Page 63 of Immaculate Corruption (Romanoff Bratva)

The problem is that the scars he bears from what’s happened to us are invisible. Maybe they’ll matter down the line; maybe they won’t. Either way, I won’t know until it’s far too late.

And if something does turn out to be wrong… it’ll be all my fault.

I mumble goodbye to the woman and leave. When I get back to my seat, my slushie is gone. Someone must have thrown it in the trash. I sink down on the bench and pull out my phone to call Ernestine again.

She doesn’t answer.

Panic rises up inside of me, but I do my best to push it down. She’ll be here soon.

I lean back on the bench, trying to regulate my breathing, but I can feel my heartrate increasing. My palms are sweaty and my head is starting to pound.

I close my eyes. Trying to ground myself. To remind myself where I’m at, that I’m safe, that Lukas is safe. But it’s getting more difficult to swallow and the back of my neck is prickling like someone is standing over my shoulder.

Then I turn around to see that someone is in fact standing over my shoulder.

I scream. People turn to me, shocked by my outburst. I take in a breath to scream again—and then I realize I recognize this creep.

“Gennady?” I reel back from him. “What are you doing here?”

His brows are pinched together. “Holy hell. What’s wrong with you? Are you okay?”

“What are you doing here?” I repeat. “What do you want?”

He holds up his hands innocently. “Don’t be mad, but Dima helped me set up a cloning app on Ernestine’s phone so I’d know where she was and who she was talking to. I saw the text you sent her, which is how I knew where to find you.”

I’m not mad. That’s actually a good idea. Another layer of security to protect Lukas.

“Okay, we’ll circle back on that. Why are you looking for me?”

Gennady looks at me from under lowered brows, his expression grim. “Because I think Dima is about to ruin his life.”

* * *

I call Dima for the third time, but he doesn’t answer.

Gennady is still talking. “… He told me he was going after Giorgio, but I assumed he had a plan. Or back-up. Or something.”

Ernestine still isn’t answering. I send her another text, letting her know there is an emergency and I had to leave. That we’ll meet later.

“He’s not thinking clearly,” Gennady says. “I tried to talk to him earlier, but he didn’t sound like himself. Honestly, he sounded like he was heading to a suicide mission.”

My heart clenches.This is my fault.

I told him Lukas and I were leaving for good. I told him to do whatever he thought was best for himself. I didn’t really listen or try to understand what he had planned. I just wished him luck and turned my back.

“He can’t already be inside, can he? We’ve only been in town a couple of hours. I mean, he spent days canvassing the last hit.”

Gennady shakes his head. “We aren’t working with a rational Dima right now. He’s acting on impulse, which is not good, to say the least.”

“Do you know where he’s at?”

“I have the address,” he says. “I did some quick research before I came to find you.”

I glance over at him, noting the firm clench of his jaw and his white knuckles. He’s nervous. “Why did you come to get me? I’m not exactly a trained fighter.”

“No, but you’re the person Dima cares about most in this world. Aside from Lukas, if there’s any chance at all to stop him, it’s going to be you.”

I ignore the pang in my chest. I know Dima cares about me. He has made that perfectly clear. Still, it doesn’t ease my conscience at all to hear someone else say it.

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