Chapter 41 Lily
LILY
Ileave the plane with red-bitten lips and a pale face.
Somehow, I thought that my fear of flying was only related to military planes, but it was the opposite.
Without having Max and Logan by my side, I spent the entire flight close to tears.
If the grandma sitting next to me hadn’t talked my ear off, I would have probably slipped into a panic attack.
Someone pushes their way through the mass of taxi drivers, and the voice that calls out my name belongs to a small body in a soft pink tracksuit.
“There you are,” Ruby says, pulling me in for a hug.
A man clears his throat, acting like walking around us is an impossible task. It doesn’t take more than a glare from Ruby for him to go his way without another word or sound of complaint. I bet I would have gotten a proper desk at work if I was a little more like her.
“We should get going. The parking situation here is a bit—suboptimal.“
She takes my hand, leading me out of the building, and as I see where exactly she had parked her car, I slip into the passenger seat with a lowered head, holding the duffle bag in front of me to cover the rest of my face.
“Thanks for picking me up,” I say once we leave the crowd of people cursing Ruby for parking directly in front of the arrival hall behind us.
“Anytime. How was your trip? Did you and the guys talk?” She asks, grinning until the driver in front of her ignores a green light, and she slams her fist on the steering wheel to honk.
“The trip was great. I’m just sad it found such a quick ending,” I say with a sigh. “But yeah, we talked. A bit, among other things.”
“That’s what I wanted to hear.” Ruby laughs, and it takes a few minutes on the highway for my cheeks to return to their normal shade.
“And, are you going to stay with them?” She asks, getting ready to take the next exit.
“Yes,” I answer before Ruby even finished her question.
I fell for them both, no matter how long it took to shut up Brady’s voice in my head, the voice that kept telling me that this wasn’t possible, apart from it being wrong. I love Max, just like I love Logan, and we’re going to make it work.
Ruby squeals next to me, letting go of the steering wheel to squeeze my hand.
“I knew it would work out. And damn, am I happy that you’re a part of the family now.
It’s tiring to be the only girl among those gorillas, and it’s not like I could bring one of my assistants to family gatherings.
No, wait, I actually did, once,” she says, focusing back on the road as we turn into her street.
“I got her termination notice the same evening. God, I’m so glad they didn’t scare you off,” Ruby concludes as the garage door opens and she parks her car.
Perfectly aligned with the other one, and I don’t know if that makes the parking incident at the airport better or worse.
We spend the rest of the day catching up, and when I go to my room late at night, I make sure the teddy is sitting upright, facing my side of the bed. It’s easier to fall asleep, knowing that Logan is probably watching over me.
“Ruby…”
Lying on the lounger next to Ruby, I turn onto my side. She pulls her sunglasses down until they rest on the tip of her nose, looking at me with raised eyebrows.
“What did you do?”
“Nothing. Yet,” I say, gnawing on my bottom lip. “Can you keep a secret?”
“If telling Sam doesn’t count, yes.”
“Not even telling Sam. He’s gonna run right to Logan and Max, but I want to surprise them with the news.”
“I really don’t like keeping things from my husband.”
“It’s nothing bad, I promise,” I say, pulling my phone out from under the lounger.
“So, my uncle—he’s not really my uncle; he was married to my aunt, but they got divorced a while ago.
Anyway, he’s a lawyer, criminal defense, actually, but a lawyer is a lawyer.
I called him yesterday and asked him to take care of the divorce for me. ”
Ruby sits up straight, crossing her legs while she sucks up the rest of her frappuccino with a loud sound.
“Can’t you do that online?”
“Dario said not in my case. He needs me to sign a few documents, and I think he wants to see for himself that I’m fine.”
“I’m gonna get shit for leaving the house with you in tow,” she mumbles.
“And what if I send him your address so we can meet up here?”
“Nope. We’ve got a ton of cameras, so Sam could see him, and then he’d tell your men about it, and then we’d have approximately 3 hours before they stand in front of the door ready to scalp your uncle because you can bet your ass they will act before asking questions.”
Ruby sighs, scrambling for her phone before she lies back down.
“There’s a coffee shop not too far away. Ten, fifteen minutes if we take the car. But this meeting has to go by fast, and if the guys find out, it’s on you.”
