Chapter 3
Dmitri
Last night wasn’t what I expected.
It was better.
Cara and I ate. We talked. We slept in the same bed without tearing each other apart.
It was exactly what I needed. A night where I acted like I was a normal person.
I wish the night could’ve lasted longer, but at least Cara’s still here with me. Because she wants to be, not because I’m paying her.
“Morning,” she murmurs as she rubs her eyes sleepily, a few strands of her long hair straying in different directions as she sits up in bed next to me.
“Morning,” I say as I lean my back against the headboard, soft morning light painting my bedroom in a gentle glow. “Did you sleep well?”
“The best I’ve slept since I was last over here,” Cara admits.
A smile tugs at my lips as we gaze at each other. I like that she feels the same way, but it scares the hell out of me. Getting close to anyone is dangerous.
“I have to get ready to go soon, but you can stay here until I get back,” I tell her once I check the time. It’s Friday, and we slept in late. “The meeting is soon.”
She smiles. Then stiffens. “Do you have to go?”
“It’s an important meeting, remember?” I remind her as I slip out of bed.
“Yeah, I just…” Cara trails off, looking conflicted.
“You just what?” I ask as I walk around to her side of the bed.
Cara peers up at me with wide eyes. “I…I don’t want you to go.”
Suspicion creeps up my spine. “Why not?”
Cara’s face flushes as she drops her eyes. “Are you really going to make me spell it?”
“Yes,” I state as my mind races. Why is she trying to stop me? Does she know something is planned?
Cara suddenly sits up on her knees and reaches for the back of my neck, pulling me down to crash her lips against mine.
I lose my breath, warmth spreading within me as our lips meet. Without even thinking, I kiss her back, acting on the desire I’ve repressed for what feels like far too long now.
Last night I was too emotionally and physically exhausted to touch her.
I’m not exhausted now.
Cara pulls me closer, her fingers sliding into my hair and along my shoulder.
I follow like I’m entranced, eventually crawling over her and coaxing her to her back. My lips move down to her neck as I slip between her thighs, our bodies pressing together.
Cara lets out a blissful sigh next to my ear, working me up even more. She runs her hands along my back and shoulders, her fingers dancing on my bare skin. “Dmitri…please stay with me.”
I lift my head to kiss her again, and I get lost in her. The rest of the world slips away as we meld together. I kiss her and touch her wherever I can reach, undressing her, exploring her body. Reveling in every touch. Drinking in every sound.
I lose track of time as Cara does the same to me.
Until my phone rings.
I pull away from her, my lips nearly feeling numb from kissing her for so long. Cara whines in protest, but I force myself to reach over and grab my phone off my nightstand. Isaak’s name appears on my screen.
“I have to take this,” I tell her as I move off her and leave the bedroom.
Heat still lingers on my skin but judging from how close the time is to noon, I know that this call must be about the meeting.
“What’s going on?” I say once I answer Isaak’s call.
“I had four guys planted all around the Legacy in discreet places like you asked,” Isaak replies. “We’ve already seen some suspicious activity.”
My heart plummets.
Only Cara knew.
And the four men I told last night haven’t left each other’s sight.
“What kind of suspicious activity?” I ask.
“A few men are lurking around the place and checking back entrances,” Isaak tells me. “One of them has a tattoo on the side of his neck. It’s pretty telling of what family he belongs to.”
I close my eyes for a moment, dread seeping into my soul.
Of course.
“Something to do with the Irish?” I ask him quietly.
“You got it.”
A ringing noise fills my ears as I turn around to face the entrance to the hallway.
She took the bait. Cara told the Irish about my fake meeting that only she knew about before I told the four men I trust with my life last night.
Four men, who only have one cell phone between them and slept in the same room at the hotel after I left them to go to Cara’s.
“Sir?” Isaak’s voice breaks through the sound.
I breathe in sharply, struggling to fill my lungs with enough air. “All of you get out of there before they see you. Use a window, not the exits. I’ve found out what I need to know.”
Before Isaak can say anything else, I end the call, my fingers curling around it tightly. I resist the urge to throw it across my apartment in case another important call comes in, but I’m beyond furious.
