Page 9 of Savage Little Secret

I close my eyes for a moment, dread seeping into my soul.

Of course.

“Something to do with the Irish?” I ask him quietly.

“You got it.”

A ringing noise fills my ears as I turn around to face the entrance to the hallway. She took the bait. Cara told the Irish about my fake meeting that only she knew about before I told the four men I trust with my life last night. Four men, who only have one cell phone between them and slept in the same room at the hotel after I left them to go to Cara’s.

“Sir?” Isaak’s voice breaks through the sound.

I breathe in sharply, struggling to fill my lungs with enough air. “All of you get out of there before they see you. Use a window, not the exits. I’ve found out what I need to know.”

Before Isaak can say anything else, I end the call, my fingers curling around it tightly. I resist the urge to throw it across my apartment in case another important call comes in, but I’m beyond furious.

I’m fucking devastated.

“Dmitri? Is everything okay?” Cara calls out before walking out of the hallway, now fully dressed again. When she spots my stony face, she pauses and her body tenses. “What’s wrong?”

I want to yell at the top of my lungs, but I force myself to take a deep breath before I speak.

“Did you tell anyone about my meeting at noon today?” I ask her.

Cara frowns and shakes her head. “No, why?”

I step toward her, noting the way she edges her foot back an inch. “Not a single person? Did you write it down on a note and lose it?”

“No,” Cara says, her voice wavering a little. “What’s going on?”

“Well, the meeting wasn’t real,” I tell her, watching her green eyes widen. “And you were the only one who knew about it. So, it’s concerning that several members of the Irish mob showed up to lurk around a building that only you knew I would be at.”

Cara’s face pales. She shakes her head again and holds up her palm, motioning for me to stop. “You think I told the Irish where you would be?”

“Nobody else could have,” I say in a cold voice as I take another step toward her, ignoring her hands. “So, explain to me how the Irish found out about the meeting if you didn’t tell them.”

Cara scoffs at me, her cheeks starting to flush. “I-I don’t know!”

My eyes sharpen. “Don’t lie to me, Cara. Reynolds. Cahill. Whatever the hell your name is. I set a trap because my men suspected you couldn’t be trusted, and you stepped right into it!”

She glares at me. “When have I ever put you in danger? I begged you to be careful in public, not to go to the meeting today.”

“Yeah, that’s all a really good cover if you’re feeding information to the Irish behind my back!” I snap at her, fury raging through my blood as I imagine all the things that she’s spilled to them.

Things that I trusted her with.

Cara shakes her head. “This is ridiculous. I’ve done so much for you, and you’re going to put the blame on me because your men are upset that you ended the marriage with Annika?”

Her words make my mind race.

She pushed me. The marriage. The ultimatum.

And I gave her everything.

I gave her everything that she wanted.

Or everything that the Irish wanted.

“How do you know the Irish?” I question her as I close the distance between us, towering over her as she tries to shrink back from me.