Chapter 15
Chapter Fifteen
Andrei
When Marcus reported back last night, he said Lilith had picked up some party supplies, but he'd kept his distance—couldn't tell exactly what they were.
I had a pretty good idea.
I sat in my study for a while, the garden outside the window already pitch black, the desk lamp casting the only warm glow.
Lilith called to invite me to dinner at a restaurant.
I could hear her trying hard to sound calm, but it wasn't working—her excitement was practically leaping through the phone at me. When I hung up, I smiled.
Birthdays. I hadn't cared about them in years. After my mother died, the day meant nothing more to me than any other. I'd gotten used to letting it pass quietly, without a trace.
But this year—probably because of Lilith—I found myself looking forward to it a little.
The thought felt strange, even to me.
The next afternoon, I arrived at the restaurant address Lilith had given me.
The private room was on the second floor. The server led me to the door, then stepped back. I pushed it open to complete darkness.
I stopped at the threshold, scanning.
"Lilith?"
No answer.
I felt for the light switch by the door and pressed it. Nothing happened.
Not a sound in the darkness. Too quiet. Unnaturally quiet. I've always been vigilant, and unnatural silence triggers something almost instinctive in me. My hand moved toward the small of my back, fingertips brushing the gun's grip.
Suddenly.
The lights blazed on.
"Andrei, happy birthday!"
My hand froze.
Lilith emerged from the side of the room pushing a small cart. On it sat a cake studded with candles, flames flickering in the breeze she created. Elena stood beside her, Rebecca behind them. All three clustered together, singing happy birthday in completely different keys but at full volume.
I pulled my hand back from my waist and stood there, watching the cake roll toward me.
The candlelight illuminated the design on the side—guns, thorns, and right in the center, a small lily.
Easy to recognize. It was my chest tattoo.
The warmth of the moment melted into me. I smiled as they finished their song. Lilith stood behind the cake, looking up at me with bright eyes and a hint of nervousness. "So... what do you think? I drew the design myself. It's a little ugly, but I did my best—"
"Baby, thank you. I love it." I raised my voice so Lilith could hear me and pulled her into my arms.
My sweet little princess wanted to make me happy. And she had. I needed to give her the validation she deserved.
"You don't have to thank me, Andrei. As long as you like it, everything I did was worth it." She pointed at the cake cart. "You can blow out the candles and make a wish now."
I bent down, watching the candle flames flicker.
Making a wish—not exactly standard practice for a pakhan. If my men saw this, they'd laugh their asses off. But right now, I wanted to. I stood before the cake, surrounded by candlelight and Lilith's expectant gaze, Elena's teasing laughter in the background.
I closed my eyes, pressed my palms together, and after several seconds, blew out the candles.
Applause erupted. Lilith clapped hard, her eyes curving into crescents.
"And there's more!" She picked up an elegantly wrapped box from the side and held it out with both hands. "For you."
"Thank you."
I took it and opened it.
Cufflinks. Silver, with engraved cross patterns. The inside was etched with two letters—A.V.
My hand stilled.
Crosses.
I hated crosses.
My thoughts yanked brutally back to that woman—my ex-wife with her beautiful face and vicious heart.
Her favorite thing in life had been crosses.
She'd worn them around her neck, on her wrists, displayed them on her vanity, as if these holy symbols proved something about who she was.
But I knew what hid behind that gentle face.
Those crosses had become something else entirely to me.
I fell silent for a few seconds, my brow furrowing unconsciously.
Then I looked up and saw Lilith standing before me, her smile slowly fading, uncertainty creeping across her face. She bit her lower lip. "Don't you like them?"
I looked at her face. "No, I love them."
Lilith didn't know about any of that. Besides, evil was never in the object itself—it was in people.
And Lilith had simply gone shopping carefully, chosen a gift for me carefully, even had my initials engraved inside.
When she handed me those cufflinks with both hands, her eyes held a joy she couldn't hide.
That woman couldn't compare to her.
"Help me put them on." I took the cufflinks from the box and handed them to her.
She blinked, then her face brightened again. "Oh... oh! Okay, just a second, honey."
She took the cufflinks and bent her head over my cuff, her slightly trembling hands aligning one with the buttonhole. It took her two tries to get it through. She exhaled in relief.
"There," she looked up, "does it look good?"
I glanced down at the cross cufflink, then back at her.
"Ugly as hell," I said. "But I love them."
She blinked, her expression wavering between hurt and disbelief.
I bent down, cupped her face, and kissed her.
She didn't pull away, but I felt her smile against my lips.
