Chapter 46
Chapter forty-six
Dmitri
Soon after her final orgasm, my freshly showered kitten drifted off into sleep with my oversized t-shirt hanging across her small frame. I watched her chest rise and fall underneath my black cotton shirt. A possessiveness swelled inside of me as I tucked her closer against my body.
When my phone buzzed, I felt like a dragon hoarding its treasure, not wanting the sound to awaken her and for her to leave my den.
I didn’t even bother checking to see who it was. Instead, I swept a stray hair back behind her ear and listened to the soothing sound of her even breaths.
In the morning, my arm mindlessly reached for her warmth, instinctively wanting her closer. My hand met empty sheets and my eyes snapped open, irritation brimming through me.
I stemmed the feeling. Told myself I should be relieved, that I’d gotten too close for my own good. I knew she was dangerous to my health, but I kept pulling her closer. I padded into the hallway, already mentally listing off the things I needed to accomplish.
The moment I entered the kitchen, I blinked once, twice, sure I was hallucinating.
Alisa was hunched over the oven, muttering to herself.
“What are you doing?” I asked the girl who’d admitted she couldn’t cook.
She spun around. A blush worked its way down her face and hid underneath my shirt.
“Cooking muffins,” she said, failing to appear nonchalant.
A soft sizzle echoed and her eyes widened.
I leaned against the kitchen island, enthralled by her movements. She opened up the oven, and cursed.
She hurriedly set a tray full of muffins on the stove. The tops were charred, and I didn’t miss the burnt smell wafting through the kitchen.
Alisa amended her previous statement, “Or at least I was trying to.”
She looked down at the muffins, defeat in her eyes. “I’ll just throw these away.”
I strode over to the stove before she could grab the tray, and threw one in my mouth. The muffin tasted ashy and chunky, yet somehow it was the most wonderful bite of food I’d ever had. The look in her eyes as she watched me chew certainly added to the effect.
I couldn’t believe she’d made it for me. I don’t think anyone had ever given me anything without expecting something in return.
“Thank you,” I said.
Alisa stared at the muffin tin as if she was hallucinating. She took a bite of one, and nearly spit it into the sink.
“Why are you thanking me? It’s terrible!” she said, laughter falling from her lips and spreading across her entire face.
I just watched her for a moment, enjoying the tinkle of her laugh. Unable to resist, I wrapped my arms around her waist, and brought her in close.
“My oven heats up faster than most,” I said. “It’s not your fault.”
Alisa tossed a glare at the oven like it’d attacked her, and I couldn’t help but laugh.
“I checked the recipe three times! I knew I did everything right.”
She looked so fucking adorable like this.
That possessiveness from last night felt like a distant dream compared to what I was feeling now… I wanted to taste her. Own her. Never let her run.
I understood why I’d avoided Alisa for those two years. After I’d caught the look in her eyes when she’d defended her brother, I’d known that those beautiful eyes would haunt me. The flash of love and protectiveness was so rare inside our world that I hadn’t even realized it existed.
Our world was full of people like my mother who’d murdered my brother, because she thought he was weak. Or the men who ordered their mistresses killed when they grew tired of them.
I never expected someone to tell me to kill them instead of their family member. To be willing to die for love.
Loving so fully was dangerous.
Deep down, I knew it’d eventually get Alisa killed. No one could survive in our world with that type of love. It made you too vulnerable.
She gaped at me while I started chowing down on her burnt muffins, and I felt a primal urge to protect her from anything that might harm her.
I might not know what love was—shit, I probably wasn’t even capable of it—but as she bit down on her lip while watching me, I knew I wasn’t letting her go.
There wasn’t a force in this world that could tear Alisa away from me.
Not even her.
I opened the door to Alisa’s shitty apartment, surprisingly full from her experimental muffins. I hadn’t let her throw a single one away.
She’d gone off to meet up with her father. I’d taken the opportunity to organize the one thing that ensured she’d always stay.
I flashed a smile at her slumlord, and his complexion paled as he took me in. One of my loyal men, Nikolai, shot him a flat look that told him to not even think about running.
The chill of the drafty apartment greeted me as I closed the door behind us. Anger filled me as I thought of all nights Alisa must’ve shivered under her threadbare blanket.
Whenever we stepped outside into the cold, she shook like a leaf that was fruitlessly clinging onto the dead branches of a tree. For her to not even have a warm sanctuary to come home to….
My anger must’ve manifested on my face. Alisa’s slumlord took an unsteady step backwards.
He should be scared. Any displays of apologeticness would be far too little, too late. The time for him to make amends was when Alisa begged him to repair her heater.
I sat down on her holey couch, and nearly sunk to the floor. It would have to go once Alisa was officially living at my house. My kitten deserved better than this.
Far better.
“Give me his phone,” I said to Nikolai.
Nikolai yanked the slumlord’s phone out of his hand. When the man tried to turn away from the phone’s facial recognition, Nikolai grabbed his jaw and yanked his face into the frame.
Once the phone was unlocked and in my hands, I clicked on a text chain between him and Alisa. I scrolled to the bottom, noting how many texts she’d sent him that he’d simply ignored.
He’d regret that now.
“Last year, on December 18th Alisa texted you that her heater was broken. She said the temperature was supposed to drop below freezing, and you didn’t even bother responding.”
He flinched at my tone.
The couch creaked as I stood up from it. All I could picture was shivers racking Alisa’s body as she desperately sent out this message to him.
I flicked open a knife from my pocket.
The landlord tried to dash for the door, but Nikolai grabbed him before he could take a single step.
“Please,” he said as I approached him with the knife in hand.
“Interesting,” I said, bringing up the phone to my face. “That’s exactly what Alisa said on December 25th. Christmas. And yet you ignored her.”
Before he could even register the movement, I slashed my knife twice across his biceps, making sure to avoid any arteries. I wanted to make this last a while.
Although, I’m sure he’d prefer I didn’t.
“Next up, we have January 4th. Alisa told you her neighbor Layla had a newborn baby who couldn't handle the chill in her apartment. She begged you to just send someone out and fix her neighbor's heater.”
My heart swelled as I read the rest of the message. Alisa seemed far more torn up about the baby receiving warmth than she had been about herself.
“You ignored a fucking baby, because it was cheaper for you to do so.” This time I sliced near his collarbone, enjoying the screams emitting from his mouth.
I couldn’t help smiling as I read the next one. Despite freezing in this shithole, Alisa had scrounged up enough money to get Layla and her baby another apartment with a working heater.
Alisa threatened to break the slumlord’s kneecaps if he tried to retain Layla’s deposit for breaking her lease early.
Unfortunately, she hadn’t ended up breaking his kneecaps. Likely because he’d found another sucker to take the apartment, and he didn’t have to screw over the new mother to make sure he didn’t lose a few pennies.
Her threat had gotten a response though.
I paused my scrolling.
The slumlord promised he’d personally break Alisa’s kneecaps if she ever threatened him again.
Before I’d even finished reading his reply, I swung my foot backwards, and made contact with his right knee. A cracking noise echoed in the room. I smiled at the way his kneecap jutted sharply to the left.
Still, my anger was barely quenched when the landlord screamed and jerked towards the ground.
I nodded at Nikolai to hold him up.
“We’re not close to being done,” I said, flipping over the knife in my hand. “I still have more messages to read.”