Page 28 of Flames of Ruin

Miranda steps up proudly, “Lucky for you, my parents taught me how to play, and how to cheat.” She winks.

“And lucky for you, I have something that will come in handy to get the information you’re looking for.” CiCi smiles at me, reaches into her pocket, and pulls out a small USB device. “It’s a packet sniffer. I just need to get close enough to Dimitri’s laptop, and it will pull any information off of it.”

Frustration boils inside me at the thought of the girls inside Dimitri’s casino. Shaking my head, I say firmly, “Absolutely not. They’ll get killed.”

“Draco, we will wire them. They will be safe. We will use your caravan of armored vehicles for extra protection,” Daniil pauses. “But we need to know when the shipment is coming in and if they will have reinforcements. We can not go into this blind like last time.”

CiCi looks at me. “What does he mean, like last time?”

“It’s nothing,” I snap.

Looking back at Daniil, I sigh, “Meet here tomorrow night at 7pm. We will get the girls ready here and go through the back alley to access the casino room.”

Daniil nods and motions for his men to exit with him.

“I’ll walk the girls out and head home for the night.” Shado rises from the chair, walking toward the door.

CiCi walks up to me. “Everything is going to be fine. If I can handle you, I can handle a big scary mobster, okay?”

She rises on her toes and gently kisses my cheek. “Goodnight, my scary Dragon.”

Dread overtakes me as I watch them walk out of the bunker. Running my hands through my hair, I scold myself.

I am sending her straight into the lion’s den, and she doesn’t even know the full truth about why.

Chapter twelve

Drake

“When were you going to tell me about Demassi?” I ask over the loud thumping sounds of Shado hitting the worn and tattered punching bag. He has been nervously pacing all day, so I threw my old gloves at him to let him blow off some steam.

The thumping stops and I can hear the deep heaves of his breaths as he hangs onto the bag dangling from the support beam.

“I didn’t think you needed to know,” he chokes out through ragged breaths.

“What happened to going into battle with people we trust?” I say as I get our guns ready for tonight.

With one last punch to the bag, he grunts, “I’m the enemy's son, or did you forget that?”

“Did you forget my father spearheaded the first attack? We all have fucked up pasts, Shado. It’s how we choose to move on from that, that makes us who we are.”

He looks at me. “When are you going to tell CiCi about your dad? Don’t you think she deserves to know who she’s in bed with?”

“I’m not him.”

“Exactly, so why aren’t you telling her? You almost flipped the computer desk over last night when she questioned you.”

“My father killed her parents, Shado. I am terrified she won’t see me, but the man who killed her parents, or worse, the man who couldn’t stop him in time.” Looking down at the ground, I exhale. “The failure who's been chasing vengeance for the last thirteen years.”

He lets go of the bag, unwrapping his hands as he approaches me.

“You’re not a failure, man. You’ve saved this city more times than I can count. She will see that if she truly is the one for you.” He holds his hand out to me. “I’m glad to call you a friend.”

Returning his grasp, we shake hands. As he walks away from me, I can feel a weight lift from my shoulders. I’m no longer in this fight alone.

I need to be the one to tell CiCi the truth before someone else does.

***

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