Chapter 14
Cara
This mission has revealed something ugly: I can’t trust anyone.
As I walk to work on Monday morning, conflicting thoughts fill my head, drowning out the traffic and noise of the city that surrounds me.
You’re supposed to be able to trust your father. Your parents are supposed to protect you.
My mother is gone, and my father might be lying to me.
He swore that he didn’t have anything to do with the shooting on Friday night, but I can’t help wondering if he sounded defensive or not during our call.
He was certainly pissed that I suspected he was the one behind the shooting, but I suppose no one likes to be blamed for something they didn’t do.
I turn the corner, a warm breeze caressing the bare skin of my knees and below where my white dress doesn’t cover. I can’t begin to guess how much money I’ve spent on clothes since taking this job, but I have to keep playing the part of temptress if I want this plan to work.
Dmitri saved me before he looked for his bride. That’s progress.
I head into the building and up to his floor, gathering my breath before stepping out of the elevator.
“Morning,” Karly says quickly as she flips through some paperwork on her desk, too focused on her task to even spare me a glance.
She doesn’t look the least bit bothered by the assassination attempt on her boss, as if it’s just another day in the office.
I guess it is for her if she’s been around so long that she came to Vegas with Dmitri from New York.
“Morning,” I reply, walking past her without slowing my pace. My mind flip-flops back and forth as I approach the closed double doors that I know he’s waiting behind.
What does he respond to? Does he want fragile or fire?
While working with Dmitri, I’ve learned a decent bit about him. He can’t stand weakness from his own men, but he’s typically kind and helpful when there’s a woman in need.
However, he also likes a challenge and people who have backbones, whether they’re a man or a woman.
What role should I play?
I enter the office to find him standing behind his desk in his black, three-piece suit, my presence immediately drawing his attention. Was he waiting for me?
He moves around to the front of his desk, making me slow my pace as I approach him. “How are you doing?”
His level of concern slightly surprises me, but it mostly pleases me. He needs to care, that’s how this works.
“I’m okay,” I reply, making my voice waver as I force a tense smile on my face.
Dmitri gives me a pointed look before sitting on the edge of the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. “Don’t lie to me. Tell me the truth. Talk to me.”
If he knew the truth, I would be dead.
“It’s not a big deal,” I say, straddling the line between brave and scared as I monitor his reactions. “I’m getting over it. These things can happen, right?”
Dmitri exhales slowly before shaking his head. “I endangered you by bringing you to such a high-profile event. I should’ve thought of all possible security threats.”
“Don’t blame yourself. No one expected that to happen,” I say as I reach out to brush my fingertips against the sleeve of his jacket. “I won’t lie. I’ve been in some scary situations because of my ex-boyfriend, but I’ve never been so close to death before.”
The abusive criminal ex-boyfriend who doesn’t even exist. I’ll make up whatever I need to in order to sway him.
Dmitri straightens and takes my hand before I can fully pull it away, and I’m quickly reminded of our size difference. He towers over me when he’s standing, and even with him sitting down, we’re just about at eye level.
“It won’t happen again,” Dmitri assures me before releasing my hand.
A golden window of opportunity presents itself to me. If I can’t figure out the truth of whether my father was behind the shooting, maybe Dmitri and his men can. I’m sure they’ve already been working around the clock to find an answer.
“How can you be sure?” I ask him. “Do you even know who’s responsible?”
Dmitri shakes his head, his jaw clenched tight. “No, not yet, but I have my men working on it around the clock. We’ll find who they are and make sure they can’t hurt anyone else.”
He seems fairly confident. I’m sure the Bratva have plenty of sources they can turn to when they’re in need of information. If they can’t figure it out, I’m not sure who can.
“That worries me. That you don’t even have a lead,” I say, needing to pull more information from him. Even some guesses may help me confirm whether my father had anything to do with the incident.
I hope he didn’t do something so drastic and put my life at risk. But my confidence wanes more and more every time that I think about it. I have to be realistic and face the fact that my father isn’t the most nurturing, paternal figure.
Dmitri stiffens. “Of course, I have suspicions. There are a handful of people who have the means and the hatred for me and my family to brazenly attack us like that. People who don’t like that we’ve been expanding into Vegas.”
“People like…Rafael?”
Dmitri shakes his head. “There are other rival families in the city. The Italians have been here for decades. Most of them are not fond of us. There’s also the Irish Mob that’s been expanding from New York for nearly a decade.”
My heart hammers against my chest. I tilt my head at him, feigning a look of surprise. “There’s an Irish Mob here in Vegas?”
