Page 22 of Deadly Protector
CHAPTEREIGHT
“I’m so glad you’re okay.” Zamira clutched her cell phone tightly to her ear, ready to come out of her skin as she listened to Angel replay what had happened to her. Today could have had a much worse ending.
“Me too. Are you almost to Dimitri’s?”
“Yes, and Juan is off the phone now,” she said before she hit speaker. He’d been talking to Lizzy, who was with Angel.
“We’re going to find that guy,” Juan growled to Angel.
“I know,” Angel murmured. “You’ll be staying with Zamira, right?” she demanded.
“Of course, my love. But I want to pick you up as well—”
“No, no. Lizzy has people from Red Stone on their way over to watch me and the shop all day. I’ve got a handful of custom orders to make today. I can’t cancel them, especially since Carolina will be running the front of the bakery.”
Juan just frowned at the phone, as if he wanted to argue.
Zamira didn’t want Angel there either. “Look, hon, maybe you should think about—”
“No way. I need to stay busy, to keep my hands busy, or I’ll go crazy. And a couple of these orders are for quinceañeras. I’m not closing up shop. I’m not letting that asshole mess with my business.”
“She’s using that ‘don’t mess with me’ tone,” Zamira said, even though she wanted to argue, push for Angel to come stay with her.
Juan nodded, his expression pure frustration.
“I can hear you,” Angel muttered.
“I know. I’m just worried and I hate that this happened because of—”
“You better not say because of you!”
Zamira sighed and glanced out the window, realizing they were near the turnoff to Dimitri’s neighborhood. Some of the tension in her chest eased, knowing they were so close to his place. He made her feel safe in a way no one ever had. “I know it’s not technically my fault.”
“There’s no technical. Now, what does this guy want?”
“No idea, but it’s clear that I need to talk to him.” Whether she wanted to or not. Dimitri had said he’d be setting up a meeting with him, but Zamira needed to speak to Ryba as well. Needed to figure out this mess. “Whatever he wants I’ll give him.” She needed her family safe.
“Well whatever happens, we’ve got your back.”
“I know. I love you.”
“I love you too. Now pass me to Juan.”
Juan took her phone off speaker then held it up to his ear, started speaking quietly as he pulled up to Dimitri’s gate. He punched in the code, and as he pulled through, her heart skipped a beat when she spotted Dimitri’s SUV sitting at the end of the driveway, his garage door open. He must have just gotten back too.
Seeing him made her feel about ten times safer.
As Juan pulled up behind him, Dimitri got out of his vehicle, leaving it idling. “Hey, what’s wrong?” he asked as she hurried toward him.
She quickly recapped everything as Juan parked.
By the time she was done, Dimitri’s expression was thunderous. “Your sister is definitely okay?”
“If she wasn’t, I wouldn’t be here,” Juan said as he approached, his face just as grim. “I want to hunt that bastard down and kill him.”
Zamira had never heard Juan sound so serious, so lethal.
Dimitri glanced around before he motioned to both of them. “Let’s get inside.”
