Page 72 of Hidden Empire

Selfishly, I really fucking hope it doesn’t come to that.

I want time with her.

I crave time with her.

But if I thought sending her home with Ivan as her guard would keep her safe from imminent harm, I wouldn’t hesitate to contact her father.

“Right now, all we have is theories. I don’t want to pull her away from that,” I sigh, nodding to the group of them. Matteo is currently lighting marshmallows on fire, using the stick they’re speared on to hold them out for Jade to blow out. “Until we know there’s an actual threat against her, I don’t want to take her from them. She’s thriving.”

Ivan nods softly, continuing to watch them with me. I’m not sure what he sees when he looks at the group of them, but I can’t help to imagine us down there with them. Jade would be in my lap, tucked into my side to suck up the warmth I give her. Ivan would be next to us, probably debating something ridiculous with Matteo.

It’s just a dream, but one day it won’t be.

“Seeing Nico eat a s’more is like an episode of The Twilight Zone,” Ivan snickers, watching the future Moretti enforcer tentatively eating the desert Jade made for him. He’s trying his best not to let the melted marshmallow or chocolate touch his skin, clearly uncomfortable with it, but eating it for Jade nevertheless.

Nico is a complicated man, and I’m not sure Jade realizes the amount of power she has over him yet. Nico hates a lot of things, but humoring his sister will never be one of them. I’ve seen him snap at his brothers in semesters before now, even at his twin, but I can’t imagine him doing the same to her.

Shaking off the weird sight, Ivan scratches the back of his head.

“Have you talked to Da? About Jade?”

“Not yet,” I admit.

I’m not worried about his disapproval. Our father doesn’t get a say in who I marry, and he knows it. He technically holds the power, but he knows me well enough to know my limits. I am not the kind of man you can force into an arranged marriage. And even if I were, I’d remind him how poorly his arranged marriage worked out for him.

By the time I was sixteen, I had already informed him that I’d be choosing my own match. I’d been dreaming about having a wife since I was old enough to know what it meant, and I wasn’t going to let him shackle me to some random woman for a small potential gain. I can rule our organization without any more alliances.

The difference between my father and me? He doesn’t like to cause conflict, and I think there’s no better show of power than fucking showing your power. Talk is cheap when you could simply cut throats instead.

“I’ll inform him without using her name,” I say, having already decided on this plan. “Until I can guarantee he won’t do something stupid like approach her family behind my back, he doesn’t get to know who she is.”

“I agree,” Ivan says immediately.

We love Da, I can’t pretend that we don’t. But we both know he has less than a decade left for this. He’s a mediocre Pakhan, and we’ll all have better lives once he steps down. We know it, and he knows it.

“When are you going to see her next?”

That’s the hardest part of keeping this secret.

We need to figure out how to spend more time together without arousing too much suspicion from her brothers. I’d tell them all about us right this second if I didn’t think it would cause a rift between them. My girl needs to be allowed to have us to herself for a while. If that means sneaking around until she’s ready, that’s how it’s going to be. She’ll hear no objections from me.

Sparing one last look at the group below, I nod to the trail behind us. We need to head back before they get up to leave themselves.

But as for when I’ll see my Krasotka again?

“Soon.”

Chapter 21

Jade

It takes a full week before I’m able to be with Dmitri again. Thankfully, the week didn’t drag on by at a ridiculously slow speed. Armani made up for his scene from the cafeteria by creating a little campfire for all of our siblings with s’mores and everything. That night on the black sand beach is going to be one of my fondest memories from Empire Academy. I even emailed Dad about it, and he was able to message me back and forth for a whole hour.

From then on, the week was spent using all of our free time to hang out. We all went swimming in the ocean in our uniforms, I took a small hike with Remo, Nico taught me how to tie someone up properly, and Matteo helped me study for fight training since my first sparring match is coming up. And they all ate my first creation from cooking class; strawberry and chocolate crepes that turned out sooo delicious.

I didn’t think I could be having a better time unless, of course, Dmitri could be there for all of it, too. So when Ivan told me in class to be ready for a visitor tonight, I was instantly giddy. I had to tell a little fib about having a migraine to keep my room brother free for the night, but thankfully, I don’t feel too bad about it.

Dmitri is a bit like a drug, and at the moment, I need another hit.

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