Chapter 37
Chapter thirty-seven
Alisa
Half-baked ideas swirled through my mind as I rushed to apply makeup and a brown wig for my mission with Dmitri. As I shivered in my freezing apartment, I threw back another dosage of my new poison, and tried to come up with lies that would appease the Pakhan the next time I saw him.
When I spotted Dmitri’s broad figure seated at the seedy bar, my heart beat into overtime. If he caught wind of what the Pakhan had ordered me to do, he’d destroy me.
I might be Dmitri’s toy on rotation, but if he sniffed any hint of betrayal…
What he’d do to me would make Jayden’s final breaths look mirthful.
“Hi, kotenok.”
“Planning on telling me how you always know it’s me despite the disguise?” I said, sliding onto a sticky pleather barstool.
A smile crossed his face. “What would be the fun in that?”
Slowly, the curves of his lips dipped into a frown as his eyes focused in on my wrist.
I followed his gaze towards the red rash spreading across my skin. Shit, another side effect of the new medicine from Dr. Poison.
“It’s not contagious,” I said with a forced smile.
Dmitri opened his mouth to say something. Then shook his head and glanced at the perimeters of the bar.
“Still not here,” he muttered, and I was secretly glad for the respite.
My legs felt like lead bars, and weakness permeated my entire body. I forced myself to feign a casual stance in the chair as if nothing was the slightest bit off.
“Have a fun week?” I said, shrugging my jacket off.
His eyes darkened as my sleeve slipped, revealing the hickey he’d bitten into my shoulder. The searing intensity left me flushing redder than the rash.
I swallowed, thinking back to seeing some woman’s clothes stacked on his guest room’s armoire, and tried to steel my body against the feeling. He’d probably had fun with multiple women this week. I was just a convenient little distraction at work.
My chest ached at the thought, but I tried to ignore it along with all the other aches in my body.
“I’ll put your coat away,” he said, his expression unreadable. He took the jacket from my hands and headed towards the coatroom.
All I could see was his tense shoulders as he spoke to the attendant. His back muscles tightened when he handed off my jacket, and suddenly, my imagination drifted to being alone in there with him.
He’d slip the coat check some bills, and then he’d slip his fingers underneath my dress. When the sensation got to be too much, he’d wrap his fingers around my throat and silence all the moans…
No.
My mind had wrapped itself in fantasies and reminders of him for the last week, and I doubted he’d even thought of me until he’d received the text about the mission.
I might not hate him—shit I had no idea what I felt at this point—but I knew without a doubt that delving into this any further was dangerous.
Dmitri’s face was completely blank when he rejoined me at the bar. Any trace of heat was gone and replaced with cold distance.
“What’s the plan when he arrives?” I said quietly.
“Lure him into the back alley. I’ll handle it from there.”
For the next half hour, we waited. Dmitri knocked back a vodka on the rocks, and I sipped my ginger ale. My drink choice had gotten an eyebrow raise out of him, but I’d muttered something back about remaining sober for the mission.
Even though there was only a foot between us, ever since he’d gotten back from the coatroom there was an impenetrable distance that’d weaved between us. He didn’t tease me about the mark on my shoulder.
Shit, he barely even looked at me.
The longer the night went on the more my body felt like it was internally disintegrating. The nausea pushing against my stomach was the least of my worries. I felt lightheaded and weak.
The last thing I could afford to be on a mission.
Even though I shouldn’t, I felt relieved to have Dmitri on the assignment with me. His dark presence assured me that if anything went wrong, he would handle it.
Even if it wasn’t for my sake, I’d take it.
Finally, a bearded man wandered in. When he approached the bar, I smiled at him and he immediately beelined it over. I thanked my lucky stars since if this went on much longer I might pass out in this random man’s arms.
Ice pierced through my stomach at the thought, but I wasn’t sure if that wasn’t just another side effect of this new poison coursing through my veins.
Dmitri silently left my side as the man approached. I refused to follow him with my eyes, but his presence wasn’t one you could easily ignore. You could be halfway across the room, and you’d just know Dmitri was there.
Our target sat down beside me, his eyes glued to my chest like it was the most interesting thing about me. He was so fixated on it that he didn’t even notice the rash slowly spreading across my arm.
