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“It’s n-nothing.”
“Lia,” I warn under my breath.
“It’s Jeremy,” she blurts. “I’m worried about him.”
I don’t believe her, not because she’s not concerned about Jeremy, but her tone suggests it’s only an excuse.
She secretly touches the side of my jacket, her nails digging softly, almost hesitantly, into the material. “Can we go home?”
I don’t miss the way she calls my place ‘home’ or how her voice shakes around the word.
She probably considers it one because of Jeremy, but I still take a moment to let that word sink in as I stare at her. At her desperation and the way she’s breathing heavily. There’s definitely something wrong with her, and I’ll figure it out, but that’s for later.
Shaking my head once, I say, “I have a business meeting to attend.”
She drops her hand from my side and focuses back on her food, shoving a forkful in her mouth. I force myself to look away from her because she’s had my attention more than I like to show.
I catch Kirill’s smirk from my peripheral vision. He’s sitting on my left, licking his fork and wearing a cunning smile.The motherfucker.
For the rest of the dinner, I don’t glance in her direction again, even when I catch her stealing glimpses at me, begging me with her eyes to take her and leave.
There’s nothing I want to do more than that, but Sergei has called for a meeting after dinner. Not only for the elite members of the brotherhood, but he also asked the heads of the other crime organizations to join us. As a show of respect to Igor’s rank, he invited Lazlo, the Don of the Luciano family, and his underboss. There’s also Kai, the second-in-command of the Yakuza branch in New York, and his leader, Abe, an old man who has the temper of a silent mountain. Yet he’s been actively bugging Damien during the entire dinner, something for which our own black bull is about to shred the table to pieces. He has absolutely no patience whatsoever when it comes to using diplomatic methods.
A few other members from the Triads are also seated at Sergei’s table. I need to be at that meeting tonight. Which means I have to leave Lia again. Under the circumstances, that’s the last thing I want, but at least Kirill and Damien will be there with me and I won’t have to worry about them.
Yan has been given clear orders to keep an eye on her from afar.
As soon as dinner ends, everyone stands. When Lia gets up and starts to follow me, I say, “Stay here,” without turning toward her.
If I see her, if I get caught in her soft features and those sad blue eyes, I’ll be tempted to touch her. It doesn’t help that I haven’t gotten my fill of her over the past few days so she won’t cut her lip anymore.
“Adrian…” she murmurs.
“What?” I say harshly, still not looking at her, because now both Sergei and Kirill are standing there watching me instead of heading to the meeting.
“I want to tell you something.”
“Not now.”
“But…”
“Not now, Lia.” My tone is low and firm, offering no room for negotiation.
I don’t see her, but I can feel her going rigid behind me.
When I make a move to leave, Kirill and Sergei finally turn around and go upstairs to his office, where the meeting will be held.
I follow after but stop at the base of the stairs to glance at Lia and make sure she’s in Yan’s full view. Rai is linking her arms with her, leading her to a buffet section. I don’t want that woman anywhere near Lia, but at the same time, I can’t interfere and make myself noticeable.
Yan is standing about ten feet behind and nods at me when I meet his gaze. While he’s been a pain in the ass lately, I can at least trust he’ll keep her safe.
Kolya stops next to me and whispers in my ear in Russian, “Lazlo is coming, sir.”
“Go before me.”
My guard does as he’s told and I synchronize my steps so that Lazlo and I are the last ascending the stairs. His guard and underboss are one step ahead of us after having gotten the message from Kolya. We strategically planned this so that our talk can take place on the stairs with no one suspecting us.
Lazlo Luciano is around the same age as Sergei, but not as sickly. His hair is completely white and he has a scar over his cheek from when someone wanted to carve his face with a knife.
