“I don’t want to talk.”
“We’re going to.”
“Dmitri, I don’t have anything to say.”
“Get in the car.”
I glared up at him, defiant. “I'm not leaving my car.”
He stared down at me, immovable. “I didn't say we were.”
Silence stretched... until I let out a shaky breath and climbed into the passenger seat of his BMW. He shut the door gently, like I was something breakable.
Moments later, a woman walked from around a building. Black trench coat, red bottom heels, black expensive looking slacks, shades, purse on her wrist, and long straight hair blowing in the wind. Even from here, I could tell she was flawless. But she meant business. No way anybody would mess with her, and that wasn't because she was a tall baddie with an attitude. Something about her screamed, don't fuck with me.
She climbed into my car and pulled off immediately. I turned to him to ask what the fuck was going on, but his phone rang.
“Package received, Daddy.” Then the line went dead.
Daddy?
Dmitri chuckled and shook his head. “Pay her no mind. She works for me, and it ain't that kind of party.”
I glared not buying it.
“She worked for me when I was inside. Made sure I could sleep at night, and that nobody ever got close enough to kill me.”
“A woman? What was she, an officer?”
Dmitri smiled. “Nah, she was my cellmate.” And with that, he pulled off and left me to ponder his words.
Sure, he wanted me to believe those lies — “She's a man?!”
Dmitri chuckled again and shook his head. “She'd kill us both if she ever heard you say that. Georgi is definitely a ‘she’.”
“Well, damn. Every woman wishes they looked like that. Even me…”
Dmitri turned my head to him and looked directly into my eyes. “You look like you, princess, and that’s more than enough.”
I shut up then, because it was impossible for me to think of something sassy while melting in this damn seat.
More than enough…
I shouldn’t have gotten in his car.
Every instinct screamed that this was a mistake—not because Dmitri would hurt me, but because he could break me in ways nobody else could. The kind that wasn’t physical. The kind that rearranged a woman from the inside out.
He drove like the world dare not get in his way. One hand on the wheel, the other gripping the phone, he kept checking every thirty seconds, jaw flexing with every unread text and unanswered call from this Georgi person.
The silence wasn’t comfortable. It wasn’t hostile either. It wascharged, sharp enough to slice the air in half. I kept my eyes on the road ahead, but I could feel him studying me—the tremor in my fingers, the way I pressed them into my thigh to hide the shaking.
“Are you in pain?” he asked at one point.
“No.”
A lie. My neck throbbed from the jolt of the hit, and my chest felt tight. He knew I wasn't being honest, and I hated that too. He didn’t call me out on it. But the muscle in his jaw kicked like he wanted to track down whoever hurt me and drag them through the streets. It seemed to throb as he gritted his teeth andchecked his anger. I couldn't help but wonder what would make the no-nonsense man come undone. Nothing seemed to rattle him from his conditioned demeanor. Had he been that way in prison too?
When he pulled into his driveway, I felt my stomach drop. I’d been here once before—the night Cori came to tell him that their father was retiring. His gaze burned into me from across the room like he could see my secrets. But I also got the feeling that whatever Cori was going on about was old news to Dmitri. He was less interested in it and more focused on me. I'd stayed near the door ready to leave before we even got here. Dmitri always had been intense, and when I was around him, that intensity seemed to spread to me. I was stupid to think that coming back here tonight would feel any different.
