Nikolai Dimitri Leonov

I watched Livia listen to the voice on the other side of the call; I had watched her go from carefree to uptight in a matter of minutes.

"Dove?" Where? She asks into the phone. I bite my lip, worry creeping through me as I listen to the call. We were all still seated around the table where we were having lunch. I had been planning on pulling Livy away to try to make amends for last night, but she and Adelina had snuck away and as soon as they had reentered the room Livia's phone rang. She paces the room as she listens. "Sto arrivando." I'm on my way.

She switches off her phone and looks over at us apologetically.

"Zion?"

"Don't worry, I've got you." Relief crosses her face, and she walks to us quickly to grab her things, giving Zion a quick fist bump as she passes dashing out of the door, throwing us a quick goodbye over her shoulder.

"Where'd she go?" Martino asks, I kept forgetting these people didn't speak Italian, Livia and I spoke it unintentionally a lot of the time, I mean English wasn't either of our first languages, so why would we? When we were in Italy, we spoke Italian; in Russia, we spoke Russian. But I felt bad because oftentimes they must think we are leaving them out intentionally when it wasn't the case at all.

"I don't know," Sebastian answers for us. "Probably something happened at work. You don't ask questions."

The brothers didn't seem to like that answer, but it was the truth. You don't ask questions, especially on the other soil. Here I was fair game. If Livia wanted to murder me she would have no repercussions in doing so, and if I pissed her off enough, I wouldn't put it past her.

"Is she going to be okay?" Romeo asks. My eyes shoot up a little. It seems like an hour's bonding had done them well. Before Romeo had to be the least trusting of Livia. After Dante, of course, but he had his own stuff going on, so he didn't count.

"Let me tell you a secret. Livia might look small and like a tree could blow her over, but she's one of the hardest people to kill. She's basically indestructible." Sebastian hypes her up to her brother. I would say Sebastian spent the most time with Livia out of all of us. He was always in Italy, but I wasn't sure if it was to see Livia or Camilla. Zion and I saw each other the most out of the two of us but that was because he was always doing work in Russia.

"I wouldn't go that far," Zion mutters. "But she knows what she's doing, so don't worry, she'll be fine."

I knew Livia would be fine, she always was, but I couldn't help but worry. My fingers go up to massage my temple, feeling a headache coming on. There was nothing I could do unless Livia specifically called me in, so I needed to stop panicking. She'll be fine.

As if I could ever stop worrying about her.

I turn back to the brothers, ordering Romeo and Dante to get up. Well, teaching people how to fight had one perk, and that was being able to use my fist to burn up my anger in the name of learning.

+

"Ouch, ouch." I hear someone hiss, and my panic immediately rises. This was Livia's floor, no one but her would be up here. Adelina had gone home in the evening and Sebastian and Zion had gone out with Vincenzo again. They were taking full advantage of the limited responsibilities they had here.

"Livia?" I call out, my body moving in the direction of the voice. I see little as I travel through the halls. Her bedroom door was open, but the lights were all off. There was a glow, though, shining from her bathroom. I call out again. "Livia?"

I make my way to the door of the bathroom, seeing Livia wincing as she holds a cloth to her side, blood soaking easily through the white towel. I made my way to where she was sitting on the closed toilet seat, grabbing the first-aid kit she had sitting on top of her counter before I got to her.

"Are you okay? What happened?" I ask quickly, attending to her wounds. We had doctors for this sort of stuff, but Livia was the most stubborn person on the planet and would refuse to have someone check over her. Without thinking about it, I lift Livia onto the higher counter so I can have a better view of her injury. I removed the cloth she had covered and attended to the wound. It wasn't as bad as it originally looked. There was a cut about three inches long across her ribs, but it wasn't deep, just very bloody.

"I got blood in my car," Livia grumbles tiredly. She looked worse for wear, even without looking at the cut. Her hair was messed up, and she had dirt streaked across her skin and clothes mixed with the blood that was pouring out of her.

"Someone will clean it for you, Princess," I murmur as I finish bandaging the wound, thankful I didn't have to give her stitches. Sure, I had more medical training, but that didn't mean I enjoyed using it. "Are you okay?"

"Yes." Her head falls back against the mirror she was sitting in front of, and her eyes flutter closed, but she sits back up as I see pain flash across her face.

"Here." I pass her painkillers and a bottle of water. "What happened?"

"Ambush at the warehouse while we were loading a shipment." She tells me, sliding off the counter.

"Casualties?" I ask.

"You know I can't discuss that with you, Kai."

"I know," I mutter, unless she finds out that it affects my business as well. I wasn't entitled to the information. I hated it. How did I know how to help her when I didn't even know what the threat was? She disappears into her closet and I sit and wait for her in case she needs some help.

She emerges a bit later wearing a hoodie with shorts that you can only see if she lifts her arms.

"I don't want a fight tonight, Kai." She warns me tiredly. "So get out."

"I'm not starting anything, I promise." I pull back the covers to her bed so she can slide in. After she was in her bed, I covered her back up. "I'm sorry."

"Are you apologising, Leonov?" She asks, cautiously.

"Yes, I made a mistake. I'm sorry I didn't think before I talked." I rub her back. Her eyes are closed, but I know she's listening to me. "I think you're capable, Livia. More than anyone I know, you always give everything your best and give it your all."

"Really." Her voice was soft.

"Promise," I reply, just as tenderly. "I trust you know what you're doing and I'm sorry I ever made you think differently."

She says nothing else for a couple of minutes and I almost thought she had gone to sleep when she spoke up. "The council is calling me in for a meeting tomorrow to see if I'm a worthy leader. They think they need to reevaluate my role after tonight?"

"What?" My voice raises involuntarily. They couldn't do that, Livia was the heir whether or not they liked it, but my guess is they were trying to make her resign. My brain works as I'm trying to piece it together. None of them had ever voiced their concerns as far as I knew. Once I concluded, I turned to Livia, hoping my conclusion was wrong. "Dante?"

"They monitored today's training. They know he has training. And then I mess up today's situation." Her voice sounds tired. She has had everything thrown at her one after the other in the past few weeks.

"They can't touch your birthright, Livia. Don't let them take it from you, only you can decide what happens to it." I told her.

Unless she resigned from the position, then it was hers and no one could do anything about it no matter how hard they tried. The older men on the council were the problem, unfortunately, most men that made up the council of mafias were people who had problems with women in leading roles, they came from a more old-fashioned time and they didn't believe Livia could be a great leader. But Livia's advantage was that all the soldiers respected and supported her. She didn't need the support of anyone else as long as the people she was giving orders to listen to her.

"It's my role, and no one is going to take it from me." She says with pure determination in her tone.

"Atta girl," I whisper.

Sorry for the wait on this chapter, I actually had it ready a couple of days ago but I hated it and I had to be in the mood to do some heavy editing to it but now it's a little better but let me know your thoughts.

Any predictions or thoughts, I want to know whose your favourite character so far.

Happy late valentines day as well, hope you all had a great day.

Please vote and comment.

Happy reading

Ara <3