by Tiffany Jade
"I need to speak to Liviana alone," his voice takes on that deep commanding tone again. Apparently deciding it's better to listen than find out how hard that wall can really be, Dean's uncle and the other man show themselves out of the room. I sit up on the couch and curl my legs under me as Dean walks towards me. He sits down next to me and takes a deep breath as I lean away from him.
"I'm trying to make sure you don't get hurt Livi, I promise." He reaches for my hand but I quickly move it away from him.
Sighing, he settles back into the couch, I freeze as him leaning back reveals the shiny gun under his shirt. He catches my gaze and quickly pulls his shirt back down. "Come on Liv, you're starting to see how our world works, you really think any of us walk around without some form of protection?"
"Last week I was just a college girl trying to figure out how I was going to juggle this year's party schedule and finals and now I'm surrounded by mafia from around the world and a bunch of men are fighting over who gets to kill me first, forgive me if I'm a little wary." I can't help the sarcasm that drips from my words.
Dean chuckles a bit and meets my eyes. "Touché Livi. But seriously," he reaches down and removes the gun from its holster and hands it to me. When I refuse to take it, he sits it in my lap and once again settles back into the couch. "I don't want to hurt you. Now you can take that gun right there and try your hand at getting out of here in one piece, or you can trust me and my plan to get us all out of this mess alive."
I look down and study the shiny chrome resting on me. Lighter than I had expected from a gun of that caliber, not a bad protection weapon. I'd leave the fact that I was a pretty damn good shot to myself for now.
Dean didn't need to know that Mom had taken both Sof and I to the shooting range a few years after Dad left and made sure her girls knew how to handle themselves. I force an uncomfortable look onto my face and motion for him to remove the gun. He quickly does so, re-holstering it in the blink of an eye.
"Fine. How the hell do I get out of this situation?" I make sure to emphasis the I part of my sentence, but Dean ignores the dig.
"Easy...I'm going to need you to be my girlfriend." The sound of heavy footsteps can be heard coming down what I assume to be a hallway beyond the door. "And you're going to have to fall in love with me, right about..." the door bursts open revealing a large, muscle bound older man with ice blue eyes that look like they could freeze you—or kill you—with one glance. "Now." Dean finishes, so quietly I barely catch it.
His hand finds mine and squeezes, judging by the monster in the room now I don't have much choice at this point so I squeeze back and smile sweetly.
Dean stands pulling me up with him and tucks me into his side.
"Good evening Father," Dean begins, "I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend, who as of recently has realized she would like to be on the winning side of this war. Liviana this is my father, Viktor Devlov."
Chapter 22
"You've got to be fucking kidding me!" A voice that sounds exactly like my brother's rings out through the door to the diner we had just pulled up to. With a quick glance at Luca we both jump out of the truck and rush for the building, just in time to watch Grayson put his hand through the cheap wallpapered wall above a 50's style booth. Liv's phone is resting on the table.
The few patrons in the room freeze and turn, a couple ducking down in fear as not only is Grayson fuming but probably at the sudden influx of men dressed all in black with guns on their hips taking over the eatery. A young cook peeks out from the back kitchen, but quickly turns back around.
"Excuse my cousin," finally realizing Nate is standing a few feet behind Gray, both Luca and I share a confused moment. Nate smiles his best 'good guy' smile at the grey haired waitress who begins heading for Grayson. "I will gladly pay for that damage ma'am!"
"You boys just get on out of here with those attitudes of yours, we don't need that in these parts." Showing not a stitch of fear the waitress ignores Nate and walks right up under Grayson's nose. "The young lady sitting at this booth looked quite happy and relaxed with her suitor," she turns and glares at the rest of us, "and he was much more civilized than you lot."
Taking that as our cue to leave, I walk up to Grayson and begin to lead him out of the diner. He cradles Liv's phone in his hand. Giving Luca a look, he pulls out his wallet and hands the waitress a stack of hundreds.
"Our apologies ma'am."
