Page 18 of Cruel Honor

We glare at each other until Katya’s shoulders slump. “Fine. Just save her.”

I motion to a few of my guards. “Make sure she gets home ok.” I start heading for the front door until Abram steps into my path.

“We’re not done here, Dimitri.”

I push him out of the way. “You declared war on me, Abram. I think we’re done here.”

“Wait!” A woman calls out. A woman with a raspy voice. Irina. She jogs over to me in her heels, which is an impressive sight. “You’re just going to leave? The only reason we’re all here is to see you.”

“Well, you saw me.”

“Do I have a chance?”

I hesitate. Irina is fucking hot. God, it’s a struggle to not go take her to a back room and fuck the daylights out of her. But Katya is glaring at me, and I know I need to go do the right thing.

“I just have to go,” I mumble, leaving the club and all the women in it behind.

The drive to Dima’s house isn’t long, but knowing that he’s probably in the act of killing Evie makes the entire drive feel like multiple hours.

I know Dima likes to kill women. It’s his pastime. Is it barbaric? Yes. Do I agree with it? Fuck no. I’m a lover, not a fighter. But Dima never bothered me before so I never bothered to take him out. He works for the Bratva doing odd jobs for me and a few other men here and there. It’s how he makes his money. He’s good at it, so I never even thought about killing him.

Now, I’m going to have to get my hands bloody. And in my nice suit, too.

All for a girl I don’t care about.

Well, maybe I do care … slightly. Evie is cute and not afraid of me. A lot of women know who I am. That doesn’t stop them from fucking me, but I know that most of them do it because they want me for my power, good looks, and money.

But Evie didn’t speak to me a flattering way. She spoke to me like a woman who didn’t give one rat’s ass about who I was.

It was honestly refreshing.

She doesn’t deserve to die just because I’m some selfish asshole. Katya doesn’t deserve to lose her friend either.

I reach Dima’s house and walk right up to the door. Sure, I could bust it down, but it’s a lot more fun to ring the doorbell. I’m trying to be a gentleman here and do the right thing.

I hear footsteps approach the door and then it cracks open. One of Dima’s creepy little eyes peers out at me.

“Dimitri? What are you doing here?”

“Looking for you, actually. It seems that you’ve taken something that doesn’t belong to you.”

He scoffs. “What? No!”

I sigh and push the door open. He tries to fight it, but he doesn’t win. I’m just too strong, a point I like to make. “I know you kidnapped another girl, Dima. Now, I’ve let it slide in the past because, frankly, it was just easier. I don’t want the police snooping around when it comesto you. As a Bratva man, if you’re in danger, then you put all of us in danger.”

“So, that’s why you’re here? To make sure the police don’t find me?”

“No, you dumbass. I’m here because you stole Evie, and she doesn’t belong to you.”

“Evie,” he says in a breathless tone. I hate the way he says her name. A surge of possessiveness fills me. It’s a feeling I’ve never felt before.

“Listen, do you have her in your creepy little basement or not?”

His eyes flick away from me and then back. “Not.”

“You’re such a fucking liar, Dima.” I shove the door open wider and step inside. And then promptly gag. “God, it fucking reeks in here. Dima, you really need to think about hiring a housekeeper. I have one, and she does wonderful work around the house.”

“I’ll get right on that.” He scratches his balls through his pants.