Bratva Butcher: Chapter 35

I stared at my phone sitting on my desk, lips pursed, fingers tapping idly along the surface.

The night before, the unexpected had happened…in the best way possible. Autumn had somehow managed to get onto the property without detection and into my room.

I should have been livid. Should have had the soldiers on patrol lashed for allowing something like that to happen. For allowing someone to get through our defences and into our house.

What if that had been one of our enemies?

Of course, I wasn’t livid, and I did nothing of the sort. The only thing I was mad about was the fact that Autumn had slipped away when I fell asleep. That she wasn’t there when I woke up.

For the first time in years, I’d managed to fall asleep without effort and sleep through until morning. I wasn’t that far down the denial rabbit hole that I couldn’t see the reason for that.

It was Autumn. It had to be.

Having her next to me, feeling her soft, smooth skin on mine, her legs intertwined with mine had felt so good, relaxed me so much that I’d drifted off into a peaceful sleep for the first time since Yekaterina died.

Once I realised what had happened, and what I was feeling, I waited for the eventual guilt to arise. For that all-consuming, gut-wrenching pain to cut through my happiness like it always did…

Only, it never came.

The guilt was still there, sure, but it wasn’t as crippling. It wasn’t as devastating as it had been the last time.

Did that mean I could enjoy this moment, and possibly others, without feeling like I was a cheater? Like I was betraying Yekaterina?

I wasn’t sure.

My heart had literally skipped a beat when I’d gotten to my feet and seen she’d cleaned me up, not only wiping the blood away but applying antiseptic cream to my wounds. It was then that I’d discovered a note taped to my stomach. It had no words. Just ten digits and a kiss that looked like it had been done in blood.

Mine or hers?

Either one excited me.

Honestly, a blood kink? I thought I had her all figured out, but I never would have guessed she had something like that. I should have. Her moniker was literally The Crimson Death. And she was fucking crazy.

It had been a hot as fuck, pleasant surprise. I liked pain with pleasure, so being cut while deep inside her pussy had felt like fucking ecstasy.

And I wanted to do it again.

And again.

And again.

After discovering her note, I put her details into my phone straight away and then put the note into my safe for safekeeping. I’d had a shower, gone down stairs to have breakfast, endured weird looks from my sons and then gone straight to my office. It was 1:27 P.M. and I’d spent the last six hours and thirteen minutes staring at my phone, agonising over whether or not to use the number Autumn had given me.

I would pick up the phone, open a new text, stare at the screen with my fingers hovering over the letters and then slam my phone back down onto the desk. Ten minutes later, the process would start all over again.

I was driving myself crazy, acting like some sort of love-struck teenager.

I groaned, burying my face into my hands. What is happening to me? I was the Bratva Butcher, a man so terrifying, with a reputation so infamous that people walked the other way when they saw me coming.

If anyone saw me like that, tormenting over whether or not to message a woman, I would never live it down.

Determination set my spine straight. I snatched my phone from the desk, opened a new text message, typed five letters and then quickly pressed “send” before I could chicken out.

There. Done.

I relaxed back into my chair and exhaled heavily. I’d done it.

Five seconds passed. Then ten. She still hadn’t replied.

That’s okay. She might be busy.

After thirty seconds went by with no reply, panic set it. I abruptly got to my feet and began to pace up and down, mumbling incoherently to myself.

Oh, god, this was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have done it. Can you take back text messages? Is that a thing?

My phone vibrated. I lunged across the desk and snatched it up. It fumbled in and out of my hands, jumping from my left and then to my right. “For fuck’s sake,” I hissed, slamming it to my chest to get it to stop fucking moving. “Get. It. Together!” I chastised.

Forcing myself to take three deep breaths to steady my erratically beating heart, I looked at my phone.

A smile spread across my face. Somebody knocked on my office door, and I told them to enter without looking up from the device, too busy wondering what the fuck I was supposed to do.

“Hey, Boss.”

