from, never spoken of his past. I’d sensed pain in his heart, but I’d never pushed. Having some scars myself, I knew how debilitating it could be to peel back that layer of skin where all your secrets were kept.
Our last conversation in my father’s house, just before the shooting started, replayed in my head.
His hand wrapped around mine, squeezing almost painfully. Ever since we were young, Dimitri tended to forget his own strength.
“You don’t have to do this, kotyonok.” Kitten. That had been his name for me as long as we’d known each other. To be honest, I’d always thought it a bit demeaning, but Russians used it as a term of affection. “I can speak to your father. We can come up with a different solution.”
I offered him as reassuring of a smile as I could manage. “Batya has asked this of me. I must respect his wishes. You know he is not an impulsive man, Dimitri. He has a plan.”
The enforcer’s eyes glinted as he glanced over my shoulder at my new husband. “Perhaps your father’s judgment is skewed in this one case. With all the pressure he’s under, it’s easy to make mistakes. And I don’t trust this American.”
“I don’t either. That is why we have to trust Sergei. He has never done wrong by either of us.”
A vein popped in Dimitri’s neck as he continued to lock eyes with Nico. “I don’t want to let you go. Not with him. Not without me watching over you.”
It was moments like this that I questioned whether or not Dimitri’s feelings ran deeper than friendship. Mine never had. But sometimes he got a look in his eyes or held a hug for far too long. He was overly protective of me, but something told me that wasn’t brotherly safeguarding. Even though I sincerely hoped it was because I’d never be able to return those types of feelings for this man.
“I will be fine,” I insisted. “Batya would never have allowed this if he thought I could be hurt by this man.”
Dimitri cradled my cheek in his large hand, his dark brown eyes intent on mine. “Pain comes in many different forms, kotyonok. Understand this, I will gut him and hang him from a tree if he even thinks of bringing any level of pain down on your head.”
I got a little antsy at the leashed hostility in his words. With Dimitri’s scarred face and four-fingered left hand, he looked like violence personified. I had to remind myself it was what made him good at his job—protecting my father and eliminating all threats to him. Even if the savagery in his eyes made me nervous at times, he had always been there when I’d needed him. The only friend I’d had for a long time.
“Save that for the Voiny,” I said with a small grin.
He frowned, not satisfied.
My fingers circled his wrist. “I will be all right. I promise.”
He closed his eyes and kissed my forehead. “Do zavtra.” Till tomorrow.
It was the only goodbye we’d ever said to each other. He used to come into my bedroom at night when I was younger after I’d woken up screaming from another nightmare. Although highly inappropriate for someone in his position, nothing untoward had ever happened. He’d simply let me cry on his shoulder, rub my back, and soothe me back to sleep. But he’d always whispered those words before leaving the room. Do zavtra. Letting me know that he was never far away, that he would always be there for me.
“Do zavtra,” I repeated.
I had to choke back tears as I forced the memory to fade. I would see him and Batya again. Until that day came, I would keep my chin up and my hope alive that everything in my world would soon be right again.
Despite my lack of security, I got the odd sensation that even as I strolled down the streets of Rovinj, I was being watched. The hairs on the back of my neck were tingling. But it was surely nothing more than the locals noticing the lonely tourist milling about.
Local merchants wheeled their carts along the sidewalks, offering tastes of the local fare and discounts on handmade trinkets. Instead of hopping into a café for a sit-down meal, I decided to take my chances on a rickety-looking cart with an old, mustached man with a sweet smile at the helm.
And if you had gotten a whiff of the divine smell wafting from his cart, you