Chapter Thirty Five Willow
Chapter Thirty Five
Willow
I stare at the price tag on the necklace the jeweller is currently showing Dragna and I.
“Absolutely NOT.” I spin to him and I’m pretty sure my eyes are bugging out of my head.
“Pocket change remember? Do you like it?” He asks.
Do I like it? Of course I do, it’s beautiful, but this feels like way too much. A twelve thousand dollar necklace. This man is insane. When he picked me up from work and told me he had another surprise for me, this was not what I was expecting.
“That’s not the point. This necklace is like half my yearly pay check. You can’t be serious!”
The jeweller puts the necklace back on the cushioned tray and walks away, obviously sensing we need a moment.
“I’m serious about you.”
He brings a hand up to my face, brushing his knuckles over my cheek.
“You’re going to buy this regardless of what I say aren’t you?” I ask him because of course he is, I know him too well now.
“Yes. I just want to make sure it’s something you like.” He says as he cups my face in both his hands and smiles down at me.
“Ugh. You are sickeningly annoying.” I tell him and he throws an arm over my shoulders and pulls me tight to him.
“Annoyingly rich and willing to spoil you every chance I get.” He laughs as he leans down and kisses the top of my head.
The jeweller comes back out and Dragna tells her we’ll take the necklace.
I walk over to look at other pieces they have in glass display cabinets by the window while Dragna pays when I come to a halt.
I stand frozen, unable to move, even when Dragna comes up behind me asking what’s wrong. I can’t answer him, my eyes start filling with tears and I think I’ve stopped breathing. He follows my line of sight before cursing.
“Stay right here. Don’t move, okay?” He storms out of the jewellers and smacks the hood of his car to get Mikhail’s attention before continuing to make his way to the other car. The same car that was following me weeks ago.
Dragna makes it through the traffic almost getting hit by the passing cars but doesn’t make it to the car quick enough as it pulls out of the space it was sitting in and speeds off.
Mikhail comes in to the jewellery store and I feel a gentle tug on my wrist before he wraps me fully into his side and guides me out to the car. He opens the door for me and helps me inside as Dragna comes running back to us.
“Moya dusha, are you okay?”
My heart is racing and my entire body is shaking. I can’t even answer him.
He throws demands in Russian towards Mikhail as he climbs in the back of the car with me and Mikhail gets in the front and begins driving. He pulls me into his lap and kisses the top of my head while he holds me.
“Why. Why me?” I finally ask, my voice sounding so small and broken.
“I don’t know, but you’re safe. I promise you. I won’t let anything happen to you Willow. We’re going to find out who the hell this is.” He says as he continues to hold me.
“Do you trust me?” He adds and I nod against his shoulder, holding onto his coat, gripping it like he’s my lifeline.
We drive for a while before I see the black iron gates and realise Dragna has brought me back to his house instead of taking me home.
“Call a meeting. Now.” Dragna says to Mikhail before he gets out of the car. He closes the car door behind him when I don’t make a move to get out and I hear him and Mikhail talking in Russian for a minute before he opens the door again and reaches in to me.
“Come on, you’re safe here and you can stay tonight if you like?”
“I leave for Boston in the morning. I’ll need to be home early tomorrow if I stay.” I tell him as he walks me to the front door and his usual security are there to open it for us, giving us a nod.
“That’s okay. I’ll drive you myself in the morning as early as you need.”
When we walk into the foyer my three furry best friends greet us, and by us I mean me having clearly chosen their new favourite human much to their owners dismay.
Boulder, Volk and Ark have become my favourite part of Dragna’s home and they are exactly what I need right now when I feel so anxious.
“Yeah, I’ll stay. I missed my boys.”
I sit on the floor and the three of them surround me, each of them pawing at me and licking me. They manage to pull a laugh from me and Dragna crouches down beside me, stroking them, reminding them of the good boys they are.
