Page 51 of Bloody Lace

I simply don’t want her to leave.

“Because my father isn’t about second chances,” I say calmly. “And I try to be.” That’s true, at least. “But there won’t be a third. I need you to understand this, Evelyn. Your actions are not only putting you in danger, they’re affecting others. Iwillstill have to punish the men who let you get past them in some way. It might not be violent, but there will have to be consequences all the same—probably financial ones. That’s your fault.”

Her chin tilts up, and I see the flash of defiance in her eyes. “Over one guy following me home? This is ridiculous, Dimitri?—”

Turning, I grab the small box that I brought home with me last night. It’s cold from the bagged ice inside, and I toss it in front of her. “Open it,” I tell her flatly, and she looks at me, confused. I see her gaze flick to the damp cardboard edges, andher eyes narrow, but I’m in no mood to play games with her any longer.

“Open it,” I repeat.

Slowly, her hand moves towards the box.

20

EVELYN

Dimitri is in a strange mood this morning. I can tell he’s still upset with me. I’m upset with him, too—I woke with my skin tender from the spanking yesterday and my hips sore, and I haven’t forgotten how he made me feel. I haven’t forgotten the fact that he hurt me. And I’m shocked to my core at the knowledge that he thinks it would be a reasonable reaction tokillmy bodyguard because I managed to slip past him.

It’s clear that this life, this world that I’ve been brought into, isn’t one that makes sense to me. I don’twantit to make sense. I don’t want to be dragged further into any of this. But the way Dimitri is talking, he makes it seem like it’s too late for me to walk away. As if, even if I were willing to give up on my shop, the danger is too great for me to leave this situation without walking into an even worse one.

“Open it,” he repeats, irritation coloring his tone, and I know why. Dimitri made it clear yesterday that he’s not a man who enjoys repeating himself, or having to tell someone to do something more than once.

Unfortunately for him, I’m not good at obeying orders.

I eye the box. It’s damp around the bottom, and something tells me I’m not going to like what’s inside it. But I reach out all the same, a perverse curiosity leading me to open the flaps and peer inside.

The moment I see what’s inside the small plastic baggie of melting ice, I shriek, dropping it back onto the desk and jumping back, my hand pressed to my rapidly beating heart.

Dimitri’s expression is unchanged.

“Dimitri.” I try to take a breath. “That’s a finger. Ahumanfinger.”

“It is.” He nods.

“What—” I swallow hard. “Why is it in a box? On your desk? And why did you make me…look at it?”

“That finger used to belong to the man who followed you through the park.” He shoves his hands into the pockets of his trousers, his expression still calm as ever. “The same man who confronted you during our wedding reception.”

I blink, trying to absorb that information. “And you…cut his finger off?”

“I cut a lot of parts of him off.” He says it as casually as if he’s explaining the weather report to me. “That was the only finger. But I took some nails off the others. A few teeth. Two inches off his tongue, for the lies he told me?—”

“Dimitri.” I feel like I can’t breathe. “You cannot be serious.”

“I am.” His gaze locks onto mine, and fear ripples through me. “He wanted to hurt you,l’vitsa. He wanted to make an example of you. His boss thought you were an easy mark, and he was proved wrong. Now you’re my wife, and they’ve chosen to take that as a challenge instead of a warning. So I’ve sent them one back—pieces of their messenger.”

My heart is racing in my chest. I’m suddenly terrified of my husband, terrified of who I’m finding out that he is—but there’ssomething else there, too. A feeling that I can’t help but think is wrong, but that’s there all the same.

I’ve never imagined anyone being willing to go to these sorts of lengths to defend me. And God help me—I like it.

“Why did you keep this piece?” I whisper, unsure if I want the answer, but unable to keep from asking it all the same.

“I wanted to show you.” He takes a step closer to me, that juniper scent wafting over me, mixed with the warmth of his skin. It was alluring before, but now it’s worse, reminding me of what it was like to have it all around me as he thrust into me yesterday, as he touched me, as he made me come. “I wanted to show you how serious this is, Evelyn.”

“Is that all?” My voice is a squeak as I say it, a poor attempt at a joke. Dimitri shakes his head.

“No. I also wanted to show you what lengths I’ll go to in order to protect you, Evelyn. What happens to someone who threatens you.”

The words jolt through me, and I stare at him, trying to comprehend what he’s saying. On the surface, the thought of someone cutting off fingers and slicing a person apart in order to teach them a lesson about threatening me is insane—but underneath that, the meaning of it makes something twist in my chest.

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