Page 45 of Cruel Honor

Boris chuckles. “That’s diabolical.”

“No. That’s business.”

EVIE

“Do you have a first-aid kit?” I ask once we get back to the house.

“Why?”

“To fix up your hand. You don’t want it to get infected.”

“I’ll be fine. I’ve had worse scraps then this.”

“Dimitri. Come on. You need to clean the cuts at least.”

He sighs and motions for me to follow him into the nearest bathroom, where he grabs a first-aid kit from the counter. “Do you know what you’re doing?”

“I’m certified in first aid and CPR.”

His eyes are soft as he looks at me. “Of course, you are.”

I dab his knuckles with the alcohol swab then place an anti-bacterial cream on his skin. As I clean his knuckles, all I can see is the ring on my finger.

The ring that officially makes me Dimitri’s wife. This is a symbol of his claim he has over me.

“Do you make it a point of getting into fights all the time?” I ask.

“Yes and no. Only if the occasion calls for it.”

“And did this occasion call for it?”

“Evie.” The way he says my name warms me. “He was being an ass to you. Of course, the occasion called for it. I told you before; I’ll always protect you.”

As I look into Dimitri’s eyes, I know he speaks the truth.

And that’s scary because the way he’s looking at me right now makes me want to step into his arms and have him hold me. But I shouldn’t want Dimitri to hold me.

Within such a short amount of time, things have already become complicated.

Chapter

Seven

EVIE

Ican’t just sit around and do nothing while Dima is out killing more women and Abram is trying to hurt Dimitri and me.

But I’m just a librarian who’s spent my entire life stuck in books. I know I need to leave everything to Dimitri. This is his world.

But I just can’t stop thinking about what I could do to help make things better. I tell Katya this.

“Like what?” Katya asks as we lounge on the couch. Dimitri is gone, off doing who knows what. I’d rather not know honestly.

“I have no idea. I just can’t stay cooped up in this mansion all day.”

“Poor little rich girl.” She pouts then gives me a teasing grin. “I know. I get it. Like, I have everything. Money, good looks, but I can’t even use it because Dimitri doesn’t want me going anywhere. He literally has a tracker on my phone and car.”

“That’s horrible.”

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