crashes onto mine like he’s been starving.
I kiss him back like I’m finally allowed to. Allowed to want. Allowed to have.
“Forever with you sounds perfect,” I whisper against his lips.
His eyes soften.
And then he drops back down, pushing up my white sundress gently, his hands careful around my stomach like it’s sacred.
Right now it’s the tiniest bump. If you didn’t know I was pregnant, you’d have no idea. But we know.
We know our baby is in there.
His lips press to my skin.
“Forever with both of you,” he murmurs, voice low and wrecked, “is all I need in this life, Lily.”
I run my fingers through his hair, my whole body shaking with emotion I don’t even have a name for.
He grabs my hand, kisses my knuckles, then slides the ring onto my finger with a devotion that makes my heart feel too small to hold it all.
He looks up at me, eyes burning. “Mine,” he whispers.
I grab his hand and try to pull him up to stand, my ring catching the sunlight as it flashes between us like proof that this is real.
“Can we try out that pool now?”
A smirk tugs at his lips, the kind that makes my stomach flip even when I’m trying to act brave. “Only if you’re suggesting skinny dipping,” he says, his voice lowering.
My cheeks heat instantly.
“Race you there,” I tease, biting my lip as I start to back away.
His hand catches me before I can escape, fingers wrapping around my throat. His eyes burn into mine. “You can run, baby,” he murmurs. “But never out of my sight.”
I swallow, my pulse fluttering beneath his thumb. “I wouldn’t dare,” I whisper. “I’ll only ever run to you… never away from you.”
And something inside me goes quiet.
Not the world. Not the danger that still exists somewhere out there. But the part of me that’s spent my whole life bracing for impact.
I’ve never felt like I belonged.
Not really. Not anywhere that mattered.
That little girl who spent her childhood craving love that always came with strings attached… she still lives inside me. The anxious part that screamed for safety, that built walls and called it independence, that learned how to smile while drowning.
I thought that meant I was broken. I thought it meant I was too fragile for real love.
But when I look into Drago’s eyes, I realize something so sharp it almost hurts.
I was never broken. I was never something delicate that needed fixing.
I was lost. I was afraid. And all I was doing was surviving.
Until him.
The man who was protecting me this whole time, from the shadows, making sure it was safe for me to get through the day.
The man who dragged me out of the darkest moment of my life and never asked for a single thanks.
The man whose scent I was searching for without even understanding why, like my body remembered him before my mind ever could.
Now he’s right here. Looking at me like I’m the most precious thing on this Earth. Like he wants to love me—scars and all—through every moment of our future.
Whether it’s me crying on the floor because the panic is too loud. Or him standing quietly in the doorway, watching me learn how to find myself again.
I can do anything with this man beside me. I can be the girl I always dreamed of being.
Happy.
Loving Drago has given me hope.
It’s given me a future.
Loving Drago has given me the strength to heal myself.
My hand drifts to my stomach. And like he can feel it, like he can feel everything I’m feeling, his hand settles over mine.
Loving Drago was never a choice.
Never a hardship.
Loving Drago is an instinct, something written into my bones long before I understood what it meant.
Now I can lay my past to rest and do something I thought was impossible. I can live in the light.
And so can he. He deserves this just as much as I do.
Because in the end, Drago didn’t just bring me back to life… he made sure I never had to fight for it alone again.
The End.