Chapter 24 Dimitri #2
“I couldn’t let them take me,” she tells me, her eyes searching mine. “I couldn’t leave you, so I…” She laughs, that hysterical relief of surviving something impossible. “So I learned to shoot.” She gestures to her fallen weapon. “Very badly.”
“You were incredible,” I tell her as I cup her face with my good hand. “Maybe it wasn’t perfect, but you did a damn good job.”
“I almost shot you,” she says sheepishly.
“Yeah, but you didn’t.” I press a kiss to her nose, enjoying how her breathing hitches. “Once I take care of my uncle and brother, your weapons training begins. I can’t have you brandishing a weapon like that. What would others say?”
She laughs again but then sees the blood. Her eyes go wide and she gasps.
“Holy shit—you’re hurt. Dimitri, you’re bleeding.”
I wave it off. “I’m fine.”
But the world tilts slightly. The adrenaline is wearing off, and blood loss catching up with me. I sway and suddenly she’s supporting me, her arm around my waist.
“Like hell, you’re fine,” she says sternly. “Come on. We need to get you to your office.”
We make it there somehow—her practically holding me up, me trying not to black out. The estate around us is still in chaos but at least the gunfire has ended.
Sergei appears at my elbow. “Boss, Dr. Petrov is on his way. And—” His expression darkens. “We found Mikhail.”
My stomach drops and I make Vera pause. “Where?” I ask hoarsely.
Sergei looks pained. “Upper hallway. It looks like he held them off as long as he could. He took at least four of them with him before…” He trails off.
Before they killed him.
Brave and loyal Mikhail. He’d been with me for eight years and I trusted him to protect Vera. He did exactly that, and fought until his last breath to keep them away from her.
“Make sure his family is taken care of,” I say, feeling a well of emotion rise in me. “His mother and sister in St. Petersburg. Whatever they need. And arrange the funeral. Full honors.”
Sergei dips his head respectfully. “Yes, sir.”
He leaves and I sink into my office chair, suddenly exhausted beyond measure.
Vera hovers nearby, eyes fixed on my bleeding shoulder but I can see tears trailing down her cheeks, clearly mourning Mikhail.
Dr. Petrov arrives within minutes—loyal, unshakable Dr. Petrov who’s seen me through worse than this. He takes one look at the gunshot wound and sighs.
“You know,” he says conversationally as he starts cutting away my jacket, “most men would go to a hospital for this.”
I roll my eyes. “Most men don’t have Konstantin Volkov trying to kill them,” I retort.
Dr. Petrov makes a noise of agreement. “Fair point.”
He cleans the wound with antiseptic that burns like hellfire. I don’t flinch as I’ve felt worse. Instead, I watch Vera watching me, her face pale but composed.
“The bullet went clean through,” Dr. Petrov announces. “There’s no bone damage. You’re very lucky.”
I think about the state of my life right now with my traitorous uncle and brother. “I don’t feel lucky.”
“You’re alive. That’s lucky enough.” He starts stitching. “This is going to hurt.”
It does, but again, I’ve had worse.
Vera moves closer, her hand finding mine. I squeeze it, grateful for the anchor.
“Antibiotics,” Dr. Petrov says when he’s finished, handing me a bottle. “Pain medication—”
I wave him off. “I don’t need pain medication.”
“Of course you don’t.” He doesn’t even sound surprised, just resigned. “At least rest. You’ve lost a lot of blood.”
I won’t. “I will,” I tell him. “Later.”
He knows I'm lying but doesn’t argue. Instead, he packs up his supplies and leaves with instructions to call if I start feeling worse.
The hours that follow blur together.
I spend them securing the estate with whatever men remain alive. Seven of my security team survived. Seven out of fifteen. The math is brutal.
We deal with the bodies by bagging, documenting, and preparing them for removal. My men will be given proper funerals. Konstantin’s will be burned.
We fortify every entrance, change all the codes, and triple the guard rotations. By the time we’re finished, dawn is breaking outside the windows. Vera stayed with me through all of it. She refused to leave my side even when I ordered her to rest.
Finally, finally, everyone else is gone.
It’s just us in my office, the door locked. The world temporarily kept at bay.