“I’ve called a meeting with my security. I need to meet them at the club. Do you want to stay here or come with me?”
I think about whether I’d feel safe at the club with so many unknown people around and the thought makes me feel sick.
“I’ll stay here. I know I’d still be safe with you at the club, but I feel safer here knowing there’s nobody around except for security.”
He nods and runs a hand down my hair soothing me as I start to shake again.
“I don’t know how long I’m going to be, it might take a while, but the staff are all here and there will be men stationed outside the perimeter of the grounds and at the front door.
If you need anything at all, you can ask them, or you can call me.
I won’t be too busy to answer you if you need me okay?
” I nod at his words and pull him in for a kiss as I feel my heart rate calming down again when his arms fold around me.
“Yeah, I’ll be okay.”
I sit with the dogs for a few more minutes while Dragna stands and walks away on a phone call, preparing his meeting.
He comes back ten minutes later and I’m already lying amongst the dogs on his huge corner sofa in the main living room with a blanket over me.
He walks over and kisses my forehead, making me feel even safer.
“Remember, call me if you need me moya dusha. I’ll see you soon.”
“Be careful.” I reply back as he walks away and out the front door.
I hear the tyres of his car crunching on the gravel driveway and when I can no longer hear the roar of the engine, I sink deeper into the sofa, all the emotions rising to the surface and since I’m alone, I let myself feel everything and I cry.
———————————————————
I don’t know how long I’ve been crying for when I hear a car coming up the driveway. Shit, shit, shit. I quickly wipe my tears away and blow my nose for the hundredth time on another tissue and pray I don’t look like I’ve cried the whole time Dragna has been gone.
The front door opens and I peek over the back of the sofa into the foyer when Lev appears, whistling and swinging his car keys around his finger. He stops at the doorframe and leans against it with a sympathetic look on his face.
“Shit, Wills.” He says before quickly walking over to the sofa and coming to sit beside me.
“Dragna sent me to check on you, he didn’t want to call incase you were asleep.” He says as he tucks a piece of hair behind my ear. I just sniffle and give him a weak smile.
“I’m okay.” But when I say the words they come out sounding so pathetic I curse myself internally.
“You’re not, but that’s okay. I have just the thing for you.”
Lev pats my thigh twice before standing up and pulling me to stand with him. The dogs don’t even give us a second glance as he drags me out to the hall.
“Get your shoes on.” He tells me strictly.
“I really don’t feel like leaving the house Lev.”
“And that’s exactly why you have to. You pulled me out of my slump at the club so it’s my turn to return the favour.
Come on, if you don’t put your shoes on I’ll just carry you out to my car.
Either way, we’re leaving.” He says sternly and I know he is one hundred percent serious.
I sigh and put my shoes on then make my way to the front door and he follows behind me.
“Where are we going?” I ask as we reach his car and he opens the passenger door for me.
“Wherever you want to go. You hungry?”
I realise now I haven’t eaten since breakfast this morning and right on cue, my stomach rumbles. Lev smiles down at me before closing the door and rounding the car to get in himself.
“So we’ve established you’re hungry. What does that stomach of yours want?”
“Anything with a drive thru. I don’t want to get out of the car if that’s okay?” I ask shyly.
“Anything for you Willow Tree.” He says before pushing the button to start his car. He revs the engine and turns the volume on the stereo up to full.
“You ready for the best ride of your life?” He wiggles his eyebrows at me and I burst out laughing.
“There she is!” He winks at me with a big grin on his face and takes off down the driveway.
We drove fifty minutes to a burger place Lev said he thought I’d love and he wasn’t wrong. We sit in the car eating the most amazing cheeseburgers, cheese fries and we both got strawberry milkshakes.
“This burger was definitely worth the dangerous driving.” I taunt as I take another bite.
“Dangerous driving? Just because my dear cousin drives like an eighty five year old grandmother with you in the car doesn’t mean how I drive is dangerous.” He scoffs as he takes a drink.
