Page 96 of Dmitri

“I’ll protect you as much as I can.” My whispered promise makes my confidence shift. I mean what I say. Here’s hoping I can deliver with action.

“I don’t need you to protect me, Daelyn. Just give me his name and I’ll handle it on my own.”

“I told you, it’s not that simple.”

“Life and death are always that simple. You either live, or you die.”

Imagining Kaleb dead rips me in half. His dying would solve all my problems, but I can’t imagine my life without him. I don’t want this to get that far.

Is this what Stockholm syndrome is like? Because Kaleb might not have kidnapped me, but he sure as shit keeps me locked away for his own devices and I depend on him. Lean on him. Use him as a brace and safety net when I’m struggling.

It’s got to stop. I can’t go on living a life where the most toxic, dangerous, deranged man on the street is somehow, in my warped brain, the hidden hero who just happens to do very bad things and has a temper that’s landed me in the hospital more than once.

I don’t want to find the bigger, badder monster to save me. I want to save myself, and that starts with fighting back.

“Tell me his name,” Dmitri begs again. “Don’t protect him.”

My silence is answer enough. I will not give him Kaleb’s name.

I’m still trying to figure out why Kaleb hasn’t just gone after Dmitri himself. If he wants to ruin his life, fuck him over in every way possible, he’s got the means to do it. Why send me instead? It makes no sense.

“I can’t give you his name,” I say again. “And I completely understand if you tell me no.” My hope of learning from a skilled fighter starts to vanish like fog in the morning sun. “It’s shitty of me to even ask, considering why I’m... why I was sent to you to begin with. You need to leave and never come back here, Dmitri.”

He flinches at my words like they hurt to hear. “Firefly, I’m not leaving without you.” He rests his hand on my leg. “We’re in this together now. Understand me?”

Too many emotions hit me at once. Relief, fear, guilt, anger, sadness.

“Please understand…” I say with a trembling voice, “I’m not doing this for me. If that was the case, I’d just let him kill me and be done with it. But there’s someone in my life that Icannotlet him touch. And that means I’ll do anything to get us out of the hole I’m in with him.”

Dmitri’s face softens even more. “Who?”

I can at least give him this much. “Addie. She’s like a sister to me. There’s nothing I will not do for her.”

“She’s the one who lives here with you?”

I nod. “I’ve been doing all I can to get out of this position, and you were supposed to be my last job.” A choking sob bubbles out of me because I’m a horrible person to have done this and I’m furious I let Kaleb use my weaknesses to get me to this point.

“Okay,” Dmitri says stiffly. Then he takes my hand and runs his thumb over the burn scar on my wrist as if he’s silently letting me know he’s putting two and two together. “I’ll help you get your power back.”

Chapter 27

Dmitri

Without having years to train Daelyn, I can’t teach her to fight like I do, but a few good defense moves will at least buy her time until I can deliver the final blow.

Which is exactly what I plan to do.

You need to leave and never come back here, she’d said. Like that’s going to fucking happen? I can’t walk away from this woman. I couldn’t before, and I damn sure won’t after today. “Pack a bag.”

“What?”

“You’re going to stay with me. Addie is, too.”

Daelyn shakes her head. “No.”

“I’m not asking.”

It’s shitty to not give her a choice, but I refuse to let her deny what’s right and practical. She and Addie are in danger. I can protect them both on my turf. “Tell Addie to get packing.”

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