I recognised the voice instantly. “I’ve told you before, Ivan, you don’t have to call me that anymore.”

The man chuckled, moving further into the room. “It’s what I’ve always called you. Kind of hard to stop.”

I grunted in agreement, my eyes still on my phone.

What do I say now? How are you? No. That might make her think I care about how she is. What are you doing? No. Then she’ll know I’ve been wondering what she’s been doing. Argh.

Ivan sat down in one of the chairs in front of my desk. “Everything okay?”

I finally looked at him. He was a big man, with broad shoulders and a hard face. I’d known him for over thirty years, and despite the fact that he had worked for my family for over half his life, I definitely considered him a friend.

He was also Tatiana’s father, and considering the fact that our children were most likely going to get married in the near future, that also made him family.

But I couldn’t talk to him about it.

I could barely talk to myself about it.

“Everything’s fine.” The smile I gave to try and convince him my words were true felt strained and awkward.

“Uh, are you sure? Because I think you’re trying to smile at me right now, and you haven’t done that in years.”

I dropped the smile instantly, releasing a frustrated sigh. “I said everything is fine,” I repeated more sternly.

He threw his hands up in surrender, making me tsk. I put my phone down on the desk, deciding it wasn’t the time to reply. Whatever I replied with needed to be meticulously thought out and planned.

“Do you need something?”

“Yes, actually.” He sat up a little straighter in his chair. “I need to put in a request for some leave. I have to go to Russia.”

I frowned. “Didn’t you just get back from there a few months ago?”

“Yes.”

“And you weren’t able to get whatever you needed sorted then?”

He didn’t answer, avoiding my eyes.

“What’s going on, Ivan?” I demanded.

“It’s Svetlana,” he said, blowing out a tired breath. “She’s sick.”

“I’m sorry to hear that.” I really wasn’t, but that’s what you said when someone told you someone they loved was sick.

Svetlana Andreeva was a pisspoor excuse for a human being and a mother. She ran out on Tatiana and Ivan only a few weeks after Tatiana was born. Not one word from her for over twenty-four years, and then bam, she randomly called Ivan a few months ago and told him she needed to see him right away.

Despite the fact that I didn’t want to, I approved his request last time to take a few weeks off.

This time, though…

“It’s not up to me, Ivan. You know that. Aleksandr is Pakhan now. Any requests need to go through him.”

“Doc says she’s only got six months left, Dimitri. Maybe less.”

“As heartbreaking as that news is to me” —not— “it’s still up to Aleksandr. You’ll need to speak with him. Does Tatiana know?”

“No,” he exhaled, shaking his head. “I planned to tell her after I got back, but the raid happened, then that whole thing with Talon’s island. It just never seemed like a good time. Now, she’s pregnant, and I don’t want to cause any undue stress. She’s already incredibly anxious about this pregnancy, given what happened last time. But Svetlana’s only wish is to patch things up with her daughter before she dies.” He hung his head forward. “I don’t know what to do. I still love her and want to help her.”

“It will be hard, but you know what you need to do, Ivan,” I said softly. Sympathy bloomed in my chest for one of my oldest friends, and the torment he was going through. “Tatiana deserves to know what’s happening, and whatever she decides—whether it be seeing Svetlana or not—you need to respect her decision. Your first and only concern should be for your daughter, not some woman who abandoned you twenty-four years ago.”

He winced, and I instantly regretted my choice of words. I could have picked something that wasn’t so…harsh.

But he then raised his head, this sense of resolve rolling over his face. He straightened his spine and nodded. “You’re right. Of course, you’re right. I’ll tell Tatiana and let her decide what she wants to do. And—”

My phone vibrated on the desk, diverting my attention. Ivan continued to talk, but his words faded into the background as I glanced at the screen to see that it was another message from Autumn, but all it said was:

Brows lowered into a small frown, I picked it up and opened the message—

My eyes shot wide open, lust exploding throughout my entire body, right down to my fucking fingertips. I clutched the phone to my chest to hide it and cut Ivan off mid-sentence.

