Page 93 of Deadly Knight
“I’m sorry,” she murmurs.
“Don’t be.”
She slides off the desk and turns to face the monitor again—the reason we’ve come—but at this point, I no longer give two fucks about anything but her. My blood thrums in my veins with a desperate need to continue what she started.
“We came all the way here. I want to see him.” She glances over her shoulder. “I need to see his downfall for myself.”
Dimitri leadsme out the door, past the security guard waiting to get his surveillance room back, and down a series of connected stone hallways. We pass a few doors—cells—each one feeling more menacing the farther through the prison we go. The air gets chillier, the desolateness more apparent. Even the overhead lights are duller. Every cell we pass is one closer toAd, to death or whatever’s at the end of life, until finally, Dimitri swings me to a stop in front of one.
Out of seemingly nowhere, a prison guard appears with a large chain of keys. He sticks one into the lock on the door, twists it open, and then steps aside for Dimitri.
From the holster on his hip, Dimitri takes out a gun and cocks it, momentarily causing me to blink, having forgotten exactly who he is. Being around Vanessa and Anastasia for the past two weeks has been peaceful and weapon-free. Though I doubt they were ever unprotected.
Either way, given what I’m willingly following him into, I’m thankful for the extra security. I doubt Ivan could do anythingeven if he wanted to, though, based on what I saw on the camera feed.
As Dimitri steps inside the cell, I take an extra few seconds to catch my breath. Seeing Ivan on a monitor is one thing, but witnessing the true villain behind my traumafinallybrought to justice…it’s a lot.
Dimitri glances over his shoulder when I don’t immediately follow, and he stretches a hand out for me to take. I do without hesitation. Both my thoughts and feelings are muddled between longing, heartbreak, and anger, but I can’t deny what his disclosure in the security room made me feel.
Safe. Loved.Real.
“I’ve never stopped loving you, Katya. You may have left me, but not once have I left you.”
Here I’ve been blaming him for stalking me, when he’s been also ridding the world of the people behind my nightmares. The photos he showed me were horrific and belonged in a crime documentary, and I kept waiting for the moment when looking became unbearable…but the feeling never came. Seeing the blood, the gore, the decapitations and burning and limbs made mefeelsomething. Something dark, something pleased…something safe.
Does that make me a bad person?
Dimitri pulls me into the cell behind him, ending my wandering musing. If the hallways are considered cold, then the cell is the Arctic. Barely livable, but that’s probably the point. Dimitri notices my shiver—because of course he does—and tugs me against his warm body. Even when staying away would be wise, especially after the kiss I shouldn’t have initiated, his heat is welcoming.
Ivan pushes upright from his slouch, his chapped lips pulling into a weak grin, a shadow of the man who kidnapped me in the park the other week. “Well, well.” His voice grates from a lack ofhydration. “Once again, you’ve destroyed my boy’s life. I should have had them kill you and leave your corpse on that mattress. Then Dimitri would have had zero distractions. Instead, he chased you around the world for years.”
His words strike…nothing. No feeling. There’s nothing he can say, I realize, that hurts anymore. Whether the truth or a lie, Ivan Volkov has lost the game he so carefully attempted to construct.
Ivan continues moving until he’s straighter against the wall, a fraction of the prideful man once roaming free. He coughs, rubbing at his dirty prison uniform as though trying to become that person again. To reclaim the power Dimitri’s taken from him.
He’snothing, and this is why I wanted to come to the cell rather than only watch him on the monitor; to see is to believe, allowing my mind to accept the bandage being placed over the trauma. It’s enjoyable witnessing a once-strong man crumble.
“Your son was perfect then, and he’s perfect now.”
Ivan chuckles, the sound harsh. “Even now, she stands up for you. Does this mean I should expect a wedding invitation from you two soon? I’d love to attend, shackles and all.” He cackles at his own joke, then focuses on Dimitri. “How ever did you manage to convince her to be with you, after everything? Even knowing what’s to come?”
He’s probably only baiting us, but I can’t help looking at Dimitri and asking, “What’s he talking about?”
“Nothing.” Dimitri’s teeth snap, his glare icier than the cell. “He’s talking out of his ass because he has nothing left. We’re entertainment, that’s all.”
“That may be true,” Ivan drawls, “but I am speaking the truth, Miss Terasov. My son clearly convinced you to be with him again, but before you walk yourself back into danger, heed my advice. I may no longer be a Bratva Elite member, my brotherand Pakhan may be gone, but there are many who have never followed Vanessa. Many of Ursin’s Elite wanted me to take his place. They still look to me to lead.” He regards Dimitri with a satisfied smirk. “How else would I have had the manpower to kidnap both Mancinis and a force equal enough to the one Vanessa brought? When my loyalists learn of my captivity—and eventual death—they’ll come for you. You and Vanessa and”—his eyes crawl down my body, causing me to shy deeper into Dimitri’s side—“anyone you care about. They won’t allow my death to go unpunished.”
Danger.
It’s a thought striking through anything felt in the surveillance room. The small part of me that allowed myself to be convinced by Dimitri’s actions and Vanessa’s proof that the Bratva isn’t the same as it was in the past disappears, old fears and worries replacing everything else.
While the Bratva as an organization is different, not everyone fromthattime is gone. Dimitri may have ended the people behind that night, but Ivan’s words, which go against everything his son’s been trying to convince me of, remind me it’s not completely safe.
If he’s right, and they’re pissed, who will they send after Dimitri? After me, to punish him? After Vanessa? I’d be caught in the crosshairsagain. If I thought seeing Dimitri shattered the walls I’d built, being placed in a similar situation would destroy me. There would be no walls to reconstruct, because I’d be gone. Nothing.
My scars are covered by the coat, but they nearly throb with the reminder of what’s at stake.
“He’s lying. He’ll say anything.” Dimitri pulls me a step back, always the defender. “This was a mistake.”
