Page 37 of Savage Little Lies

I enter the office to find him standing behind his desk in his black, three-piece suit, my presence immediately drawing his attention. Was he waiting for me?

He moves around to the front of his desk, making me slow my pace as I approach him. “How are you doing?”

His level of concern slightly surprises me, but it mostly pleases me. He needs to care, that’s how this works.

“I’m okay,” I reply, making my voice waver as I force a tense smile on my face.

Dmitri gives me a pointed look before sitting on the edge of the desk with his arms crossed over his chest. “Don’t lie to me. Tell me the truth. Talk to me.”

If he knew the truth, I would be dead.

“It’s not a big deal,” I say, straddling the line between brave and scared as I monitor his reactions. “I’m getting over it. These things can happen, right?”

Dmitri exhales slowly before shaking his head. “I endangered you by bringing you to such a high-profile event. I should’ve thought of all possible security threats.”

“Don’t blame yourself. No one expected that to happen,” I say as I reach out to brush my fingertips against the sleeve of his jacket. “I won’t lie. I’ve been in some scary situations because of my ex-boyfriend, but I’ve never been so close to death before.”

The abusive criminal ex-boyfriend who doesn’t even exist. I’ll make up whatever I need to in order to sway him.

Dmitri straightens and takes my hand before I can fully pull it away, and I’m quickly reminded of our size difference. He towers over me when he’s standing, and even with him sitting down, we’re just about at eye level.

“It won’t happen again,” Dmitri assures me before releasing my hand.

A golden window of opportunity presents itself to me. If I can’t figure out the truth of whether my father was behind the shooting, maybe Dmitri and his men can. I’m sure they’ve already been working around the clock to find an answer.

“How can you be sure?” I ask him. “Do you even know who’s responsible?”

Dmitri shakes his head, his jaw clenched tight. “No, not yet, but I have my men working on it around the clock. We’ll find who they are and make sure they can’t hurt anyone else.”

He seems fairly confident. I’m sure the Bratva have plenty of sources they can turn to when they’re in need of information. If they can’t figure it out, I’m not sure who can.

“That worries me. That you don’t even have a lead,” I say, needing to pull more information from him. Even some guesses may help me confirm whether my father had anything to do with the incident.

I hope he didn’t do something so drastic and put my life at risk. But my confidence wanes more and more every time that I think about it. I have to be realistic and face the fact that my father isn’t the most nurturing, paternal figure.

Dmitri stiffens. “Of course, I have suspicions. There are a handful of people who have the means and the hatred for me and my family to brazenly attack us like that. People who don’t like that we’ve been expanding into Vegas.”

“People like…Rafael?”

Dmitri shakes his head. “There are other rival families in the city. The Italians have been here for decades. Most of them are not fond of us. There’s also the Irish Mob that’s been expanding from New York for nearly a decade.”

My heart hammers against my chest. I tilt my head at him, feigning a look of surprise. “There’s an Irish Mob here in Vegas?”

“Run by Sean O’Malley, one of the biggest pains in my ass I’ve ever dealt with,” Dmitri mutters bitterly. “He’s greedy enough to go after me like that, but he’s also not stupid. That shooting was calculated, but it was too risky being so public. Doesn’t seem like O’Malley unless I’m underestimating him.”

It’s safe to say that my father is losing patience in this whole scheme. Maybe he tried to skip a bunch of steps and take out Dmitri with a plan of his own. It’s not like Sean ever tells me much of anything unless I absolutely need to know.

“You have a lot of enemies,” I say as I fidget with the tie waist of my dress.

Dmitri steps closer to me, his hand brushing mine away from the tie belt. “It’s crooked.”

All the air leaves my lungs when he unties it, making the dress loosen around my figure a little. My eyes flick up to his dark blue ones, but he’s more focused on his hands as he slowly twists the belt to tie it once more around me.

He’s so close that his spicy cologne fills my senses, almost making me lightheaded. I remember dancing with him and feeling the same, like it’s hard to breathe when he’s so close.

This proximity is what I should want more of, but it’s hard to think when it happens.

“There,” Dmitri says once he firmly ties the belt back in place, the ends now hanging evenly with each other.