“Deal,” I say, before sending Dario a message.
He answers immediately, telling me that he just finished a meeting with another client and that he should be able to make it to the coffee shop in around an hour.
“Why is he so damn worried about you?” Ruby asks when I tell her, searching for her slippers before she stands up from her lounger.
“He’s just really protective. At my wedding, he pulled Brady aside to tell him he’d knock out all his teeth if he breaks my heart. Guess that’s why he wasn’t shocked when I told him about the divorce.”
“Charming.” Ruby laughs as we go back inside the house to get dressed.
Half an hour later, we’re already on the way to the little coffee shop where we’re supposed to meet Dario.
Mochi trotted to the garage after us and only left once Ruby threw a generous handful of treats into the living room.
It’s not that Mochi isn’t able to behave outside, but her stomach doesn’t agree with car rides, and since Ruby and I agreed to keep the meeting short, we decided against taking her with us.
“I’m sorry for being snappy earlier,” Ruby says as we wait at a red light. “I really don’t like going behind Sam’s back, but I also know how the guys can be.”
“I know I’m asking for a lot,” I say, returning her smile. “Thank you for doing this with me. On top of all the other things you’ve been doing for me so far,” I add as Ruby searches for a parking spot.
“I just want you to be able to sleep soundly. And if they ever let Brady out, we can still take a trip to the Everglades,” she says as we get out of the car.
As we reach the coffee shop, I immediately spot a familiar face. Dario sits at a table for four in the back, busy sorting through a stack of documents that lies in front of him.
We haven’t had the chance to meet up in a good while. Money was tight since the move, and after the divorce from my aunt, Dario drowned himself in his work even more than he had before.
He looks a little more exhausted than I remember him, but he still wears his black hair slicked back with gel.
It has gotten longer, though, but it suits him.
The top buttons of his dress shirt are open, a tie lying on the bench next to him.
As I notice the temperature inside the coffee shop, I understand why.
“Your aunt really divorced that guy?” Ruby whispers.
“Mom’s side of the family.”
From an early age, I knew not to question Aunt Monica’s life decisions, but apart from my mom, no one understood her reasons for divorcing Dario. That’s why everyone, apart from Mom and Monica, continues to treat him as family.
“Lilo,” Dario says, a bright smile appearing on his face as he sees me. He gets up to pull me into a hug, but the moment he realizes that Ruby isn’t just another customer, his smile disappears.
“Lillian, how do you know this woman?” he asks quietly, urging me and Ruby to sit down with him.
“This woman has a name,” Ruby interrupts me before I can even say anything. “Ruby Ryves,” she says, holding out her hand to Dario.
“I thought it was Barron?”
“Not anymore.”
“Dario, please.” This situation is another reminder that I need to ask Ruby what exactly she does for work. “She’s my friend, she’s married to one of my—please don’t make me explain the details.”
“Your friend has quite the reputation.”
“I do my best,” Ruby says, thanking the waitress who brings her another one of those milkshake abominations she loves so much. “Get on with it. Her men don’t want her to leave the house.”
Dario eyes her and then me while I nervously scratch my neck.
“I think you meant man?”
“I know what I said, Mr. Dario.”
“Lillian, what kind of trouble are you in?”
“The big kind, if she’s not back home soon,” Ruby answers for me.
Breathing in deeply, Dario hands me a pen. “I need you to sign here, here, here…” Showing me document after document, he continues to explain his plans while I’m busy putting my signature everywhere.
“I’m going to try my best to make this work as an annulment case because Brady concealed his gambling addiction. If that doesn’t work, we’ll have to get a bit creative, but we don’t need to talk about the details right now.”
“Do we need Brady’s agreement for this to go through?” I ask once I’m done.
“Technically, we don’t. But Lillian—you know you need to tell your parents, right?”
“I will,” I reassure him. “Once the ink has dried. Don’t want my mom to interfere.”
“C’mon, we should get going,” Ruby says, tugging at my arm as Dario puts the documents back in his briefcase.
Dario checks his watch, groaning before he downs the rest of his coffee. “I need to get back to the office. I’ll call you as soon as I have good news.”
