Page 24

Amelia

“Lia, the plumbers are here to inspect the pipes?” Sarah peeks her head into my office.

I wave a hand.

“Can you bring them downstairs? They are going to do a full inspection to see if we have any other weak spots to worry about.”

“Yeah. Sure.” She pauses. “Lia. Maybe you should take the day off. You’ve been staring at that contract for an hour.”

I blink a few times until my vision focuses on my computer screen again. She’s right. I haven’t even gotten through the first paragraph yet.

“I’m fine,” I sigh and turn away from the computer. “I just need some coffee.”

She shakes her head with the same concerned expression she’s had all week.

“Okay.” It’s not a convincing tone, but she doesn’t say anything else before leaving me alone in my office.

Alone.

That’s exactly what I am now.

Completely alone.

It’s been ten days since I found out what a monster my father really was. And nine days since Dmitri has tried to get me to talk to him.

He’s given me exactly what I said I wanted. He’s left me alone.

The bastard.

“Lia. Sorry to bug you, but the school just called. Tony’s sick and I need to go get him. I called Ramon. He’s on his way in to handle my appointments today.” Susan, one of our counselors, frowns.

“All right.” I look up. “Thanks, I mean, sorry. I mean.” I heave a sigh. “I hope Tony’s feeling better soon.”

She gives me a small smile. “You know we have six amazing counselors on staff and they’re all at your disposal.” She slides her purse strap over her shoulder. “Including me, if you ever want. Just plop your ass in my office.”

“Thanks, Susan. I’m fine.” I push up from my desk.

More coffee. That should fix me right up. Caffeine to give me the energy to continue pretending my life isn’t a complete dumpster fire at the moment.

“All right, but the offer stands.” She offers another smile before disappearing from the door.

“Lia.”

My muscles tense at my name. I’ve barely made it to my coffeemaker before someone else has come into my office.

At first, I wanted the distraction. To bury myself in work and other people’s problems so I could ignore my own.

But my body hurts from being so tense.

I’m exhausted from lying beside Dmitri every night and fighting with myself to keep from rolling over and diving into his arms. He’d hold me, I know he would, if I would just turn to him.

But he’s doing the one thing I thought he’d never do. He’s giving me space. And I think it’s killing him a little.

I hear the gruffness of his voice when he’s on the phone before he finds me pretending to be asleep in bed. He’s getting grumpier than before. Even Maria has started to avoid him.

“Yeah?” I ask once my cup is full of coffee, and I turn around.

Dmitri stands in my office.

His hands hang at his sides, making him look more like a statue than ever with his stoic expression and the enormity of him. I used to think it was just his ego that took up the whole room, but it’s him.

“Dmitri.” I swallow, afraid a sigh of relief will escape. “What are you doing here?”

“Too long, moyo dikoye plamya . I’ve waited too long, and it stops now.” He’s back to using his dominating tone.

I put my cup of coffee down to keep from spilling it with my shaky hands.

“Too long for what?” I manage to ask without a tremor in my voice.

“I’ve let you hide. It’s over now.”

My heart sinks. Of course.

Why would he want a wife who ignores him and fights him at every turn?

“Alright,” I say, unable to keep the shake from my words this time.

He shakes his head. “No. It’s not alright.”

Going to my desk, he picks up my phone and my jacket.

“What are you doing?” I take a step.

Is he trying to throw me out of my own office? Maybe he’s going to force the close of the foundation.

We need three chairmen, and Christian isn’t one of them anymore.

I haven’t heard from him directly, other than a voicemail with an apology and telling me he’s going to be moving. I tried calling him back, but he’s blocked me.

Dmitri could shut us down if he really wanted.

“I’m taking you somewhere, let’s go.” He holds out my jacket for me so I can slip my arms in.

“Where?” Maybe to the attorney’s office to sign divorce papers.

He can get anything done, and if he wants me out of his life, he can make it happen in a blink of an eye.

He drops his hands a little and takes a breath. Is he trying to compose himself?

The control is there in his eyes, but it’s mixed with something else. Is he nervous?

“I need you to trust me.”

“Lia—oh, shit, sorry.” Javier stands in my doorway. “I just need a quick second.”

“No,” Dmitri answers before I can. “Lia is busy for the rest of the day. Sarah can help you, and if she can’t, it will have to wait.”

Javier’s eyes widen, but then he grins and backs out of the doorway.

Dmitri brings the coat to me, sliding one sleeve up my arm.

“I can do it.” I try to brush him away, but he’s steadfast in his mission and he not only gets the jacket on me, but buttons it up too. “Wait. Did you just call me Lia?”

He hands me my phone.

“That’s the name you like, yes?” he questions.

“I—” How can I tell him I’ve come to like him being the only one who calls me by my full name? It’s become something like an endearment.

“Let’s go.” He links our hands together and pulls me from my office.

A part of me thinks I should argue with him and refuse to go. But the rest of me is tired.

Tired of fighting. Not just him, but myself, my father, my brother. I’ve been in a constant battle with ghosts for the last ten days and it’s exhausting.

The late April weather is chilly when we walk along the sidewalk headed to his car only a few hundred feet from the entrance to the center. A breeze blows, seeping through the thin coat I’m wearing.

When he opens the passenger car door for me, his eyes meet mine. I’m not sure I’m ready to see them though.

It’s harder to look at him when he isn’t glaring with his fierceness on display. There’s something softer, almost vulnerable in them today.

“Thanks,” I say as I climb into the car.

After shutting my door he jogs around the front of the car and gets in on his side. The car jostles with his weight.

It only takes a few moments to lose myself in the sights outside my window as he maneuvers us through the traffic of the city. It’s only when we hit the highway that I turn to him for answers.

“I thought we were going home?”

