Chapter 17
Chapter Seventeen
Andrei
Dmitri cornered me at the door to the private room.
"Boss, urgent intel. The informant—"
"Hold on." I cut him off and pushed through the door.
Inside, Lilith and Elena were gone. Only Rebecca sat at the table, looking dazed.
I glanced at her. "Where's Lilith?"
"Gone," Rebecca said. "Maybe... twenty minutes ago? They were already out when I got back. Andrei, I'm so drunk. My head's spinning. Can you take me home?"
"Gone?" That didn't sound like Lilith—leaving without a word. I ignored Rebecca and called Lilith several times. No answer. An uneasy feeling crept through my chest.
Finally, on the last call, she picked up.
"Lilith."
"Yeah. What is it?"
"You left early? I should've driven you both."
"Don't worry about it," she said. "My sister suddenly wasn't feeling well. We went home."
Lilith's voice was hoarse. It worried me.
"What's wrong with Elena? Is it serious?"
"She's fine. Just tired." Her voice paused. "Andrei, did you have a good birthday?"
"Of course. Thank you, Lilith. You made it amazing."
"Did I? Was it because of me?"
Something was off in the way she asked—cold, distant.
"Lilith, why would you ask that?" I said directly.
"No reason," she said. "It's just... you had so many people with you tonight. The person you wanted was right there with you the whole time. You must've been really happy, right, Andrei?"
I stood there, turning those words over in my head. I didn't understand what Lilith meant. I was about to say something when—
"Anyway, I have to go," Lilith cut in, her voice flat as still water. "I need to rest. Happy birthday."
The line went dead.
I gripped the phone.
What the hell? What happened while I was gone? Everything she just said—that wasn't how she talked. She was hiding something.
I needed to see her. Face to face.
I turned to leave, but Rebecca stumbled forward and grabbed my sleeve, putting on a pitiful expression. "Andrei, I don't feel well..."
"Then go to the hospital. I'm not a doctor." I frowned and stepped back. "I'll have Marcus take you home. And Rebecca—when you've been drinking, don't lean on me. It reeks. Lilith doesn't like the smell."
I headed for the door.
"Boss."
Dmitri followed, his expression grim. He spoke low. "The intel from the informant is urgent. I need to tell you now."
I looked at him, patience thin.
"The Irish are moving tonight. They're targeting the northbound shipment. Sometime after midnight. Someone leaked the route."
Dmitri's words locked my body in place.
"Get in the car."
We'd just rerouted the north line last month. Only six people knew about it—all core lieutenants.
No gray area left this time. The rat was one of my most trusted.
That shipment was worth over a hundred million. Nothing could go wrong. I pushed finding Lilith to the back of my mind and laid out a new plan with Dmitri in the car—a route only the two of us would know. I'd reorganize the convoy overnight and escort it personally.
It wasn't that I didn't trust my people. But until we caught the traitor, the fewer people who knew the new route, the safer it was.
I headed to the Manhattan townhouse to draft the route on paper and grab heavy weapons. I had a fight coming.
At the townhouse, Dmitri and I went over the new route twice in the study. Only the two of us knew it. No digital trail—I sketched it on paper. Burn after use.
As I geared up to leave, I heard noise from the living room.
Downstairs, Luca sat on the couch. A bottle of whiskey on the coffee table was more than half gone. He held a glass, head down, mumbling something.
I stood in the doorway and caught a few words.
"Lilith... I didn't mean to... come back, damn it..."
Then some slurred muttering, then Lilith's name again, over and over, with a regret this little punk would never show sober.
"Having second thoughts?" I asked. Not that it mattered. Even if he regretted it, too bad. I wasn't giving Lilith up just because he was my son.
At my voice, Luca looked up. Saw me. Froze. The pain on his face quickly disappeared, replaced by his usual cocky smirk. "Second thoughts? What do I have to regret? You have no idea how much Lilith loves me!"
"She's just trying to make me jealous. Once she cools off, we'll get back together. And you've seen her—you know how awful her body is. No one else would want to marry a pig like that except me."
"Is that right?"
My face went cold. My forearm tensed, veins bulging. Without thinking, I backhanded him hard.
Luca's face snapped to the side. Blood seeped from his lip. The glass fell from his hand and rolled onto the carpet. He clutched his face, slowly looking up, eyes burning with anger and disappointment.
"You hit me? Why the hell did you hit me? Are you insane?"
"Luca, you should be grateful you're my son. Otherwise, for those disrespectful, disgusting things you just said about a woman, I'd strangle you."
I pulled out my handkerchief, wiped my hand, and tossed it aside. I turned to leave, then looked back.
"As your father, I'll teach you one last lesson," I said. "Some people—if you don't treasure them, once you lose them, they're someone else's. You'll never get them back."
"What the hell does that mean?" Luca's eyes burned into me.
I smiled. "You'll figure it out. One more thing—my wedding's next month. You're required to attend."
"You're getting married?" Luca looked stunned. I ignored him and headed out. As I reached the door, Luca suddenly roared, "Andrei, what gives you the right to lecture me?"
"You betrayed my mother! Now you're marrying someone else! What right do you have? Even if I screwed up, even if I didn't treasure Lilith—I'm better than you!"
"At least I didn't kill my own wife!"
My steps slowed. I looked at Luca's hateful expression. I stayed quiet for a moment.
So he knew.
All these years—the rebellion, the distance—it was because of this.
"Luca, what happened to your mother... it's not what you think. I'll tell you the truth. But not now. You're not ready to handle the consequences yet."
