Dmitri’s heated expression turned dull when he set eyes on Natalya. She bit down on her lip as she stood behind us.
“Good to see you,” I said, hating the gruff sound of my voice.
Dmitri snorted at my reaction. Even in my mind, I couldn’t come up with a good excuse as to why I was irritated.
“I’m sorry, I don’t believe we’ve met,” Natalya said to me. Once again, my friends didn’t recognize me. How the hell had Dmitri?
“It’s Alisa,” I said.
“Oh wow. Good disguise.” Natalya tilted her head to the side, and examined me for a moment….
Before immediately locking her attention back on Dmitri.
Suddenly, I was reminded of our last conversation where she’d proclaimed that if I didn’t fuck Dmitri she’d claim him for herself.
“It’s good to see you, Dmitri,” she purred.
When she arched her back slightly, humiliation speared me. She was going to try to take him right in front of me. Even though she didn’t know we’d hooked up, an unhinged part of me wanted to claw her eyes out.
And a deeper part of me was scared it would work on him.
“Do I know you?” Dmitri said boredly.
“Oh,” she laughed. “I guess we haven’t been formally introduced. I’m Natalya. I’ve beendyingto meet you.” She punctuated the word by swiping her tongue across her upper lip.
A sour sensation filled my throat as I waited for Dmitri’s response.
“Is that so,” he said flatly. He turned away from her.
“Yeah!” She leaned in closer to him. “There’s-”
“I don’t care.”
It was like watching a balloon pop under pressure. The air slowly sank out of Natalya, but she quickly masked it with an overly bright smile.
While Dmitri continued to ignore her, she glanced between us. As if in search of a clue as to why Dmitri wasn’t riveted by her despite her signature fuck me heels.
I swallowed. Hopefully, she wouldn’t catch onto what was going on between us. If anyone in the Bratva found out we’d hooked up…
Well, we all knew it wouldn’t behisreputation that was damaged.
“What are you doing here, Natalya?” I asked, a hint of unease working its way through my system. Dmitri hadn’t told me who the target was.
Could it be her?
I shook that thought away. My luck couldn’t be so terrible that the Pakhan would order me to murderanotherperson I cared about. Yes, I was irritated that she’d tried to seduce Dmitri right in front of me, but she was still my friend.
So when Dmitri casually surveyed the room that anxiety softened.
No, it had to be someone else.
“I’m waiting on mydate,” she said, sticking her chest out a little.
But I knew that response wasn’t for my benefit. Her eyes were glued to Dmitri’s expression as if waiting for a hint of jealousy.
He didn’t even bother glancing at her, still presumably looking for our target.
“There you are, Natalya,” a deep voice said behind me.
