Page 48 of Kidnapped Bratva Virgin

“Sorry?” Ava wipes her tears. “There’s a lot of that being thrown around this morning. She just replayed everything again. I never want to see her face. Ever.”

“Or mine I’m guessing,” I mumble, humbled by my mistake. I never get it wrong, but this time I did, in a big way.

Chapter Twenty-Seven – Ava

After the long ride home and after Ethan being put to bed, I’m face-to-face with Dimitri, the real and whole truth on the table. His arrogance is gone, left with a shell. Shame and guilt hang in the air as if they’re old friends to one another as I sit and wait to hear what Dimitri has to say. I don’t know how long he was standing there with Cindy, but it’s obvious it was long enough to pick up the gist of the conversation.

I can’t stand the awkward silence, wanting to get the conversation out of the way as quickly as possible so I can sleep. The interaction left me weary down to my bones. Dimitri must have felt bad enough to send Cara away, because I haven’t seen her today.

Good. There’s not much I can take. Numb on the inside, I start. “Dimitri, I’m not sure how long you were standing there, but I want to tell you that years ago, I told you the truth. All of it. When you got back that day, I planned to tell you about Ethan.”

There’s no emotion in my voice. No. I don’t have anything left in the tank to fight. All I want to do is be with my son, that’s all. Because he’s the only light in my life left. Everything else is bleak and full of complications and darkness.

A confused frown covers Dimitri’s face as he leans forward perched near the end of the couch. His head’s lowered, but it’s shaking now. “How?” Dimitri blurts out bluntly without warning, the word confusing me.

“How? I don’t understand what you mean.” Sadly, I cross my arms in front of myself, not wanting to get too close to him again. I can’t. Loving Dimitri hurts.

Dimitri’s face turns upwards to look at me. “How are you okay with this after everything I’ve put you through? I tookRaven’s Peak from you, and you fought for that….” He trails off as the tears I thought I was done with blow up in my face like a volcano.

“I don’t know,” I whisper.

“Fuck. Cara. Ethan. Shit. My mother. I should have known. All this time. She didn’t say a word.” Sheer relief floods through my body, but so does the pain of the years gone past and what I had to endure. I cry, full blown cry, letting it all go in front of him.

Dimitri pats the seat beside him, but I shake my head. I don’t want to be near the man who crushed my heart and trampled on it ten times over, but I’m lying to myself. I want to bury myself in his arms again and be like we were.

“Ava. I fucked up. I have to find out what drug she used. How much my mother paid her off.”

“What’s the point of that, Dimitri? It’s old news and she won’t care. She told me at the party,” I confess, the missing pieces of the story gluing together.

“Tell me, Ava. I want to know everything. Why didn’t you tell me about what she said to you?”

Baring my soul to him again is a risk, but I’ve got nothing to lose at this point. “She warned me that she would make me go away if I didn’t distance myself from you.” I don’t care about what I look like and I’m sure I look like a train wreck.

Dimitri does his best to wipe the tears from my waterlogged cheeks using the back of his thumb and it’s amazing how I can still feel the tremors under his touch. I’ve craved his hands on me for too long, but it’s dangerous to love a man who never trusts.

“Ekaterina is a special breed, and she’s pushed me to the top of my game. Driving me, but over the years, I’ve seen that it’sbeen for her gain,” Dimitri explains reflectively. “I didn’t believe it was about her until Cara.”

Sniffling, I leave my compassion out of it, I’ve felt sorry enough over Dimitri’s upbringing for too long, and it’s what led me down this dark tunnel and into the bowels of his world in the first place. “What about Cara?”

Dimitri’s forlorn eyes don’t hold the same ice in them anymore. They’ve melted into sorrow as I stare back at a man who’s built his empire on bending others to his will and games of strategy. But he’s more than that to me. I broke through the ice, discovering the real Dimitri beneath the surface.

“Cara.” Dimitri cups my face in his hands, rubbing it. “She’s not you, and never will be. My mother coerced me into being with her. Her father’s a Russian billionaire, and—”

I interrupt filling in the blanks as Dimitri keeps talking. “It would be a good business move.” Alarm filters through his eyes as he begins to see how predictable his world is. Money, business, greed, wash, rinse, repeat.

“Yes. A good business move.”

“How’s that working out?” I sigh, my heart heavy, and the emotions I’ve driven down to the ground, forcing their way up and out.

Dimitri closes his eyes, his dirty blond hair lighter these days from the change of season. “It’s bad. But I guess you picked that up already. I don’t love her and never will,” he replies flatly. “She’s got nothing on you, Ava. I swear.” He shakes his head, the break in his voice sending me into a breakdown as I sob.

“You don’t know what I’ve been through these years, Dimitri. You really don’t,” I explain as Dimitri leaves the couch for a moment coming back with tissues, but I don’t give a damn what I look like anymore. It doesn’t matter.

“That’s why I asked how,” he replies, his voice all tangled up like mine. Dimitri reaches for my hand, the warmth of his perfect on my skin. “Ava… is forgiveness even possible?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say to that, Dimitri. I can’t make that type of decision right now.” Taking the tissue, I dab my sore eyes, but the tears offer no respite, turbulent emotions running through me as my shoulders sag.

Dimitri looks on expectantly, but I don’t have anything to give but the truth. “I was so alone, Dimitri. I went back to my apartment and managed to sell enough of my things to buy a plane ticket to L.A.”

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