Chapter 13
Dmitri
My life is a fucking mess.
Two good men are dead.
Someone tried to put a bullet in my head.
And I’m losing control where Cara is concerned.
I was willing to do just about anything to protect her last night when bullets were whistling through the air and bodies were dropping around us.
I roughly drag my fingers through my hair as I pace around my penthouse with Saturday morning’s warm sunshine streaming through my large windows. My eyes ache from lack of sleep, but my muscles are tense and ready to strike at any second.
Being on someone’s kill list has been normal for me since I was born into the Bratva family, but Cara could’ve been hurt last night. She risked herself to save me.
If she’d taken that bullet, the guilt would’ve buried me.
I grab my cell phone off the glass coffee table in front of my sectional. Opening my messages, I scroll past all the ones from my men about the attack last night. So far, we have no leads, which is frustrating as fuck but expected.
The shooters were smart and slipped away like shadows into the night, not leaving behind any trace. They’re human, though, and if there’s one thing that we can rely on humans to do, it’s fucking up at some point.
We’ll figure out who they are soon, and they’ll no longer be a problem for anyone else.
I tap on my message chain with Cara, my thumb hovering over the keyboard once it pops up. I watched her walk into her apartment building last night, so I know that she’s okay.
Unless someone followed her.
“Damn it,” I mutter under my breath, unable to shake my wariness. I type out a quick message to her asking if she’s okay before sending it.
A minute later, my phone buzzes in my hand.
I’m okay. Still just a little shaken up but I’ll be fine by Monday. Thank you for checking on me.
I consider telling her to take Monday off work, but I know that she won’t accept that. I drum my finger against the side of my phone, feeling torn between leaving the conversation at that or asking if she would like to talk about last night.
Sure, it seems like she’s seen some crazy shit thanks to her criminal ex, but almost getting killed must’ve been a nightmare for her.
What if it scares her away?
I can’t afford that.
Before I can decide on what to do to ensure she stays, there’s a knock on my front door. I have men posted in the area to keep an eye out for anyone suspicious, so whoever it is can’t be a threat.
I pocket my phone and walk to the foyer. There’s a handgun stashed in the back of my pants, another in the drawer of the table in the entryway.
Another knock sounds on the door.
I unlock it and pull it open, my body tensing to prepare for anything.
“Dmitri!” Annika stands in the enclosed hallway, tears in her eyes. She rushes to me, throwing her arms around my neck. “I can’t believe it! I was almost killed last night!”
I don’t put my arms around her, surprise and annoyance making me go as stiff as a board. Aside from any gun-wielding enemies, she’s the last person that I want to see right now.
“What are you doing here?” I ask her as I grab her upper arms and pry her off me.
Annika sniffles and wipes her eyes, despite no actual tears falling. “You disappeared last night. Some of your men hid me and my friends in the hotel until the threat was over. I was so worried about you.”
She was worried that she had lost her opportunity to have a rich husband.
“I’m fine. You seem to be too,” I state as my eyes quickly sweep over her. She’s in a pink tracksuit without a single bruise or scratch.
“And good thing for you. If something had happened to me, my father would be furious,” Annika says as she looks up at me. “You wouldn’t want that, right?”
I hold her gaze, my jaw tightening.
Once I give Annika the ring, it’s over. I’ll never be able to have Cara in the way that I want.
“No,” I reply in a tight voice. “I don’t want that.”
Annika smiles and rests her hands on my chest over my white t-shirt, her touch cold. “What happened to you last night? Did you even try to find me?”
She pisses me off to no end, but I did just leave her there to die. All my focus was on making sure that Cara was safe.
“I lost sight of you. I tried to look for you, but my men told me that you were safe, so I left since I was the intended target,” I tell her, lying right to her face.
I have to. If I tell her the truth, she’ll be furious and go right to her father to complain. As the wedding engagement looms closer, now more than ever, I have to be on my best behavior.
But that’s hard to do whenever I’m around Cara.
All I want to do is rip off those tiny dresses that she wears to work and show her how crazy she drives me. But I draw a hard line at cheating after the ceremony.
Which only leaves…the time before the engagement is official.
One night with her.
Before the ring.
I’ll get her out of my system.
I need her once. Then I’ll bury it.
“Aw, you were worried,” Annika coos as she reaches up and places her hand on my cheek. Her nails are filed to a sharp point, their edges scraping my skin. “I’m here now. I’m okay.”
“Right,” I say, uneasiness creeping under my skin.
Soon, she’ll be all that I have. The only woman I can touch.
Even having her hands on me doesn’t feel right. Everything feels so damn fake. So forced. Are we really supposed to live the rest of our lives like this?
“Until the shooters are caught, I want us to be together more. I feel safer with you,” Annika tells me with big doe eyes. “I know you’ll protect me next time.”
Hopefully, we can find the shooters and dispose of them so that there won’t be a next time. But as long as I’m alive, there will always be someone who wants me dead. Once Annika becomes my wife, there will be an additional target on her back.
She already has one from being her father’s daughter.
“Nothing will happen to you,” I assure her. If something does, we’re both fucked, so I decide to put at least two men on her at all times.
When we’re married, I’ll be expected to be her main protector. The man who guards his wife from all threats. No exceptions.
If I fail, I might as well kiss my own life goodbye. She could catch pneumonia and die, and her father would still make it my fault.
Annika’s eyes roam over my face like she’s trying to catch an untrustworthy twitch. As if I’m not scrutinized enough by everyone else in my life.
“You know what I would love right now?” Annika asks suddenly as she drags her forefinger along my jaw, making me nearly grimace as her nail no doubt leaves behind a red line on my skin. “A drink. Take me for brunch somewhere nice. I want a mimosa.”
I planned on staying in today and getting updates from my men about the shooting, but it looks like I’ll be going out on a date with my bride-to-be.
Because of her determination to bitch and cry to her father when she doesn’t get her way, I’m wary about even saying no to a brunch date.
It’s the least I can do after abandoning her last night.
She thinks she owns me. But if I’m trapped in this arrangement, so is she. There are rules for her to follow as well.
“Let me get changed. Wait here,” I tell her before drawing away from her, finally able to breathe once more now that she’s not invading my personal space.
She already did that by showing up at my place unannounced, though.
I shut my bedroom door behind me, my back pressing against the wood.
Look at me. Hiding from a goddamn woman.
This arrangement is choking me.
I push myself off the door to step into my walk-in closet, tailored suits and other pieces of luxury clothing flanking me on both sides. I need to get myself together before anyone notices that I’m slowly descending into this miserable madness.
Wanting Cara may as well be a death wish.