hand. “Don’t make me do this, Dimitri. I don’t want to force your help, but if you leave me no choice, I will. This is a matter of national security. It ranks higher than your wish for revenge.”
Wish for revenge? That snaps my last nerve.
After signaling for Clover to put Smith in lockdown, I grip Ellie’s throat with everything I have. She struggles in an instant, her hands scratching at mine as her eyes bulge. A wish to live is seen all over her face when my brutal hold lifts her feet from the ground. It’s almost as bright as the gleam on Smith’s face as he fights against both Rocco and Clover to get to me.
He wants to kill me. I don’t blame him. I’d do the same in his situation. Alas, I’m fighting for more than my girl right now. My entire existence is on the line.
“You enter my turf, waste my time, then threaten to arrest me. I should have killed you before Smith laid his eyes on you, then I would have gotten away with your murder without losing a valued member of my team. Now I might have to kill you both.”
For the first time this afternoon, fright registers on Ellie’s face. She’s fearless when it comes to dying, but she doesn’t feel the same way when Smith’s life is on the line with hers.
“This also isn’t a wish for revenge. If you weren’t fucking the enemy, you’d know that.” My last sentence calms Smith down. Not a lot, but it’s better than nothing. “This goes way deeper than that.”
Certain Ellie has gotten the point, I drop her from my hold, then spin around to face Smith. He’s still being held back by Rocco and Clover, and he’s red-faced and real fucking angry.
“Who do you work for, Smith?”
If he says anyone but Fien, he’ll leave me no choice but to take this further. We’ve faced these issues before. Smith came out of it with both his life and job intact. I can’t guarantee he’ll be as lucky this time around. My enemies are always one step in front of me for a reason. Two years ago, we placed the blame for that on Ellie’s shoulders. Now I’m wondering if I made a mistake.
“Who the fuck do you work for, Smith?”
“Fien. I work for fucking Fien!” he shouts back, his roar as loud as mine, his anger just as palpable.
After pushing Rocco and Clover away from him as if he is double their size, he storms my way. I slice my hand in the air, warning Clover if his index finger gets within an inch of his trigger, Smith won’t be the only one letting off steam this afternoon. He answered how I wanted him to, and although a heap of fury was beaming from his eyes when he said it, it was barely seen through the honesty.
Smith stops an inch from my face before he growls out, “But once she’s back, I’m done. I can’t deal with your shit anymore. You’re doing my fucking head in.”
He misses the quickest dart of panic running through my eyes I couldn’t shut down because his focus is no longer on me. He’s staring at Ellie, torn between offering her a hand from the ground or adding to the red welts around her neck.
He goes for neither by shaking his head in disappointment before making his way to his beloved van, punching the steel door of the warehouse on his way by.
It’s obvious from the noises rocking and rolling out of his van for the next several minutes that he isn’t taking his anger out on a keyboard. He’s demolishing equipment worth millions of dollars because he’d rather damage the irreplaceable things he loves than the one thing he can’t replace, no matter how hard he tries. He loved Ellie, so her betrayal didn’t just gut him, it changed him. He hasn’t been the same man since.
Although the indent his rage will cause my hip pocket should be concerning, I’m not worried. We all have our ways of blowing off steam. Mine was a bender that saw me out of action for days. Smith’s will barely last an hour.
Ask any underworld figure, they’ll all tell you the same thing. A loss in revenue is preferred over a loss in production. If you’re not productive, you are dead. Can’t put it any simpler than that.
“Give him a few minutes to cool down, then roll out. We need to get a