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“Watching the fire did something to me. It filled an emptiness inside of me and all my anxiety melted away. I went back for a couple of weeks, but the initial contentment I felt subsided. I knew I needed something on a larger scale. That’s when I started researching buildings that were being condemned. Alex, I swear I’d never choose a building with someone inside. I always made sure they’d been cleared of any of the homeless sleeping inside of it. Not only that, but before I lit the fire, I went through every corner of the building just to be sure. I could never hurt anyone. You have to believe me,” he pleads, keeping his voice low so that no one overhears.
“Dimitri’s telling the truth, Alex. He would never hurt anyone,” Donovan speaks up, supporting his friend.
“So you knew about what he was doing? You do realize it’s against the law?” I ask him.
How could I ever feel safe with the two of them when they’re keeping something as important as this a secret from me? I could have forgiven Donovan because he didn’t know, but that’s not the case. Lionel was right, they are criminals. One by action and one for standing by and allowing it to happen.
“I did. But you still dinnae have the full story. Please let Dimitri finish.”
“Fine. Where were you when the fire happened last night? Because you weren’t in my bed.”
“There was a call from my security company that the alarm was going off. But when I got there, nothing was out of place. I reset the alarm and went home. I knew you had to work, and I didn’t want to wake you to get back inside of the apartment.”
“He’s telling the truth. I locked the door when he left,” Donovan adds.
“Did you file a police report?”
“No, I didn’t. Nothing was out of place. I just saw it as a system error, and didn’t think anything of it.” God, I want to believe his words so badly. But there’s still something I need to know.
“Where’s your lighter, the one you always have in your hands?”
“I don’t know, I lost it. I haven’t seen it since the night at the gym when we ran into Lionel and he tried to convince us to stay away from you. He threatened us and when we didn’t cave, he said he’d make sure we regret it. Alex, please believe me, I haven’t set a fire since you came back from your girls’ trip with Taira. I haven’t needed to. You filled that desire that urged me to do it. Not only that, but I’d never hurt anyone. I couldn’t. It would kill me if I did.”
I sit there as I process what he’s told me. The need to believe him is so strong. Everything he says makes sense, but he is the arsonist we’re looking for. I can’t just let him get away with it.
Do I believe him a hundred percent? Can I trust him?
I feel like I’m about to vomit.
“Alex, please say you believe me. That you don’t think I set that fire last night. Please tell me we can move past this and continue our relationship.” Dimitri’s lips quiver and I can feel his anguish in every word.
Could everything he’s telling me be true? If so, then who set the fire last night, and how did they have his lighter?
“Dimitri, I don’t know, I need time to think if we can continue and what to do with what you told me. You’re an arsonist and I’m a firefighter. Don’t you understand that these two things just don’t go together?”
He places his hands on the table and stands up.
“Then I’ll give you time and accept whatever you choose. I’ll admit to the other fires, but I didn’t do the one last night. Donovan, I’m going to walk home.”
He moves over to me and kisses my forehead before walking out of the coffee shop.
Donovan just watches him go, his mouth clenched and his eyebrows furrowed. I’m frozen in my spot, unable to move, my heart racing with everything that’s come to light.
“I’m not gonnae defend him setting the fires. It was wrong. But true to what he’s saying, he was always safe about it and he made sure the fire was put out every time. He never left the scene until firefighters arrived. It was his way of dealing with almost dying.”
“It’s—”
“No, I’m gonnae finish and then I’m gonnae leave and let you have your time to process like you asked. Not only that, I’m gonnae find out who’s framing my best friend, and I have a pretty good idea who it is. When Dimitri said he would never hurt anyone, he’s telling the truth. I’m gonnae let you in on a little piece of information that you nor anyone else knows. Dimitri already told you his family is full of criminals. But it’s more than that. The Kuznetsov family is part of the Russian Mafia and the only way in is to murder an innocent. Dimitri refused to do it and walked away from the family business. Now, does that sound like somebody who would set a building on fire with people still in it?”
Donovan doesn’t say anything else, but stands and walks away, leaving me with even more to process.
What if Dimitri truly is innocent and I just fucked up everything we could have had?
I feel like all eyes are on me as I stand and leave. Then it dawns on me—Donovan just left, no kiss or anything. Dimitri, who I basically told I was turning in to the police, kissed me goodbye.
Did I just lose both of them?
Could Dimitri have been set up?
