I throw my arms around his neck, clinging to him as my body quakes.
“Shh.” He strokes my hair. “You’re safe. I’ve got you.”
His words only make me sob harder as I bury my face in his neck.
He holds me for a moment, the sound of his breathing calming me down.
“Don’t leave me.” I clench my hands on his shirt.
“Never.” He pulls back and takes my face in his strong hands. “Are you okay?”
I nod.
“I’m going to take care of this, Zara.” He wipes away my tears with his thumbs. “He’s never going to touch you again.”
As I look into his brown eyes, I know that Dimitri will do whatever it takes to protect me.
“W-what are you g-going to do?” I can’t let go of his shirt, sinking my fingers into the soft material.
I don’t want him to leave me.
“You don’t need to worry about that.” He bends down to press a soft kiss to my forehead.
My eyelids flutter closed at the comforting touch.
He’s got me.
“Mikhail’s going to come and take you home.” Dimitri rests his forehead against mine.
“But…” I swallow the lump in my throat.
“I’ll be back before you know it.”
“Y-you promise?” I cling to him.
He bends down to press the softest kiss to my lips. “I promise.”
17
DIMITRI
“This was nothow I wanted to spend my evening.” I fold my arms across my chest as I glare at Giovanni.
Blood already coats his shirt from where he smashed into the glass desk top.
I was tempted to take a shard and run it across his neck, but Alexei would have had my balls if I killed the fucker out in the open like that.
Lucky for me, we own a warehouse in Chinatown specifically for occasions like this.
Blood already stains the concrete floor, and Giovanni eyes it warily.
Good. He should be fucking worried.
His wrists and ankles are tied to a chair with rope, his head hanging down as blood gushes from a wound on his temple from where I knocked him out with a paperweight.
I was getting tired of him, and I wanted my focus to be on Zara until Mikhail arrived, so I had to make sure he wasn’t going anywhere.
I would have taken Zara back to the penthouse myself, but I didn’t want Giovanni to leave my sight. I made her apromise that I would take care of him, so as much as it pained me to watch her leave with Mikhail, the thought of getting back to her gives me a reason to get this done quick.