Chapter 39 - Lilia
It felt like we were wasting time, going back to Gavril’s mansion. I was too anxious, and it was clear his thoughts were churning a thousand miles a minute since he fell silent again as he led me upstairs.
He was trying so hard to make it seem like we could operate better with a little rest, but if the attacks were due to happen soon, and he was so concerned about his men from Russia getting caught in the crossfire, then a hot shower seemed very low in importance.
Until I got in the hot shower. It really was a good feeling to get rid of all the itchy salt that still clung to my skin and double shampoo the sea smell out of my hair, which had turned crispy and lifeless as it dried.
The water soothed the scrapes on my legs and freed all the sand from the larger scratch in my shoulder. I stayed under the steaming spray for longer than I should have, finally turning the water off. As soon as I stepped out of the shower, the anxiety came flying back.
How would Aleks take it when he saw me defending Gavril? Would he believe me or think I had been brainwashed?
The thoughts scattered as soon as I heard Gavril’s heated conversation coming from the bedroom. Wrapping a towel around myself, I cracked the door, nothing more than curious. This would save him some time having to explain what was going on, now that we were working together.
Except it didn’t take ten seconds to realize we were not working together. He was still plotting against my family, and from the sounds of it, couldn’t wait to meet up with his second in command and get started.
Did he really think he’d be able to leave me here, locked up once again, where no one could find me? All while he crushed everyone I loved? When we first came upstairs, he had slipped out of his jacket and shrugged his gun holster over his wide shoulders, leaving it on the dresser a few feet away.
I spied it now, just sitting there. He was unarmed, so sure he had me fooled that he had taken his damn gun off and left it for me. He really didn’t think I was a threat in any way, shape, or form.
Or he trusts me.
Pain sliced into my heart as I crept the few feet to grab his gun. My hands were wrapped around it as he was ending the call. I watched him savor his moment of victory, the pain becoming so harsh I had to gasp.
It took everything in me not to let the hot tears stinging my eyes fall. I remembered his lessons and kept my hands steadily aimed at his heart. If he was going to rip mine out with his lies and betrayal, I’d beat him to it.
When his eyes met mine, they were stunned and angry, but something else I couldn’t read. He didn’t bother putting his hands up, but he stayed where he was.
“Lilia—”
“Let me guess, you can explain.”
“Yes, I can. Please let me.”
The ‘please’ made me falter. Not enough to lower the gun, but my aching heart screamed at me to hear him out. Maybe I was wrong. But what was I wrong about? Ever trusting him in the first place, or trusting him now when so much was on the line?
Or was the biggest mistake falling in love with him? Of course it was, but there was no denying it any longer. Underneath my fury and fear for my cousins, there was the stupid fact that I had started loving the enemy. If I pulled the trigger, I’d never recover from losing him.
And yet, if I didn’t…
A big hand clamped around my wrist, and another hand twisted the gun from me in a quick, smooth movement.
“You can’t stand around thinking,” he said, taking a step away from me, the gun at his side. “You can’t ever let your guard down.”
The first of the tears I had been gulping back ran down my cheek. Did he think it was funny to give me another lesson in the midst of my failure? He wasn’t laughing as he reached to swipe away the tear.
“I shouldn’t have to tell you that was a setup you overheard. I needed to get the location out of the weasel who's been going behind my back and causing trouble for both of us for much too long.”
It might have been adrenaline from the seconds-long standoff where I actually wielded a gun at Gavril while seriously considering pulling the trigger, or it might have been intense relief that made my legs falter.
He gripped my arm and helped me to the bed. God, I was still wrapped in a towel. With only a mildly amused glance at my bare legs, he reached for his bathrobe and pulled it around my shoulders.
“It shouldn’t take me long to deal with Luigi,” he said, stripping out of his blood-stained shirt and heading toward the closet for a fresh one. The gun still rested loosely in his hand, but when he emerged, buttoning up his new shirt, it was gone.
“And then we’ll meet with my cousin?” I asked. An apology clogged my throat, but Gavril didn’t seem to expect one.
“And then I’ll meet with your cousin,” he corrected. “After I get Luigi to call off his attacks—”
“Are you kidding me?” I asked, suddenly full of rage all over again. I tossed off the robe and stomped toward the closet. He followed me in a hurry, but I wasn’t looking for his gun; I was getting dressed. “I am not staying here all by myself. You’re not leaving my sight.”
“You are, and I am,” he said mildly.
I jerked a shirt over my head and grabbed a pair of jeans, swinging them at him before tugging them on.
Then I lunged and shoved him with all my might, standing in the doorway like a smug roadblock, so sure of himself and his orders.