“You need to go now,” I barked.

“Wha-what?” he asked, confused.

“Go. Now.”

He just continued to sit there, utterly dumbfounded. Of course, I could understand why. We’d been having a deep, heart-to-heart and then I was all of a sudden kicking him out. I would apologise later, but right then—

“Out.” I jumped up, marched around the desk to grip him by the shirt, pulled him to his feet and started dragging him towards the door. “Out. Out. Out.”

“Okay, okay, jeez. What’s going on—” I slammed the door in his face.

Spinning quickly, I placed my back to the door and looked at my phone again. “Oh, fuck me,” I groaned, palming my hard cock.

It was a photo of Autumn, wearing nothing except her leather motorcycle jacket, the zip completely undone to reveal the valley of her breasts and toned stomach. Blood—my blood—was smeared on her face and down her bare chest. All I could see was the rounds of her breasts, the jacket concealing her nipples, but it made me so fucking hard, it hurt.

She took this last night, in my bathroom.

Want and need thrummed in my veins, heating my insides.

I immediately called her. She answered after the fifth ring.

“Hello, Autumn speaking,” she sang, all innocent like she didn’t just almost make me cum in my fucking pants.

“What the hell was that?” I hissed.

“What was what?” Even her voice set my fucking blood on fire.

“That photo!”

“Photo? Oh, I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to send that to you. It was meant for someone else.”

Someone else? I squeezed the phone so tight, it cracked. “What?! ‘ I roared. ‘Who?! Who is he, Autumn? I’ll fucking kill him—”

She started to laugh. “Calm down, I’m just kidding. You messaged me out of the blue and then just disappeared. I had to get your attention somehow.”

Mission a-fucking-complished.

She grunted over the line, what sounded like something smashing echoing in the background.

“What’s going on?” I asked, trying to listen.

“Nothing. You just kinda called me at a bad time is all.”

A bad time? “Why? What are you doing?”

“On a job.”

I knew what that meant. She was in the middle of trying to fucking kill someone. Panic smothered my chest, but I tried to stay calm.

A barrage of gunfire cut through the line a second later.

FUCK CALM!

“Where are you?” I demanded, running to my desk. I pressed the button underneath it to reveal the safe room located behind the bookshelf. I quickly put in my twelve-digit code, and when the thick, steel door swung open, ran inside, heading right for the wall of weapons at the back.

“Why?” More grunting. Some cursing.

“So I can come—”

“Oh, hold on.” The sounds of fighting trickled through, of fists connecting with flesh and people being thrown into walls and furniture.

“Autumn. Autumn!”

“Yeah, what? Look, I’m kinda busy. Can I call you back? Ha! Missed me, idiot! You need to work on your aim!”

“Who are you talking to? Tell me where you are! Right now.” I plucked a bulletproof vest from the wall and put it on quickly, then grabbed several holsters, strapping them to my chest, waist, thighs and ankles. I loaded each of them with guns and knives before reaching for an assault rifle last.

“I’m fine, Butcher. And I don’t need help. I’ll call you later.”

“Autumn, don’t you dare hang up—”

Beep, beep, beep.

“Blyad! Fuck!” I slammed my fist into the wall out of frustration. “Think, Dimitri, think.”

Nikolai!

I quickly dialled my son, putting the call on loudspeaker so I could finish preparing.

“Yes, Father?” he answered.

“I need a trace on a phone. Right now.”

“What?”

“A. Trace,” I growled, my patience all but gone.

He sighed dramatically. “What’s the number?”

I told him. “Where is it?”

“I’m going to need a few minutes.”

“You have one.” I finished packing my gear, making sure to stuff extra magazines for the assault rifle into my suit jacket before bolting out of my office, heading for the garage.

Lukyan was making his way up from the warehouse when he spotted me. “Father, is everything okay?”

“Can’t talk,” I grunted, running past. “Nikolai! Give me a location.”

“I’m working on it. I’m working on it.”

