Page 26 of Savage Little Secret

Dmitri grabs my arm and yanks me up to my feet.

I stumble, crashing into his chest. His arms lock around me automatically.

My eyes lift to his, desperation clawing its way through me.

“You didn’t change your mind about following your father’s orders. You didn’t decide to help me or keep me safe. You know how I know that? Not even a few days have passed since you told your father my plans about my fake meeting,” Dmitri tells me in a cold voice that makes the hair on the back of my arms stand up. “You set me up for an assassination.”

“I was scared,” I say, my vision blurring from my tears. “You don’t know what he’d do to me if I disobeyed him.”

Dmitri’s eyes search mine, but he doesn’t release me or relax. “How did you break free from the zip tie?”

I remain silent as I gaze up at him, a lump forming in my throat. He still doesn’t believe me. He’ll never trust a word I say again.

Dmitri grabs both of my upper arms, gripping me tightly enough to ache. “Cara.”

His warning tone tells me to answer or face whatever consequences he has in mind. Consequences that I don’t want to face.

“I just pressed down on the tab to free the tie,” I say as I drop my eyes. It just hurts to look at him now. He doesn’t look at me the same anymore.

Dmitri nods. “Smart girl. Your father taught you that?”

“The only thing that he taught me was that I’m useless unless I know how to follow his orders. I’m not a killer. I never will be,” I tell him.

“But you’re damn good at following orders,” Dmitri mutters before dragging me over to the coffee table and opening the hidden compartment. A handgun. Handcuffs. He grabs the handcuffs and the key and drags me back to the bedroom.

“If you were ordered to kill me, why don’t you just do it already? You won’t ever believe me,” I remark, my hope dwindling away.

Dmitri pulls me onto the bed and handcuffs my wrist back to the headboard bar. “Try that again, and I won’t hesitate.”

I keep my mouth shut, quietly wincing as he makes the cuff too tight.

Dmitri gets off the bed with a look of disappointment on his face. “Let’s see what else your Irish friend has to say.”

“He’s not my friend,” I say bitterly. “None of them are. Brendan stole my money from…from the first time we were together. In your office.”

Heat flickers in his eyes for a moment, as if he’s remembering that morning. Then it’s gone. He turns and leaves the room, shutting the door behind him and turning the lock.

I drop my head back against the headboard with an exhausted sigh.

The metal bites into my wrist, and I’m right back where I started.

10

Dmitri

When I arrive back at the antique shop, it feels like I’m moving in a daze.

Cara’s words loop in my head.

She insists that she was forced. That she had no choice. But she came here to hurt me.

So, when did she change her mind? Or did she?

There are so many unanswered questions, and I think Brendan can clear some of them up, including a big one that I haven’t pushed Cara to answer just yet.

I can’t bring myself to torture Cara.

Brendan is another story.