He took me by the arms and looked down at me, his expression softening.
“Do you believe me or not? Do you trust me or not?”
There was a pleading note under the rough growl. He needed to know where I stood, and not just for logistics. His heart was on the line, too. Or was that more wishful thinking?
“I do,” I said, only faltering a bit.
He breathed out a long gust. “With just about as much enthusiasm as at our wedding.”
“What wedding was that?” I snapped. “I only remember being forced to sign some papers and repeat after the priest.” I poked him in the chest. “You’re crazy if you think you’re going anywhere without me.
Don’t bother saying a single word about my safety, either.
I’m safer with you than any of your guards. ”
He scowled at the truth of this, but still blocked the closet door. Was he going to lock me in?
“And you’ll need me with you if you have any hope of meeting with Aleks. I’ll be the only thing keeping any one of the many, many snipers from putting a bullet through your head the second you get past his front gate.”
I had him there. He knew better than anyone how formidable my cousins were. The Collective had been losing battles against them for much too long now for him not to understand he was a walking dead man without me, whether or not he managed to call off the attacks or not.
It was written all over his face that he was going to have to acquiesce to my demands for once. Then a slow smile curled his lips and gave me a little shiver.
“It’s nice to see how much you care,” he said, reaching for me.
I was drawn to him like a bee to honey, and found my feet shuffling closer to his big form. “Maybe you’re just worth more alive than you are dead,” I said, my own lips twitching, unable to stay in a frown.
He had his arms around me, pulling me close. I rested my head against his chest as his hands rose up my back to tangle in my wet hair. He tugged my head back, giving me a stern look from his great height.
“You will do whatever I tell you, without hesitation,” he said. “When I go in to speak with Luigi, you will stay in the car with the guard.”
I was getting what I wanted. “Of course,” I said, tipping my head back farther and rising on my toes for the kiss I had been waiting for.
Like hell. I’d had it up to my eyebrows with Gavril’s guards.
“I’m serious,” he said, pulling away, but still so close I could feel his warm breath against my lips.
“Okay, Gavril,” I said impatiently, eager for another kiss.
There wasn’t enough time for more than another quick swipe of our lips, and we were back on the road, with a stern driver who spoke solely in Russian to Gavril, as if I couldn’t understand.
There wasn’t much new to be learned. We really were heading to the place Luigi had run to as soon as his cowardly, betraying ass was back in LA.
If he had honestly been betraying Gavril this whole time.
There was still a kernel of doubt in the very farthest corner of my mind.
And I had a long history of trusting my mind.
My heart? Not so much. I was a complete newbie at being in love, and didn’t trust myself to see past the yearning for that elusive happy ending.
We pulled up into an office block and drove all the way back to the last building in the park, set apart from the others by a large fence.
We had to wait to be buzzed through. Gavril confidently rolled his window down to show his face to the camera while the driver maintained a stony silence, staring straight ahead.
While Gavril seemed like he was going for a massage, my stomach tied up in knots. Was this a trap, and if so, was it set for Gavril or me?
“Remember your promise,” he said, sliding his hand behind my neck for a kiss. Not a last kiss. I couldn’t think that way. “These are bad guys. Completely untrustworthy. You’re not going to be within ten feet of them ever again.” He gave me a hard look, pleading and commanding at the same time.
I could only nod as I watched him hop out of the car, a confident spring in his step as he neared the front door. He walked right through without looking back.
Completely untrustworthy? Who was he to talk? Who was I to believe he meant a single word he said, no matter what seemed to shine from his eyes when he said it?
Not sure what my final goal was, I stared at the back of the silent guard’s head.
Mustering my courage. He was beefy, his neck as thick as the top of my thigh.
I pulled a lip gloss from my bag, added a dab, and then made a show of dropping it.
He didn’t give me a single glance. Why should he?
I was a third of his size and unarmed. Once I leaned over to retrieve the lip gloss, I quickly felt around underneath both front seats, smiling when I felt the spare gun.
There wasn’t a single one of my cousins who didn’t keep multiple weapons in their cars at all times, and it looked like Gavril was no different.
This is only possible because he trusts me. The thought came with a minor twinge of guilt. I could easily be handcuffed right now. But I wasn’t. I might have been inexperienced in the world of crime, but I knew a bad gut feeling when I got one.
Something wasn’t right. What if Gavril never made it back to me?
What if he was right now laughing his ass off over my gullibility?
Straightening up like a cobra, I bashed the guard over the head with the butt of the gun, then hit him again for good measure. As soon as he slumped over the steering wheel, I took off to find out the truth. It was time to confront my so-called husband.