Chapter 34
Cara
I read the text again as I stand outside of the slightly sketchy hotel that I was asked to go to. I already knew the message was from my father or his men. The unknown number wasn’t subtle.
I can only assume that he wants to talk face-to-face about Dmitri’s decision to kill the marriage because I haven’t been picking up my phone lately. The thought of seeing him after what he did to Gabe makes me nauseous, and as I stand out here, all I want to do is run in the opposite direction.
I doubt I’ll be congratulated, but I have to go.
It’s not time for me to leave yet. I don’t think that I could with Dmitri’s guards on me.
I pretended to go shopping in a cosmetic store a few blocks away, then slipped out the back.
I propped the door open so I can hopefully return the same way.
Men have no idea how long women spend in cosmetic stores.
Besides, even if I weren’t being followed, I wouldn’t want to leave Dmitri while he’s in such a bad spot.
I can’t even believe that’s where my mind is. I shouldn’t care about him. But I do.
I never deserved Dmitri’s trust, but he still gave it to me.
I feel bad about lying to him, but I’m stuck in this now.
I had to dig myself even deeper into the hole when he found my passport with my real name, and the only reason that he didn’t immediately connect me to the mob is because my mom didn’t want me taking my father’s last name, didn’t want him to know about me.
Not until she was flat broke and had to turn to Sean for help.
Giving me her name instead of his is one of the few things she ever did right before she died of an overdose.
Bitterness sours my stomach as I enter the hotel, walking through the small lobby that smells like bleach to the elevator that creaks on its way up to the third floor. My steps become heavier and heavier as I approach Room 312, feeling like my fate hangs in the balance.
I lightly knock on the door. The moment it swings open, I’m grabbed and yanked inside the room.
“What the hell?” I gasp as I stumble inside the small room, nearly crashing into two other men.
“Haven’t heard from you in a while. You don’t answer my texts.”
I look up at the sound of my father’s disappointed voice, spotting him standing at the window with his back to me.
“I’ve been busy. Apparently, so have you…”
He whips around, his broad, stocky body so wide he barely fits through most doors. “Too busy to let me know that the Ivanov-Suyunov deal is in pieces? That was your mission, yeah? And you didn’t even report to me when it was done!”
“I knew you would hear about it,” I tell him, tension winding up my spine as his men stand around me. “I’ve been busy keeping up my front around Dmitri.”
Sean clicks his tongue as he walks toward me. “That’s the other thing that I wanted to talk to you about.”
I automatically shrink back as he gets closer to me. I know that tone, and I know that stony look on his face. I’m in trouble.
He suddenly lashes out and grabs my arm, jerking me forward. “Have you been sleeping with him? Tell me the fecking truth, Cara!”
I cower as he shouts in my face, years of instincts taking hold of my body. “I…I was just trying to get close to him! You told me to do it by whatever means necessary!”
“I meant by being a little cock tease! I didn’t expect you to turn yourself into his whore!” he snaps, his grip tightening to make me wince in pain. “How dare you betray me like that with an Ivanov! You’ve disrespected the family! Spat on the O’Malley name!”
I bite back a comment of how I don’t even feel like an O’Malley. I don’t have the last name, and I don’t have the respect of one either.
I’m just a pawn in my father’s game.
“You told me not to fail. And I didn’t,” I say, trying to stand up for myself. Why should he care about my methods when I still got the job done?
“You’ve disappointed me,” he growls, his head shaking.
My eyes sting as I stare at him, my chest aching as he pushes me away from him like I’m nothing.
“What more do you want from me?” I ask him, my voice wavering. “I’ve done everything you’ve asked! You told me to break up his marriage, the alliance, and I did! He burned the bridge between the Ivanovs and Suyunovs, just like you wanted!”
My father sneers at me. “You crossed a line by sleeping with that Russian scum. What next? Are you gonna tell me you’re in love with him too?”
I wrap my arms around myself, feeling small and weak. He always makes me feel that way.
“It’s over now. I did the job you told me to do,” I plead with him rather than lie, trying to dampen his anger before it spirals out of control. Because it’s true, I am in love with Dmitri.
“I thought an arranged marriage might work for our family too. But if you’re going to spread your legs for trash, I should at least be making good money off you, finally earn back that child support and tuition money you owe me.”
