The first thing I do when Lucia steps into the library is to call up the maintenance guy to come take down the CCTV in her room. I waited till she got to the library because I heard from her brother that she's an author, so it's only natural that a place like that would pique her interest.
"How long to take it down?"
"Give me ten minutes." He positions a ladder to start climbing.
"Do it in five. And hurry." The last thing I want is her leaving the library earlier than anticipated. Where do I begin to explain?
Luckily for him, he does it in four minutes. See, now that wasn't so hard was it? All he needed was an extra push.
When he leaves the room, I know I'm supposed to leave too but I can't help but to linger a bit. She hasn't been here for up twenty-four hours and the room already smells like her.
Stepping out of the room and closing the door, I head to the library where she might still be. I don't know how often she steps out but when she does, she needs to know that leaving without her guards isn't an option.
I've had Pavel and James positioned outside just for her since I trust Pavel with the work. Nikolai stays with me.
Getting to the library, the door is opened slightly so I let myself in after rapping a light knock against the smooth surface so I don't startle her wherever she is.
Three rows in, I see her seated on the floor fully engrossed in a book I can't see from where I'm standing. I'm there for a good two minutes before she finally notices me standing there.
"Oo." She gets up to adjust her pretty dress. Her flushed face says I startled her or probably caught her at a bad timing. I wonder what she was reading. "I'm sorry, you scared me." She lets out a nervous laugh.
"Is it okay if I'm here?"
"Of course. It's your home too, you know."
"So you don't mind me borrowing this for a while?" She waves a romance book in my face. Just like a thousand books in here, I don't know how that found its way into my library.
I shake my head. "Not at all. Please walk with me." I led us out of the library and down to the ground floor.
"Where are we going?" Before I could answer her, the two men I was headed outside to meet walking in through the front door.
"Sir." They both greet curtly in sync.
"Lucia, these are Pavel and James. They'll be your new bodyguards"
"Oo. I thought I had a couple of those already."
"You did, but not anymore. Since you're my responsibility now, I've assigned new guards to you. You shouldn't go anywhere without them." She doesn't look too happy with the thought of having guards at all so I try my best to lighten the situation while also being as honest as I can. "You won't even notice them following you, okay? They'll be within respectable distance." That seems to ease her up a little.
"Okay." Good. But knowing little about the woman I married, I'm sure she's going to try to outsmart them which is why I had something planned if she does disobey me. I figure that's the best way to make her start taking instructions and actually listen to them. "Uh… will I be followed when I'm here?"
"No. As long as you're home, you're safe. Just don't wander about alone for now so you don't get lost." It's a really big property after all.
"Right." She turns to her new guards. "Well, lovely meeting you." Then she heads upstairs. I dismiss my men and head right to my home office to see that I get some work done.
♧♧♧
Only two days after giving clear instructions to my wife, Lucia, she does exactly as I predicted at a very wrong time.
I expected her to do it yesterday when I was ready to teach her a lesson or two but today is totally not a good time. Which leaves me to wonder how she was able to maneuver her way past Pavel and James.
They called earlier to tell me that she had plans on going to her apartment to pick up a few things which I was completely okay with. Getting married to a mafia boss doesn't mean she has to be caged. She still very much has her freedom.
But now I wish I told her not to leave the house. Two weeks ago, I got word about an Irish criminal organization wanting to take base in my city. If they were smart, they would have asked around about what happened to the last group who tried to take my city from me. In a week, under my fathers command, I and Lev had them all fried. That was the most bloody encounter I had ever seen since I was in the mafia at a very young age. It was also the most liberating. That was three years ago.
I thought I was clear with the message I sent to the Irish those two weeks ago but apparently I wasn't. I'll just try again as soon as Nikolai gives me word that they've nabbed one.
I was scared shit out of my mind when Pavel called to say they couldn't find Lucia. I thought the Irish had taken her so I left my men at the office but midway, Pavel said they found her at a park near her apartment. There's no doubt she fled using the building's emergency exit.
"One of you, hop in." I say to one of my men as I pull up next to their SUV. Pavel gets into the backseat while James's car follows behind mine.