Chapter Eleven
Dmitri
She was even more beautiful in the daylight. Her brown hair was longer than it was four years ago, falling to mid back in waves that my fingers itched to touch. I could remember how silky it felt that night.
More memories slammed into me as I flicked my eyes over her body. She was dressed in a black pencil shirt and a red silk blouse, and the outfit complemented her hourglass figure, which I could have sworn had somehow gotten even more voluptuous.
Desire blazed to life inside me, but I tried to suppress it as I refocused on her face. Now wasn’t the time or place for thinking about fucking her again.
“How have you been?” I asked.
Sarah blinked, looking at me like she couldn’t quite believe I was standing in front of her.
“How have I been?” she repeated. “Seriously?”
I had the crazy urge to grin at that. “Point taken. I guess small talk isn’t really appropriate, considering the circumstances.”
“Speaking of that, we probably shouldn’t be talking at all.”
She glanced around as if checking that no one noticed the two of us speaking to each other. She didn’t need to worry. Everyone was too distracted by the threat of an explosion, except for Maxim and Lev, who were both standing nearby and discreetly keeping an eye on me.
I was sure she didn’t like this bomb threat any more than I did. It felt like a bad sign that this would happen on the first day of my trial.
“Maybe we shouldn’t,” I agreed. She bit her lip again, and I had to stifle a groan as my cock lengthened in response. Fuck, this woman could get me hot without even trying. “But then again, talking isn’t what we do best, is it?”
Sarah’s cheeks turned red with a blush as anger flashed in her eyes. She stepped a little closer, bringing the scent of her perfume into my lungs. It was the same fragrance she wore when we first met. Gardenia and bergamot.
“Don’t say things like that!”
This glimpse of the fire in her made me hard as steel in an instant.
She stepped away from me then, as if she just realized how close we were.
I wanted to yank her back, to feel those curves pressed against me again.
I might have even done it if I didn’t see DA Reid standing behind her.
He was busy talking with his assistant, but I was pretty sure he’d notice if I groped his key witness.
“Just… stay away from me, Dmitri,” Sarah said, and that fire in her gave way to fear.
I didn’t like seeing that. I’d scared many people in my life, usually on purpose. The ability to strike terror into the hearts of enemies had proven to be a useful tool in my line of work. But with Sarah, it felt wrong.
“You believe it,” I said, surprised by the hurt I felt.
I didn’t usually give a shit what people thought of me—I had killed people in the past—but I was starting to realize that things were different with Sarah.
She fascinated me. After our one night together I had tried to find her.
Something that was unheard of. But she was not a regular at the bar, and given I knew next to nothing of her, my search was fruitless.
Sarah looked at me for a long moment, her green eyes growing misty.
“You know, Mr. Moss was a good man. I respected him. I cared about him. And finding him the way I did was… it was horrifying. Heartbreaking. It’s haunted me.”
She didn’t answer my question, but she didn’t really have to. I could see the truth in her sad eyes. She did believe it.
“Everyone, listen up,” a man in a SWAT uniform called out. “The building is empty, so we now need to clear this area. Everyone, please proceed to your vehicles in an orderly fashion.”
“Sarah,” I said, but she was already turning away from me. She paused, but then she shook her head and walked away without looking back.
I let her go, watching as she weaved her way through the crowd. Soon, she was out of sight, lost in the crowd of people.
“Who was that?” Lev asked as he came to stand beside me.
“Do you know her?” Maxim came to my other side. “She’s the DA’s witness. She saw Mark, Bogden, and Sasha, at Moss’s office a few days before the murder.”
I knew this already. I’d reviewed the case information provided to my lawyer by the police, and that included the statement from Sarah.
She’d talked about seeing my men intimidate Moss, placing them there shortly before his death, which was what helped the DA build the case against me.
My men were arrested too, but they were being tried separately.
“I want you to follow her,” I said to Maxim. “Be discreet and make sure she’s safe.”
Maxim shot me a perplexed look, but he wasn’t the type to question orders, so he took off after her through the crowd while I headed in the other direction with Lev at my side. I was parked in a garage halfway down the block, and it wouldn’t take us long to get there.
The moment we were free of the people outside of the courthouse and alone on the sidewalk together, Lev started in with the questions. Unlike my brother, my cousin was the type to question me. He was also one of the few people who could get away with it.
“So, what the hell is with you and the witness? You looked at her like you wanted to devour her.”
I grunted but didn’t say anything. Of course, the nosey asshole didn’t take my lack of response as an indicator to let the subject drop. That would be too easy.
“She’s pretty. If you’re into that sort of thing.”
I glanced at him and raised an eyebrow. “What that supposed to mean?”
“I prefer to screw women who can’t send me to prison for the rest of my life.”
I shook my head. “I’m not going to prison.”
I sounded a lot more confident about that than I felt.
My lawyer was right about the DA not having any evidence to directly connect me to the killing, but I was no fool.
I understood that people got antsy when it came to organized crime.
If the DA kept pushing the narrative that I was the head of the Bratva—which happened to be true—I knew there were probably going to be some members of the jury who were swayed by that, evidence or not.
“I sure as hell hope not. You sure you don’t want to get the hell out of the country? You know Russia won’t extradite.”
I shook my head. I’d already had this conversation many times over the past three months.
Most of my high-ranking members of the Bratva and all of my family wanted me to consider going to Moscow, where I had family.
I’d never lived in Russia, but I had connections there due to my status as Pakhan.
Being head of the Bratva in a big city like New York earned a man automatic respect, and the money I had ensured I could live a good life if I went to Russia.
Yet, I’d never truly considered it. I didn’t run away from my problems, especially not when they were caused by my enemies. I was sure this trouble was somehow caused by the Italians, even though I didn’t have proof. Yet.
“I’m not giving Baldoni the satisfaction of running me out of the city,” I said as we walked into the parking garage. I’d parked on the second level, so we headed up a set of stairs.
“Okay. Fair enough,” Lev said in his easy-going way. “There’s just one thing I don’t understand. Why do you want Maxim to make sure the witness is safe? What are you worried about happening to her?”
“We both know I didn’t kill Moss or order anyone else to do it.
Sure I sent my guys to talk to him about the money he owed me, but that’s all they did.
I had other plans for him.” Henry Moss didn’t know it, but he was supposed to be a part of my plans to start dealing arms in New York.
Once he understood he couldn’t pay me back, I intended to make him cooperate—use his shipping company to move my product instead.
His death was actually incredibly inconvenient for me, even before the charges.
But I’m sure the Italians are ones who did it.
I’m not sure how they knew I was planning to use his shipping company or that I would be the obvious fall guy for his murder, but they must be the ones responsible. ”
“And?”
I thought about Sarah’s nervous face as she was about to take the witness stand. And the pain I saw when she talked about finding her boss’s body. That couldn’t be faked.
Not only was I sure she had nothing to do with the murder, I was positive she wasn’t in cahoots with my enemies. She just had the bad luck of getting swept up in all of this.
“And she could be in danger,” I said.
“Or she’s part of the conspiracy.”
“No. My gut tells me she’s not.”
Lev smirked. “Something tells me you’re not thinking with your gut.”
I shot him an unamused look, but he had a point. My attraction to her was off the charts.
“Just trust me,” I said, knowing that he did. “I know what I’m doing. I want her to be protected from the Italians while the trial is going on. She’s innocent and has been sucked into the darkness of our world. I don’t want anything to happen to her.”
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you sound worried.”
We reached the car, and I got behind the wheel without responding to that statement. He was right; I was worried about Sarah. But I wasn’t about to admit that out loud.
It was just crazy.