We stand there looking at each other.
“We almost died,” Vera says quietly.
“Yeah,” I agree.
“But we didn’t,” she points out.
I nod. “No. We didn’t.”
She slowly crosses the room to me, like she’s afraid I might disappear and touches my chest, feeling my heart beat under her palm.
“I thought you were dead. When Alexei said Konstantin killed you, I thought—” Her voice breaks. “I thought I’d never see you again. And I realized I never told you—”
She stops, struggling with words.
I cup her face with my good hand. “Tell me now,” I say roughly, my mouth dry with anticipation. “Tell me.”
“I love you.” The words tumble out of her like a confession. “I know it’s complicated and probably wrong considering my past with Alexei, but I love you. I’m in love with you, Dimitri. Completely. Desperately. I—”
I cut her off with a kiss.
Because hearing her say those words—that she loves me—is like a gut punch and a salvation all at once.
My hand slides into her hair, tilting her head back as I capture her mouth with mine.
She tastes like peppermint and home. Her lips are soft and urgent against mine, parting immediately to let me in deeper.
When our tongues meet, she makes a small sound in the back of her throat that goes straight through me and right to my cock.
I pull her closer with my other hand, ignoring the sting of my shoulder until there’s no space between us, splaying my fingers against her lower back.
Her body molds against mine, soft curves pressed to hard muscle and her hands fist in my shirt like she’s afraid I'll disappear if she lets go. I kiss her harder, deeper, pouring everything I can’t say into the desperate slide of my mouth against hers.
When we finally break apart, we’re both gasping for air. Her lips are swollen and kiss-bruised, but her eyes are bright with tears and wonder.
“It’s not wrong,” I tell her fiercely, my forehead pressed to hers. “Nothing about this—about us—is wrong.”
“But my past with Alexei,” she protests.
I shake my head. “Alexei doesn’t matter. He never mattered. The only thing that matters is you and me, and that baby.” I press her into me again, needing her warmth. “I love you, Vera. I have been for weeks but I was too stupid and scared to say it.”
“You were scared?” She actually laughs, looking shocked and amused. “You fight Konstantin’s entire security force without blinking but you’re scared to tell me you love me?”
I boop her on the nose. “Well, yeah,” I admit. “Because you—what I feel for you—it’s more than anything. It’s more than revenge, the business, even my own life. You’re everything.”
Her eyes well with tears. “Say it again,” she whispers.
“I love you.” I kiss her forehead. “I love you.” Her cheek. “I love you.” Her lips. “I love you, Vera Volkov. My wife. Mine.”
“Yours,” she breathes against my mouth. “Always yours.”
And then we're kissing again, but this time it’s different and desperate in so many new ways, with the relief of being alive, of having each other, and of saying the words we’ve been holding back.
My mouth moves to her jaw and her throat, tasting salt and gunpowder. She gasps when I find the pulse point below her ear, her fingers tightening in my hair.
I need to feel her.
My good hand tangles in her hair, angling her head back so I can kiss deeper, harder. My other hand (injured shoulder be damned) slides under her sweater, finding warm skin. She arches into my touch with a sound that makes me want to slide into her right there
Her fingers fumble with my belt, trembling with urgency.
“Dimitri, your shoulder—” she protests but I shush her.
“I don’t care.” I’m already pulling at her clothes and yanking her sweater over her head, tossing it aside. My hands find the button of her jeans, fingers clumsy with need. “I need you, Vera. I almost fucking lost you today and I can’t—”
“Shh.” She places her finger on my lips. “You won’t lose me.” She's got my belt open, pulling down my zipper. “I’m here. I’m not going anywhere.”
I help her shove my pants down and it’s awkward and graceless but I don’t give a fuck. She's kicking off her jeans and then I’m lifting her, pressing her against the desk. Papers scatter and something crashes to the floor.
None of it matters.
Her skin is hot against mine and her breath comes in short gasps against my neck before I capture her lips with mine again.
We kiss as if our lives depend on it, rough and clumsy, teeth and tongues and shared breath.
She arches into me as my hand snakes around her back to deftly undo her bra with one hand.
