Dmitri
Montana was a fucking nightmare. Between Sadie being attacked by a bear, discovering I work for the Russian Bratva, and learning from Anton that Luka was the man who shot me, my world has been turned upside down.
Sadie is doing considerably well. Her injuries aren’t visible. She seems to have overcome the concussion, and the bruising on her ribs will take time to heal. The doctor instructed her to do no heavy lifting, take it easy, and rest.
I carry her suitcase to the private plane as we head back to pick up Allie and return to our lives in the city. I’m looking forward to going home, except I don’t know what that means for us.
She hasn’t boxed me out like I thought she might, and we still have much to talk about on the flight home.
Us.
The bratva.
Her job working for the Italians.
She can’t go back to the bar. It’s too dangerous. Now that Antonio knows she’smine, he could use her to get to us. It wouldn’t be the first time they’ve caused us trouble.
She sits across from me, and a quietness fills the air as we take off. I wait until we’re at cruising altitude before unfastening my seatbelt.
“We need to talk about what’s going to happen when we get home.”
Her brow furrows, and she presses her hand to her head like she has a headache. “Do you need something for the pain?” I ask. The doctors had given her a few prescriptions should she need them.
“No,” she says, and leans back, trying her best to relax in the white leather chair. “Go on,” she says, gesturing for me to continue.
“I meant what I said the other day about protecting you.”
Her brow is furrowed. She doesn’t seem to remember or thinks I’m referring to the bear attack in the forest. It’s been a long couple of days.
“Antonio isn’t going to like the association between us, friends or otherwise,” I say. While I want to make her my girlfriend and keep her entirely to myself, I respect that she’s been through a lot and may not be ready to commit to anything.
“Yeah, I recall that I lost my job. Again.” She pins me with a look, and I shift uncomfortably under her scrutiny.
“I told you, Luka will hire you as a bartender or waitress.”
“You can’t know that,” Sadie says. “You haven’t even spoken with him.”
She’s right. I haven’t chatted with him or called him while in Breckenridge. It wasn’t safe for Anton and Savannah.
Luka betrayed Mikhail and his brothers.
Anton and I had a tense discussion while Sadie was in the hospital. He assured me he just wanted to be left alone, given a second chance with Savannah.
And Luka, as wrong as he might have been in shooting me, had done it to protect the family.
Mikhail had fucked up and acted without merit, demanding Savannah be executed when he had bedded and brought home an FBI agent himself.
While I may not have agreed with Anton, I appreciated his candor and perspective on the situation.
And given that they helped Sadie, I no longer held a grudge against them. Besides, they weren’t the ones responsible for shooting me.
Luka, on the other hand, I have words for him when I see him at the compound or the club.
“Luka will hire you,” I say, my gaze never leaving hers. “He’s responsible for shooting me, and if he doesn’t want Mikhail to find out that he meddled where he didn’t belong, he’ll do what I ask.”
“You’re going to blackmail him?”
“That’s one way of looking at it,” I say. That wasn’t my intention, but I understood he was giving his friend a second chance.