My blood turns cold as my eyes widen. “What?”
“You heard me,” he says as he glowers at me. “I can’t trust you with anything else. Like most women, you’re only good for one thing.”
I shake my head harshly, nearly making myself dizzy. “No! You can’t sell me like I’m your property! I’m your daughter!” The asshole wouldn’t even pay for me to go to graduate school and now he thinks I owe him a debt for a few thousand in tuition and child support?
“Take her to the ranch just outside town,” he orders his men, who both take a step closer to me.
Oh god.
“No! Don’t do this! Please!” I beg him, my eyes threatening to water with desperate tears. This is my nightmare. My hell.
“Then you’ll need to show me some fecking loyalty!” Sean snaps.
“How?” I ask him as my shoulders sag heavy with defeat.
Sean suddenly smirks, and dread seeps into my soul. “Since you’re so close to Ivanov, you’re going to use that to your advantage.”
He narrows his eyes and grabs my arm again, keeping me from escaping as he steps closer to me. “What? You don’t actually care about that bastard, do you?”
My stomach flip-flops as I stare up into his angry eyes.
I keep making things worse for myself, but I can’t deny the fact that part of me doesn’t want to hurt Dmitri.
There’s a piece of both of us that’s been intertwined, drawn together by the things that we understand about each other. Feel for each other.
I never expected this, and I don’t know what to do about it that won’t get me killed or sold off to men who will do whatever they want to me.
“No,” I say, my voice coming out in a whisper.
Sean presses his fingertips into my arm even harder. “Good, because I want you to kill him.”
My heart sinks. “What?”
“You heard me. Kill him. You’re close enough to get the best shot, yeah?”
“That’s impossible. He’s twice as strong as me and always surrounded by guards!” I argue, my heartbeat pounding in my skull.
“Find your way back into his bed. You seem comfortable enough with it,” he spits out with a look of disgust on his face.
I nearly flinch. So, that’s all he sees me as now?
I’ll never win with him, but I have to protect myself for as long as I’m stuck here.
“No.”
“What did you say?” he growls.
“I won’t kill him for you, but… I can give you intel.” I blurt out in a rush.
He eyes me for a few seconds. “Well? Tell me something I’ll give a damn about.”
I rack my brain for something. Anything. I don’t want to betray Dmitri, but I have to give my father something good, or he’ll drag me to that disgusting ranch once I fail to kill him.
“He’ll be at the Legacy around noon this Friday,” I blurt out. The words taste like ash. “He’s meeting with other important people. Bosses. That could be an opportunity for you.”
Sean thinks on that for a long moment as I hold my breath. “Legacy at noon on Friday. You guys got that?”
His men nod their agreement.
I exhale slowly. Maybe that’ll be enough to buy me some time to figure out my next move.
“Don’t let me down again, Cara. If you’re lying to me about the meeting, you won’t like what comes next.”
Bile rises up my throat as he walks past me, his men following him out of the room. I whip around with stinging eyes. “Why do you hate me so much?”
Sean pauses and turns to face me, his expression cold and unwavering. “You were born weak, and you’ve remained that way.”
“So, you’re going to punish me forever for not being a ruthless killer?” I question him, my inner rage starting to break through the surface.
“You’re your mother’s daughter, not mine,” he replies before walking off with his men.
Tears well up in my eyes as my chest grows painfully tight. He’s never cared about me. He’ll never love me like a father should love their child.
I’m in the clutches of a monster, and it feels like my window of opportunity for escape is getting smaller and smaller with each passing day. The position he’s put me in, betraying Dmitri yet again, will crush me.
I can’t do it.
I can’t let Dmitri go to that meeting, but I don’t know what will happen to me if he’s not there.
So, what the hell do I do? I can’t run with Dmitri’s guards on me. Even if I managed to get away from them, my father will eventually find me and drag me right back here.
For now, I’m stuck.
Trapped between the man who trusts me and the one who thinks he owns me.
I’m just not used to trusting anyone like I trust you.
I press a hand over my mouth as nausea rolls through me.
Dmitri called off his marriage. He chose me.
Now I have three days to figure out how to save him without destroying myself.
I’ve told Dmitri so many lies.
But this one, this betrayal, could be the one that gets him killed.
To be continued in Savage Little Secret…