Gray stumbles through the door without a word so I just lead him to Luca's truck and shove him into the back as Luca and Nate walk out with the grumpy waitress chewing their ass up one side and down the other. She locks the door behind us.
"Fancy meeting you here," I turn towards Nate who at least has the sense to send me a sheepish grin.
"I owed him," he replies with a shrug. Luca smacks him upside the head.
"You're gonna owe me now fucker." Luca and Nate instantly start arguing as I look back to Gray. His face is pale and his eyes are swollen with bags showing he hasn't slept in who knows how long.
"What were you thinking bro?" I ask him, as calmly as possible even though I want to beat his ass right now too.
"I thought I was going to have to save her," he mumbles as he turns the phone over and over in his hand. "I thought she would be waiting for me to come for her." He throws the phone to the ground, shattering the screen. "But she was with him. Happy with him. Fucking happy with him."
He starts to swear under his breath. "He's a fucking traitor and he still got the girl. She probably knew the whole time. I bet this was all a part of the plan, that's why when we came back they were together, she had to come back to me when we showed up that night to keep it going."
I am rarely at a loss for words, but even I couldn't come up with anything to say. My brother was destroyed. I have seen him hurt. I have seen him a little heart broken. But this, this was destroyed.
"What do you want to do Gray?"
"Just take me home bro," he settles himself into the seat and shuts the door.
"So you want me to believe that she just ran off with Dean?" Jenna looks between Luca, Nate and I as we stand outside Liv's sister's house.
"The waitress said she showed no signs of stress, that she actually looked really happy." Nate throws out the words but Jenna looks wary.
"We will give her some time, but if we don't hear from her soon we can start looking for her again," I wrap my arm around her and she rests her head on my shoulder.
"No, I don’t believe this. I don’t care what that waitress said, it’s not like her to just run away," she turns to hug me.
My arms instinctively wrap around her, wishing I could make her feel better, but then Grayson's words make me pull back.
If Liv was with Dean this whole time, and Liv and Jenna had been best friends for, well for-fucking-ever, then Jenna was in on it too. And holy shit it all made sense, how else would it all fall so perfectly. Grayson fell for one, the other made me fall for her.
We got took.
"It's not everyday you find out that everyone in your life has been lying to you either." I take a couple of steps back, I'll give her credit for the look of confusion on her face.
"Luca, can you get Jenna a ride home? I got some more shit to handle." Luca nods and I turn and head back for Grayson who's now waiting in my rental.
"Wait!" Jenna shouts after me but I keep walking. "DAX!" I turn to see her eyes watering. "You're just leaving me, in the middle of all this?" Damn she's good. My heart flips for a second, maybe...no.
No way.
I turn back and get into the driver's seat. Grayson nods, it had all clicked for him too.
"You know that means Dad knew this whole time right? About Dean. About Liv. About Jenna." Gray just nods again.
"So what now?" I ask as I pull away. "Where do we go?"
"L.A." Gray grins, the kind of grin I hadn't seen come from him in a while. Malicious, the old Grayson has turned back on. "I have a wedding to plan."
I can feel the smile fa
ll off my face as we turn onto the highway. The pain in my chest starts taking over again. I don't know why I was surprised this time. Good things didn't happen to me. Love didn't mean shit in my world. Unless it was planned, by my father of course, who, since I was born, had had an insane desire to control my brother and me. And when we rebelled, we always got smacked back down.
So why would this time be any different?
No, it would be different. Because I figured it out this time. And right now Father was waiting for me to go on a wild hunt to find Liv, who was probably tucked away happy with Dean.
All the while he had some hidden agenda for this all, after all the lies there was a good chance Dean wasn't even Devlov's son.
For the first time in my life, I was going to do the exact opposite of what my father would expect— exactly what he said to do. Pulling out my phone I grimace as I pull up the name, but I have no choice.
Daxon's eyes widen as he hears her voice come over the phone.
"Hey Sera, I'm coming home. Have you decided what flowers you wanted?"
