Chapter 30 - Gavril
The absolute perfect unreality of our stolen honeymoon couldn’t last. I knew that problems would arise that I couldn’t keep putting off.
After a few days where it was just Lilia and me, I had to deal with the avalanche before everything I worked for was gone.
It was so damn hard to care when Lilia’s face fell every time I had to step away to take a call.
It wasn’t just LA, though they were my biggest headache.
Things in Russia weren’t exactly going to plan.
The group that was giving my men trouble proved to be a more formidable foe than they originally thought, but they remained optimistic that they’d be able to finish this minor war and get to the US to help squash Luigi’s faction.
One particular morning, Lilia and I were in the kitchen, giggling as we packed a basket full of decadent treats to take on a hike in one of the nearby nature trails. Did I just admit to giggling? Lilia had finally broken me down enough to try reading a novel, so it seemed that wonders never ceased.
“Do you think we’ll see an alligator?” she asked.
“You saw for yourself in the brochure that the banks were lined with them.” I turned to her and tapped her adorable, upturned nose. “Don’t tell me you’ve never seen one.”
“Only in a zoo,” she said. “These will just be hanging out in the wild. What if they get hungry?”
I pulled her close and gave her a long, lingering kiss that had her melting against me. “You’re certainly a delicious morsel,” I said.
The trip to the wildlife preserve was on the way to being forgotten when my phone rang.
She slipped away, eyes downcast. The first few days, I left my phone to rot, only checking it briefly while she was changing or in the shower.
As things escalated, as they tended to do when the boss ignored them, I had to answer more and more.
“Just a few seconds,” I promised.
It was a promise I couldn’t keep, and we never got to see any alligators that day. I tried to make it up to her, but she must have taken the time alone to remember I was supposedly her enemy. She was suddenly her old self again, quiet and locked away.
No matter what I tried, I couldn’t find the key to break through her unhappiness.
I berated myself for caring, reminded myself of what was important, and tried to be angry.
None of it worked. She had changed something in me, a thought or a belief.
Something that made me want more than the illusion of perfect days.
We were walking on the beach one evening, our hands brushing but not clasped together, our shadows lengthening on the damp sand. She scurried away from a wave that washed up further than the others, but there was no delight in her eyes as she dodged the spray.
“Something’s wrong,” I said, stopping in my tracks. Water sluiced over my feet, surprisingly cold, but I didn’t move.
“What?” she asked, looking around for the threat.
I shook my head. “No, I mean with you. Tell me what it is, Lil. Let me fix it.”
Was I making another promise I couldn’t keep just to bring the light back to her eyes? She looked relieved that I had noticed, but also scared to death, as if she were dying to tell me something she didn’t dare.
She couldn’t possibly still be scared of me. What we shared recently was real.
But it wasn’t. I knew that as well as she did.
Suddenly, I wanted it to be real. Whatever I felt was more than I let myself believe.
More than a good time, or a means to an end.
If that were the case, I would have used her to crush the Petrovs by now.
When Luigi thought up schemes to sell her to a mutual enemy as a distraction, it wasn’t just pure loathing of the thought of another man touching her that made me go ballistic.
It was also because it was a good idea. One that could work.
Just not in my lifetime.
I had been letting my feelings get in the way of solid leadership and my ultimate goals. Because of that, I was barely keeping the wolves at bay, shoving aside everything I believed in. Ruthlessly acquiring power.
I reached for her hand, but she stepped back, sinking into the wet sand. Her face took on a determined look as she gathered up her courage. “I know you’re planning something against my family.”
I almost laughed. For once, I wasn’t. I was actively trying to keep Luigi and his crew from doing something along those lines. She hurried to continue her speech before I could speak.
“I know I can’t fight you,” she said. “I know I can’t run away.” Why did this feel like a fist breaking through my ribcage to squeeze my heart? “All I can do is ask you to stop it,” she finished, blinking away tears as she forced herself not to look away.
I pinched the bridge of my nose and let out a long sigh.
I couldn’t just tease this away. Nor could I brush it off and deny that it wasn’t happening.
Luigi might have been working against me, but he was still my responsibility.
She was far too sensitive and intelligent to believe nothing was in the works.
My hopes that I could somehow amass enough power to orchestrate a takeover that would leave minimal damage and keep Lilia from wanting to see me dead were dwindling.
If I wanted to keep her—and that meant happy and smiling and throwing her arms around me—I had to make a true promise.
One that could never be broken, no matter what the cost.
I stepped forward and took her hands, holding on tight. “No one will harm your family.”
It was the best I could do, and one hundred percent honest. I could make that happen and still come out on top. But did she believe me?
She stared into my eyes for a long moment, and I kept her gaze, unwavering. A small smile tried to come to life at the edge of her lips, and she stepped forward. Her kiss was all the answer I needed. I pulled her close, holding on so tight she gasped against my mouth.
The question I had been asking myself since day one popped into my head as she wrapped her arms around my neck and dragged her body against mine.
Was Lilia worth everything I had been putting myself through?
She whispered my name, her breath warm on my cheek. I had the answer at last.
Yes. Yes, she was.