I burst into the garage, flicking on a light. Dozens of cars laid idle, ranging from large SUVs to sleek, modern Lamborghinis and Porsches.

None of those were what I was after.

Lukyan came in a moment later, watching me with a frown on his face as I went to the corner of the room and moved a shelf out of the way, revealing a small, green button.

When I pressed it, a section of the floor in the middle of the room opened, and three Ducati motorcycles rose up from the ground.

Lukyan’s mouth dropped open. “We have motorbikes?!” he screeched in shock.

“You don’t. I do.” I ran forward, snatching up a helmet and quickly mounting one.

“Okay, got it,” Nikolai said over the phone. “The phone is on the corner of Charleston Boulevard and Fremont Street in downtown Las Vegas.”

“Charleston and Fremont?” Lukyan murmured thoughtfully. “Isn’t that the location of one of the hideouts for the DK4 Gang?”

Yes. It is. Which meant whoever Autumn’s target was was a member of that gang.

Fucking hell.

“What’s going on? Do you need us?” Nikolai asked.

“No. Thank you for your help.” I promptly hung up, tucking my phone away into my back pocket and kickstarted the bike. The engine roared, loud and deep, echoing into the garage.

“Father, wait.” Lukyan stepped in my path. “I can help with whatever this is—”

“Nyet. No.” I put my helmet on and slammed the visor down.

“But I—”

The back wheel of the bike spun on the spot as I twisted the accelerator, smoke billowing into the air. Lukyan jumped out of the way when I shot forward and sped out of the garage.

Thirteen minutes.

That was how long it took for me to get there. Thirteen agonisingly long minutes.

Technically, it should have been twenty-seven, but I’d managed to cut the time in half thanks to taking the bike.

A lot could happen in thirteen minutes, which was why the pressure in my chest never eased the entire ride over. Why that all-consuming panic flooding my veins got worse every second I was on the road.

I couldn’t think about it. I had to shut it out and focus on one thing at a time, otherwise the panic was likely to take me over completely, and then I’d be fucking useless.

When I got to my destination, I found a fenced-off, one-story building that was covered in graffiti. It was located in a particularly rough neighbourhood, which just so happened to work in my favour because it meant none of the residents surrounding it were likely to call the police.

I dismounted my bike and infiltrated quickly, my assault rifle up and focus hyper-alert. The motorcycle helmet on my head made it a little more difficult to see things once I got inside, but I had no choice but to keep it on.

We had a working relationship with the DK4 Gang. If anyone saw me, it would cause problems for business, so it was better that I remain a faceless entity.

With quick, hurried steps, I made my way through the building. Blood was everywhere. On the walls. On the floor. Even on the goddamn ceiling. I’d have to ask Autumn how she accomplished that one later on.

Dead bodies lay everywhere I looked. Some hunched over furniture like couches and tables, others with limbs bent at grotesque angles and knives sticking out of their heads. The further I moved into the building, the more bodies I came across. It was a goddamn bloodbath.

I moved cautiously, watching where I put my feet as I walked, making sure to take cover and check around corners before advancing despite the fact that all I wanted to do was bolt from room to room to find Autumn. I had to be careful. I had no backup. It was just me, and the DK4 Gang was a big operation with lots of men. Mainly pawns, but still, anyone could be dangerous with a weapon in their hands.

My assault rifle moved with me, my eyes firmly locked through its scope as I cleared each space before moving onto the next. And the next and the next.

When angry voices cut through the air, I crouched down to one knee and paused, straining my ears. They were coming from my left. Staying low, I made my way over to the wall opening that separated the room from the adjoining one and peeked over.

Autumn was in the centre of the room, cuffed to a motherfucker chair.

Son of a fucking bitch.

Anger pulsed in my body at the sight of blood running down the side of her head. She didn’t look the least bit worried about her predicament. In fact, the cocky smile on her face seemed to say she was enjoying herself.

Crazy fucking woman.

Six DK4 Gang members were glaring at her, while a seventh stood directly in front of her, holding a bloody rag to his eye.

