Page 121 of Dmitri

To that point, I can’t tell if Dmitri really cares about me, or if he’s just like Kaleb, who feeds me breadcrumbs to keep me hooked. And the worst part is, I’m willing to die for this man, because that’s the endgame here.

“Please, Daelyn.” D’s voice is calm and soft. “Let me help.”

“No!” Fisting my hair, I pull it and scream. “I’m not dragging you down with me anymore than I already have. I’ll figure a way out on my own. I’ll lie and make up a bunch of shit about you and send him on a wild goose chase.”

“And how long will that last, Dae? Listen to yourself. That makes zero sense.”

“I’ll go to the cops and tell them what he’s done. I’ll snitch.”

“He’ll take you down with him.”

“I’ll string him along. Say that you’re evading me, and I need more time. Then you can leave for a while and—”

“Stop.” He grips my shoulders and stuffs his face into mine. “You can’t get out of this any more than I can. Any more than Addie can.”

I shake my head. “Addie’s not—”

“She is. You’re just too blind to see it, but she’s in it becauseyou’rein it. Everything you touch will reach her at some point.”

My mind goes to Ace. Dmitri’s right. I’ve already ruined Addie. If she’s not being groomed yet, she will be. Kaleb’s tooclever to let her go because she’s the only string he can pull to make me do his dirty work.

My stomach plummets. “I’ve ruined everything.”

“Give me his name.”

“He’ll kill you.” I grip Dmitri’s shoulders, sinking my nails into his flesh like if I can get my claws in him deep enough, I’ll keep him with me forever. “I can’t let him kill you.”

Tears spill down my cheeks because everything that’s been in my face all this time, I haven’t really seen. I allowed myself to be blinded with the hope that I can get us out of this nightmare unscathed.

“I’m so sorry,” I sob. “I never meant for this to happen. I was just supposed to be there when you won the fight. I was just supposed to fuck you.” My confessions blast out of me like cannon balls, each one landing with a blow that destroys more of my life. “He only wanted to know about you, he said. He just wanted to find things out about you.”

“What kinds of things?”

“I don’t even know! He never said specifics.” I swipe my tears, panicked. “ButeverythingI say is used as ammo. He’s smart, Dmitri. He calculates everything and is always two steps ahead. He knew you would be at the fight. Who could have told him about that?”

Dmitri frowns. “Lots of people, I suppose. It’s not a secret that I’m a cage fighter. And I’d put my name on the board weeks in advance to draw a crowd and make more money.”

I clutch him harder. If Kaleb can drag intel out of simple actions, maybe Dmitri can, too. “He asked me a bunch of questions about what we did after the fight. He wanted to know if you tied me up, made me come.” I reevaluate the entire conversation I had with Kaleb that day and tell Dmitri what Kaleb deduced from it: That D has a conscience. That he’s not selfish. That he’s gentle even during brutality.

“Did he say why he’s after me?”

“He said you killed his father.”

Dmitri swipes a hand down his mouth. “That’s why you asked if I ever murdered someone that day at breakfast.”

I nod. “Did you lie to me?”

D meets my gaze and slowly shakes his head.

If Dmitri didn’t lie to me…

Then Kaleb did.

“No.” I can’t feel my legs. “No, no. He doesn’t lie to me, Dmitri. He’sneverlied to me.” I slip past him so I can pace back and forth. “This doesn’t make sense.”

“You would believe him over me?”

I stop and toss my hands up. “I don’tknowyou!”

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