Page 64 of Savage Little War

“But why would they disappear?” Cara asks.

“Either they don’t want to end up like Ferro or they’re planning something,” Andrei replies as he crosses his arms. He then sighs, his body deflating a little. “I was naïve enough to hope this began and ended with the Italians.”

“We all hoped for that,” I tell him. “But Cara is sure that she heard other people at the farmhouse. There’s no telling how widespread this could be.”

“I’ll keep looking into the Suyunovs then. No one can truly disappear without a trace nowadays,” Andrei says as he pulls out his phone. “If they’re still lurking around the city, you two need to be careful going out and about.”

Cara frowns. We can’t even plan for our wedding without worrying about something bad happening.

I wrap my arm around her shoulders to pull her against my side, feeling the weight on her that she can’t hide. “We can still plan the wedding. We just don’t go anywhere alone.”

Cara sighs. “I have a dress fitting this week.”

“And I’m guessing you still don’t want me to come along.”

Cara’s features sharpen. “No, you can’t come. It’s bad luck.”

“I don’t think you guys need more bad luck,” Andrei comments.

“Exactly,” Cara says as she twists her body to face me. “I could…I guess I could ask my father if he’ll come with me. Would that make you feel better?”

Sean and his men are better protection than a few of mine.

“I’ll reach out to him tonight and make sure he clears any plans so he can accompany you,” I tell her.

The sides of her mouth turn up a little. “Thursday at eleven o’clock sharp.”

I nod to her before looking over at Andrei. “If you find anything else, let me know. If the Suyunovs are lurking around, we need to take them out before they move on us.”

“Luckily, the Suyunovs shouldn’t be as big of a threat as Ferro and his men,” Andrei points out.

“We’ll see about that,” I murmur, unable to ignore the uneasiness spreading throughout my chest.

The Suyunovs vanishing overnight puts a knot in my chest.

What the hell are they planning?

If Cara is right about Annika being there, then this mess runs deeper than we thought. Deals made in the shadows. People pulling strings we can’t even see yet.

Ferro might be dead, but he was never the whole problem.

“Be careful,” Andrei warns us before heading out of the penthouse, leaving Cara and me alone once more.

It’s safe to say that the mood has changed since he showed up.

“I really think it was her, Dmitri,” Cara says as she stares at the ground, no doubt with uneasy thoughts racing around in her head. “What other woman would hurt me like that? It felt…personal.”

I frown as I watch her hands gravitate to her stomach like she needs to shield herself even now. I hate that I wasn’t there to protect her. For weeks, I was running around in circles while they starved her and beat her to the brink of death.

“We’ll find out the truth,” I promise her as I pull her into my arms, my fingers combing through her hair. “We’ll find every single person who hurt you and make them pay.”

Cara claws at the back of my shirt, gripping me like she’s afraid that she’ll be ripped away from me at any moment. “I just want to plan our wedding and keep our baby safe. That’s all. I’m tired of the schemes and the fights and the bloodshed. I’m just so tired of it, Dmitri.”

Pain pierces my heart as I hear the exhaustion in her voice. She wasn’t supposed to go through so much. It seems like no matter how much I try to protect her, she still suffers.

What if our child experiences the same thing?

“I will figure this out,” I promise her as I rest my hands on the frame of her face. “For both of you.”