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My heart twists, realizing how much both of us were losing ourselves to The Lion’s games. I might be a victim in my own right. But Dmitri had been forged from his father even from a distance all these years, even if he didn’t like to admit or realize it.
Dmitri was cut from the same unruly cloth.
40
DMITRI
Elanee is sitting as far away in the back seat from me as possible. Good. Be scared of me. Hate me. I don’t fucking care. So, fucking close. Too close. When I saw that knife at her throat, for the first time in my life, I tasted genuine fear. The panic of losing her twisted and broke something new inside of me, and I couldn’t explain it, nor would I justify it. As long as she is safe.
Chunks of her hair have been cut off, but she’s quiet, distantly staring out the window, most likely in shock.
I don’t give a flying fuck if Archer had to fight off two men or a fucking bear; he’s lucky I didn’t kill him as well. Had she made it to the bar, the clean-up would’ve been much easier since it was Luca Armani’s establishment.
Layla sits in the front of the car. My driver isn’t even daring enough to look through the rearview mirror.
The moment Elanee called me and said someone was following her, I sent Layla a message and had another driver collect her. We had various backup plans if she had to take the role of Elanee, and considering the circumstances, we’d assumed a switch would be required.
“I’m not letting you swap places with me tonight,” Elanee says. “Take me to my apartment.”
“You’ll stay exactly where you are,” I growl.
Her eyes grow wide, and whatever might have been keeping her back before fractures. “You do not own me, Dmitri!”
“I’m trying to keep you fucking safe!” I snap. “One of the whores from the club put a knife to your throat,” I say blatantly, confused that I actually have to remind her. “And you say I’m the asshole because I slit her throat.”
“Well, you are an asshole,” Layla mutters matter-of-fact from the front. “But I probably would’ve done the same.”
Lie. Layla was many things but she was not a killer. Then again, I know she’d do just about anything for her sister.
Elanee folds into herself slightly, defeated by the outvoting. “She was sick,” she says quietly.
“And had I been ten seconds later, she might’ve gotten what she wanted,” I snip.
Her bronze eyes look away. She had already been in that alleyway for a minute: enough time for her hair to be hacked and a knife placed against her throat.
Enough time to… I stop at the thought.
“Take her back to your place tonight,” Layla says. “I’ll cover for her. This is already too risky, and anyone could’ve seen us.”
“Shouldn’t you be worried that you might get put away for murder?” Elanee snaps. “I don’t want you in prison because of me.”
I laugh hysterically. This is just too fucking rich. I was losing my goddamn mind. “I’m not the boy you remember from college, Elanee. Things such as murder don’t affect me.”
“Oh, so you’re God now?” she bites back.
“No. I just discovered how money, influence, and having the right things in place can cover my tracks. Or maybe it’s because I’m so like my father,” I throw back in her face.
“Guys!” Layla yells. “You two are high on adrenaline. You care for each other deeply, and some crazy shit just happened.” She makes a pointed look at Elanee and her jagged, cut-up hair and, then she looks at me.
“How are you so calm about all of this?” Elanee asks, bewildered.
“Because right now, I’m clearly the only one looking forward. Whether you like it or not, Elanee, I’m going to your apartment tonight. If you don’t make an appearance and someone’s watching that house, then it could put everything that we’ve worked toward at stake. And you—” she points a finger at me. “Stop being such an asshole and reign it in a little.”
I go to speak, but she prods her finger further in my direction. I grind my jaw instead and look away.
“It’s too much,” Elanee argues back. “What if The Lion never comes? What if this plan doesn’t work, and we’re just constantly swapping until myself or all of us get killed in the process?”
“Then I’ll go to Russia,” I say matter-of-factly.
