40. Dmitri
40
DMITRI
E lanee is sitting as far away in the back seat from me as possible. Good. Be scared of me. Hate me. I don’t fucking care. So, fucking close. Too close. When I saw that knife at her throat, for the first time in my life, I tasted genuine fear. The panic of losing her twisted and broke something new inside of me, and I couldn’t explain it, nor would I justify it. As long as she is safe.
Chunks of her hair have been cut off, but she’s quiet, distantly staring out the window, most likely in shock.
I don’t give a flying fuck if Archer had to fight off two men or a fucking bear; he’s lucky I didn’t kill him as well. Had she made it to the bar, the clean-up would’ve been much easier since it was Luca Armani’s establishment.
Layla sits in the front of the car. My driver isn’t even daring enough to look through the rearview mirror.
The moment Elanee called me and said someone was following her, I sent Layla a message and had another driver collect her. We had various backup plans if she had to take the role of Elanee, and considering the circumstances, we’d assumed a switch would be required.
“I’m not letting you swap places with me tonight,” Elanee says. “Take me to my apartment.”
“You’ll stay exactly where you are,” I growl.
Her eyes grow wide, and whatever might have been keeping her back before fractures. “You do not own me, Dmitri!”
“I’m trying to keep you fucking safe!” I snap. “One of the whores from the club put a knife to your throat,” I say blatantly, confused that I actually have to remind her. “And you say I’m the asshole because I slit her throat.”
“Well, you are an asshole,” Layla mutters matter-of-fact from the front. “But I probably would’ve done the same.”
Lie. Layla was many things but she was not a killer. Then again, I know she’d do just about anything for her sister.
Elanee folds into herself slightly, defeated by the outvoting. “She was sick,” she says quietly.
“And had I been ten seconds later, she might’ve gotten what she wanted,” I snip.
Her bronze eyes look away. She had already been in that alleyway for a minute: enough time for her hair to be hacked and a knife placed against her throat.
Enough time to… I stop at the thought.
“Take her back to your place tonight,” Layla says. “I’ll cover for her. This is already too risky, and anyone could’ve seen us.”
“Shouldn’t you be worried that you might get put away for murder?” Elanee snaps. “I don’t want you in prison because of me.”
I laugh hysterically. This is just too fucking rich. I was losing my goddamn mind. “I’m not the boy you remember from college, Elanee. Things such as murder don’t affect me.”
“Oh, so you’re God now?” she bites back.
“No. I just discovered how money, influence, and having the right things in place can cover my tracks. Or maybe it’s because I’m so like my father,” I throw back in her face.
“Guys!” Layla yells. “You two are high on adrenaline. You care for each other deeply, and some crazy shit just happened.” She makes a pointed look at Elanee and her jagged, cut-up hair and, then she looks at me.
“How are you so calm about all of this?” Elanee asks, bewildered.
“Because right now, I’m clearly the only one looking forward. Whether you like it or not, Elanee, I’m going to your apartment tonight. If you don’t make an appearance and someone’s watching that house, then it could put everything that we’ve worked toward at stake. And you—” she points a finger at me. “Stop being such an asshole and reign it in a little.”
I go to speak, but she prods her finger further in my direction. I grind my jaw instead and look away.
“It’s too much,” Elanee argues back. “What if The Lion never comes? What if this plan doesn’t work, and we’re just constantly swapping until myself or all of us get killed in the process?”
“Then I’ll go to Russia,” I say matter-of-factly.
“You can’t go to Russia. You won’t even get close to him, and even if you do, you’d have an army to go against compared to the few they have here.”
“Do you think I enjoy this waiting game?” I bite back. “Do you think I find pleasure in dangling you like a piece of fruit or using your sister for the same?! I’m so powerless right now. Do you know how hard it is for me not to just take you anyway for me to instead respect your wishes and let you remain in that cage? I’m so fucking close to ending our promise, Elanee, just to get you the fuck out of there.”
My blood is boiling. I want to burn the city down. How can I be so useless? I’d barely made it in time. Everything I was putting into place felt like it was falling apart, or maybe that was me. I had to get a fucking grip on myself and the situation.
Layla’s voice quietly pushes through the tension. “Elanee, please trust us. We’re in this together. We have to swap clothes and give me your bracelet, necklace, and phone.”
Defiance mares Elanee’s features as she says, “I feel no less trapped.”
I don’t let it show how it fractures pieces of me. I’d give anything to give her the world, and instead, she now sees me as the enemy. I’d promised her freedom; instead, I took her choices away.
But I won’t apologize for it or even feel an ounce of remorse. If it keeps her safe, I don’t care if she hates me. But that’s what cuts me; it’s the fact that she sees me as my father—a self-serving monster. And I am in some ways. But where he would destroy her, I will set her free.
I take her straight to the protection of my apartment. I point her in the direction of my bedroom when Luca calls me.
After this call, I have every intention of inspecting every inch of her to make sure she’s all right.
Too fucking close.
She looks as if she wants to argue, but when she sees my unwavering expression, she does as she’s told. I lick my lips, feeling like a madman, as I answer his call.
“Did you find out anything?” I ask as I walk into my office. The moment the incident occurred, I contacted him. I was pulling on all the resources I had, and this especially involved our camaraderie in both objectively wanting my father dead.
“The pink-haired lunatic wasn’t anyone influential in their club,” he says. “But we’ve stirred enough on our end that it should bring The Lion’s attention at the very least.”
I lick my lips again, and another jolt of adrenaline pumps through me, and I realize I’m anxious. I haven’t felt this in years, not since being a child and when my mother spiraled into her episodes.
“I don’t know how much longer I can let her dangle,” I grit out, honestly. It had been my plan, and up until this point, I’d executed everything perfectly and put all the places on the board. Usually, I wouldn’t have an issue with the pawns that are at play, but this is different.
Has always been different the moment it involved her .
“That was part of our agreement. You want your revenge and woman still, don’t you?” he says, sounding almost bored with the conversation. “I didn’t take you as someone who gets cold feet.” My jaw tics in irritation. He’s not intentionally pushing my buttons, but I need to release this furious rage somewhere. But Luca Armani is not it right now.
I want there to be another way. Anything. But I can feel it in myself as well.
There’s only so much the Bratva will take until they send him. And this last spectacle we’ve organized will definitely get their attention.
“Stick to the plan,” I grit out and hang up.