Viktor's smile froze me into place. It was a full face smile that was wholly charming, and wholly confusing. It completely contradicted the icy glare that he had had upon entering the room. And also the fear that was palpable coming off of the other man in the room who had entered with him.
"Aw, our dear Liviana has finally graced us with her presence," his voice comes out smooth and heavily accented. "Dean has told me so much about you." He reaches out his hand and grasps mine, gentle yet firm.
"Only the good parts are true, the rest he makes up to make himself look better," I give him a small smile and his laughter fills the room.
"Ah! A sense of humor!" He lets go of my hand and motions for Dean and I to take our seats on the couch. Moving quickly to do as he wishes I end up damn near on Dean's lap, eliciting another laugh from Viktor. "You weren't lying when you said the young girl liked you, eh my boy?"
Dean grins and wraps his arm around my shoulder pulling me in close to him. I shudder inside but maintain my smile.
Viktor pulls up a chair in front of us, taking his time to sit down and get comfortable before looking between us and settling his gaze on me. "Now tell me dear girl," he pauses, leaning forward. "What are your intentions with my son?"
I freeze, how the hell am I supposed to answer that question?! Uhhhhh, I intend to be his girlfriend so that I don't end up dead on this pretty tan couch. Dean squeezes my hand and chuckles.
"I'm just kidding young one!" Viktor lets out another roar of laughter. "No no, you my dear girl are too innocent for our world, I guess the appropriate question would be, 'What in the world do you see in my son?' but we will leave that for another day!" He leans back in his chair and focuses on Dean.
"Now, knowing Dean, I would guess that he has only slightly filled you in on the nuances of our home here. I do not have much time tonight to inform you of everything but just in case he has forgotten." His eyes darken a bit as they land on me and his tone begins to change to one that I had more expected. "There will be no leaving the grounds, unless Dean has gotten permission from me to take you somewhere. There will be no leaving your room unless Dean is with you. There will be no outside phone calls, text messages, emails, twitterers, snappychatters, or whatever else it is you kids use these days to communicate." I swallow hard as he rattles off a few more instructions, all based around me basically being a prisoner here in, well honestly I don't know where. "Liviana?" His hard voice breaks through my thoughts, "Are we clear?"
"Yes sir." I figure its best to be agreeable for now, I may have an attitude but I don't have a death wish.
"Any questions?" Dean squeezes my hand again, letting me know it's safe to ask something if I need to.
"Um, I'll have my own bedroom?" Viktor begins to laugh again.
"Oh silly girl!" He smacks Dean on the shoulder playfully, but showing a bit more power than necessary, I'm sure for my benefit. "You will be sleeping in Dean's room, I'm not so old fashioned that I don't know what you young couples like to do." He stands, still chuckling to himself as he heads for the door. "Dean, show the lady to your room please. You may bunk down for the night, we will speak in the morning."
"Thank you Father," Dean stands and nods as his dad heads out of the room. Once he is out of ear shot Dean faces me, "See he's not so bad."
"Yeah you're not the one on house arrest, being held captive by some Russian mafia boss in the middle of God knows where when all you wanted to do with your life was go to college and get a nice job and make some decent money and maybe at some point meet some nice not mafia guy who instead of killing people in his spare time liked shit like I dunno movies or fucking knitting you know something calm and quiet and maybe settle down and have a kid or two and a white picket fence and oh God I'm scared."
Dean quickly comes back to the couch and gives me a hug, which I accept because let's face it, he's the friendliest face I'm going to be seeing around here. So I hug him back and cry into his shoulder for a minute.
"It's going to be okay Liv, I promise." He whispers as he rubs my back softly. His words don't help but my mini break down is all I need. I sit up and wipe the tears away. Crying isn't going to get me through this.
"I'm ready for some sleep." Dean stands right away and reaches for my hand. When I don't take it he tries to hide his offended face but turns and walks towards the door.
"As you wish," he opens the door for me and waves me out into the hall that seemingly stretches on forever and branches off about eight different ways.
