Page 84 of Defiled Innocence

Dmitri

“Did you hear what I said?” Nikolai raps his knuckles against my desk. “Dmitri.”

I move my gaze from my phone, and the unread messages I’ve sent Amelia this afternoon, to my cousin.

“I did.”

“And?” he urges with a tip of his head.

“I’ve already asked Kost to take care of it.” I wave my hand as though I can push away the thickness of the air.

It’s been a week since Amelia’s world crumbled around her. An entire week since she’s locked herself away from me.

“Oh.” Nikolai sits back in his chair. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“You seemed like you needed to vent.” I slide my phone onto my desk. Boris is with her today. If anything happens, he’ll let me know.

“Do you think he was really acting on his own? I’m not sure I buy the jealous lover act,” Arman pipes from the window where he’s looking down at the street below.

“I don’t either,” I agree. “But my shipments are moving again.”

“Have you lost your taste for revenge, cousin?” Nikolai tilts his head with concern.

“Well, that answers our question.” Arman lets out a little laugh.

“Answers what?” Did I miss part of the conversation?

My thoughts keep wandering to my wife. To the pain in her eyes and voice when she found those reports her brother left in his belongings.

He’d wanted to protect her from all of it, yet he kept the evidence in order to be able to use it against his father if needed. Lucas didn’t expect to die before he destroyed the files, but he should have been more careful.

Damn him for not thinking to destroy it all after his bastard father died.

“If you were capable of loving your wife.” Nikolai hooks his ankle over the opposite knee. “The answer is yes.”

“What are you talking about?” I push the phone away from me and lean back in my chair.

As though the extra inches can somehow push her from my mind.

It’s all I’ve been able to think about. And the more consumed I’ve become, the more distant she’s made herself.

“You love her,” Arman says simply with a shrug. “It’s easier to just admit it and go grovel for forgiveness than whatever this mess you’re doing now.”

Grovel?

Dragunov men do not grovel.

But for Amelia? My knees would hit the ground faster than she could blink if she asked.

“Charlotte said Lia has buried herself so deep into work, it makesherlook lazy,” Nikolai adds his two cents.

Charlotte, Anya, and Sarah have all taken turns blocking me from my wife. On the nights I’ve been home while she was still awake, one of them has been there having dinner with her or they’ve been holed up in the TV room watching movies.

But most nights, I find my wife already asleep in bed. It’s a fake sleep, but I made the decision to give her the space she needs so I’ve let her get away with it.

“She’s planning a summer carnival for the center on top of all her usual work. She’s been busy,” I allow with a shrug.

“Hmm, and it’s not that she’s been hiding from you?” Arman presses.

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