Behind me, Elena let out a long, exaggerated sound. "Aww—"
Lilith pulled back from my arms, her face flushed to her ears, and turned to glare at Elena. "Elena!"
"What? I'm just watching." Elena grinned, eyes crinkling, hands raised.
Rebecca stood to the side, silent and expressionless, wearing a faint smile. I paid her no mind.
I pulled Lilith onto my lap as I sat. "All right, we can have them bring the food now."
The room was cozy. Dishes arrived one after another. Lilith and Elena's chatter filled the space.
Elena talked a lot. Her laugh resembled Lilith's, but there was something in her features that Lilith lacked—a maturity ground into her by something. When she spoke to me, she seemed natural, the wariness from our first meeting gone. I thought perhaps I'd earned her approval in some way.
Halfway through the meal, Elena suddenly got inspired and announced she'd sing to liven things up. Without waiting for any response, she launched in.
She sang with full commitment, but the tune existed at a considerable distance from the original version.
My fork paused mid-motion.
Lilith murmured beside me, "Don't laugh."
"I'm not." I pressed down the corners of my mouth and resumed eating.
When Elena finished, she led the applause herself. Lilith joined in, laughing so hard she doubled over.
The atmosphere was infectious, I clapped a couple of times too. Elena raised her glass to me. "Andrei, happy birthday. Take good care of my sister."
"I will, Elena." I meant it.
As the meal wound down, the room's atmosphere grew relaxed. Elena, who couldn't drink alcohol, belted out several more songs. She enjoyed herself immensely, though my ears suffered. Lilith had some wine, a flush rising to her cheeks. She leaned into me, slightly drunk, her voice very low.
"Andrei, thank you. I haven't seen my sister this happy in so long. She looks... content."
I stroked Lilith's hair. "You brought her that happiness."
"No, it was you. Elena never trusted men, never wanted me to marry. You showed her another side of the world." Lilith shook her head, eyes hazy as she looked at me. "You don't know... She has suffered so much."
"After our parents died, she raised me alone. Later, for a little overtime pay, she worked late. On the way home, some mafia thug attacked her."
Mafia thug. Those words made my heart drop.
She squeezed the glass in her hand. "And then she met her ex-husband. He sweet-talked her during the courtship. After she married him, he called her dirty and beat her so badly it damaged her heart."
Recounting the past, tears brimmed in Lilith's eyes, but she fought to keep them from falling.
My heart felt squeezed by invisible hands. Elena's heart condition—this was how it happened...
"That bastard..."
"Dead. Thank God. Car accident. Killed instantly."
"What about the mafia scumbag?" My organization had standards. We didn't kill children, didn't force women. If I found out which son of a bitch did this under my nose, I'd make him regret being born.
"Don't know." Lilith shook her head. "We didn't dare cross him."
I covered Lilith's hand with mine. She nestled obediently against me, but her body trembled slightly. I'd been planning to come clean about my identity, but Elena's story made me unable to speak now.
Still...
That damned bastard. I'd track him down and give Elena the justice she deserved.
"Don't be afraid. You have me now," I said quietly. "From now on, we'll protect Elena together. She'll live happily with us."
"Okay." Lilith showed her teeth in a smile, then Elena came over, dragging Rebecca and Lilith away to join her.
I was somewhere between amused and exasperated when my phone suddenly buzzed in my pocket. Pavel.
I gestured to Lilith that I was taking a call, got up and left the room, walked to the end of the hallway, and answered after confirming no one was around.
"Talk."
"Boss." Pavel's voice was grim. "The Irish are making new moves. Declan's people made contact with two of our transport points in Red Hook. They're casing the place."
"Casing," I repeated. "Confirmed?"
"Confirmed. We saw it with our own eyes."
I leaned against the hallway wall, tapping my index finger twice. "Got it. You and Sergei keep watching. Don't spook them. Report any new activity immediately."
"Understood." Pavel hesitated. "Boss, the internal matter—"
"Dmitri's still investigating. Don't worry about that. Focus on surveillance." I said.
I hung up and stood in the hallway, thinking.
The Irish were casing locations, which meant Declan was waiting for the right moment but hadn't decided to move yet. That bought me time. If I could flush out the traitor before he struck, I could cut off his intelligence and crush him completely.
I pocketed my phone and turned to head back to the room when stumbling footsteps sounded from the side.
A woman crashed into me.
She fell sideways, grabbing my lapels, hair disheveled, face flushed an unnatural red. Reeking of alcohol, she looked up with unfocused eyes and slurred, "Andrei..."