Page 43 of Cruel Promise

“Are you actually worried about that?”

He pauses, then smiles. “Nope. Not one bit. If Nikolai is keeping you hostage, I’d gladly help you out. Come on.”

Edmund opens the front door for Dimitri … and I follow.

“Ava?” Edmund asks. “What are you doing?”

“She’s coming with me,” Dimitri says. “I wouldn’t try to stop me.” He opens his jacket and reveals a gun in the inside pocket. Edmund goes white.

Dimitri nods at me. “Come along.”

Edmund and I share a look. Am I doing the right thing? Nikolai will be upset that I’m running again, but then, he also bought me, so I don’t think he gets to have an opinion on what I do.

Dimitri opens his car door for me, and I get inside. I spy two men running across the street toward us—Nikolai’s men. But Dimitri drives away before they can reach us.

At the last moment, Nikolai runs out of the house, and I see his expression. Fury … mixed with hurt.

“I can’t believe I just did that,” I say.

“The world is your oyster, Ava. Where do you want to go?”

“My apartment. In New Haven.”

Dimitri’s easygoing smile slips. “Yeah, I can take you there. But I need to stop at my club first. If you don’t mind.”

“Your club?”

“It’s a dance club. I own it.”

“Why do we need to stop there?” I can feel that similar sense of dread spilling into my stomach.

“Because I have a meeting with someone there. Discuss more business and all of that.”

“Can’t it wait?”

“You know, Ava, you asked me to help you, and I am. But I still have my own life, you know? I’ll take you to New Haven, but it’ll have to wait.”

“Right.” I settle back in my seat even though my body feels like stone. “Of course.” It was unfair of me to think Dimitri would drop everything to come help me. This will be fine. We’ll go to his club, and then he can take me to New Haven, where I’ll find my mom’s body and put her to rest. After that, I have no idea. One thing at a time.

“Why did you help me?” I ask.

“Because I thought it would be fun.”

Instantly, I’m on edge. When Rosemary helped me, she was doing it out of the goodness of her heart. But for Dimitri, it sounds like this is a game to him. Like my safety is a funny movie he can laugh at.

I’m not sure how safe I am, but I do know I can’t stay with Nikolai. I just can’t.

Dimitri parks on the sidewalk before a nightclub calledEden. A long line of men and women wait outside.

Dimitri doesn’t bother opening my door for me. He doesn’t even bother to wait for me as I hurry to catch him as he walks for the door. The bouncer out front unclips the velvet rope for Dimitri, and I just barely make it through behind him before the bouncer reclips the rope back into place.

“You were leaving me behind,” I say.

Dimitri glances back at me. “Was I?”

We enter the club.

The first thing I notice is just howloudit is. I can barely hear myself think. The music is blaring through the speakers, and a lowthump, thumpof bass travels through my body. Men and women are packed everywhere. I can barely walk through the crowd as I follow Dimitri.

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