Page 4 of Savage Little Secret

“We all just need to be careful about what we say and to whom. All of us,” Isaak says as his eyes shift back and forth between Emil and me. “We have no idea who is providing information to our enemies, but I think it’s safe to say that our conversations aren’t a hundred percent safe any longer.”

Uneasiness fills the air as we glance at each other, countless words being left unspoken.

I don’t trust anyone completely, but we all have to trust each other enough to defeat our enemies, and that number is growing each day.

Our traitor is close.

Closer than any of us want to admit.

2

Cara

By Thursday, whatever hope I had left is gone.

Who am I kidding? There is no escape for me.

No way out that doesn’t end in death or being sold off to be used.

My father is powerful and cruel, and that combination is hell to deal with, especially as someone who barely has anything to her name but a bag full of money.

The only good thing I had was Dmitri. And that’s gone.

My boss, the man I’m in love with, no longer trusts me. He doesn’t want anything to do with me.

If I had known what this would cost Dmitri, I never would’ve taken the job.

I thought we had something real, but how could we ever be together when I’m the one who caused him so much pain? I’ve been lying to him since the moment we met.

Dmitri pulled his guards off me.

That hurt more than it should have.

I didn’t ask why; I was just relieved to have my privacy again, even if it means he’s no longer worried about keeping me safe. He’s pulling away from me, as if he knows I’m responsible for getting Gabe killed.

I carry the guilt of his death. Poor Karly. She never even got to have one date with Gabe before he died.

The thought of never seeing Dmitri again is agony. But it’s better this way. For him. For me.

A numbness fills me as I wait in the dark parking lot behind my apartment building, my eyes scanning the nearby sidewalk and street for any movement.

I’ve decided that there’s a third option for me to choose for myself.

I can’t bring myself to come clean with Dmitri, and I refuse to let my father sell me off to strangers. Fleeing is pointless without my passport and with only what little money and resources I have.

So, I’ll remove myself from the equation.

No more having to deal with the guilt of hurting a man that I love. No having to suffer through the indignities of being treated as nothing but an object.

I refuse to be used by my father. I won’t give them the satisfaction. And dying by Dmitri’s hand when he learns the truth is unbearable to imagine.

I’ll leave this world on my own terms.

Finally, I spot a shadow moving underneath the circular glow of a nearby streetlight, prompting me to step out of the darkness enough for the man to see me. “Kyle?”

“The one and only,” the lanky, jittery man says as he strides toward me with his hands tucked in the pockets of his black jacket and a crooked grin on his face.

I take a deep breath, nervousness buzzing in my chest. It took some digging and sneaking, but I managed to find the contact information for one of my father’s go-to dealers.