Scandalous Heroes Box Set (103 page)

She knew that she didn’t have a lot of time.

Bolting up the stairs in nearly a sprint, she slipped her keys into the wide oak door and pushed it open.  Wind chimes jingled on the porch in the wind as she closed the door behind her.  Normally, the sound was inviting, but tonight, it sent chills down her spine. 

In pitch black with only the street light outside to guide her through the foyer, she moved quickly to the living room lamp to turn it on, but felt someone move from out of the shadows and grab her from behind.

The large arms were strong and unforgiving.  With a hand across her mouth to keep her screams muffled, she felt the strange embrace pull her into his body. Only it wasn’t rough or threatening. 

“Shh,” he whispered in her ear.  “Leave the lamp off.  We don’t know who is watching.”

Even as her body shook in fear, the sound of his voice soothed her.  She knew the voice and strangely suddenly remembered the touch. Her hand that had been pushing the arm away from her waist, suddenly stroked it. She could feel the muscles in his forearm and feel the scars that she had memorized over ten years ago. 

Slowly, he removed his hand from her mouth and allowed her to turn slightly to see his face.  Seeing him in the flesh after all those years literally made her heart skip a beat.  He was even more beautiful now. 

Without thought, she grabbed him and hugged him tightly, soaking up his body heat and melting into his muscles.  “Vasily,” she whispered, head pressed against his chest. 

Vasily wasn’t expecting the warm welcome but he couldn’t deny that he enjoyed it.  He held her tight and closed his eyes.  Thank God she was okay.  Still here.  Still safe.

“Lilly,” he answered in a low baritone.  “I didn’t mean to scare you.”

The release was painful.  As he moved away, she took a deep breath.  “I’m just glad it’s you.”

Vasily’s eyes flickered like diamonds in the light coming through the windows.  His mouth curved into words like he was fighting saying something, but a flash of sanity made him push whatever was on the tip of his tongue back to the recesses of his mind.  

Lilly knew that look.  He was shutting down.  Redirecting to kill the awkwardness, she moved on to more pressing issues.  “How long have you been here waiting on me?” she said, praying that he didn’t hear the thud of her anxious heartbeat. 

“I just arrived about five minutes before you.”  He stepped closer to the window and looked out again. 

“How did you get in?” she frowned.

He raised a brow.  “Really?”

She couldn’t help but crack a sideways smile, despite the situation.  “It’s been a while.  Forgive me. I forget who I am talking to.”

Her smile did something to him, even in this situation.  He quietly admired her warm face.  She was just as beautiful as the day that he had left her here. 

He nodded and kept his voice pitched low.  “We don’t have a lot of time. I need you to get a bag and be ready to go in five minutes.  My car is around the back of the house.  I’ll take you to a private air strip…”

Lilly shook her head, cutting him off.  “We have one more stop to make before we leave here then.”

“We don’t have time for any stops,” he urged.  “I can’t be certain what Leo’s intentions are.  He could already be in another country or right around the corner.  Until I can figure out what is going on, you’re not safe.” 

Lilly’s chest tightened, but she managed to get the words out.  “I have to get my son.  He’s at the babysitter’s house.  He stays there whenever I’m at work.”  Her eyes bounced about, unable to look straight at him. 

Vasily froze like a snapshot. “Son?” he asked.

Lilly nodded.  “My son,” she repeated. She finally looked at him and exhaled a deep breath. 

Vasily licked his lips and took a step back. 
He wasn’t expecting that
.  “Where is the father?  Is he going to be a problem?”

“No,” she said softly.  Her eyes darted again, this time catching Vasily’s attention, though he said nothing. 

He nodded abruptly, trying to hide his disappointment.  “Good, well then…” He looked toward the hallway.  “Let’s hurry and get your
son
.”

***

As Vasily had instructed, Lilly left her old battered car in the driveway and made the house look as though she and her son were there.  However, even though she was glad to be getting some help, it still felt odd for Lilly to leave her home after so many years. 

She tried hard to hide her anxiety as she rode in the car with Vasily.  In a state of silent panic, she swallowed down the tears as she watched her home fade in the car’s mirrors.  She pushed past the pain in her chest when she was forced to leave the photos on the walls and the finger paintings on the refrigerator.

