Page 22

Dmitri

“Did you hear what I said?” Nikolai raps his knuckles against my desk. “Dmitri.”

I move my gaze from my phone, and the unread messages I’ve sent Amelia this afternoon, to my cousin.

“I did.”

“And?” he urges with a tip of his head.

“I’ve already asked Kost to take care of it.” I wave my hand as though I can push away the thickness of the air.

It’s been a week since Amelia’s world crumbled around her. An entire week since she’s locked herself away from me.

“Oh.” Nikolai sits back in his chair. “Why didn’t you just say that?”

“You seemed like you needed to vent.” I slide my phone onto my desk. Boris is with her today. If anything happens, he’ll let me know.

“Do you think he was really acting on his own? I’m not sure I buy the jealous lover act,” Arman pipes from the window where he’s looking down at the street below.

“I don’t either,” I agree. “But my shipments are moving again.”

“Have you lost your taste for revenge, cousin?” Nikolai tilts his head with concern.

“Well, that answers our question.” Arman lets out a little laugh.

“Answers what?” Did I miss part of the conversation?

My thoughts keep wandering to my wife. To the pain in her eyes and voice when she found those reports her brother left in his belongings.

He’d wanted to protect her from all of it, yet he kept the evidence in order to be able to use it against his father if needed. Lucas didn’t expect to die before he destroyed the files, but he should have been more careful.

Damn him for not thinking to destroy it all after his bastard father died.

“If you were capable of loving your wife.” Nikolai hooks his ankle over the opposite knee. “The answer is yes.”

“What are you talking about?” I push the phone away from me and lean back in my chair.

As though the extra inches can somehow push her from my mind.

It’s all I’ve been able to think about. And the more consumed I’ve become, the more distant she’s made herself.

“You love her,” Arman says simply with a shrug. “It’s easier to just admit it and go grovel for forgiveness than whatever this mess you’re doing now.”

Grovel?

Dragunov men do not grovel.

But for Amelia? My knees would hit the ground faster than she could blink if she asked.

“Charlotte said Lia has buried herself so deep into work, it makes her look lazy,” Nikolai adds his two cents.

Charlotte, Anya, and Sarah have all taken turns blocking me from my wife. On the nights I’ve been home while she was still awake, one of them has been there having dinner with her or they’ve been holed up in the TV room watching movies.

But most nights, I find my wife already asleep in bed. It’s a fake sleep, but I made the decision to give her the space she needs so I’ve let her get away with it.

“She’s planning a summer carnival for the center on top of all her usual work. She’s been busy,” I allow with a shrug.

“Hmm, and it’s not that she’s been hiding from you?” Arman presses.

“Maybe he likes it this way. He has Lucas’ company, which protects his interests there. Maybe we’re wrong. Maybe he doesn’t care about her,” Nikolai needles.

These two are like old hens.

“Marriage has turned you into gossiping old women.” I frown.

“If you would just admit you love her, go make whatever amends you need to in order to get her back, then you can join us in our bliss.” Nikolai’s grin spreads wide.

“Loving her isn’t enough,” I argue. “She just found out her father murdered her mother, and I helped cover it up. She sees me as a monster. I let her father get away with what he did.”

“You think it’s the injustice of it that is bothering her?” Nikolai asks.

“I hid his crime.”

“People get away with murder all the time. Her brother helped in his way, yes?” Arman adds. “It’s not that you hid the crime back then that has her so upset.”

“You think to know my wife better than me?”

Nikolai laughs. “No, cousin. Calm down. But you’re too close to it to see it for what it is. She’s hurting. And badly from what the girls have said.”

“She can’t trust me, that’s what she said,” I argue.

“She can, she’s just hurting too badly to see it. Her brother died, has she even truly mourned him yet?” Nikolai points out.

She hasn’t dealt with anything at his apartment. All the delay with the attorney and his will. I’m not sure she’s even cried over his death, at her extreme loss.

Instead of dealing with the grief, she’s been shoving it aside. And now, learning about her father and her mother, it’s too much. She can’t push any more of it away. It’s all falling down on her and instead of facing it, she’s still trying to run away from it.

And in my stupidity, I’ve allowed it. Instead of forcing her to face the horror, I’ve let her hide away.

In order to get her through this, she’s going to have to face it all. And it’s going to hurt.

Both of us.

I can’t protect her from what’s already happened, not anymore. But I can be there with her to hold her, comfort her, to keep her safe while she navigates the storm of grief.

I pick up my phone as I get to my feet, tucking it away.

“I need to go.” I shove the chair out of the way as I round my desk.

“You’re going to have to tell her you love her, Dmitri. She needs the words now more than ever.” Nikolai gets up to face me.

“I’m going to do a hell of a lot more than tell her, cousin.” I slam the door behind me.