“Who hired you?” he spat, full of anger. He was a big man, with a shaved, tattoo-covered head.

“Hired me?” Autumn replied, voice pitched with confusion. “I have no idea what you’re talking about. I was just looking for a bathroom.”

He backhanded her. Autumn’s head whipped to the side. Rage pounded in my veins, dark and violent, making me see fucking red. My finger itched over the trigger of my assault rifle, the beast within me demanding that fucker’s head.

But I had to be smart. As much as I wanted to take him out, doing so would put Autumn in danger.

There were six other people in that room, and the minute that bullets started flying, there was a high probability Autumn would catch one because she was stuck in that chair. I was quick, but I couldn’t take out seven people fast enough to reduce the risk.

I needed to eliminate some of them first, quickly and quietly.

“I’ll ask you again,” Baldy said. “Who hired you?”

“You can ask me as many times as you like. The answer isn’t going to change.” She spat blood out of the side of her mouth and smiled. “I was just looking for a bathroom.”

Keeping low, I edged around the outside of the room as the two of them continued to talk, heading for one of the men standing just on the outskirts.

“You’re lying! Tell me! Which one of my enemies sent you?!”

Tucking the assault rifle behind my back, I snuck up behind the man, palming one of the knives strapped to my waist.

Autumn smirked. “Got no clue what you’re talking about, chief.”

I slapped my hand over the man’s mouth and rammed the blade into his back once, twice, three times. He struggled, choking behind my palm and trying to call for help, but all of his fellow companions were too busy looking at Autumn to notice. I pulled him behind a wall and slit his throat before lying him on the ground quietly.

Keeping my back to the wall, I stuck my head around the corner, eyeing my next target—a man with his back to me, standing next to an ugly, three seater couch that looked like it’d been to hell and back half a dozen times. He was the closest to me, which meant he was the furthest from Autumn and the other men.

“You expect me to believe that?” Baldy hissed. He removed the bloody rag from his face. “Look what you did to my eye!” he yelled, pointing to it.

Autumn leant forward, a quizzical expression on her face. “What eye?”

Baldy snarled and punched her in the nose. Her head snapped back, a curse flying from her mouth.

That motherfucker is going to lose that hand.

I slipped into the room without making a sound and took cover behind the couch. My target was to my right, only a few feet away from me. Adrenaline thrummed inside my body as I pulled another knife from one of the sheaths at my hip, waiting for the most opportune moment to attack.

It came when my target opened his mouth to yawn.

Swinging my arm in a fast and powerful arc, I sprung up behind him and plunged the blade into his open mouth at the same time as I swiped my other blade across his throat. He died instantly, unable to even make a sound. His body fell back onto me, and I guided him to the floor so the sound of him falling didn’t alert the others.

I somersaulted to the right, shuffled forward with quick but quiet movements and rammed my knife into the neck of another gang member as I slapped my palm over his mouth.

Three down, four to go.

“You don’t want to talk. Fine,” Baldy sneered. “I’ll just have to make you talk.” Then his hands were around her neck, squeezing.

Autumn choked, thrashing in her chair.

I was out of time.

“Hey!” Four sets of eyes snapped to me in shock. I threw both of my knives, the weapons soaring through the air and hitting their targets, one lodging into a man’s forehead while the other plunged deep into another man’s throat.

I was moving before the men even fell to the ground, flinging my assault rifle into my hands as I dove out of the way of a stream of bullets.

“Who the fuck is that?! Get him! Get him now! Where the hell are Rob, Neil and Davidson?!” I heard Baldy yell, his voice laced with panic and fear.

That was good for me. Fear meant he wanted to live.

Too bad he isn’t going to.

I sprung up, sighted both men in half a second and fired.

Two bodies dropped to the ground.

Silence reigned over the room. The adrenaline hammering in my veins made my heart thump so fast that I could hear it in my ears. Unable to help myself, I did one more sweep of the space, even though I knew all the threats had been neutralised, before moving to Autumn.