Luca's focused gaze suddenly went unfocused. He didn't say anything else. Just sat there, eyes red. I didn't know what he was thinking. Didn't have time to care.
I turned and left. Behind me came the sharp crash of a bottle hitting the floor, followed by Luca's sobbing.
"Married... everyone's getting married..."
"Why the hell is everyone getting married and leaving me behind..."
I paused at the door.
He didn't know who the bride was. When he found out, half a bottle of whiskey wouldn't be enough.
Before I left, I texted Lilith.
"Sorry, Lilith. Something urgent came up. I'll be tied up for a few days. Wait for me."
"Okay." Just one word. No emoji. She was pissed.
I wanted to see her, but clearly it couldn't happen now.
I got in the car. Once this was over, I'd go find her and clear things up in person.
The new route took nearly two days. Everything went smoothly until the third morning, when we hit trouble at a highway overpass entrance.
Declan's men had set up a blockade at the entrance—two cars parked across the road, cutting us off. More vehicles closed in from behind, boxing us in.
"Get out." I scanned for cover outside.
Gunfire erupted the instant I spoke, ripping toward us from the front. I ducked behind the car door, raised my gun, and squeezed the trigger, clearing the nearest targets in the first exchange.
They had numbers, but their formation was sloppy and rushed.
This ambush was clearly improvised, which meant they didn't know the new route—the best news tonight.
But it also meant bad news: the mole who didn't know the full route was in my convoy, feeding them real-time updates. After this was over, I'd catch him.
I moved between the car body and door, switching cover. My gun took life after life. The sound of gunfire and metal impacts created a familiar chaos. I executed kills coldly—this was how I'd always worked. And I constantly worried whether my fiancée could accept it.
Then, in a split second of distraction, searing pain tore through my right arm.
I snapped back, changed position, and kept going.
The firefight didn't last too long. We had manpower and firepower. They probably hadn't expected me to be in the convoy. They panicked, got suppressed, and the survivors retreated. The trucks were intact. The cargo undamaged.
It was over.
I leaned against a concrete barrier and looked down at my right arm. My coat sleeve had a tear. Underneath was a bullet graze, blood seeping out, staining the cuff dark.
Dmitri came over. "Boss, let me patch that up."
"It's nothing. Small cut." I pressed down on the sleeve. "Get the cargo delivered first. Everything else comes after."
He nodded and went to handle it.
I leaned against the car and didn't get back in right away.
Wind from the overpass kept blowing. The city lights in the distance looked diffused and blurry from this angle—no edges. I stood at the outer rim of that glow, my right arm still burning. I looked down at the dark red stain and suddenly remembered something from long ago.
The first time I got hurt in a firefight—many years back, much younger than now.
The wound was worse than today's. I'd been alone, sprawled in a corner of an abandoned warehouse waiting for backup.
That was the first time I seriously considered I might die there.
I thought it through and realized there was no one I absolutely needed to see before dying.
Then the rescue came. I survived. But living or dying felt about the same.
Tonight was different.
During the gunfire, my brain processed everything it needed to—dodge, shoot, protect the cargo... But one figure kept appearing in my mind, unrelated to my dark world, refusing to fade—Lilith.
Not just her vague outline. Specific images. Her beneath me. Her expression when she agreed to marry me after our fight. And that day—her cold voice on the phone, her cryptic tone...
In that instant, I thought: What if I die here tonight? I haven't married Lilith yet. I haven't cleared things up with her.
That thought weighed on me through the gunfire and even after everything stopped. Now, with the crisis over, it surfaced—too clear to ignore anymore.
I didn't want to wait.
As soon as this was done, I had to see Lilith.
After the cargo handoff, I got back in the car. It was late—the city quiet as a massive ruin at this hour. Streetlights punched isolated yellow circles on the ground.
I dismissed the driver and drove myself to Lilith's place.
Blood on my right sleeve had dried. The whole coat reeked of gunpowder. I knew I looked rough. I knew showing up at this hour was rude. Maybe she was asleep. But I didn't want to wait until tomorrow.
I parked below her building and looked up at her window. The light was off.
I sat in the car, hands on the wheel, and didn't get out right away. This late, maybe she was asleep. Maybe she was awake with the light off. I didn't know. But I knew I wasn't driving away.
Then I saw her.
Lilith turned the corner, carrying a small bag, wearing a thick coat, hair down. She looked exhausted.
Something stirred in my chest. I was about to get out when two men darted from the side of the street.
One stepped in front of Lilith and said something. She stepped back. He followed. The other circled to her side, cutting off her escape. She clutched her bag tight, shrank back, but had nowhere to go.
I shoved the car door open and sprinted toward them.
"Get the hell away from her."
The two men turned. Sized me up. One shifted half a step. The other didn't move. Sneered.
I didn't say it twice. I grabbed the one blocking her and twisted his wrist back.
I heard his joint pop out of place along with his scream.
He clutched his arm and stumbled backward, wailing, hitting the ground.
The other one came at me. I dodged and drove my elbow back.
He smashed into a wall and slid down, doubled over.
Both crawled up and fled.
Two punks harassing a woman. One word from me back home and they'd be dead. But now wasn't the time to deal with them.
I turned around.
Lilith stood there, looking up at me. Eyes red. Like she was desperately holding back tears.
We stared at each other for a few seconds.
"What are you doing here?" She spoke first, voice hoarse. She tried to look indifferent, but her trembling gave her away.
"To see you, obviously." After confirming Lilith wasn't hurt, I pulled her into my arms. "Lilith, I missed you. I've been going crazy. Did you miss me?"