Protecting You ("The Shadows" Series: Book I)

XVII.

Ryan's POV

Evan, Zach, Liam and I were ready to go and meet Lily. Since that day in alleyway, Lily and I weren't talking. I was angry on myself and Lily served as a punching bag at that time for me. I felt guilty when I saw how she had avoided me afterwards.

She was hiding such a big thing from me and I felt like a fool. I've been in this mafia life since I was 15. Dad had started including me in this because he wanted me to handle the gang after him. I never misjudged anyone in my life and here she was. That's what made me so angry. What I did wasn't reasonable at all. But I never apologized to any soul even in my dreams and I wasn't going to change that.

The car stopped in front of a mansion. Evan and I were travelling in the same car while Liam and Zach were in the other, following us. We stepped out of our vehicles and entered the front porch. The guards nodded in our direction as we passed them.

"Maybe they know who we are." Evan whispered beside me. Liam and Zach had joined us soon so they were trailing behind. I nodded at Evan as we saw a guy with guns approaching us.

"This way." He uttered and turned around. We followed him as we entered the mansion. It was huge.

"Whoa..." Zach trailed as Liam's eyes widened. Evan and I exchanged glances as we eyed the area. The walls were white while the floor was grey. There were no paintings or photos on the wall. Instead there were abstracts on the wall in black and grey.

The guy whom we were following gestured us to sit on the sofa in the living room. We waited there while wines were served to us. Evan, Liam and Zach drank there drinks while I sat there, avoiding it.

After some time, Jim joined us.

"Morning. What are you all doing here?" He asked as he took a seat in front of us. We all greeted him back as Liam spoke.

"We just wanted to see Anthony and Ms. Brew. Wanted to make sure that there are no problems that you are facing." Jim nodded with a small smile. He told us that Lily would join us soon when Alex entered the living room.

"What are they doing here? Is everything alright?" Alex asked Jim referring to us in third person. He shook his head and asked him to inform Lily that we were here. He nodded vigorously and ran upstairs.

"Is he always this jittery?" Zach asked.

"He is hot headed and likes every work in precision and on time. Can't blame him for that. He was always like this." Jim said.

"When did he join this gang?" I couldn't help but ask. The way Jim explained about him intrigued me about Alex's past life.

"He was 14 when he joined us. It's been five years with him. He had helped Lily when she was coming home from her work that time. She used to be a waitress in a cafe. She never wanted to get involved in this life so she used to live on her own, away from her father. But one day, she got attacked by men sent by Adam. I was with her father and her bodyguards in disguise were found dead somewhere far away from that cafe where we had recruited them to keep an eye on her. She knew self defense. I had given her lessons for such circumstances. But she wasn't armed that day. That's when Alex protected her. He was passing by the alleyway when he saw that Lily was cornered there. He shot two of them and the other was tackled by Lily. They both came back here to Anthony and he took Alex in knowing that he had no roof above his head. Since then Lily and Alex are pretty close. They both share secrets that nobody else knows. They communicate with their eyes, they have so much understanding." Jim concluded as we all sat silently taking everything in.

Suddenly we were disturbed by footsteps descending downstairs. But they stopped when we heard curse words being thrown freely by a voice from the other side of the room. We turned to see Alex muttering while clutching a gun in his hand with full force. When he realized that all the eyes were focused on him, he cleared his throat and looked at Lily. We all glanced at her too.

"Do you want to take them with us?" He asked tilting his head in our direction as I stood with blank expression while Evan, Liam and Zach glowered at him. She nodded. We were all surprised that she wanted us to join her in the meeting room. But we followed her inside nonetheless.

We all sat on our seats as she remained standing. A file was kept on the table as she picked it up and kept flipping through the pages. By the end of the file her face had gone red as she closed it and kept it aside far from her reach. She shut her eyes and started breathing slowly but steadily as if calming down herself.

"What is it?" Jim asked as he took the file. Evan and I looked at the file with him while Alex began to tell Liam and Zack what Jake had found. When we completed reading everything, I felt rage coursing through my veins.

"What the fuck? Is he really asking to meet you? That he is a fucking family and he can prove the fuck to you? How can he think-" I started uttering profanities. I just wanted to punch that shit face and kill him with my bare hands. I don't know why I felt very protective of Lily and I was not willing to see her suffer anymore because of Adam. She was too good to be involved in this mess. She reminded me of purity and I wanted to keep it that way..keep her that way.

My profanities bullet train was interrupted by her sweet and calm but dangerous voice.

"Continue the search. Ask Jake to meet me when he gets free time. For now, let's stay quiet. He wants to meet me and that's not going to happen unless we meet for his murder." Her palms were placed on the table as she was hunched on them. Her back leaned on the surface a little for support. We all sighed in relief that she was not thinking about meeting that psycho. I looked at her in awe. She was so smart and calm at such a time. I was totally mesmerized. That's when I realized that I wanted her.

All the time that I wanted to protect her, I had exploded in that alleyway in front of her, was not because she was some girl that needed protection just for the sake of it. I wanted to protect her because she was my girl. She was going to get married to me and I felt that responsibility in me to save her sanity from this cruel world. I wanted to see her face while I wake up, hold her in my arms and just be with her all the time.

I wanted her all to myself whether she wanted to be mine or not.

Suddenly our eyes met and I held them. Her beautiful orbs kept locked with mine for quite sometime until we heard a throat clearing and that brought us back to earth. All the eyes in the room were trained on both of us and they looked suspicious of what was going on, except Evan, who was smirking at us. I glanced at Lily to see her narrowing her eyes at him and then she stormed out of the room while Alex trailed behind.

I looked at Evan to see him looking back at me as he winked. We all stood up and went out of the room. Evan caught up with me as he whispered

"Man I hate the sexual tension between two people so much...I could have been crushed in there." He said as he opened up some of his top buttons and started fanning himself. I smacked the back of his head but couldn't hold back the smile from my face.....