Somewhere during the transition of being a mafia wife to a minimum wage worker, she had grown a lot, seen the many errors in her ways.  She was proud now to be her own person and proud to have something to be proud of that wasn’t based upon someone else’s title or banking account.  It had not been easy, but she had survived and now that reality was quickly disappearing. 

Not used to the cold air of a luxury car, she opted to let her window down and take in the night air.  It blew through her hair and wiped away the excess tears that she couldn’t hold back from the corners of her tired eyes.  She was expecting Vasily to insist that she let it back up, but he drove quietly, never uttering a word and keeping his eyes on the road.

He’s angry
, she thought to herself. 
He thinks that I’ve been with someone else.

She had not.

Not since he touched her all those years ago. 

Leo had been a lesson in life about bad men, and Vasily had been a lesson in her life about good ones.  Both had left an indelible mark on her, changing her perceptions of relationships forever. 

She looked over him, brooding in his prickly exterior, and felt the need to reach out and touch him, to reassure him of her undying love but she did not.  She kept her hands balled up in her lap, wishing that he could drive faster to get to her son. 

Despite everything else she couldn’t help notice that the years had been kind to him.  He had aged well, become more beautiful in fact.  Well-groomed in his black tailored suit, he looked like a man of means, smelled intoxicatingly masculine.  Vasily was regal now, a man who had conquered his fears and the world around him.  She could see it in his posture, in his stare. 

Feeling her looking at him, Vasily glanced over at her, but she quickly looked away. 

After hearing that she was a mother, Vasily stood in the living room in the same spot quietly while she packed a couple of bags and then escorted her out of the back door to his car. Somehow, even though he knew there had been many years put between them, he still was not ready for the news that she had moved on, even for a night. 

Seeing her again had been earth-shattering for him.  When he had held her in her living room, it had been torture to let go.  She felt warm and gentle, just the way that she had felt the first time that he had held her.  Being around her had sent him back ten years in life and suddenly for the first time in a very long time, he felt vulnerable.

He had so many questions.  Did she love another man now?  Was she leaving someone that she truly cared for?  Had he been just an instrument to keep her safe? 

His questions were endless and his solitude even more so than the moment that he walked away from her. 

As they pulled up to the address that she had put into the GPS, he put the car in park and turned off the lights.  Staring at the building, he realized just how poor Lilly was now. 

“This it?” he asked as a man with a Colt 45 walked pass the car and looked inside. 

With a nod, she opened the door.  “I’ll be right back.”

“I will go with you,” he insisted, getting out also.

“Do you think that’s wise?  You sort of…” She squinted her eyes. “Stick out.”

“Someone could be in there waiting on you,” he said, rubbing his hand over his guns in their holsters. “I can’t risk it.”  Plus, he was used to sticking out, especially in the south. 

They walked side-by-side through the low-income apartment complex past the people standing outside congregating under the street lights to a unit on the first floor. It was the only one with a welcome mat out front.  

Feeling mildly embarrassed, Lilly rang the doorbell. 

An older black woman came to the door with an apron on, holding a small baby in her arms. 

Vasily wondered if the little baby, brown and chubby, was Lilly’s.

“You’re early,” the woman said, opening the door so that they could both come in.  She gave Vasily a look that he couldn’t shake, like she knew him from somewhere.

“Is Dylan still up?” Lilly asked, looking around. 

The woman cut a look one more time at Vasily before she answered. “Yes, he’s on the couch watching television.  He’s already eaten and had a bath.  I was expecting him to spend the night and go to church with us in the morning.”

Lilly looked back at Vasily as he followed her into the small living room.  “This is my…” She was lost for an explanation.
Who was he to her anyway?

“I’m Marcus Weaver,” Vasily said in his best American accent.  He offered his hand to the woman and gave a deceivingly welcoming smile.  “I’m a friend of Lilly’s from back home.  Just going to drive her back to New York for a family member’s funeral.” 

“I’m Maxine Clemmons,” the woman said, shaking his hand gently.   She looked over at Lilly.  “I’ve never heard her mention any family to speak of.”

