Page 157 of Marrying the Savage

“Warning?” Dmitri takes another step in. “You shot me in a church.”

“You are still alive. Don’t make me correct that.”

The air goes tight.

I move before I think. “Dmitri, go.”

His gaze cuts to me. “You speak now?”

“I said go.”

He looks me up and down, and I immediately wish I had stayed silent. “Already trained, then.”

Damir moves half a step forward.

One of Dmitri’s men also shifts.

Nikolai’s hand goes under his coat.

Everything is seconds away from becoming ugly.

Dmitri sees it and smiles. He wants this. He came here wanting this.

“You’re pathetic, Volodin,” he says. “Marrying a girl young enough to be your daughter. What are you now? A husband or a creep with money?”

My face burns.

Not because I agree with Dmitri. Because he says it like I’m not even in the room. Like I’m just another insult he can throw at Damir.

Damir doesn’t react immediately.

Dmitri keeps going. “Was that the point? You couldn’t keep your first wife alive, so you picked someone younger? Someone easier?”

I see Damir’s hand close into a fist.

I step toward him. “Damir⁠—”

One of Dmitri’s men reaches inside his coat.

Nikolai draws first.

Then everything falls apart. A saleswoman screams. Marina grabs my arm and pulls me back. Damir catches the wrist of Dmitri’s man before the gun fully comes out. He twists hard. The man screams, and the gun hits the floor.

Dmitri lunges forward, shouting something I can’t hear properly. Nikolai slams into him from the side. Dmitri crashes into a display table, sending glass and metal pieces across the floor.

The second man draws his weapon. A Volodin guard tackles him into a rack of coats. The rack falls. Hangers scatter. Someone shouts for everyone to get down.

Marina pulls me behind a shelf. “Stay here.”

I nod. Then I look at the side corridor.

This is the opening. This is what I wanted. But now that it’s happening, I feel sick.

Damir turns during the chaos, and his eyes find me immediately. For one second, I almost stay. Then Dmitri screams Damir’s name, and Damir looks away.

I run.

I duck behind the fallen rack and move into the side corridor. My boots slip once on the polished floor, but I catch myself and keep going. Behind me, there are shouts, a crash, and another scream from one of the staff.