Yeah, that's a for sure on me getting lost at some point. I grab his hand before he can walk further past me and now he tries to hide the grin on his face.
"Don't worry Livi, I'll keep an eye on you." He whispers as he places a kiss on the top of my head. My stomach flips, I know you will. And that's going to make it even harder to sneak out of here.
He leads me down the long hallway and as we take our first right I decide to test my boundaries.
"So..." I venture with a lilt to my voice. "Where are we?"
"My house," he responds without even glancing my way.
"No shit, Dean." I can see the corner of his mouth pull up slightly.
"Well, one of my houses." We take a left and walk past a group of rather large men gathered around a pile of...guns...yep that’s guns, a nice big pile of weapons I’d be smart to assume are loaded and ready to go. Now Dean is fully smirking.
"And which one of these houses are we currently wandering around?"
"Eh, probably my third favorite one." He shrugs in nonchalance as we reach a giant staircase. "Ladies first," he lets go of my hand and makes a sweeping motion toward the stairs.
"No, you just want to watch my ass as I walk up the stairs. You go first." I point up and wave him along, getting a chuckle but he proceeds to walk up.
"Enjoying your view Livi?" he asks as he gets a few steps ahead. I shake my head but refuse to respond as I begin to follow.
"Your third favorite house is located...?" Holy shit I'm out of shape, I realize as we hit the top of the staircase and I have to take a second to catch my breath.
"Well not in Texas, and not in Hawaii like my first and second favorite homes." Dean grabs my hand and tugs me along after him.
"Dean!" I refuse to step with him, making him stop and look at me.
"What does it matter where you are Livi?" he asks as he steps in closer to me. "Aren't you just happy to be here with me?" He steps in close and pulls me into him. "In that office, we were safe. In my room, we will be safe. But out here there are cameras and microphones all over Livi," he whispers into my ear. "We are close to L.A. okay," he tucks his head into my neck and I can feel his lips against my skin. "But if you run, I can't protect you from him Livi, he's thirsty for something and I can't stop him and you already know too much." He presses a kiss to my cheek. "Now smile please, he's watching." His hand raises to cup my cheek as I look up to meet his eyes, painting what I hope looks like a lov
e struck smile on my face. He smiles back and we continue on until we finally reach a French door at the end of a hallway.
He opens the door dramatically, and I am a little amazed at what lays beyond. His room is more like his own wing. With a large living area to the right and an equal sized bedroom to the left, I'm automatically drawn to the wall of windows in the bedroom. A massive bed faces out towards the floor to ceiling view of the ocean. Miles of open beach with white sands, as far as I can see on both sides. Not a soul outside.
"Quite the view," Dean stands in the doorway, leaning up against one of the sliding doors. He's looking right at me, not the ocean behind.
"Very funny bud," I roll my eyes as I turn back to look out the window.
"You cold?" he asks, pulling a soft throw off of a lounge chair next to me and wrapping it around my shoulders. He stays too close behind me after his arms fall back down to his sides.
"Um yeah!" I exclaim a little too loud, I can see his eyes widen in the reflection of the glass. I quickly side step him and head for the door. "And tired, I'll just go crash on the couch over there ok!"
"Livi, stop." I stop but don't turn, worried about what he is going to say next. I hear him take a deep breath, and sigh. "You take the bed, I've got the couch." He grabs a pillow and glides past me before I can argue, and with one last look he shuts the door behind him.
Unsure of what else to do I walk towards the bed and sit down. It's so soft, the mattress literally hugs my body and before I can process I'm even moving, I lay down. My eyes instantly start to close as I pull the blanket tighter around me. I'm just tired. Really tired. And stressed. So fucking stressed. He's still the bad guy, I still need to get away. Tomorrow. I can think better tomorrow...
Chapter 23
"How in the holy fuck did she spend over $100,000 on fucking flowers bro?!" Dax's voice carries from the living room as I grab us a couple of beers from the fridge. He clearly found the wedding receipts.