Page 86 of Diamond Devil

“I’m not Taylor!” she snaps, gnashing her teeth. “I was born into this world, same as you. I can handle myself in it. I’m not some scared wallflower that you need to pamper.”

My sister is a smart woman. She’s also an observant one. And she knows exactly what she’s doing. Taylor has fast become a trigger for me, and if Mila wants shit to goboom,all she needs to do is squeeze.

I’d be quietly amused if I wasn’t busy being fucking furious.

I grab Mila’s hand and haul her around to pin her against the nearest wall. It’s a wordless reminder that I know her triggers, too.

“Let me go,” she snarls, even as fear flits across her eyes while I loom over her.

“I will when you start listening. You’re not going into Bellasio territory on your own. Is that clear?”

Tension flares. Peaks. Then subsides. Gritting her teeth, Mila snatches her wrist from underneath my fingers, leaving faint nail marks on her smooth skin. “Da,PakhanZakharov.”

I stare into her eyes for another long moment before I’m satisfied that I’ve made my point. Only then do I let her go.

She rips herself free and stomps away to the other side of the room.

“I could go,” Dima suggests with a casual shrug from behind me.

Mila laughs humorlessly. “Fuck you both.” She’s eyeing the door like she wants nothing more than to be rid of us. She doesn’t leave the room, though. Her pride won’t let her.

“No.” I turn to Dima. “You’d be recognized. No—this is an all-or-nothing situation. No half-measures. Whether I choose to believe the authenticity of that note or not, we have to commit to a course of action.” I nod toward the door. “Go get the men ready. Make sure they know this isn’t just a rescue mission; we’re making a statement.”

“Got it, boss.”

Dima slinks toward the door while Mila turns to me, resentment still burning in her eyes. “I hate that you still see me as a victim.”

I sigh.Here we go.“I don’t—”

“Don’t lie to me,” she hisses. “I see the way you look at me sometimes. Like I’m the same girl you found crying on her bed all those years ago.”

“Mila—”

“If you remember, I fought back. I stood up to him.Idid that.”

“I remember.”

I’ll always fucking remember. It was the worst day of my life. Ofbothour lives.

“Then stop treating me like I’m not as much a part of this Bratva as Dima is.”

“I’m not trying to exclude you, Mila.”

“Good. Because I’m coming with you.” She squares her shoulders. “I’m not playing babysitter to your baby mama.”

I’ve seen that look on her face before, and I decide to pick my battles by letting her pick her own. “Fine.”

She raises her eyebrows. “Fine?”

I nod. “You can have your own team.”

She gives me a tentative smile. They’re rare and fleeting these days. Like snowflakes that dissolve as soon as they hit the ground. “I won’t let you down.”

“You’ve never let me down, Mila,” I tell her as she’s moving toward the door. “You are not the one I’m underestimating. You are not the one I’m disappointed in.”

Her scowl softens. “It’s all behind us now, Ilarion.”

But it’s not. I know it’s not. I’m pretty sure she knows, too.

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