Page 44 of Kiss of Blood and Sin

“You can’t fire me. Only Angelo can.” His voice grated on my nerves like fingernails dragging down a chalkboard.

I glanced around the room. “Is he here?” My flippant tone seemed to turn his cheeks five shades of red.

He gritted his teeth; the sound audible over the ambient noise. “No. But I’ve got him on the phone.” He shoved the phone into my hand, the force of it almost making me stumble.

I glared at him, my blood burning with defiance, as I put the phone to my ear. “Hello,” I answered innocently, my voice coming out steadier than I had imagined.

“What the hell are you doing?” Angelo’s low voice was like a foghorn in my ear, making me wince and pull the phone away slightly.

I took a deep breath, steeling myself for the brewing hurricane. “If Petar told you, then you already know,Angelo. Dimitri Dragan is my mate and now my bodyguard.”

“Over my dead body,” he emphasized each word as if he was banging on a bass drum, each syllable reverberating through me.

My pulse quickened, but I refused to back down. Dimitri was worth fighting for. “Angelo if you try and kill or even hurt Dimitri, you’ll never see me again. I’ll run away with him.”

“The wolves will hunt you down and kill you. Or have you forgotten they have a contract out on you?” His words nearly stopped my heart, a cold sweat breaking out on my forehead, but I was done with being intimidated. “Then I’ll die, Angelo.”

“He can’t protect you.”

This time I burst out laughing, the sound bordering on hysterical. “And you believe his father can? They’re cut from the same cloth, Angelo. If you believe that Petar can, then you know his son can.”

“Petar has demonstrated loyalty. Dimitri has not.”

“He’s loyal to me, Angelo. And he’s loyal to his brother. He’d do anything to protect his brother just like you’d do anything to protect me. Has Petar demonstrated that?”

I met Petar’s glowering eyes as a surge of adrenaline coursed through my veins. If he thought he could win this battle, he was wrong. I knew my brother better than anyone and knew exactly what heartstrings to pull.

“You’re cutting your vacation short, Gianna. I expect all three of you tomorrow. Don’t disappoint me.” With that, hehung up the phone and the line went dead. The silence was like a physical presence, pressing in on me from all sides. My breath caught in my throat. In my heart, I knew he had just challenged Dimitri to a duel. A duel he couldn’t lose, or once again, I’d lose another lover to Angelo’s secret room. The thought made my knees weak, and I had to fight to keep standing.

Chapter Twenty-Five

Dimitri

Gianna’s face paled as she handed the phone back to Petar, her fingers trembling. She cast me a nervous look, tears welling in her emerald eyes. Anger surged through me, hot and fierce, turning my blood into liquid fire.

I plowed across the room, my jaw clenched tight enough to crack teeth. Bodies bounced off me like pinballs as I moved.

“Hey!” someone yelped on the dance floor.

“Watch it,” her partner growled.

I barely registered their complaints, my focus laser sharp on one target.

Petar had barely slipped his phone into his back pocket when I grabbed his wrist, my fingers digging in hardenough to leave marks. “What did you do, Dad?” I drawled, the word dad dripping with enough venom to kill a small country.

Gianna’s hand on my arm was like ice against my burning skin. “Dimitri, let go of him. You don’t want to get in deeper.”

I released Petar’s arm, but kept my eyes locked on him. “What do you mean deeper?”

“He told Angelo about us,” Gianna sighed, her voice barely above a whisper.

I chuckled, the sound hollow even to my own ears, as I fought to suppress the chill racing down my spine. “Let me guess. He’s not going to roll out the welcome wagon.”

“No,” she confirmed. “He’s ordered us home tomorrow.”

“So he can put us through the Spanish Inquisition?” I quipped, arching an eyebrow.

“Something like that.” Gianna’s eyes met mine, pleading. “You’ll come, won’t you?”

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