14. -13-
Nina
The video replayed on the screen, and I couldn’t stop grinning.
I knew Lucas could pull off almost anything with his hacker skills, but this surprised me.
In just a few hours, he pushed Dorian’s expensive car off a cliff, turned it into a fireball, and convinced the world the Russian Bratva kidnapped him.
He fed the story to Dorian’s brothers, leaked the footage to the news, and flooded social media with reports of the renowned doctor’s supposed death. It wasn’t the whole truth, but it was enough to buy us time. While Zyon and Malin chased ghosts, I could finish what I’d started.
“You are a freaking genius.” I hugged Lucas tightly, unable to find the words to express my gratitude.
“Hardly,” he objected, patting my back. “They aren’t stupid. It’s a declaration of war. Once Karen Kadyrov sees it, he will do everything in his power to persuade Zyon that the Bratva isn’t behind it. But it’ll take time to convince the king he isn’t threatened, so we’re good for now.”
“I wouldn’t be so sure, sweetheart,” Dorian interrupted us, nesting as comfortably as possible in the middle of the bed. “Karen and my brothers will see through that before breakfast. And when they do, they’ll repay you twice over.”
“We’re counting on it,” I replied boldly, lifting my chin.
Grasping Lucas’s sleeve, I tugged him toward the door into the hall to give us some privacy.
Dorian hadn’t seen the video, and I wanted to keep him in the dark about what was happening outside.
If he found out what Lucas had done, he’d terrify us with it.
He’d use Zyon and Malin’s reputation to scare us into silence, hoping it would buy him a way out.
Honestly—I’d do the same, in his position.
“How much time do we have until they find us?” I asked, removing the leather gloves from my hands. Wiping sweat into my pants, I checked my perfect nails. Thankfully, they were intact after dragging Dorian from place to place.
“Two days tops,” Lucas answered, lifting his mask to reveal his wet face. “I covered our tracks, wiped the CCTV cameras, but Malin is an expert in tracking people down. He will barge in here.”
“Okay,” I exhaled deeply, placing my hands on my hips. “We have to prepare the quickest wedding ceremony possible.”
“Wedding ceremony?” he echoed, his eyes widening in surprise. Yeah, I hadn’t told him my whole plan. He thought I was about to force Dorian to help me, but my idea of help was slightly different.
“Yes,” I confirmed firmly, holding his shocked gaze. “I’m going to marry Dorian Zhumagulov.”
“How are you planning to do it?” he whined, clearly unable to comprehend the meaning of my words. He blinked rapidly, his eyes jumping between me and the entrance to the room where the subject of my obsession rested.
“With a smile if he cooperates,” I replied sweetly. “With a gun and drugs if he doesn’t. I don’t care, but he will marry me.”
“Nina,” Lucas hissed in a low voice, grasping my arms as if he had suddenly woken up from a trance. “Ask him for help, or cut a deal with Zyon about letting your father off the hook. That way you won’t be pushed to marry Sonny.”
“No,” I said through gritted teeth. “There won’t be another stupid deal.”
“There won’t be another life if you force this man into a marriage.” He let go of me and ran his hands through his face. “He will kill you. No one will ever find your body. You will disappear like you never existed.”
“I’ll be one of them,” I reminded him, my voice trembling from the surge of anger that my best friend didn’t support my plan. I didn’t think he would object. He was the one who suggested invading the house in the first place.
“No.” He shook his head sadly. “You would be a stain on their name. You are Giovanni Valentino’s granddaughter. Don’t you know what it means?”
“I know exactly what it means.” My voice jumped an octave, and I swiftly slammed the door so Dorian didn’t hear our argument.
I couldn’t keep my voice down when my emotions spiked so high they almost burst through the roof.
“But Zyon’s plan put me in this position.
What is wrong with his brother paying for his mistake?
He doesn’t care about my family or me. Why should I care about him? ”
“Have you completely lost your mind?” Lucas stared at me with a resigned expression, surely aware that anything he’d say was pointless. “Nina, this is suicide.”
“No,” I whispered, inhaling a shaky breath before I unzipped my leather jacket and revealed my torso. “Letting this opportunity pass would be suicide.”
Confusion crossed Lucas’s face. In the dim light, he couldn’t see the bruises, but when I switched on his phone’s flashlight and aimed it at my abdomen, his expression turned murderous.
“What the fuck?” he growled, the sound resonating through the creepy hall.
Hastily, I grasped his wrist and directed the light elsewhere so as not to provoke his temperamental nature more.
His angelic face contorted with potent fury, and his full lips, which smiled most of the time, twisted into an angry snarl.
“Sonny did this?” he asked, his palms clenching as he barely held himself under control. “Did he touch you again? When?”
“It doesn’t matter.” I zipped my jacket. “Dorian is my only chance. Otherwise, I’m dead anyway.”
“Not if I kill him first,” Lucas opposed, pulling me closer. His fierce eyes pierced mine, glowing with love and determination to protect me no matter what. “My brothers are powerful enough to erase him from the map. And if not, I can do it myself. He wouldn’t be my first anyway.”
“No.” I gathered his hands in mine. “The Carlile family is untouchable, and everyone knows it. Zyon needs them, which gives them the protection we can’t break. You would die.”
“But you would be free.” He smiled, but it didn’t reach his eyes. He was furious, and his divine demeanor, combined with the madness reflected onhis face, sent shivers down my spine.
“And you’d be at the cemetery,” I sighed, shaking my head. “I don’t want that.” I stood on my tiptoes, cupping his cheeks with my cold hands. “I want him.” I nodded toward the closed door, biting my lower lip. “I know it can work.”
“Or we will both end up at the cemetery,” Lucas groaned, covering my hands with his and removing them from his face. “What do you need me to do?”
One sentence, and the tears of pure love welled in my eyes. The massive boulder that gnawed at me was lifted from my chest in a millisecond. He would never leave me alone in this mess. Despite the risk, I could always count on him.
“I need you to become a wedding officiant.”