Lilly’s mouth dropped open at Vasily’s accent.  Nearly speechless, she blinked hard.  “Yes,” she said, clearing her throat. She tried to focus, to speak up.  Ms. Clemmons wouldn’t believe them otherwise.  “Well, I’m not really close with my family, but I felt like I should go pay my respects.  We’ll be gone for about a week.”  She looked back up at Vasily. 

“Give or take,” Vasily added. “There will be a will to review.  She has quite a sizeable inheritance coming to her.”

“Oh. Well, I’m sorry for your loss,” Ms. Clemmons said to Lilly.  Moving the baby to her other hip, she called into the next room.  “Dylan, grab your backpack.  Your mother is here.”

Vasily’s curiosity peaked. 
The child on the old woman’s hip wasn’t Lilly’s?  How old was her son? 

A moment later, a young boy, around eight years old came around the corner in a pair of jeans and a red t-shirt with his backpack hanging off one arm.  He was tall for his age with a wide, healthy build.  He had curly chocolate locks, fair skin, rose-colored cheeks and lips and bright green eyes the color of jade. 

“Hey, mom,” he said, walking up to her and hugging her around her waist.

“Hey, baby,” she said, kissing the crown of his head. 

Dylan looked over at Vasily and tilted his head. “Who’s that?” he asked.

Lilly looked up at Vasily, seeing the shock paralyze him.  “That’s Mommy’s old friend, Vasily,” she said, grabbing his small hand. 

Chapter Four

Vasily couldn’t breathe.  No matter how he tried to take in deep breaths, no matter how much oxygen filled his lungs, he still couldn’t breathe. 

As he watched Lilly and her son load into his car, he felt like fainting right there in the apartment complex - a first for him in all of his life.  He had witnessed and committed murders; he had seen men tortured; he had done unspeakable acts without question, but never in his life had he experienced this.

Lilly closed the back door and looked across at him.  “Can we just talk about this in private?” she asked as she studied the range of emotions that were crossing his face. 

Vasily leaned both arms over the black Cadillac in utter emotional exhaustion and looked her square in the eye.  “Just answer one question for me and we can go.  Is he…”

“Yes,” she interrupted, unable to wait another second. 

“Leo’s?” he finished.

“What?” her voice shrieked. “No, of course not.  He’s…” She huffed.  “Isn’t it obvious, Vasily?” With a spiked brow, she shook her head and took a deep breath.  Rubbing a hand through her hair, she shrugged her thin shoulders.  “He’s yours,” she whispered, afraid her son would hear her. 

Vasily bent down and looked into the car’s backseat at the boy.  As he did, Dylan waved at him and smiled. Quickly he raised back up, and gawked at her.  “Why did you not tell me in all these years?” he grunted.

Lilly opened the passenger door and raised a finger. “You said
one question
.  I answered it.  Now can we go?  We can talk more when we are alone
and safe
.”

Getting in the car and slamming the door, he pulled off and headed for the private airstrip.  Now more intense than ever, he refused to look over at her.  A million thoughts assailed him, nearly all at once.  But more than that, he worried. 

Glancing back in the rearview mirror at the boy, he tried to put his mind around the fact that he had fathered a son. 

“How could you have done this to me?” he finally asked.

“What?” she said, turning to him.

“I showed you nothing but kindness and you do this?”

Lilly snapped her mouth shut and folded her arms.  “Vasily, I didn’t tell you for the same reasons that you didn’t want to check on me.  I didn’t want to put him in harm’s way.  If anyone knew who you were, who he was…” She shook off the thought.  “He would have never seen his first birthday.”

Vasily tried to keep his voice low, despite his growing anger.  The last thing he wanted to do was scare the boy.
That would just be a great first impression.
  Still the point had to be made.  “I could have kept him safe. I could have kept you both safe.  Besides, in the end, I’m forced to anyway.”

Lilly instantly took offense.  “You’re not forced to do anything.  I was going home to pack and leave.  We were going to disappear,” she said, looking out of the window.  “It’s not like I called you.  You just showed up back there.”

“Leo would have found you in days, Lilly.”  Vasily gripped the steering wheel until his knuckles were bone white.  “He would have done horrible things to you
and him
.”  Vasily remembered the pure evil of his old boss.  “Especially him,” he croaked out.