I’d expected gratitude, possibly even a thank you to fall from her lips, but of course, I got neither.

“Who the fuck are you?” she snapped, glaring me down.

I pulled the helmet off my head, giving her a deadpan look. “Usually, people say ’thank you’ when their life has just been saved.”

Again, I didn’t know why I expected gratitude or appreciation from her. I should have known by then that Autumn did the exact opposite of what I thought she would do.

“Did I ask you to save my life?”

My mouth dropped open in outrage. “Are you serious right now?”

“Fucking deadly. I told you I didn’t need help,” she hissed angrily.

“Really?!” I pointed erratically to her. “You’re tied to a goddamn chair right now. What the fuck do you mean you didn’t need he—” the words died on my tongue when Autumn suddenly got to her feet, the pair of cuffs dangling from her fingers.

“I had it handled, Butcher.” She threw the cuffs to the ground, frustration burning in her eyes. “And now, you’ve taken my bounty from me.”

“I—you’re what?!” I snapped.

“Dylan!” She pointed to Baldy, lying dead at my feet. “Someone was going to pay me quarter of a million dollars to kill that fucker, and now that money is just gone because I didn’t kill him. You did!”

It was like she was speaking an entirely different language to me. “So what? Claim the money anyway. No one will know it wasn’t you who killed him.”

She shook her head, those beautiful red locks flowing through the air. “I would love to, except that’s not the way it fucking works,” she seethed. “There’s a code we have to follow, and that code dictates that I don’t get shit unless I complete the kill myself!” She shoulder-barged past me.

I gripped her arm, stopping her. She whipped back around to face me, and I scowled at her. “You are absolutely insufferable!” I hissed down at her, anger and lust warring deep inside me. “I was trying to help you!”

“And like I said on the phone” —she tore her arm from my grasp and stood toe-to-toe with me, her chest pressing against mine with each harsh breath— “I didn’t need your goddamn help!”

I gripped her by the hair roughly, making her wince. “Fine,” I snarled, bringing my face closer to hers. “Next time, I’ll just let them fucking kill you!”

“Good! You do that!” she growled.

I glared at her. She glared right back. Sexual tension snapped the air taut between us. My body was on goddamn fire, the rush of adrenaline from battle soaring through me, making it impossible for me to fight against the magnetic pull she had over me.

I smashed my lips onto hers in a rough kiss, full of fire and lust. She moaned, kissing me back harder, her hands coming up to grip the sides of my face.

Or so I thought.

Instead, her hands wrapped around my goddamn throat and she squeezed, fucking choking me. I snarled into her mouth, my grip on her hair tightening to the point where she winced again, but she didn’t let go.

Neither did I.

The kiss turned violent, our teeth clashing as our bodies rammed into the wall. Into the furniture. We clawed at one another without breaking the kiss, tearing at each other’s clothes. I yanked down her pants roughly. She ripped off my suit jacket, her hands disappearing under my shirt a moment later. Her nails scratched down my fucking chest, hard enough to cause a flash of pain, and I groaned.

Fuck, she felt so good, pleasure already shooting down my goddamn spine from just her kiss alone.

“I fucking hate you,” she moaned into my mouth at the same time she climbed up my body, placing her hot, fucking pussy right over my hard, aching cock.

“Good,” I grunted, using one hand to undo my pants and pull my cock out. “Because I hate you, too,” I groaned, impaling her in one, deep thrust.

Pure fucking ecstasy.

Then I was moving, hammering into her with fast, deep strokes. Pleasure built fast within me, her tight little pussy squeezing my cock so good, so fucking tight.

Autumn arched into me, her hips meeting me thrust for thrust. I couldn’t take my eyes off her. She was stunning. Gorgeous, flushed skin. Emerald eyes swallowed up with desire. Teeth biting into her rosy lips.

“Fucking hell. Why do you feel so good?” she whined, clawing at my skin.

