Dmitri placed a finger under my chin, and forced me to look into the unending gray of his eyes.
“Breathe.” It was a command not a request.
Underneath the weight of his gaze, my breaths slowed enough for me to speak.
“My apartment was empty,” I said.
A question sat on my tongue. More than anything I yearned to ask it, but I was terrified of being wrong.
I stared into the storm of his eyes and allowed them to fill my mind with nothing but him.
“Do you know anything about that?” My voice was a whisper, my heart thrumming in my chest.
The likelihood that Dmitri, the man who’d ruthlessly tortured and murdered everyone who stood in his path, had been behind it felt as improbable as my father turning into a loving dad.
Yet…
When he held me, I felt something akin to safety. When he’d saved me all those times, I’d seen something in his eyes. Maybe I was reaching, forcing my dreams into a false reality.
“Yes,” Dmitri said.
Warmth immediately began to flood me, but logic stopped the feeling. Just because Dmitri was aware of it didn’t mean he was behind it. He could just have information about the Pakhan ordering my place emptied to look for clues of my disobedience.
“You…” I couldn’t finish the question.
Instead, my lungs tightened painfully. If he truly had nothing to do with it…
All I could imagine was slumping into my father’s house, homeless and completely helpless.
“Did you have anything to do with it?” I finally blurted out. I closed my eyes, I couldn’t watch him snatch that hope from me.
Dmitri’s fingers tightened on my chin.
“Look at me, Alisa,” his voice was raw. I hesitantly opened my eyes and nearly gasped at his expression.
The coldness had transformed into pure fire. His eyes were scorching as he stared down at me, leaving trails of heat on my skin as he devoured me with simply a look.
“Did I have something to do with it?” His voice was harsh. “Yes, kotenok, I killed your landlord, and I took every one of your belongings out of thatpiece of shit.”
I blinked. “Why?”
Dmitri’s hand moved into my hair, a possessiveness growing in his expression.
“Because you aremine, Alisa.” His grip tightened. “I’m never letting you leave me again. You’ll wake up every single morning in my arms, and I’ll fuck away the remnants of your nightmares.”
Chapter fifty-three
Dmitri
My teeth gritted at the reminder of the nightmares that plagued her. Little whimpers would leave her throat as she thrashed around at a nameless monster in her sleep.
I’d been waiting for her to name her monsters, so I could rip opentheirthroats and savor the melody of their final gurgling breaths.
Alisa looked like a fawn who’d finally been cornered by a wolf. “Y-you were behind all of it?”
I nodded, bracing myself for anger that I’d cornered her into my arms. Still it wouldn’t change anything. I meant every word. She wasmine. And there wasn’t a single force in this world that could take her away from me.
Nothingshe could say would change that.
