Page 37 of Savage Little Secret

A new home. A chance for a normal life.

And a much-needed new beginning.

I leave the city behind. But I don’t leave him.

14

Dmitri

I stay in the shower longer than I need to.

After I finally shut off the water, I slowly dry off, straining my ears to try to hear any signs of life outside of the bathroom.

There’s just silence, though.

My chest feels tight as I get dressed, my mind already betraying me and second-guessing what I’ve just done. More than anything, I want Cara to stay and be mine, but we don’t live in a fairy tale world. People want to kill her. People that I might not be able to stop.

I’d die fighting for her. But I can’t protect her from a horde of angry Bratva bosses.

All I can do is free her and hope that she makes it to her father’s or somewhere safe before anyone sees her and takes matters into their own hands. I’ll keep tabs on things throughout the day and make sure there are no reports of seeing her wandering around on the streets.

She’ll figure it out. She always does.

If things go as they should, I’ll never see her again. Maybe her father will send her out of the city to protect her. I can only hope that Sean decides to be a good father for once and help his daughter out when she needs it the most.

Once I get dressed, I walk out of the bathroom and glance up and down the empty hallway. I check the living room and kitchen first, not seeing anything out of order. The foyer seems fine too until I notice something off about the dish where I keep my car keys.

One of them is missing.

“What the hell?” I murmur under my breath as I rifle through the keys that are left to see which cars they belong to. The S-Class is missing.

She took one of my cars.

I don’t feel anger. The corner of my mouth twitches instead.

Smart girl. It wouldn’t have been safe for her to roam around the streets on foot. I would’ve driven her somewhere myself if it wouldn’t draw so much attention to us and get us both killed.

But she figured it out. She always figures it out.

Eventually, my amusement dies out when a hard realization hits me.

She’s gone, and she won’t be coming back. Part of me thought she might be stubborn and refuse to leave.

“Yebat.” I sigh as I run my hand through my damp hair, remembering the way she stroked it when we were holding each other.

I’m going to miss her so much that it hurts, but at least I won’t have her blood on my hands. I got her away from me, which means that I got her away from the Bratva. They won’t go against the Irish to get her back.

She just needs to make it there alive.

I return to my room for my phone. That’s when I spot a folded-up piece of paper on the bed. My feet freeze at the sight of it.

I pick it up off the bed timidly, like it’s a bomb about to explode, and unfold it. Her familiar handwriting in black ink quickly comes into view.

With a slow exhale, I sit down on the edge of the mattress and start to read.

Dmitri,

I never got the chance to tell you all the things that I wanted you to know, even if they won’t change anything. Last night was amazing, and even if you don’t want to see me again, I still want you to know. I want you to know for certain that I did love you and would never hurt you.