I didn’t say anything because I was wondering the exact same thing. The feel of her wrapped around me… It was excruciatingly glorious.

An image flashed before my eyes. An image I’d thought of a lot, and I couldn’t help myself. I fucked her hard, never slowing down, never wavering as I pulled out a knife and held it to her throat.

Her eyes blazed with fire, and she moaned, long and deep.

“I’ve thought about this a lot, you know,” I whispered over her lips, pounding and pounding and pounding. “Fucking you with my knife at your throat. I can see why you like it so much. It’s fucking hot.”

“Let me do it—”

I shoved the weapon harder into her skin, cutting off her words instantly. “Did I say you could talk? When you talk, you piss me off. So, do us both a favour. Shut up, and take your fucking.”

Her pussy rippled around me, clamping down harder on my cock as she moaned again, my name falling from her lips.

I cursed, moving faster. I loved it when she moaned my name. “You fucking like that, don’t you? My dirty little devil. Fucking perfect for me.”

“Oh, shit. Fuck. I’m so fucking close.”

And I knew exactly what she needed to fall over the edge.

Keeping up the pace, I cut into my palm and smeared my blood over her face.

“Dimitri!” she screamed.

“Jesus, fuck—” I choked as her pussy squeezed me so tight that I saw fucking stars.

I was already burning, my whole body on fire and set to explode, but hearing her scream my name like that, the feel of her pussy spasming around me as she came hurtled me straight into an inferno.

“Autumn,” I groaned deeply, an overload of pleasure assaulting me. My pace increased, thrusts turning wild and chaotic as I emptied myself inside her.

God, it gets better every time.

Some of that fire between us diminished slightly as if the sex had taken some of the edge off, but it wasn’t entirely gone.

I wondered if it ever would be.

Panting heavily, I lowered her to the ground. She didn’t avoid my eyes, didn’t shy away like she was embarrassed. She held my gaze the entire time as she righted her clothes and straightened her hair with her hands.

“We need to talk.”

Anxiety set my spine straight. “If this is about the fact that I’ve come inside you three times now without protection, there’s no need to worry. I had a vasectomy after Illayana was born. And I don’t have anything.’

“What?” she frowned. “No. I was never worried about that. On top of not wanting children, I physically can’t have children. A little side effect from what happened to me when I was a teenager.”

My jaw clenched at the mention of it. It was a long time ago, I knew that, so my anger towards the people responsible for raping her was irrational. Still, I would have given anything to kill those fuckers myself.

“There’s something I need to tell you.”

I didn’t like the sound of that.

She wants to have the “talk” with you, a voice in my head said, and panic smothered my chest.

I couldn’t do that. Not right then. I still wasn’t sure what was going on between us. What I wanted. I wasn’t ready to sit down and talk about our feelings. My feelings. Especially when I was still harbouring some guilt over the whole situation.

“I can’t,” I grunted, stepping away from her. I picked up my suit jacket from the ground and put it on. “I need to go.”

“Dimitri,” she said sternly.

Thankfully, I was saved by my phone vibrating. I dug it out of my pocket. “Da? Yes?”

“Why the fuck haven’t you been answering your phone?” Mikhail barked.

Whoops. I mustn’t have felt it vibrating while I was infiltrating the building.

“I’ve been…busy.”

Autumn smirked, teeth digging into her bottom lip.

“Well, get un-busy. I got a call from Tate—one of the men guarding Anthony. He called me when he couldn’t reach you. Anthony’s ready to talk.”

Finally.

“I’ll be right there.”

Autumn’s brows slammed down into an angry frown. “Dimitri—”

“Something important has come up,” I said, heading towards the exit.

“We need to talk,” she growled.

“And we will.” Maybe. “But right now, I need to go.”

“Butcher!”

I stopped. Turned. Our eyes connected. Tension burnt between us, hotter than ever.

“It’s important. So, either make the time, or I will.”

Fear and dread mixed together within me. I nodded stiffly, not entirely sure I was ready for whatever conversation she was trying to have.