I’m fucking devastated.
“Dmitri? Is everything okay?” Cara calls out before walking out of the hallway, now fully dressed again. When she spots my stony face, she pauses and her body tenses. “What’s wrong?”
I want to yell at the top of my lungs, but I force myself to take a deep breath before I speak.
“Did you tell anyone about my meeting at noon today?” I ask her.
Cara frowns and shakes her head. “No, why?”
I step toward her, noting the way she edges her foot back an inch. “Not a single person? Did you write it down on a note and lose it?”
“No,” Cara says, her voice wavering a little. “What’s going on?”
“Well, the meeting wasn’t real,” I tell her, watching her green eyes widen. “And you were the only one who knew about it. So, it’s concerning that several members of the Irish mob showed up to lurk around a building that only you knew I would be at.”
Cara’s face pales. She shakes her head again and holds up her palm, motioning for me to stop. “You think I told the Irish where you would be?”
“Nobody else could have,” I say in a cold voice as I take another step toward her, ignoring her hands. “So, explain to me how the Irish found out about the meeting if you didn’t tell them.”
Cara scoffs at me, her cheeks starting to flush. “I-I don’t know!”
My eyes sharpen. “Don’t lie to me, Cara. Reynolds. Cahill. Whatever the hell your name is. I set a trap because my men suspected you couldn’t be trusted, and you stepped right into it!”
She glares at me. “When have I ever put you in danger? I begged you to be careful in public, not to go to the meeting today.”
“Yeah, that’s all a really good cover if you’re feeding information to the Irish behind my back!” I snap at her, fury raging through my blood as I imagine all the things that she’s spilled to them.
Things that I trusted her with.
Cara shakes her head. “This is ridiculous. I’ve done so much for you, and you’re going to put the blame on me because your men are upset that you ended the marriage with Annika?”
Her words make my mind race.
She pushed me. The marriage. The ultimatum.
And I gave her everything.
I gave her everything that she wanted.
Or everything that the Irish wanted.
“How do you know the Irish?” I question her as I close the distance between us, towering over her as she tries to shrink back from me.
“I don’t know them! Back off, Dmitri!” Cara bites out. “I’m not going to stand here and let you accuse me of bullshit without any proof!”
“I got all the proof that I needed when you fed confidential information to my fucking enemies!” I snap at her, making her stiffen.
“I’m leaving,” Cara grits out, her eyes starting to turn red.
When she tries to slip past me, I reach out and grab her arm, pulling her back toward me before she can get even just a few feet away. “You’re not going anywhere.”
Cara tries to yank her arm out of my grasp, but I just tighten my grip. “Let me go!”
“Oh, no. I can’t trust you to even walk out of my place. I can’t trust you with anything now!” I yell at her, pushing through the ache in my chest.
My men were right. She’s been lying to me the whole time.
She’s the reason everything is falling apart.
“Dmitri, stop!” Cara exclaims as she continues to try to pull away from me.
I catch her arm before she can pass me, her chest crashing against mine. “You’re not leaving until I figure out who the fuck you really are.”
Cara clenches her teeth, unable to fight herself free. “You know who I am!”
“No, you haven’t told me the truth. But my men will find out everything you’ve been lying to me about,” I reply. “Another background check. Home search. Phone records. Whatever they can get their hands on.”
Cara’s eyes widen. “Stop this, Dmitri. Just let me go!”
She’s afraid of what I’ll find. I can see the fear written all over her face.
“I don’t know what game you’re playing, but you’re going to regret it,” I tell her as I lean closer to her, my skin burning with anger.
I gave her pieces of myself no one else has ever seen.
I’ve sacrificed and risked myself for her!
I let myself start to feel things that spelled nothing but problems for me.
This is what I get for that.
Getting stabbed in the back by the woman who swore that she cared about me when no one else did. It makes me sick that I fell for her.
Cara goes silent, merely staring up at me with glistening eyes. There’s nothing that she can say to get herself out of the hole that she’s dug herself into.
And now I might have to bury her in it.