Page 6 of Dmitri

“Well, I will show you around after we get to the bottom of who tried to take you. I don’t want them to make another attempt.” The thought of the situation causes me to stab my knife into the table. Since we first came home, Mikhail and I have been researching her kidnapping, as well as digging into her background to see if there’s anything there.

“You saved me, didn’t you?” she sobs, pressing her hands in her face as if something’s wrong with me saving her. I feel like I’m missing something.

I cradle her face, cupping her cheeks. “Yes, and I’d do it a thousand times over. What’s wrong with that?”

“What’s wrong? If you hadn’t been watching, and had come after me… I would…” I pressed my hand to her lips. I don’t want her to utter those words because it didn’t happen and I’m grateful for it.

“Enough. I watched you for minutes, thinking about how I’d love to slit that gelato bastard’s throat for flirting with you. When you looked up at me, I knew at that very moment that you were meant to be mine. There isn’t a damn soul that can take you away from me.” I laid all my cards on the table and I’m sure she thinks I’m as nuts as I feel, but it doesn’t change anything for me.

“We don’t know each other,” she insists, eyes filled with turmoil and beautifully parted lips. Even with a tearstained face, my little Cora is breathtaking.

“We will. Now, eat.” I tug her plate in front of us, stab the salad with my fork, and then bring it to her lips. She opens it without a fight and chews, satisfying me. I set down the fork and let her chew before I continue our conversation.

“Thank you,” she whispers.

“It’s just a bite of salad.”

“No. For saving me,” she says, gently placing a kiss on my cheek. The last bit of control I was hanging onto evaporates. My mouth is on hers, kissing her hard and giving no fucks about dinner. Her small hands clench onto my shirt, holding on as I drag my lips over her cheek and down her jaw, watching out for the spot where the bastard hurt her.

A cough interrupts us. “Sorry, Dmitri, but we have a situation.” Mikhail is standing at the dining room doorway.

“Please sit and eat. I’ll be right back.” I sit Cora on the chair and kiss her forehead before leaving the room.

Looking at Mikhail like it fucking better be important, he nods and says, “Let’s go into your office so we can talk.”

Even though I don’t want to leave Cora alone, we take a short walk to my personal office, He goes in first, and then I close the door behind us. “What’s going on?” I questioned, pacing in front of my desk.

His face etched with concern, Mikhail says, “Her stepfather has a huge life insurance policy out on her.”

I stop in my tracks and stare at my brother in arms, contemplating the idea. I rub my chin, thinking about that revelation. Many people have life insurance policies on their family, but it’s obviously concerning Mikhail, and he’s not the jumpy type. “And you think he was hoping she’d die instead of being abducted?”

He takes a seat on my leather sofa, leaning forward with his elbows on his knees. “There’s more. He’s broke, like, completely upside down and about to be out on his ass.”

“And yet he’s still paying on the policy. How much is it for?”

“One million dollars.”

I grip the back of my chair, squeezing to the point that I hear it crack somewhere under the leather. “What the hell? Who would insure her for that at her age?”

“That’s the thing. He got the policy when her mother died, and the same policy for him with Cora as the beneficiary. Then two months later he upped the policies.”

“Yeah, so he can look innocent should anything happen to her. I want you to look into his phone and internet records. It can’t be a coincidence that she gets randomly abducted in broad daylight and her father is on his last legs financially.”

“Will do. I sent you the email with the records I was able to pull, but I hadn’t read through it all. Are you going to tell her about this?”

“No, but I do have some questions for her.” I adjust my cuffs on my dress shirt. “Thanks for getting that information quickly.” I sit down behind my desk, pull my cell from my pocket, and then open up my laptop. “I need to do some digging. Do you have any leads on who took her?”

“None yet, but I was able to get our connection to pull their tags from the cameras before they entered the alleyway.”

“Good, it will be easier to find out who he hired, if he did hire someone.”

My cellular rings on my desk and I don’t recognize the number, but I still answer it. I don’t even speak before a voice I’m familiar with says, “Hello, Volkov. It seems you have something of mine.” Fucking Maurizio Romano. He’s the head of the Greco Crime Family and a real ass. He reminds me of me when I did business back in Russia, but that’s not my life anymore. Normally, I wouldn’t have a problem with the guy, but he touched what’s mine.

“Maurizio, it seems we have a miscommunication because I have nothing that belongs to you,” I responded as the tension filled my bones.

“No, it seems we have a delivery issue. You’ve taken what’s mine, and she’s supposed to be in my possession.” Now, I have definitive proof about who tried to abduct Cora.

“It seems we have a problem, Romano, because she’s my fiancée and I’m not giving her up for anything.”

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