“Run by Sean O’Malley, one of the biggest pains in my ass I’ve ever dealt with,” Dmitri mutters bitterly.
“He’s greedy enough to go after me like that, but he’s also not stupid.
That shooting was calculated, but it was too risky being so public.
Doesn’t seem like O’Malley unless I’m underestimating him. ”
It’s safe to say that my father is losing patience in this whole scheme. Maybe he tried to skip a bunch of steps and take out Dmitri with a plan of his own. It’s not like Sean ever tells me much of anything unless I absolutely need to know.
“You have a lot of enemies,” I say as I fidget with the tie waist of my dress.
Dmitri steps closer to me, his hand brushing mine away from the tie belt. “It’s crooked.”
All the air leaves my lungs when he unties it, making the dress loosen around my figure a little. My eyes flick up to his dark blue ones, but he’s more focused on his hands as he slowly twists the belt to tie it once more around me.
He’s so close that his spicy cologne fills my senses, almost making me lightheaded. I remember dancing with him and feeling the same, like it’s hard to breathe when he’s so close.
This proximity is what I should want more of, but it’s hard to think when it happens.
“There,” Dmitri says once he firmly ties the belt back in place, the ends now hanging evenly with each other.
“Thank you,” I reply, my voice coming out quiet and a little strained. It doesn’t help that he hasn’t moved away yet.
“Cara.”
My eyes dart up to his when I realize that he’s waiting for me to look at him. “Yes?”
Dmitri holds my gaze, standing as strong and still as a statue, while I feel restless and fidgety. “Don’t worry about the shooter. They were obviously after me, so you should be safe from now on.”
“We were close that night,” I remind him, keeping my breaths shallow. We’re so close now that it feels like my chest will touch his if I take a deep enough breath. “Your enemies…they might think that I know your secrets or that I’m… important to you. What if they come after me to hurt you?”
Dmitri’s jaw tenses as he quietly thinks about my words. “From now on, you won’t run errands by yourself. One of my men will accompany you to ensure your safety.”
Dammit.
“That’s okay. I’m sure your men have better places to be and more important things to do than follow me to the coffee shop or the post office,” I assure him as I take a step back.
Dmitri matches my retreating step, his fingertips grazing my waist. “Your safety is important to me, milaya. You almost got yourself killed by protecting me.”
My father would be furious if he found out that little detail about me saving Dmitri from getting shot. I think it’s in my best interest to keep that to myself for the rest of my life. The only way he would find out is if he sent the shooter…
“Well, I can’t make your life easier if you’re dead, sir,” I point out as a small smile teases my lips.
Dmitri grins. “So, you saved me simply for job security?”
Adrenaline courses through me as the air becomes charged with heated energy. I can either apologize and grovel or play along, and I know which one will entice him the most.
“I really like my job,” I tell him as I join my hands together behind my back, accentuating my bust.
His gaze drops. Of course it does. He can’t help himself.
“You’re good at it. Good enough to get away with more than I typically allow,” Dmitri replies, his voice rolling out deep and rough. It makes goosebumps trail along the back of my arms.
“I think I behave quite well,” I say as I flash him a playful smile.
An amused look forms on his face. “For now. I should probably keep a closer eye on you.”
“More than you already do?” I ask him before internally grimacing. Maybe that was too bold.
Dmitri’s blue eyes don’t leave mine. And I wish that I could read his mind because his expression is indecipherable. I either annoyed him or enticed him more.
Before I can get an answer, there’s a knock behind me before one of the double doors creaks open.
“Sir, Mr. Suyunov is on line one to confirm dinner plans for tonight,” Karly tells Dmitri once she pokes her head inside.
The intense but playful light in Dmitri’s eyes immediately becomes dark and shadowed. He grunts to acknowledge Karly before walking away from me to sit behind his desk. Every time Annika or her father are mentioned, he gets that same stormy look on his face.
If he can’t stand either of them, does he really think that he can survive marrying into their family? The Suyunovs and Ivanovs will be intertwined for as long as the marriage lasts.
“I’ll go grab you a coffee,” I tell him.
“Not without someone,” Dmitri replies in a firm voice before grabbing his cell phone and typing out something that I can’t see. “Gabe will meet you outside in ten minutes to accompany you.”
Great. A Bratva bodyguard.
I nod to him before leaving his office, my skin still feeling warm and flushed from earlier.
We keep getting close, but he never crosses the line.
I need him to choose it. To ruin things himself.
Once he gives in, it won’t be my fault. And by the time he realizes what he’s done, it’ll be too late. I’ll disappear like a ghost.
And he’ll be left standing in the wreckage.