“Lev, you were doing eighty in a fifty and I’m pretty sure your wing mirror clipped the side of someone else’s car when you were changing lanes.”
He barks out a laugh and I shake my head at him. He’s wild, but he makes me laugh and it’s nice that he’s done this for me tonight to make me feel better.
“You gotta live dangerously sometimes little Wills. It’s good for the soul.” He says, slapping his chest a couple times while grinning at me.
“Should you even be eating this food if your fight is tomorrow by the way?” I ask because I’m genuinely curious.
“I thought fighters had to go on strict diets and weigh in and all that stuff?”
He chokes back a laugh at me while sipping on his milkshake
“Yeah, we do, but it’s not that big of a deal.
I’m within weight range so I’ll be alright.
You looking forward to your girls weekend in Boston?
” He asks and I lean my head against the window and stare out as the rain hits against the windshield.
I was excited before today. Before seeing the car again.
“I don’t know now. I know it’s ridiculous to think whoever is stalking me would know about Boston and follow me there, but I’m nervous now.”
He nods in silent agreement before turning to face me.
“If there’s anything I’ve learned in life so far Willow, it’s that you can’t let bad things stop you from living your life. It’s scary, but if you let fear take over you will become a shell of yourself, and to me that’s even scarier.”
I look at him and narrow my eyes.
“Who are you and what have you done with Lev.” He huffs a laugh at my teasing.
“You wound me Willow tree.”
He places a hand over his heart with a fake frown on his face.
“It’s hard out here being this handsome, funny and emotionally deep you know.”
“How did the doctors manage to get you out of your mother’s womb?”
He looks at me, puzzled by my question.
“Your massive freaking head. It must of taken a whole team.”
He throws his head back and laughs and seeing him being the lighthearted Lev I’ve come to know and adore again makes me smile too.
We grow into a comfortable silence, eating and listening to the hip-hop music he has playing in the car.
“So.” He clears his throat.
“Boston. Give me a straight answer, are you still excited?”
I don’t turn away from him this time when I think about my answer. I think about everything we’ve talked about tonight, and think to myself that he’s right. I need to go and enjoy myself despite the fear.
“Yes. I am.” I smile at him and he smiles back at me before reaching over and ruffling my hair.
“Good, and you know anyway if you’re not having a good time Dragna would have the jet fuelled and ready to go within fifteen minutes of you calling him.”
Sorry, did he just say what I think he said?
“A jet?” I screech.
“Aw blyat’, he’s going to murder me. Do not tell him I told you he has a jet. Please Willow. I thought he would of told you!”
He looks genuinely terrified that he’s let that information slip.
“Just how rich is my boyfriend Lev?”
This is the first time I’ve ever seen Lev looking nervous and I don’t like it. He scratches the back of his head before looking me in the eyes again, his tone deadly serious. “He’s the king of New York syestryonka.”
———————————————————
We drove back to the house in what Lev probably thought was a comfortable silence, but in reality I couldn’t stop thinking about what kind of man Dragna is and I still can’t quiet my mind even though we have been back at Dragna’s house for a while now.
He has a jet? I knew he had money and was rich, but a jet? And why didn’t he tell me? What else don’t I know about him?
The more I think about it all, the more I spiral.
I think back over some of the interactions we have had, or when Alina’s dad showed up at the club and I didn’t notice it at the time, but they both looked at each other like they knew each other.
Dragna told me I didn’t know who her dad was or what his security were capable of and a I was so angry I didn’t pick up on what he could of meant by that.
Are they even security? They looked terrifying and I thought I saw one of them reach for a gun at one point.
Does he actually know her dad? Has he this whole time?
But would Dragna be caught up with people like that, people who carry weapons?
Did I even really see someone reach for a gun or am I catastrophizing everything in my head?
God I don’t know what I thought I saw now or what I believe. What I do know for sure though, is that I don’t think I know my boyfriend as much as I thought.