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Chapter 35

The look on Dmitri’s face was enough to make a man tremble but Grandpa Yuri had seen them one too many times to be shaken.

“So be it then. Since she’s already here I might as well say it. I want her gone.”

The space around them froze.

“What kind of joke is this?” He asked.

“No joke here, grandson. You’ve painted a terrible image for our family. Some might even say you are starting to look weak.”

Dmitri’s jaw locked in place. Their assumptions were starting to get on his nerves.

“Stand there love.” He looked to Lily who nodded and walked away a few miles.

He looked back at Grandpa Yuri.

“And what makes you think I care what people think?”

This time Grandpa Yuri, took his voice down like he was about to whisper. “I don’t care what you think but I won’t let my family be perceived as weak. It’s either you get rid of her or I give your cousin the title as Don and still dispose of her.”

That made Dmitri flinch a little. Not because Grandpa Yuri threatened his title, heck, he was the only one fit for Don and he knew it. But the idea of harming even a hair on Lily made him mad.

“Our conversation here is over.” Dmitri pulled his hand out of his pocket, turned to where Lily stood and grabbed her.

“You dragged me all the way here for this bullshit. Let me leave you with this warning. I don’t care who the fuck gets in my way I won’t hesitate to delete them. Family or not, you will not threaten me.”

Lily was frozen to the spot and only moved when Dmitri’s hands aided her forward.

She was sure another gun scene would go down but when the other man standing by Grandpa stepped forward, he stopped him mid-track. That couldn’t be good. Especially not when he still had that smug smile from earlier.

Lily reached the parked car, and as soon as it started moving she turned to Dmitri who had his hand resting on his jaw. Anger written all over his face. The entire space charged with this thick tension in the air.

“A-are you okay?” She stuttered.

What kind of a question is that Lily? “Is everything alright?” She pursed her lips waiting for his response.

“It’s fine, tservana.”

“No, that didn’t look fine at all? Why did we come here?” Was he the one who sent the attacks? What’s going on—“

“Dammit Lily!” Dmitri snapped before he could stop himself, causing her to flinch. “Everything is fucking fine. Take that.”

Lily didn’t know how to feel. He’d never raised his voice like that and somehow it made her feel a little frightened.

His hands were placed at his temples now. For the next few hours the drive was quiet and unsettling. However Lily suddenly looked at the familiar neighborhood they’d just entered.

The car stopped.

“Why- what are we doing here?” She looked at him and then at her cousin Gio’s house in front of them.

“You’ll stay at Gio’s for now.” He concluded and before she could protest the car door unlocked.

“But why—?” She asked but his hands were now stretched in front of her.

She met his eyes.

“Your phone. Now.”

“What!”

“I’ll have Dante deliver a new one to you tomorrow.”

The eyes staring back at her looked nothing like the same man she’d entered into the car with earlier. What the hell did Grandpa Yuri say to him?

“Now.”

She didn’t need to be told the third time, with a humph she dropped her phone into his hands.

“Good. I’ll see you later.”

She looked at him one last time before reluctantly stepping out of the car.

•~

12:59

Dmitri had finally gotten back to his estate however the moment he picked up his phone, his jaw ticked. Sending Lily off was both hard and needed. He didn’t want to get her tangled in this mess but he’d be damned if he was letting her go just like that.

The first notification that popped up only added to his wounds—it was an announcement of a new Don Omertà, and he’d been invited.

“What kind of sick game is this?” he muttered. There wasn’t supposed to be another Omertà for another year, maybe even a decade. Grandpa Yuri had clearly been bluffing with his earlier threat.

Fortunately, Dante had already sent an email attached to it. The message was brief but important: A new alliance group has started operating in the country.

Before Dmitri could dig further into that, the “Project Beekeeper” case from earlier caught his attention again. Two new files had arrived—one of them titled Death Report of Damien.

He opened it, scanning quickly. The first report was straightforward: time of death, location, cause—just as he’d known. But then he saw the second file.

It was also labeled Death Report of Damien.

Only… the details didn’t match.

Two different times of death.

Two different days.

Two different cities.

His brow furrowed, a cold unease curling in his gut.

He dialed Dante immediately.

“What the hell am I looking at with Damien’s files?” Dmitri demanded.

There was a pause on the other end before Dante spoke. “It could be a clerical error. Maybe.. maybe the initial report was—”

“Bullshit,” Dmitri cut in. “You don’t mix up times, days, and cities by accident. Either someone tampered with the records… or Damien died twice.”

Silence stretched over the line, heavy and telling.

“Find out which one’s real,” Dmitri said finally, his tone like steel. “And find out who wants me to see both.”

Dante exhaled sharply through the phone. “I’ll get on it, but if this is what I think it is… you’re definitely not going to like the answer.”

The line went dead. Dmitri sat there for a moment, the quiet pressing in, the twin death reports still glowing on his laptop screen. His mind raced through every possibility—none of them good.

Somewhere in this city, someone was playing with ghosts. And he had the sinking feeling Damien wasn’t the only one.