When he puts a few dollar bills on the table to pay for his and Ruby’s drinks, she shoves them back to him with a grin on her face.
“Be careful with your new friends, Lillian,” he says, still eyeing Ruby like he’s waiting for her to shoot him as we get up.
“I heard that, Mr. Dario,” she says while I give him a hug. “Are you as feisty in the courtroom?”
He’s already halfway out of the coffee shop, turning around to answer Ruby. “I’ll pass, Mrs. Ryves. Heard doing business with you kills more than just careers.”
Ruby just shakes her head with a laugh, pulling me out of the coffee shop after her.
“He does have a flair for the dramatic,” she says as we walk back to her car.
“Told you he’s protective of me.”
“Let’s just hope the little trip was worth it,” she says, getting in the car. “Wanna tell the guys about it now? Or maybe wait until we’re back home. I can’t focus on driving when they start yelling.”
“Yeah, I better wait,” I say, smiling as I look at the picture of Max and me on my home screen. I wish Logan was also on it, but I didn’t want to annoy him by asking.
“We could order a cake,” Ruby suggests. “Throw a divorce party.”
“Annulment party,” I correct her with a chuckle that’s stuck in my throat as my gaze catches on something in the rearview mirror.
All that time spent with the guys probably has me seeing ghosts. Still, I keep my eyes on the gray sedan following us. I’m a second short of telling Ruby, but as we round the corner and drive onto the street leading to her house, the car vanishes.
“Is everything okay? You're awfully pale,” Ruby says, looking at me with furrowed brows.
“I’m good,” I mumble. “Skipped breakfast today, I probably just need to eat something.”
“I’m sure we’ll find something for you in the fridge now that the guys aren’t here to steal all the good stuff.” Ruby turns off the engine, but as we enter the house, I can’t shake the feeling that something is off.
“Mochi, baby, we’re back,” Ruby says. Unlike usual, Mochi doesn’t come running to greet us, and the house is dead silent.
Ruby continues to call out for her, vanishing into the hallway leading to her and Sam’s bedroom, just when my gaze lands on the open patio doors.
“Hey, Ruby, did you leave the patio doors open?” I ask, a little louder, while I walk out on the terrace to check if Mochi is lounging outside, soaking up the sun.
She’s nowhere to be seen, and my gut tells me to get my phone out. To call Max, Logan, the police, anyone; because something is wrong.
“Put the damn phone down, Lillian, or I’ll kill both of you,” a man snarls behind me as he presses something hard and cold against my lower back.
Then I hear Ruby before she even steps out of the hallway. A man follows her, and a shiver runs down my spine as I realize I’ve seen him before. In the coffee shop, sitting outside together with another guy.
His gun is pressed against the back of Ruby’s head, but Ruby doesn’t seem too impressed.
“If you hurt my dog, I’ll wipe out your entire fucking bloodline, you dirty son of a bitch,” Ruby yells, and the man shoves her. “Touch me one more time, and you’ll regret it.”
He does.
Ruby slams her head back, and the man’s nose breaks with a nasty sound. He pushes her so hard she falls down, groaning when she lands on her hands and knees. A third man emerges from the hallway, making sure Ruby doesn’t move while the other one wipes his bleeding nose, cursing.
“Boss told you she’s vicious,” the non-injured guy says, a self-righteous grin on his face. “We’ll see how long she’s gonna fight back. I’m taking bets.”
Ruby acknowledges him by spitting right in front of his feet.
“You’re not like her,” the man holding me whispers, sliding my hair to the slide.
He strokes over my neck with his disgusting fingers, and I can’t wait for the moment when I’ll watch Logan cut them off one after the other.
“You won’t fight back. Nice and obedient, not causing me any trouble,” he murmurs, and I hate that he is right.
He cuffs my hands behind my back and takes my phone away from me before he shoves me inside the house, where the others struggle to restrain Ruby. She yells at them, fights, while I just stand there like a pathetic statue.
“Throw their phones somewhere and then get moving. The nerd should be done taking care of the cameras, and I don’t want to keep the boss waiting for too long.”
The man responsible for me turns around, stroking over my cheek, and a grin spreads on his face as he leans closer.
“He’s been dying to meet you, Lillian. To finally see the girl that got some of his best men killed.”