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CHAPTER 24
Arianna
Dimitri is out trying to get IDs on the men who attacked the hotel charity event last night. Apparently he has men he relies on for information who work for the police department. He seems to have contacts all over the city, not just in the area run by his bratva. I’m sure my father is helping with some of that too, allowing Dimitri to use his own network, now that our families are joined.
I don’t know how, but Dimitri managed to keep me away from the police. According to the official report, I wasn’t involved at all.
I shift uneasily in the bathtub. Last night…
Well, last night was quite the turn of events, and I’m not sure how I feel about it. The adrenaline from everything at the hotel certainly pushed me over the edge, but I can’t blame all that happened between us on brain chemistry, that would be unfair.
Dimitri has unexpectedly grown on me. That’s the truth.
I might even like parts of him. Dare I admit that I also might want to explore whatever this is between us a little longer? He’s not the man I’ll settle down with, and one day he’ll have to let me go, but until then I want more. More of him.
This morning my body aches, but it’s a delicious kind of ache. My cheeks heat from the memories of last night. I can’t believe I did all those things. I made him beg.
Then my stomach twists. The way he took me slowly, our eyes on each others, that look of pure reverence in his gaze… It was enough to undo me, to make me question everything I know about him and myself.
That scares me to death. I feel out of control.
Waking up with his arm draped across my waist, his body flush against mine, didn’t help either. I never would have pegged Dimitri as a snuggler. But he is. He wraps his body around mine like he’s never going to let me go again. We’ve never touched like that before, and now that the physical barrier between us has come crashing down, I’m feeling so much more vulnerable.
More than I’ve ever felt before. But that’s the thing with Dimitri—he makes me experience all kinds of emotions I haven’t before.
My phone chimes. My sister is finally texting me back.
Sophia
Last night was crazy. How are you doing? You shot a man. Are you feeling okay about that?
Right. I did shoot and kill a man in front of a whole bunch of witnesses. I should be freaking out, but I’m not. In fact, that man’s death seems so trivial to me that I’m actually a little worried about myself.
Though I’ve always known that, if given the right reasons and circumstances, I could kill a man.
Papa trained us all how to use a gun, but I was his star pupil. Partly, I think, because we both knew that I took the training very seriously, always expecting that someday I would shoot someone because that’s simply the world we live in.
I just never expected to do it to save my captor’s life. I groan.
What is seared into my memory is the look in Dimitri’s eyes when I had the gun trained on him. The anguish, the gradual acceptance, and then the defiance, like he was daring me to pull the trigger. That gave me pause.
He’s the type of man who would kill for me, but I had no idea until that moment that he’d also die for me.
A chill runs across my skin and I shiver despite the warm bath.
Arianna
I’m fine. You know the world we live in, so is it really that surprising what happened?
Sophia
No. But everyone handles it differently. I can come by if you need someone to talk to.
Arianna
Really, I’m fine. Just don’t tell Gin what happened because she’ll ask me a billion questions that I don’t want to answer. Okay?
Sophia
