my throat. “You know Dimitri well, then?”
This earns me another laugh. “Too well.” Javier leans in towards my ear. “I know all his deepest, darkest secrets.”
His deepest, darkest secrets? My mind scrambles to decipher his words. When Javier pulls back, his eyes are twinkling at me. Did Dimitri tell him about me?
He can’t know about me. He wouldn’t be looking at me with such openness and joy.
I clear my throat. “I think that would be a very heavy burden. I hope he’s paying you enough.”
He breaks out into a long peal of rich laughter. “Ah, Alena,” he says softly, “you are as lovely and spirited as he says you are.”
Dimitri thinks me lovely? Javier must be joking. Mistaken. I can’t imagine Dimitri would have any kind words to say about me based on his behaviour towards me.
I am desperately curious now. Through Javier, I see a way to peer into Dimitri’s life without him knowing. Dimitri would never tell me where he has been and what he has done. “How did you meet Dimitri? In America?”
“Ah yes. It was a few years ago when his company was just beginning to take off. He found me and plucked me from the gutters. Literally.”
“Really?”
Javier nods. “He gave me a chance when no one else would. He was generous with his time, his money, and his heart. He’s a good man, Dimitri.” Javier’s fondness for Dimitri shines clearly on his face. “He saved my damn life. I’ll never be able to repay him.”
I stiffen. “I see.” Is it strange that I am jealous of Javier? I’m jealous that Dimitri has bestowed the best of himself on this man and reserved the worst for me. “You and I have met two very different men,” I can’t help but say.
Javier places a hand on my arm, his face turning serious. “Please, go easy on him, Alena. If he is cruel, it is only because he is hurting. He is not as strong as he looks.”
28
____________
Dimitri
I’m supposed to meet Javier after I finished my call. He just arrived. Quite frankly, I am glad he is here. It’s nice to have one person here I can trust. The door to the library, where we planned to meet, is partly open. As I approach, my footsteps falter as I hear a soft feminine voice. The source of my pain, the voice that chases me into my nightmares.
Alena is in there. With Javier.
I stop by the door, peering round the crack. They are huddled together on the couch, talking quietly together.
Something stabs me in my gut.
Javier has always had a way with people. He is effortlessly loveable and endlessly patient. That’s why we have been so successful together. He is good cop, I am bad cop.
Now he’s playing good cop with Alena. I realise I’m grinding my teeth when my jaw aches.
She says something I can’t make out. He tips his head back and laughs, long and loud.
The bastard’s trying to seduce her. I have my hand on the door handle before doubt smacks me in the face.
This is Javier. I know him. He would never seduce Alena. Not with what he knows about her.
It took years for the trust to build between Javier and me. After we met, he stuck around, refusing to go, putting up with me when I raged and screamed like a storm, coaxing me out when I withdrew into the blackened shell of myself. He may think I saved his life. Really, he saved mine. I cannot be feeling hatred towards him. I’m already stuffed with it, choking with it, drowning in it.
I see his hand fall upon Alena’s arm. I want to rip his arm out of its socket and beat the living shit out of him with it. I barge into the library.
Alena leaps to her feet.
Javier merely smiles broadly at me. “There you are, Dimi. We were just talking about you.”
I glare between Alena and Javier. “I did not give you permission to speak to her about me.”
He just snorts at me. “Don’t worry, Dimi. I wasn’t giving up your secrets.” He winks at me, the bastard.
“You’re fired.”
Alena gasps, a hand flying to her lips.
Javier just laughs at me. “Oh, don’t be such a sourpuss.” He turns to Alena. “Don’t worry, he’s not serious.” I want to hit him for even looking at her.
“I am,” I say through gritted teeth.
Javier shakes his head, his eyes still on her. “He’s not. He fires me at least once a day.”
“And for some reason