Chapter 8
Chapter eight
Alisa
What the hell was wrong with me?
As much as I hated to admit it, I really needed Dmitri’s help. Although I had a feeling Dmitri would’ve dragged me to his little torture funhouse one way or another.
That wasn’t the issue. Well, it was in a way. I shouldn’t be so willing to get in a car with the man who’d murdered my brother.
But the most pressing issue was that the expert way Dmitri was tying Igor’s wrists…
Left me soaking wet.
Fuck.
Every time Dmitri looped another knot in the restraints, I kept imagining him doing it to me. And from Dmitri’s growing smirk, he was keenly aware of that.
“I can tie you up next,” Dmitri called across the room in a gravelly voice.
“Fuck you,” I said instinctively.
“I’ve been waiting for you to ask.”
“You’ll be waiting a long time.”
His deep-throated chuckle told me how much he doubted that.
Thankfully, my body’s disturbingly heated reaction was interrupted by Igor thrashing back into consciousness.
Dmitri scowled down at him and fitted the ropes through a metal ring dangling from the ceiling.
“I’m going to kill-” Igor started.
Dmitri pulled harshly on the ropes, and Igor’s body jerked into the air.
“That sounds a little less threatening when you’re in this position,” Dmitri mused, standing back to study his handiwork.
Igor struggled against the restraints, but he was no match for Dmitri’s knot tying.
“I wonder how many bones I need to break before you pass out again,” Dmitri said before slamming his fist into Igor's face.
Bone crunched, and blood immediately poured from his nose.
From the sadistic gleam in Dmitri’s eyes, it was obvious he was enjoying torturing Igor.
I’d killed a lot of men in my lifetime, but I didn’t enjoy it. There was no thrill in it, just pure survival.
Dmitri kicked him in the leg. Snap. Igor’s tibia went in the wrong direction.
A dark smile spread across Dmitri’s face.
“Stop,” Igor groaned, all the bravado from earlier disappearing.
“Giving up already? Pathetic,” he tsked. “Come over here, kotenok. He can’t hurt you in this position.”
I was more than aware. The precision of the knots… My legs tightened together.
“Have you been stalking me?” I asked Igor, easing off the brown wig that was starting to itch. He already knew my identity, so there was no danger in taking off my disguise.
Dmitri’s eyes flared as he stared at my uncovered hair.
I gritted my teeth, and willed the heat in my body to dissipate.
When Igor remained silent at my question, Dmitri snapped the bone in his pointer finger.
“Shit,” Igor yelped. “Fine, yes I’ve been fucking following you.”
“I’m guessing you were ordered to by your Bratva’s Pakhan,” I said.
Dmitri grasped Igor’s middle finger, and he started furiously nodding his head in affirmation to my question.
I sighed. The last thing I wanted was to be on the radar of a rival Bratva.
“Why?” I said.
“Once you hit the top twenty in your competition, I was assigned to surveil you,” he hurried to say before Dmitri could break another one of his bones.
“Just me?” I asked.
“Along with a long list of other people in your organization. You aren’t that important.”
I snorted at that. There was no offense taken. I preferred being under the radar and in the shadows.
Igor muttered under his breath, “This was supposed to be an easy assignment.”
Had Gemma been part of that assignment, or was it just a messed up coincidence?
“Was-” I stopped myself.
I’d nearly vocalized that question. I shook my head, I couldn’t let Dmitri know about Gemma. I needed to shield her from this world. Especially from someone who’d proven their capability of killing the people I cared about.
With that thought, the building arousal came to a screeching halt. Finally, it saw reason.
I couldn't handle anymore deaths of the people I cared about. I’d been alone for so long after Kiril’s death….
Crap. Now, my unfinished sentence had Dmitri’s full heart-stopping attention.
I amended my question to Igor. “Were you ordered by your Pakhan to kill me…” I paused as if an idea just occurred to me. “Or anyone else around me?”
That was an indirect way of asking about Gemma. Dmitri would just assume I was talking about my parents.
“No,” Igor said. “Our operation doesn’t really care about you that much. I only reacted tonight, because I thought you’d caught onto me.”
He shrugged, or at least attempted to in his current position.
Gemma and I were safe… for now.
Some of the tension disappeared from my shoulders along with the adrenaline that’d been running through my veins. A yawn popped out of my mouth before I could stop it.
“Go home, Alisa. I’ll handle the rest.”
Confusion glazed my mind as the totality of the evening hit me. Dmitri was risking so much by involving himself.
Gangsters never did things out of the kindness of their heart. I couldn’t imagine what had motivated the most ruthless one alive.
“Why are you helping me, Dmitri?” I asked quietly.
“You aren’t allowed to die yet, Alisa.” Dmitri’s gaze scorched against my skin. “Not before I break you.”