Page 163 of Bratva Butcher

I couldn’t allow that. I couldn’t give an inch because I knew there was every chance I just might forgive him. That was why it was so important that I made my flight.

I had to get away.

After double-checking my ticket, I went straight to my seat. I’d paid a little more to have the window seat and extra leg room. Once I found it, I stuffed my carry-on suitcase into the overhead compartment and sat down.

My handbag, I kept with me. It had all my essential items. My headphones, book, crossword puzzles and phone.

Even though we weren’t up in the air yet, looking outside the window gave me a little sense of peace, my body and mind calming down almost instantly.

Not much longer now, and I’ll be gone.

Half of me was glad at that, the other half… Not so much. There was still a part of me that wanted to stay in the hopes that things could be mended between me and Dimitri. But I refused to allow that. After what he said…things were fucking done between us. I wasn’t going to play his games anymore.

Footsteps reached my ears. I kept my gaze on the window, watching the other planes on the tarmac take flight, when someone sat down next to me. My body hummed withawareness. I didn’t even need to look to know who it was. There was only one person who could make my body react that way, and he was the last person I wanted to see.

Slowly, I turned my head to the left. Dimitri-Dickhead-Volkov sat there, looking as dashing as he always fucking did. The jerk. A dark, three-piece suit was moulded to his hard, muscular frame, his salt and pepper hair perfectly styled, and his scent?

Fuck me.

Dark, rich and utterly tantalising. My insides burnt with excitement just at the sight of him. Then came the pain. The anger. It squashed that initial hit of attraction almost entirely.

“Hello, Autumn.” His thick voice rolled over my skin like a soft caress.

Despite the fact that my heart pounded at having him right beside me, I looked at him with derision. My body and heart might have been happy to see him, but my mind was not.

“Usually, when someone hangs up on you and blocks your number—several numbers—it means they don’t want to talk to you,” I said coldly, refusing to allow myself to be happy in his presence.

His eyes traced over my face as if he was taking every single detail in, committing it to memory. “I missed you,” he admitted with no hesitation.

It took everything within me not to react.The cold and hard Bratva Butcher just admitted he missed me? Hell must have frozen over.

Had it been a week before, I would have been elated at the declaration. I would have smiled, cracked a joke and told him I missed him too.

But now… It just made me fucking angry.

Did he seriously think he could just show up like that, say he missed me and everything would be okay?

Unbelievable.

I looked around the empty plane, realising something. “You’re responsible for this, aren’t you?” I asked, waving a hand to all the empty seats

A crinkle formed at the line of his brows. He nodded.

Thought so.

I didn’t want to entertain him. Didn’t want to talk to him at all, if I was being honest.Lie.But something was driving me crazy, and I needed to know.

“How did you convince all these people not to show up for their flight?”

“Simple,” he shrugged. “I bought the airline and cancelled all their tickets.”

“Ooo, fancy pants rich McGee over here.” He frowned, not understanding the reference as I got to my feet, packing up my belongings with a huff. “Fuck you,” I spat, and then squeezed past him to move to the other side of the plane.

I should have known it wouldn’t be that easy, though. Dimitri Volkov wasn’t the type to give up.

This time, I chose the seat closest to the aisle in the hopes of deterring him from sitting down next to me. Nobody liked having to squeeze past someone to sit down.

Did it work?

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