Page 43 of Psychological War

“I’m trying to enjoy a nice meal that your wife made,what are you doing here?” God, the balls on my fucking woman.

My woman.

It shouldn’t have sounded so good, but it did. I enjoyed the feeling and the sound of her being mine. Even if it was just inside my head right now.

Looking over at Dimitri, the great thing about knowing someone for almost half your life, you learn what they tell you. And Dimitri was about to throw that knife at her, not giving a damn that his son sat next to her. Not knowing that she could easily move before it even got to her.

“Salem, don't provoke him,” I warned. Salem glared at me, and something besides anger crossed her face. She looked hurt. Hurt that I was telling her to stop. But I had to. If she provoked him enough, he would attack. And I couldn’t let him hurt her. I would actually hurt my best friend for her. Not kill him, but definitely hurt him.

“This is my house. I suggest you don’t piss me off much more.”

“Or what?”

This fucking woman.It was like she was trying to actually do harm. This was not the way this was supposed to go down. They were supposed to meet, and it was going to be awkward. But from the looks of it everything was about to end up bloody.

I couldn’t control Salem. But I knew Mila could control Dimitri.

“You’re playing a dangerous game,” he growled. Mila looked over at me, and I gave her a nod toward Dimitri. I just hoped she understood what I meant.

“Dimitri, stop,” Mila whispered, her hand reaching for his. Immediately his eyes softened as he looked down at his wife. “Let’s just finish dinner, please.”

Thank fuck.

Just as quickly as everything was turning to a damn fire, everyone went back to their meals. Tobias talked quietly with Mila and Dimitri while he just stared at Salem. Killian kept texting on his phone. And Salem just kept her gaze down at her plate, eating a small amount. The tension in the house could be cut with a fucking knife. It was suffocating. Shoveling food into my mouth, I finished before anyone and sat back in my chair. I was looking like a creep staring at Salem, but she was a mystery that refused to let anyone in.

After what seemed like forever Mila finally hurried Tobias upstairs for bed while the rest of us sat staring at each other awkwardly. I didn’t know who was about to speak or if anyone was but the moment Dimitri’s phone began to ring, I knew this was the moment everything was about to go to shit.

“It’s Luca.” He scowled at Salem. She looked like she was ready to claw his eyes out, but she had no idea Luca was really calling me. He knew it was me that saw Remo last. And it was her fault.

“Luca,” Dimitri answered.

“Yes, he’s here,” Dimitri answered. Switching it to speaker, I heard my name being called by Luca. I couldn’t stop myself from looking over at Salem who gripped the table so hard I’m surprised she hadn’t split the fucking table in half.

It made me really wonder what they had done to her. They had to be the reason behind her scars. It was the only thing that made sense, and that had rage coursing through my body. Rage that I so desperately wanted to take out on anything near me. I wanted to break the table, and stab everyone sitting here. I don’t know why the moment I heard his name everything seemed to have clicked. I knew he did something to her, and I would take a bullet in the head before I ever let him touch her again.

“Where’s Remo, Zane?” A stern voice broke me from my thoughts. I had no idea who Luca was demanding of me like that. But I could see both Dimitri and Salem glaring at the phone. Dimitri most likely because he didn’t like others trying to take authority over him or the two of them. Salem, I had no idea besides the fact I had a feeling she got hurt by him. But the way she was glaring at the phone said it was more than the rage she was feeling. She was feeling protective of me. It shouldn’t have warmed my heart the way it did, but I felt the cold thing in my chest warming to her.

Dimitri shook his head at me, warning me not to speak.

“Why do you think we have anything to do with whatever is going on?” he asked. Thankfully, no matter if I did actually kill Remo or not. Dimitri would always have my back.

“I don’t like to play games,” Luca snapped, before saying something in Italian. Once again I was kicking myself for not learning anything besides Russian and wanting to kick the shit out of Dimitri for not knowing it either. How could the Pakhan not fucking know anything but Russian and English?

“Neither do I, so again I have no idea what you’re talking about.” Dimitri pretended to act bored, when in reality he was ready to murder me for getting them involved in this shit.

“We both know he was there when Remo was at that girl's house. But now I can’t seem to get a hold of him. Zane, did you happen to forget that you left one of my men alive that was able to report everything back to me?” He switched to some Italian. I needed a god damn translator.

Looking over at Killian he was oddly quiet, so I paid him no attention. Salem was burning with anger and I was surprised she hadn’t started screaming, stabbing, or done anything at this point.

“Just because he was there does not mean he knows where Remo is. And since I have you on the phone, I have to inform you that we’ve had no luck finding who this ghost person is.” Dimitri just had to throw gasoline on this already shit show fire.

“Well that is very unfortunate.” Luca once again began speaking Italian. I was getting ready to pull my phone out to get Google translate up. Everything happened too fast. One moment Salem was sitting there on the edge of her seat then the next she grabbed hold of the butter knife next to her plate and threw it at Dimitri. But instead of hitting him it was now lodged into someone none of us noticed behind him.

All hell broke loose. Four men ran in drawing their M16s taking aim at us. I don’t even know when Salem had time to grab the amount of knives she had. But just as quickly as they took aim at us, Salem threw four knives, all of them embedding them in the throat. If we weren’t in the middle of being attacked, I might have tossed her over my shoulder and fucked her.

“There are five more men outside, and three are heading upstairs,” Salem said getting up from the table and running into the kitchen. I don’t know why none of us moved, I think from the pure shock of a few things. Salem just basically saved Dimitri, and from the sounds of it she understood Italian.

“Killian, get the keys for the SUV,” Dimitri ordered.

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