Page 138 of Cruel Honor

“I’m impressed,” Nik murmurs to me once the group has disbanded. “I’ve never heard you give a speech in your life before. Crazy Dimitri Ivanov, asking for peace. Who knew this day would come?”

“I didn’t. But then I met Evie. Damn, Nik, I’m not ashamed to say I’m whipped.”

“Loving your wife doesn’t make you whipped.”

“I never said I love her.”

A knowing glint enters Nik’s eye. “You didn’t have to.”

“All right,” Maxim grumbles. “Enough talk about love. Let’s talk about our future as business partners. I’ve been getting word of someone blowing up gun shipments. Gun shipments that belong to us.”

“Anton,” Nikolai growls. Anton was the man who gave Nik his scar. The one who almost succeeded at killing him, which is not an easy feat. Trust me. I know.

I tried to kill Nik once myself.

“It has to be Anton,” Nik continues. “Blowing up gun shipments are his MO. He hasn’t made himself known in a year, but I don’t doubt he’ll come back. He always fucking comes back.”

“Then we’ll deal with him when we need to,” I say. “But until then, I just want to return to my wife.”

It’s time I tell Evie I love her.

Chapter

Twenty

EVIE

Katya and I are in the middle of watching which girl Eric sends home on his two-on-one date when Dimitri barges into the room.

By the look on his face, I can tell he wants to get me alone, which I’m more than fine with.

“Katya …” I say.

She rolls her eyes. “Go. I’ll tell you what happens.”

I jump off the bed and practically run over to Dimitri. He wraps me into his arms.

“Get a room, you two,” Katya mutters.

“Well, technically, we are in a room,” I say.

“God, you sound like my brother now. Get out before I vomit.”

Both Dimitri and I laugh as we go into the other hotel room Dimitri booked for us.

The moment we’re alone, he takes my face in his hands and kisses me deeply. “I wanted to do that all night.”

“Did everything go well? WithAbram’s men?”

“For now. They might cause problems, but between Nik, Maxim, and me, we should be able to shut anything down.”

“So, everything is good? We’re finally at peace?”

“We’re finally at peace,” he says, drawing me in closer to him. “And there’s one thing I need to tell you, Evie. I’ve been wanting to say it for a while.”

My heart starts to beat faster in my chest. I can’t tell if this is going to be a good thing or a bad thing.

“I fucking love you.”

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