Page 145 of Bratva Butcher

Sergei had been so confident that I would do as he ordered that he had one of his goons slip an updated contract into my mailbox. One with Dimitri’s details on it instead of Dominik’s.

It had been a little unnerving to know that Sergei knew where I lived. It put the whole, “You’re not match for the power of the Bratva” schtick into perspective. No one had ever found out the location of my home before.

I saw the whole thing for exactly what it was.

A threat.

That if I didn’t do what he wanted, there wasn’t anywhere on Earth that I could run where he couldn’t find me.

Unfortunately for him, I didn’t get intimidated easily.

The deadline for his ultimatum had passed, and since he hadn’t heard from me, he would know what that meant. That I had no intention of doing what he wanted. Which meant an open contract would have been put on me almost instantly.

I needed to go to ground. Hide out for a few weeks until I could come up with some sort of plan to deal with Sergei.

But first, I had to warn Dimitri. Tell him what his father was up to. I’d tried to the last time I saw him, but he ran before I even got the chance to say anything. Sergei most likely hired someone else the moment he realised I wasn’t going to kill his son. That meant Dimitri was in danger, and that thought caused worry to gnaw at my gut.

“Got it.” The guard hung up the phone. “You’ve been granted entry.” He pushed a button on the table, and the double gates swung open. “Stick to the indicated path, and it will lead you straight to the house. Have a nice day.”

“You too.”

Taking a deep breath, I made my way up the long, winding driveway, my booted feet crunching under the gravel.

I’d deliberately chosen not to drive my car through, instead deciding to park in front of the gates because I needed the walkup to prepare myself. On top of telling Dimitri about his father, I also wanted to talk about us. More specifically, what was happening between us, because there was no denying the fact that therewassomething happening. Not anymore.

He had tracked me down and came for me all because he thought I was in danger.

If that didn’t scream, “I care about you”, I didn’t know what did.

I was just about to step onto the first stair leading up to the front porch when all of a sudden, the double doors swung open violently, smacking so hard against the side of the house that the two soldiers standing guard jumped.

Dimitri stood in the doorway, waves of fury pouring off him.

And it was all directed atme.

The smile on my face dropped instantly.

“What the fuckare you doing here?” he snarled.

I took an involuntary step back at the harshness of his tone. Sure, there’d been plenty of times where he’d spoken to me out of anger, but none of them compared to that moment.

Well, maybe one, but that would have been back when we first met.

“I—”

“You think because we fucked a few times, that gives you the right to just show up at my house unannounced like this? In the middle of the day? In front of mychildren?”

Said children, Aleksandr and Lukyan, were standing just behind him, apologetic looks on their faces like they knew why he was acting that way and were incredibly sorry for it.

“I—uh.” For the first time in my life, I was completely and utterly speechless. My heart hurt at his words, a horrible, crippling feeling working its way through my entire body. I shook my head, trying to get myself under control. “I don’t, um, understand—”

“No, you don’t,” he spat, looking me up and down with derision. “You don’t understand. So, let me spell it out for you.” He stepped out onto the porch, and I found myself doing something else I’d never done before: retreating. “We’re not together. We’re notboyfriend and girlfriend. We’re not going to ride off into the sunset together and live happily ever after. We’re nothing. You hear me?Nothing.”

My gut twisted. Pain stabbed me in the heart and I sucked in a harsh breath.Why is he saying these things to me? Why is he talking to me this way? Like he…hates me.And I didn’t mean the fun kind of hate, driven by passion and lust. I meant real hate. Like the idea of anything remotely happening between us was repulsive to him.

I licked my dry lips, my gaze flicking from Dimitri to Aleksandr and then to Lukyan. “Has something happened?” It was the only explanation I could think of for his behaviour. When things got too real for him, he retreated. Pushed me away. Was that what was happening here?

Dimitri shook his head, anger pulsing on his face. “You just don’t get it, do you? Howstupidare you?”

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