I pull it off, dragging the palm of my hand down from her neck, over her sternum, and finally down to cup her breast. She rises up into my touch like the swelling of the tide, letting out a gasp as I tweak her nipple.
“I need you, Dimitri,” she breathes, moaning as my lips catch her earlobe. I push my body into hers, grinding my straining erection into her, loving her hoarse curse.
“You’ll have me,” I murmur, plucking at the edge of her soaked underwear before I yank it down, leaving her bare and ready for me. Vera wriggles her hips to help move the scrap of fabric.
Her breath comes in harsh pants now, her hands flying to my waist and palming me through my underwear for a moment before her patience disappears and she shoves her hand under the elastic to wrap her fingers around my cock.
I let out a strangled groan and reach between us to drag my fingers through her folds.
Vera canters her hips into mine, wrapping her legs around my waist and hooking her feet together at the ankles.
I move my hand to push down my underwear but Vera is already there, pushing them down far enough to free my cock as it springs out, aching and throbbing, desperate to be inside her.
I push into her in one thrust and we both moan together, voices and bodies melting into one another. Then we’re moving together with desperate intensity.
My injured shoulder howls in protest but I don’t care. Her nails dig into my back and I welcome the pain as it’s proof that this is real, that we’re alive.
“I love you,” I say again and again, like if I say it enough, it will keep her safe. “I love you, Vera. My wife. Mine.”
“Yours,” she gasps, trembling. “Yours. Forever yours.”
The pleasure coils inside me and I go faster, feeling her meet my every thrust with a snap of her hips. Vera lets out a keening whimper, tightening her thighs around me as my fingers bite into the soft flesh of her hip.
“I love you,” she cries out. “Oh God, Dimitri!”
“Come for me,” I gasp, my cock pounding into her tight, wet heat, each word punctuated with a thrust. “Fucking come for me, Vera.”
Her breaths come heavy, little moans at the end of each one, until she throws her head back and lets out a long, high pitched gasp as her whole body tenses and she rides out her pleasure.
Seeing her come makes me explode into her and I unravel, deep, broken groans devolving into a low shout of her name.
I bury my face in her neck as I finish riding out my orgasm. We’re both shaking and tangled together, breathing each other in.
“I love you,” she says again, like she can’t stop now that she’s started.
“I know.” I stroke her hair with trembling fingers. “I know. And I love you. You and that baby…” My hand covers her stomach. “You’re everything.”
It’s the most honest and vulnerable thing I’ve ever said, and I don’t regret a single word.
Eventually, we manage to make ourselves presentable and clean up the evidence of what just happened (though I’m sure anyone with eyes will know exactly what we did).
I don’t fucking care.
“Come on,” I tell her, taking her hand. “We need sleep.”
She follows me through the quiet house—stepping over broken glass, past bullet holes, and around blood stains that will need to be professionally cleaned. I lead her up the stairs to the family wing, to my bedroom.
She’s never been in here before and I watch her take it in—the massive bed, the wall of windows overlooking the grounds, the understated luxury that’s so different from the ostentatious rest of the estate.
“This is nice,” she says softly, looking around the room.
“It’s yours now too,” I offer her, feeling surprisingly vulnerable. She was never supposed to see this room, forever to be banished to her own rooms on the other side of the estate. But then again, I was never supposed to fall in love with her
“Yeah?” She turns to look at me, surprise clear on her beautiful face. “We’re sharing a room now?”
I shrug, trying to appear nonchalant. “If you’ll have me.”
She smiles and it leaves me breathless. “I’ll have you.”
We collapse into bed fully clothed, too exhausted to do anything else. My shoulder is throbbing but Vera is mindful of my injury as she snuggles into me, her head on my chest, one hand over my heart.
“What happens now?” she asks quietly.
“Now,” I say, stroking her hair, “we end this. We’re going to destroy Konstantin and Alexei.”
She stiffens. “How?”
“I’m still working on that part.” I pull her closer, breathing her in and feeling myself finally relax. “But we will.”
And for the first time since this nightmare began, I believe we actually can.
Because I’m not alone anymore. I have Vera, fierce, brave, terrible-at-shooting Vera who fought beside me when she could have run. Who loves me despite every reason not to.
And Konstantin and Alexei have no idea what’s coming for them.