While the man spoke about himself, I allowed my eyes to wander around the room in search of Dmitri. He leaned against the wall, a pretty girl to his right vying for his attention.
But his focus was entirely on me. His eyes drifted to her only for a moment, irritation sparking in his eyes.
My heart fluttered at his attention, but I had to remind myself that it was only because he was zeroed in on the assignment. If it’d been any other night, the girl would probably already be in the cloakroom with him.
Too slow, I realized my target was waiting for some sort of answer.
“What was that?” I asked, my jaw aching as I tried to smile.
“I was asking what your plans were for the evening,” he said, gaze still entirely focused on my chest. It was obvious what plans this man envisioned for me.
“Well,” I said with a flirtatious smile that he didn’t even notice. “Maybe we could have some drinks at my place…”
For the first time since he sat down, his eyes shot up to my face. I inclined my chin towards the backdoor that led into the alley.
He stood up immediately, and I would’ve laughed if I didn’t almost fall flat on my ass when I tried to get up myself. My target caught me around the waist, and I kept myself from flinching away from his sweaty touch.
“Too much to drink,” I lied even though he hadn’t asked.
The excited glimmer in his eyes made me feel zero remorse about leading him into the alley of death. Without even looking over my shoulder, I knew Dmitri was following at a safe distance. Just a little longer, and I could take the antidote to this stupid new poison.
I pressed my weight against the door and flinched against the freezing cold smacking into my exposed arms. Halfway down the alleyway, I heard the door quietly close again, and relief ringed through me.
My target didn’t even bother to turn towards the noise, too busy trying to get a supposedly trashed girl home. One moment the target had his hand around my waist, the next moment I heard the slam of his head against the brick wall.
I leaned against the opposite wall breathing heavily as Dmitri dispassionately snapped the man’s neck.
“That was easy,” I said, my voice raspy as I desperately searched inside my purse for the antidote. My legs were quivering now that the target was no longer holding me up.
Dmitri dropped the dead man who clattered onto some glass bottles.
“You okay?” he said, his eyes sharpening as he watched me desperately root around my purse.
My fingers wrapped around a small vial, and I sighed in relief.
“Fuck,” I whispered when I realized that I’d put the wrong one in my purse.
The last of my strength zapped out of me as I realized that I’d have to go home to get the antidote. My legs gave out, and I awaited the pain of broken glass greeting my bare skin. Before I could hit the ground, Dmitri’s muscular arms caught me.
“What’s wrong?” he asked quietly. His face was a study in contradiction from earlier’s coldness.
For a moment I was distracted by the warmth of his hard body shielding me from the bite of the wind. Dmitri frowned and tipped my chin up.
“Alisa,” he said, a harsh demand in his voice.
“I started a new regiment with my microdosing,” I said, my legs quivering harder.
With a curse, he scooped me up into his arms bridal style. I was too relieved to not have to stand anymore to be embarrassed. I luxuriated into the warmth of his muscular body, enjoying the small reprieve.
“What do you need?” he asked.
A massage. A warm bath. Honestly, anything warm sounded incredible. In his arms, I started fantasizing about all of that until he gently shook me back to attention.
“Just find me a cab.” My teeth chattered as I spoke.
A tattooed man emerged from the end of the alley. My body froze when I remembered the dead man lying near my feet. Shit, I was not in any state to deal with this-
“Dmitri,” the man said. His brow furrowed when he noticed me lying in Dmitri’s arms.
If I had the energy, I would’ve made a half-hearted attempt for Dmitri to set me down. Instead, I just nuzzled into his steely warmth and security.
Dmitri stepped towards him. Anxiety coursed through me as I realized he was about to hand me off to one of his men when I was too weak to walk.
“Don’t leave me alone,” I said, flushing as soon as the words left my chilly lips.
Dmitri whispered into my ear, his voice rough, "I didn't realize you were so needy outside of my bed as well.”
His warm breath clashed against my freezing skin. Despite the thick makeup, I could feel my skin turning the color of a tomato. His eyes darkened as he took it in.
The tattooed man’s throat cleared, and when Dmitri looked at him, his expression was completely blank.
“Ilya, handle the cleanup,” Dmitri said, already striding out of the alleyway.
A cab was idling near us, and I hated the way my heart clenched as we strode towards it. But once his feet hit the sidewalk, he turned left towards a very familiar car.