Page 64 of The Billionaire's Vow

Dimitri stepped forward, just enough for the streetlight to illuminate him.

“Craig,” he called out, voice smooth, deceptively calm.“Enjoying your little side business?”

Craig froze.Elliot jumped, his cigarette falling from his mouth as he paled.The men around them stiffened, half of them instinctively reaching for weapons they wouldn’t get the chance to use.

Dimitri smiled, but there was nothing friendly about it.“Don’t let me interrupt.”

“Boss,” Elliot stammered, hands going up.“It’s not—”

“Shut up,” Dimitri cut him off, stepping closer.“I gave you both opportunities.Trust.And this—” He gestured to the crates.“This is how you repay me?”He looked directly at Craig.“I told you two weeks ago that I’d help you get clean.”The man had the grace to look embarrassed, but only for a moment.

Craig then took a step back.“Look, Dimitri, it’s not what it looks like.We were just—” He’d been reaching into his pocket.A loud metallic click echoed through the alley.Tommy, his pistol drawn, pointed it at Craig’s forehead.

“Ah-ah,” Tommy chided.“I’d think very carefully about your next move.”

Dimitri smirked at the way Craig’s face drained of color.“You see, the problem isn’t just that you stole from me.The problem is that you were stupid enough to think I wouldn’t find out.”

Craig and Elliot exchanged a panicked glance.

And then—

Red and blue lights flooded the alley as the wail of sirens filled the night.

“Move in!”a voice boomed over a loudspeaker.

The police poured in from both ends, guns drawn, barking orders.Elliot’s crew barely had time to react before officers forced them to the ground, zip ties cinching tight around their wrists.

Elliot lunged for the van, but Tommy was faster, slamming him against the hood before shoving him down with zip ties already around both wrists.

Dimitri crouched beside him, watching as he struggled.“You didn’t think I’d leave the cops out of this, did you?”

Elliot wheezed, his face pressed to the cool metal.“You set us up.”

Dimitri laughed, cold and menacing.“No, Elliot.Youset yourself up.”

Craig whimpered as two officers hauled him up, his face pale and desperate.“Dimitri—please, man, you gotta believe me—Giselle will tell you!She always comes through for me.She’ll convince you to drop the charges.”

Dimitri turned slowly, his expression darkening.“You think I’d let you walk just because your sister asks me to?”His voice was ice, his gaze sharp enough to cut.“You think she’d even be willing to, after what you’ve done?”

Craig swallowed hard but didn’t back down.“She won’t let this happen to me,” he insisted, pleading now.“She always bails me out.”

Dimitri’s jaw tightened, but his voice remained dangerously calm.“Not this time.”He stepped closer, towering over Craig as the officers held him in place.“You see, I know something you don’t—Giselle’s finally done with being used.And if you think she’d trade her freedom—her happiness—for you, you’re an even bigger fool than I thought.”

Craig’s face crumpled, panic setting in as reality dawned.“She wouldn’t just—”

“Oh, but she would,” Dimitri murmured.He took one last look at the man who had stolen from him, betrayed him, and now dared to invoke the one person Dimitri actually cared about.“And the best part?I don’t even have to ask her.”

Craig opened his mouth to protest, but the officers dragged him away, his pleas fading beneath the song of the sirens.

Tommy dusted his hands off, watching Craig get shoved into the back of a patrol car.“That was almost too easy.”

Dimitri watched as the police loaded up the stolen crates, cataloging every piece of evidence.

“Greedy men always make it easy,” he murmured.“They never know when to stop.”

Chapter 26

Chapter26