Page 48 of The Way You Hurt Me

And for some reason, although I'm no one to Dimitri, and she must know that, She hates me right back.

This is exhausting.

22

DIMITRI

I'm glad Palmer arrives shortly after Irina, as it gives me an excuse to bow out and find my wife.

She shouldn't even be here without having notified me of it before, though I don't tend to monitor her comings and goings closely.

Irina's in her office downstairs, in a meeting with Mishka and a couple of other captains.

"Out," I demand, and all leave, save for Mishka and Irina. When the door closes, I turn to the woman. "What thefuckwas that?"

She rolls her eyes. "Come on, Dima. You can't tell me you wouldn't have been curious in my shoes."

"Never, ever come close to Willow. This was one of the very few terms I made extremely clear when I signed on the dotted line. And you remember what I said would happen if you failed to heed that warning?"

She sighs."I didn't come here to catch you with your mistress like a jealous wife, Dima.I was here first. I told you two hours ago I'd pop by to refuel the jet before heading to London."

That's beside the point and she knows it."You knew she was in my lounge, and you walked in. When I say never, I mean it."

Irina sighs. "Fine. I was curious. I wanted to know what she was like. Pretty," she says, with a smirk.

I snap, going for the piece under my arm, and pointing it right at her.

Her red nails tap against the desk while she stares at me pointedly.

"Dima," Mishka says cautiously. "You need her. If she's gone, you have to handle the business hands-on."

My finger flirts with the trigger anyway. That's the problem. Irina knows that she has that power over me. She's fully aware of the fact that I want nothing to do with the drugs, the weapons, the turf wars; everything I let her control. And she believes that I care about being free of those responsibilities more than I care about Willow. Why wouldn't she? I care enough to have married her.

I shoot. Her eyes widen, but she has the sense to not move. A red line appears on her cheek as hair, cut right under her eyes, falls to the desk.

"This is your only warning. You threaten her again, you're dead."I turn to Mishka. "If she uses any of my houses, even for five minutes, I want a text from you. Understood?"

"Sorry, man. She wanted to see the pups."

I shake my head. "You bought that?"

"Because it's true," Irina says with a sigh, wiping the blood off her cheek with her handkerchief. "Not everything I do is about you, Dima. They have a black shepherd I wanted to see. She's gorgeous. If she can be tamed, I want her. I actually like dogs. Well, real dogs, not the rats you had brought to your place. Did they survive?"

"None of your business," I reply. "And stay the fuck away. If I see you before the next family meeting…"

"You know, if you have to threaten me more than once a day, we really ought to go to couple’s concealing."

"For that," I retort, heading back out, "we'd need to be a couple."

I take a moment to breathe once I'm out of her office. I should have checked with Mishka before bringing Willow here.

In truth, I don't have any reason to trust Irina. Trust her to take care of the business? Yes, absolutely. She'll do everything it takes to make it successful. But if there was any way she could keep her crown without me, she would. She's not foolish enough to think there's any way the brotherhood would follow her without my say so—sexism is still rampant in the business—so I'm safe enough from her. But she's the kind of woman built to want more. More control, more power, more importance.

She's number two. Knowing my weakness,threateningmy weakness, is a way to get what she wants from me. I know if given half a chance, she'd grab Willow, lock her away in a fortress I can't reach, and constantly threaten her in order to run things as she'd like.

If it were up to her, the "rats" would have drowned. If it were up to her, the girls and boys getting care downstairs would be on their way to another drug den where they could make her extra cash the quick way. If it were up to her, the business would be exactly what it used to be under my father, but for her benefit.

When she came to me with her proposal—marrying me, and ruling the business in my stead, following my principles—I had a choice. I could have attempted to conceal Willow's existence. Instead, I made her part of the contract. Not the one filed by the city hall. The one signed in blood, and witnessed before the brotherhood. It doesn't state any name, but she knows who Petal is.

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