30. Dimitri
30
DIMITRI
W alking away from Evelyn in her hospital room, with things still unsettled between us, is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. But I know she’s right about one thing.
Staying has to be her choice. If I force her, she’ll hate me. And the only thing that would be worse than losing her forever is her hating me forever, instead.
I don’t want to leave her. But I’ve already left the matter of my father unsettled for two days, while I waited for her to wake up. Vik has kept him under guard at the mansion, under my orders, but I can’t let this go any longer.
I was fortunate that Pyotr, the head of security at the mansion, was the one who overheard the meeting. He’s been loyal to my father for years, but my father conspiring with outside forces to kill my wife was a step too far. With Vik backing him up, he marshaled enough security to keep my father under house arrest while I stayed with Evelyn, and they’ve been watching him since.
Nicci escaped. But I’m not concerned with her. With Barca dead and my father soon to follow, she’ll have no means to harm Evelyn again. I’ve never harmed or killed a woman, and I don’t intend to start now. But I do intend to cut the head off of every snake who tried to enable her.
Whatever deals the Yashkov family had with hers will be done. Whatever I can do to bring down her family financially, I will. But first, my father needs to be dealt with.
I expected to feel something more, when I walked into the mansion, heading to the upstairs bedroom where Vik and Pyotr have him under guard. But all I feel is a weight in my chest, a cold stone where my heart should be.
He tried to kill Evelyn. And father or no, that’s something I can’t let slide. Not only because Evelyn is my wife, because I would do anything to protect her, but because I won’t have any threat to our child left, either. My father doesn’t know she’s pregnant, but I don’t trust him not to make another move against her, especially once that becomes known.
And the move that he did make can’t be forgiven, either.
Pyotr is at the door with two other men and Vik, when I come up the stairs. Vik’s eyes flick to the gun in my hand, silencer on, and he nods. I glance at Pyotr.
“Any objections?” I ask calmly, and Pyotr shakes his head.
“He went too far. It’s what needs to be done.”
He steps aside, and I unlock the door, swinging it open as Vik steps in behind me.
It’s just the two of us in the room, and my father. He’s unarmed, the room swept for weapons before they put him in here, and no one else needs to witness what’s about to happen. I look at my father, and I wait to feel something—even anger—but there’s nothing.
Just the cold resolution of what needs to be done.
My father looks older in this light. His face is drawn, craggy, and he looks tired. Sick, even. I search for the sympathy I should feel, but there’s none of that, either.
“Come to kill your own father?” His voice is a sardonic rasp, but I don’t flinch.
“You knew this was coming. You had to have known, as soon as you got caught.” I flick the safety off of the gun, and I see his gaze twitch towards it. “I just have one question for you.”
I raise the gun, aiming it towards him. “Why?”
My father sneers, staring me down. “I made a good deal for you. I increased our wealth. Found a woman who would have made a good Bratva wife. A woman who understands how things are. Who would have been grateful to be a part of this family. But instead, you threw all that away for that whore?—”
He barely gets the last word out before I pull the trigger.
I’d intended to kill him in the Bratva way. Execution-style, on his knees, a gun to the back of his head. Quick, with honor. The way a man of his stature should go out when he’s gone too far, and has to meet his end with a bullet.
But no one speaks that way about my wife, and ends his life any other way than staring down the barrel of my gun.
“Get the cleaners up here,” I tell Vik, turning away. “Dump his body in the Hudson. Make sure he’s weighed down. The fucking fish can have him.”
The silence behind me feels louder than anything my father ever said to me. I wait to feel some kind of regret, some stab of conscience over what I’ve done, but there’s nothing. I did what was necessary to protect my family. I acted as the future leader of the Bratva. And I don’t have any regrets.
Without another word, I walk away.
—
It’s two weeks before I can bring Evelyn home, after the new year. I visit her in the hospital every day, for as long as I can stay there, ignoring regular visitor’s hours and coming and going as I please. No one in the hospital is going to tell me differently, and they soon learn not to try.
I don’t bring up the topic of Evelyn staying again. I wait, and I sit with her instead, talking to her about her shop, about the progress that’s still happening, all the things she put in motion still being worked on. I bring her photos and progress reports for approval, let her know when the broken window is fixed, and encourage her that when she’s healed, she’ll be able to go back to work without any trouble at all, as long as she follows the doctor’s instructions.
I count down to the new year with her, kissing her at midnight, and she kisses me back, her fingers threading through my hair and giving me hope that when this is all over, she’ll choose me, the same way I’ve chosen her. And a week into the year, I’m finally able to bring her back to the penthouse.
I help her to the couch, tucking a thick, soft blanket around her, as Evelyn makes a face at me. “I can do it myself,” she grumbles, and I shake my head, as Buttons jumps up onto the couch next to her. He barks, looking towards where his leash is hanging, and Evelyn starts to get up.
“I’ll do it,” I say immediately, and she frowns at me.
“I’m not an invalid?—”
“I’m glad you’re arguing with me, because it means you’re feeling better,” I shoot back. “But you’re in no condition to take the dog out just yet. I’ve got it. I’ll be right back.”
She grumbles, but leans back against the couch, and I whistle for Buttons, slipping him into his harness. Ten minutes or so later, we come back upstairs, and I see Evelyn just where I left her, staring out towards the city skyline.
My chest aches, seeing her here, in my home. In our home—what I want to be ours, if she’ll tell me what I want so badly to hear. And as I walk towards the couch, her gaze meets mine, and I see something soft in her face. Something that makes my chest tighten with hope, as I sink down to sit next to her.
“I’m sorry I made you wait so long,” she says softly. “I needed to think about what life would be like without you. What my life would look like, if I didn’t choose to stay. I wanted to be sure, because if I said yes—if I chose you, I didn’t ever want to take it back.”
Evelyn presses her lips together, and for a moment, I feel like I can’t breathe. “I tried to picture it,” she murmurs. “Life without you. And I don’t think I can, any longer. Your life is brutal—so much more brutal than anything I ever thought I’d be a part of—but you saved me, too. You saw me. You cared about me in a way that no one I’ve ever tried to have a relationship with before ever has. You cared about what matters to me. And I think you always will.”
She reaches down, sliding her ring off of her finger, and my heart slams against my ribs. “I love you, Dimitri,” she says softly. “I love your confidence, and I love that you make me feel safe. I love that you care about the things that matter to me. I love that you got to know me, that you love me for me , and not what you want me to be. I love that you’ll fight with me, and I love that you’ll fight for me.” She holds out the ring. “Ask me again.”
For a moment, I don’t know if I can speak. I take the ring from her fingers, and I take her left hand in mine, feeling how soft her skin is against the roughness of my palm. I don’t ever want to let her go.
“I love you too, Evelyn,” I say softly. “I love your fire, and I love that you’ll tell me what you think, even if it means we fight. I love your independence, and your talent, and your brilliance. I love that you’re your own woman, that you don’t need me—but that you want me. That you’re willing to trust me with your heart, even if I didn’t know how to treat it at first.”
I swallow hard, holding up the ring, seeing it sparkle in the dim light. “I didn’t know what it meant to love before you, l’vitsa . My lioness. In that way, you saved me, as well. And the only thing I’ll ask of you is this: say you’ll stay with me forever, so I can love you the way I should have from the start.”
Evelyn’s eyes are glossy with tears. “Yes,” she whispers, leaning forward as I slide the ring onto her finger. “Yes, Dimitri. I love you. Yes.”
“I love you, too.” I reach up, brushing my knuckles across her cheek. “Forever.”
“Forever,” she whispers, and then her mouth brushes against mine, and I forget everything except for her.
Everything except for us, always.