Astraea

-16-

A/N: Unedited. Soon to be edited ... someday. As always Enjoy🖤

I sat at the door for a while trying to come to terms with what I had done and the effect it would have on my life. Had I made the right decision? His world was dangerous, I mean Felipe and I were involved in a random shootout. In addition to this, when I was out of it I heard Felipe talking to the guys we had left behind apparently two people died. 

The one died on our makeshift air field and the other in surgery. I didn't even want to be involved in how they would inform their families, if they had families. My head was pounding from all the heartbreak, I picked myself up and began walking upstairs. The door was suddenly opened and Luxane walked in. I was taken aback because I was pretty sure that I had been sitting at the door for almost an hour if not longer. 

"Luxane—" 

He cut me off. 

"Listen, just listen. I know a life with me would be hard and difficult, but i'm worth it damn it! I see the smiles on your face when we are all together as a family. I see and have sensed the joy in you when we made love. Astraea, I don't beg and I won't start now but I wanted to ask you to reconsider. We have been through a lot and survived a lot. Those assholes in jail are no-longer my family, its you and Xylo. I want us together, we can let go of the human trafficking venture. You knew who I was from the get go.

I never lied to you or tried to portray myself as anything other than a drug dealer. This life is all I have known and it has changed my world. It put food on the table for me and those people that were once my family. The drug business has provided me with opportunities that I could have never fathomed as I was growing up. We can make it work, just give me a chance please." He said finishing. 

I sighed. A small part of me would have loved to hear from him that he was done with the drug industry but it was a part of him and I had witnessed some of the good that had come about their business. I exhaled a shaky breath and looked into his midnight eyes that shone with love. I couldn't really walk, away could I? Luxane was the love of my life, he had changed me forever and in some ways the change was positive. We stood in my parents hall way watching each other.

 As I was about to respond, we both heard crying coming from Xylo's room. Without saying anything to one another we went to our crying daughter. It was as if she could feel the tension between us and it was upsetting her. We played with her until she got tired and crashed in her father's arms. I watched them for a while as he gently rocked her in his muscled and tatted up arms. 

How a man who was used to violence could be so gentle was beyond me. Once Luxane had put Xylo down, the nervousness I had been feeling returned as he stared imploringly at me. 

"Okay", I whispered unsure. But Luxane was sure. I saw it in the way that he rushed up to me and embraced me tightly. "My arm," I said gasping in pain. 

"Sorry", he said taking a step back. He held me that night as I slept and I knew we would figure it out somehow.

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"Explain how the organisation runs. I don't want details just give me a brief summary". "Vandal Savage is my code name Luxane Ivashkov is a business man –" 

"Uhm but you told me from the jump when we met that you were a drug lord," I interjected as he was speaking. He smirked at me bemusedly. 

"Because I had been having a shit day and I wanted to see how you would react." I rolled my eyes and nodded for him to continue as I ate another spoonful of yogurt. We were in my room and he was sitting on my bed with his back against the grey headboard and I was perched on the chaise lounge eating my yoghurt whilst listening to him.