Page 65 of Trapped By the Bratva

“He has been rather hot and cold lately,” I admitted.

This was weird. And new. I’d never done girl talk like this. Not with any friends, since I was always too busy working or studying to really have friends. And I had not experienced girl talk with Melissa, either. These women felt more like sistersthan Melissa ever had. Plus, I’d only just met Dmitri and lost my virginity to him. I didn’t have anything to kiss and tell about before.

“It’s good to know that he’s found someone,” Amy said. “Especially after all he went through from the Avilovs.”

Nadia shook her head, sadder and more morose. “It was terrible. He was so weak and wounded when I found him in that warehouse.”

I shivered and hugged myself, bothered by how these women had to get used to it. This lifestyle of crime and danger. All the guards and just the basic knowledge that enemies waited out there, people who’d want to kill them.

“These Mafia power plays all go over my head.” I shrugged, feeling like the odd one out. “I’m not sure how you all adjusted and…” I shrugged again, at a loss for what else to say.

“Well, we had incentive.” Amy sighed. “Nik saved me from a worse fate.”

Becca raised her hand. “Same here, with Ivan.”

“And Maxim spared me a forced marriage with the previous Avilov leader. A creepy-ass old dude.” She shuddered.

In a way, Dmitri was “saving” me, too. By taking the opportunity to help him recover, I was given a chance to escape my crappy former life with Melissa.

That wasn’t why I inched closer to loving him. It was because we clicked. We meshed. Somehow, we made sense together.

“Isn’t it hard to know that you’re forever in this life, though? No way out?”

They all smiled.

“I wouldn’t dream of having it any other way,” Amy said, looking down at her twins as they nursed.

The door opened behind me, and I whirled around to see Alek. “Hannah.” He stepped in only one foot, staring at me with a stern and serious expression of urgency. “I need your help.”

I glanced at the other women, but they didn’t seem aware of what was happening. “What’s wrong?”Dmitri?I hurried after him. By the time I reached the door, he was already jogging down the hall.

“Nik’s been hurt and the doctor can’t come soon enough.”

Oh, my God!At least he didn’t say this in front of Amy and startle her. “What happened?”

“Just a cut.”

I shot him a look. “Justa cut?”

He winced. “A significant cut.”

“But I’m not a doctor.” I ran with him. “I’m not even a nurse.”

“Close enough.”

I did a double-take at him. “How would you know how close I am to being a real nurse?”

“Because Dmitri already put in requests for coverage of your tuition to complete your degree.”

He what?

“And you’re close enough.” He opened the door to the kitchen, where Margie and another soldier were busy cleaning up theblood. Nik sat in a chair as Mila compressed the wound on his arm.

“Now tell me what happened,” Alek said as he led me closer.

I slumped into a chair and looked over the supplies that Mila must have laid out.

“Go on,” she encouraged. “You’ll be better at this than me.”