The Golden Boys

Chapter Thirty-Four

Kenji and Enzo took their seats as Zara and Andrei stood up. Both of them gave each other abrupt nods before they passed all of Santos' men to reach the exit. And Zara could feel her heart hammering as they walked through the crowd of people standing in the front. The silence was killing her as they waited for the valet to finally arrive, Andrei removing a large tip from his wallet and snatching the keys from the guy. He opened the passenger seat door for her, she hoped inside and moments later he sped off into the night.

"We have a lot to talk about," Zara repeated, breaking the quiet.

She saw Andrei nod his head, his eyes focused on the road ahead. "When we stop."

The girl didn't bother to ask where the fuck they were headed. She already recognized the route he was taking, they were going to her house. Andrei was not the most patient person in the world, so Zara didn't understand how he was so calm and not immediately wanting to talk about all the shit that went down in the past week. From finding out he has a kid, to Cersei and Zara fighting, their fucking confusing relationship, his best friends lying to him about Zara knowing their secrets and breaking their pact, her father's intimidating conversation with him, and now him knowing that she too has a shady past. Why the hell was he calm?

They finally pulled into her driveway and he parked the car. Zara stopped fidgeting with her handbag and waited for him to speak first. She thought that they'd at least leave the vehicle to talk, but neither of them moved. Sam was out in her house, Giovanni and Fabian were with Enzo, they would have the entire place to herself and she knew how to disable the cameras. It also wasn't like anyone would bother them. Everyone knew that the two of them needed to talk and work their issues out.

"Enzo told me you know Dmitri Belikov and many more mafia heirs," Andrei spoke. "I didn't believe him at first and really didn't think you'd be tied into this shit until tonight when you were talking with Santos. There was no fear anywhere, you weren't playing the game, instead you were controlling it." There was a slight pause. "I guess that's what I should expect from Caddel's daughter."

"And now?" she pressed.

"At first I was angry," he began, both of his hands were still gripping the wheel. "My friends knew all of this before I did, they told you about their secrets and said to keep it from me. But after thinking about it, I mostly felt relief."

Zara stared. "Relief," she repeated.

"That if we do this, Caddel, if we officially become more than friends and date─" The way he choked out that last word made her crack a small smile. "You would be exposed to a lot of my secrets and another side of me that I like to keep away from my family and others. Only the boys know about that side. And I knew you'd never judge me for all of shit I've done in the past and the shit I'm planning to do in the future, but I didn't want you to be scared of me."

"I could never be scared of you, Lykaois," she scoffed.

Andrei released the steering wheel and leaned back into his seat. "I disagree."

The secrets, his secrets were waiting to be spilled out. There was so much more that they didn't know about one another, yet she felt like she knew him the best.

She didn't want them to linger in the silence for too long, so she said, "You feel relieved because I too am a murderer, manipulator, daughter of a psychotic and not judgemental?"

This made the boy grin. "If you put it that way then yes."

"And we're the same," Zara concluded.

"We are."

The girl reached for his hands and laced her fingers with his. They were facing one another, savoring the moment. He was warm to the touch, even his ring had heated and she wanted him to pull her into his arms. Just to hold her, nothing more. But they couldn't jump to that just yet, there was so much more to be said.