Page 58 of The Payback

I flip over on the bed and bury my face in my pillow just as Nik’s door opens and closes. He’s still watching me like a hawk in the apartment, silent as he holds onto his secrets while I do the same.

We coexist in this fucked-up universe revolving around Dimitri.

Like a zombie, I haul myself out of bed and head to the closet to check my agency phone. Agent Kim confirmed via text that the footage I sent over yesterday after Dimitri dropped the SD card in my hand is valid, and they’re setting up agents in that nightclub as staff. It’s one of the places the Bratva uses to launder the money from arms dealings.

Yup, arms dealings. Because there isn’t enough of a gun issue in this country already.

I shower and dress in soft leggings and an oversized sweater, dragging fuzzy socks over my feet. Everything in this home feels so fucking cold and impersonal. I want to be wrapped in comfort when I come face to face with the two men who live here. Besides, aside from some sightseeing with Igor, my driver and guard, it’s not like I go anywhere. Might as well be cosy.

As I descend the stairs, indistinct murmurs come from the kitchen. Taking a deep breath, I push my shoulders back and straighten my spine.

When I step into the kitchen, Dimitri’s head snaps up. He doesn’t say a thing; he just watches me with his unnerving gaze as I move towards the coffee machine. The same way he has every morning since I put distance between us.

My entire body is aware of his presence when I’m in his proximity. He takes a single step towards me, and I flinch away.

“Let me,” he murmurs, taking a mug from the cabinet and making me coffee. There’s concern in his gaze, and though I try to ignore it, a hint of it slithers through the cracks in my walls.

Nik is leaning against the island—his eyes fixed on me as Dimitri takes my cup and adds sugar and milk. He hasn’t tried to talk to me since that night. Not intentionally, at least. Once, he asked me to pass the salt. It was a riveting dinner between the three of us, and halfway through, I took my plate out to the terrace and ate there instead of sitting in the uncomfortable silence, even though heights terrify me.

Panic-inducing altitudes were better than suffocating inside.

“Thank you,” I whisper, taking the offering from Dimitri and moving off to the other side of the kitchen. The three of us are in a standoff, yet again, none of us willing to speak first.

I take a sip of the coffee and find it not quite right. But fuck knows I won’t break the silence to criticise his barista skills, so I lift it to my lips again, fighting the instinct to wrinkle my nose.

Nik strides forward and takes the mug from my hands, some of the liquid sloshing over the lip. He peers inside and turns towards the fridge. He adds another splash of milk and hands it back to me before turning on his heel and walking out of the room.

Dimitri’s gaze follows him as he leaves us to work out our shit on our own.

When he turns towards me, I avert my gaze. I can’t face looking into those dead eyes again. Not if he looks the way he did that night. I’ve avoided eye contact since, and I know it’s bothering him. But I can’t bring myself to do it.

Taking a sip, I can’t help theAaahthat follows the gulp.

Dimitri scowls in my periphery, and I take a step away again.

“He knows how you take your coffee,” he murmurs.

“He was my partner for a long time.”

“Eleanor, look at me.”

“I can’t.” I shake my head, keeping my eyes downcast. The anger in my voice is palpable, but I don’t even know if I’m angry at him or myself for being so affected. For letting things with Dimitri go so far. I did exactly what they warned me not to do. I let him get to me, and now my emotions are tangled in the mess.

It’s not impairing my ability to do my job, combing through the footage and forwarding it along to Agent Kim, but it’s impairingme.

Dimitri sighs in frustration. “Fine. Then listen? It’s been weeks, and we need to move past this.Ineed us to move past this so we can keep working.”

I nod. Right. Keep working. That’s why I’m here.

“Alexei put an expiration date on his life when he agreed to that deal. I will not apologise for handling a threat, Eleanor. He came after both of us and injured you.”

“Did you find out who hired him?” I ask.

Please, for the love of fuck, don’t let it have been Nik. I turn my head towards the doors he slipped through, and Dimitri answers the unasked question.

“It wasn’t Nik. He’s not responsible for the drive-by attempt, but I think I know who is.” He pauses, taking a deep breath. “Sergei. It makes sense,” he says when I try to scoff. “He’s next up if I die, and though I’d always thought him comfortable as brigadier, he might be grasping for more.”

My head turns in his direction, but I keep my eyes locked on his freshly shaven jaw, still avoiding those icy depths. “But the shooter would have hit his wife if I hadn’t got her out of the way,” I argue. “Would he do that?”

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