“Hello, I’m here to see Dimitri.” I looked at the two guards manning the front gate of Dimitri’s home, a sweet, innocent smile on my face.
I’d debated just breaking in like I had a few days earlier, but Aleksandr had told me to use the front door next time, so I thought, “Why the fuck not?”
Sounded like an invitation to me.
“Name?” the blonde guard grunted.
“Autumn.”
He looked through a clipboard of papers. “You’re not on the list. I’ll need to call up for verification.”
“Okay.” I gripped the folder in my hands a little tighter as he picked up the phone, clutching it close to my chest, nervousness snaking through my bones.
Sergei had been so confident that I would do as he ordered that he had one of his goons slip an updated contract into my mailbox. One with Dimitri’s details on it instead of Dominik’s.
It had been a little unnerving to know that Sergei knew where I lived. It put the whole, “You’re not match for the power of the Bratva” schtick into perspective. No one had ever found out the location of my home before.
I saw the whole thing for exactly what it was.
A threat.
That if I didn’t do what he wanted, there wasn’t anywhere on Earth that I could run where he couldn’t find me.
Unfortunately for him, I didn’t get intimidated easily.
The deadline for his ultimatum had passed, and since he hadn’t heard from me, he would know what that meant. That I had no intention of doing what he wanted. Which meant an open contract would have been put on me almost instantly.
I needed to go to ground. Hide out for a few weeks until I could come up with some sort of plan to deal with Sergei.
But first, I had to warn Dimitri. Tell him what his father was up to. I’d tried to the last time I saw him, but he ran before I even got the chance to say anything. Sergei most likely hired someone else the moment he realised I wasn’t going to kill his son. That meant Dimitri was in danger, and that thought caused worry to gnaw at my gut.
“Got it.” The guard hung up the phone. “You’ve been granted entry.” He pushed a button on the table, and the double gates swung open. “Stick to the indicated path, and it will lead you straight to the house. Have a nice day.”
“You too.”
Taking a deep breath, I made my way up the long, winding driveway, my booted feet crunching under the gravel.
I’d deliberately chosen not to drive my car through, instead deciding to park in front of the gates because I needed the walk up to prepare myself. On top of telling Dimitri about his father, I also wanted to talk about us. More specifically, what was happening between us, because there was no denying the fact that there was something happening. Not anymore.
He had tracked me down and came for me all because he thought I was in danger.
If that didn’t scream, “I care about you”, I didn’t know what did.
I was just about to step onto the first stair leading up to the front porch when all of a sudden, the double doors swung open violently, smacking so hard against the side of the house that the two soldiers standing guard jumped.
Dimitri stood in the doorway, waves of fury pouring off him.
And it was all directed at me.
The smile on my face dropped instantly.
“What the fuck are you doing here?” he snarled.
I took an involuntary step back at the harshness of his tone. Sure, there’d been plenty of times where he’d spoken to me out of anger, but none of them compared to that moment.
Well, maybe one, but that would have been back when we first met.
“I—”
“You think because we fucked a few times, that gives you the right to just show up at my house unannounced like this? In the middle of the day? In front of my children?”
Said children, Aleksandr and Lukyan, were standing just behind him, apologetic looks on their faces like they knew why he was acting that way and were incredibly sorry for it.
“I—uh.” For the first time in my life, I was completely and utterly speechless. My heart hurt at his words, a horrible, crippling feeling working its way through my entire body. I shook my head, trying to get myself under control. “I don’t, um, understand—”
“No, you don’t,” he spat, looking me up and down with derision. “You don’t understand. So, let me spell it out for you.” He stepped out onto the porch, and I found myself doing something else I’d never done before: retreating. “We’re not together. We’re not boyfriend and girlfriend. We’re not going to ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after. We’re nothing. You hear me? Nothing.”
My gut twisted. Pain stabbed me in the heart and I sucked in a harsh breath. Why is he saying these things to me? Why is he talking to me this way? Like he…hates me. And I didn’t mean the fun kind of hate, driven by passion and lust. I meant real hate. Like the idea of anything remotely happening between us was repulsive to him.
I licked my dry lips, my gaze flicking from Dimitri to Aleksandr and then to Lukyan. “Has something happened?” It was the only explanation I could think of for his behaviour. When things got too real for him, he retreated. Pushed me away. Was that what was happening here?
Dimitri shook his head, anger pulsing on his face. “You just don’t get it, do you? How stupid are you?”
I winced. Sorrow shredded my insides.
“Father!” Aleksandr chastised.
“Tikhiy!” Dimitri yelled at him, and he snapped his mouth shut, his jaw clenching.
Usually, when someone spoke to me like that, I had tons of witty rejoinders to throw back. But this time, I had nothing. I was so caught off guard, I could do nothing but stand there completely dumbfounded as a painful ache filled my soul.
The lines of his face were hard, not a single shred of warmth or affection in his eyes as he stared at me with abhorrence. “Everything that happened between us was a mistake. A big, fat, giant fucking mistake that I regret more than anything else in my life.” Pressure smothered my chest, making it difficult to breathe. “My heart does, and always will belong to Yekaterina. My wife. Not some random woman who doesn’t even know what it means to love someone.”
A heavy weight settled over my heart. Tears burnt in the back of my eyes, and it took everything I possessed not to let them fall. With each word, he’d just hacked away at my heart, cutting it down piece by piece until there was nothing left.
“I see.” I cleared my throat and straightened my spine, standing tall. His words hurt, more than any physical pain I’d ever endured before, but there was no fucking way I was going to let him see that. See that he’d just broken me. My soul. My spirit.
How could I have been so stupid? This entire time, every moment between us, had been nothing but a lie. Every touch. Every heated look. Every kiss. Nothing but a lie.
I was an idiot to think he would choose me over her, but that was as far as I would allow my idiocy to go. I wasn’t going to beg him. Wasn’t going to tell him we had something special, even if he wasn’t willing to admit it. I had my fucking pride, and there was no way in hell I was going to let him turn me into some snivelling little bitch who begged a man to stay with her.
“I guess we have nothing else to talk about, then.” I went to walk away when I realised I was still holding the folder in my hands.
After what he’d just said to me, I should have walked away and not said a damn word about Sergei. But I wanted to be the one to get the last word in.
“Oh, by the way,” I said, turning back to face him. “I didn’t come here for some midday booty call. I came here to tell you that the man who hired me to kill Dominik made a mistake. Dominik was never the intended target. You were.” I flicked the folder with the kill contract at his feet, and it opened, revealing a picture of Dimitri on the top page.
His eyes flicked down to it, and his brows creased in a slight frown.
“That man’s name was Sergei Volkov.”
He looked back up at me. Some of the initial anger he’d had when he first opened the door faded, as if reason was starting to worm its way back into his head.
I didn’t care.
It was too late.
The damage was done.
Without saying another word, I turned around and walked back the way I came. I kept my footsteps slow and unhurried, not wanting to give him the satisfaction of seeing me run away even though that was all I wanted to do.
I waited until I got back to my car to let the tears fall.
And they didn’t stop.