“Not yet.”

I go back to window watching as the city fades and we’re soon driving through more spacious roads. He exits the highway and my heart squeezes in my chest.

The cemetery.

“Dmitri?” I lean forward, looking through the windshield as the sign for Rosewood Gardens comes into view.

With its softly rolling hills, aged statue monuments, and willow trees flanking each side of the road, it’s a somber place.

A spot filled with peace.

“It’s time, moyo dikoye plamya . Time to face what’s happened,” he says quietly as he pulls the car to the side.

Lucas’ monument is on top of a small hill. On a clear day, there’s a limited view of the city skyline.

“I don’t want to be here.” I swallow back the thick grief trying to climb its way out.

“I know.” The car jostles again as he turns to face me. “I know, but you need to. Trust me, I would sooner cut off my own hand than hurt you.”

I look away, still finding this softer side of him unsettling. The harshness is easy. It’s something to push against, something to lean on. But this… this brings us into unknown territory.

The car door opens and shuts, and a moment later my door opens too. His hand appears in my line of sight, and I take it.

Maybe he’s right.

Maybe I’ve been avoiding what should have been dealt with. A moment of closure might help ease the pain that’s been nesting in my chest.

Dmitri holds my hand as we climb up the hill to where my brother was laid to rest almost two months ago.

So much has happened, has changed.

Except how much I miss him.

That hasn’t changed at all. And now, seeing his headstone come into view, it’s an overwhelming sensation.

By the time we reach his resting place, breathing becomes harder. The tears are getting harder to hold back, and the ball in my chest is going to explode.

“The day your mother died, your father called me, begging for help.” Dmitri’s words cut through the silence. “I didn’t know you then. You were just a child. And I didn’t know Lucas either. I made a deal with your father that suited me and my family.”

“You don’t have to explain.” I try to slip my hand from his, but he holds tighter.

“No. I do.” He takes a breath. “Your father suggested the partnership with Lucas, and he agreed—so long as you never learned the truth.”

“Would it have been that horrible? To know what really happened?” I take a shaky breath, trying to imagine myself back then.

“For a little girl to learn her father did that to her mother? Yes, it would have been a heartbreak your brother wanted to protect you from. Your father had his political ties. The odds that he was actually going to pay any sort of consequence for what happened were small. Even without my help.”

He’s not wrong on that account. Dad could have found a way to get someone else to take the fall. Or he could have paid off the right judge or DA.

“What I did was give you the ability to never know your mother felt any pain.” He lets go of my hand. “And you wouldn’t have if Christian hadn’t?—”

He stops when the anger shakes his voice. “I couldn’t protect you from what he told you.”

I turn to look at the headstone again. At my brother’s name etched so perfectly in the stone.

Loving Brother scripted just beneath.

Tears burn my eyes.

“He wanted to protect you. I knew him mostly in a professional manner. But he talked of you often. You were his pride. And he would do anything to protect you.”

Tears roll down my cheeks and this time, I don’t bother trying to stop them. It’s too much. It’s been too long. The weight of it all is too hard to keep carrying on my own.

“Like make me marry a Russian mobster?”

He wipes away a tear with his thumb.

“I spoke to his attorney yesterday. Lucas put the stipulation in three months before the accident. He probably figured he had more time to tell you about it. Or he thought you’d be married on your own by the time it was even an issue. The point was to protect you in the only way he could think of. Even if it meant marrying a Russian mobster.”

“I’m doomed to be surrounded by overprotective men who constantly want to protect me. I guess it’s not the worst problem to have. Lucas was a great brother, and he must have trusted you a great deal to do this. He knew you would continue protecting me.” I try to smile, but instead a sob breaks through.

My brother is gone. Forever.

But I’m not alone.

Not anymore.

I have Dmitri.

He pulls me to his chest, hugging me tightly to him as sobs that I’ve held back for months shake me. His chin rests on my head as he lets me ruin his shirt with my tears and what little makeup I managed to get on this morning before I ran out of the house.

I’d wanted to get out before I ran into him.

And now, all I want is to never leave his arms again.

“I’m sorry I’ve been so distant. That I blocked you out,” I mutter into his shirt.

“I know.” He places a warm kiss on my head. “I’m sorry I let you.”

And he did. He hasn’t forced a conversation or intimacy or anything. He gave me exactly what I said I wanted.

Space.

“But understand, I won’t ever again allow it. Your place, my place is by each other’s side, for all the bad and all the good. So never again will I leave you alone.”

I lean my head back to look up at him. “I don’t want you to. It’s been horrible, being so close to you but making myself be so far away.”

He wipes away my tears. “Never again.”

“No. Never again,” I promise.

I take another look at Lucas’ grave. “I miss him so much.”

“You will for a long time, maybe forever. But you have me to lean on. You don’t have to handle everything all by yourself.”

“I know.” I nod, but he takes my face between his hands, leveling me with a stern look.

“I mean it, Lia. No more taking on the world by yourself.” His accent thickens when he gets all dominating.

I love it.

“Don’t call me Lia,” I say in response.

His brow wrinkles.

“Everyone calls me Lia. You’re not everyone.”

His lips spread wide in a knowing grin.

“I love you, Amelia Dragunov.” His lips crush mine as he kisses me, possessing me with a simple phrase.

“I love you too,” I breathe as soon as he breaks the kiss.

“Good girl,” he says in that silky tone of his that makes my body melt for him. “Let’s go home.”

I nod as I wipe away another tear that falls.

“Yes. Let’s.” I take his hand and let him lead the way down the hill to the car.

My phone vibrates in my pocket, but I ignore it. Whatever it is, it can wait.

I’m going home with my husband.

But when it continues to vibrate, I pull it out to turn it off. Notifications of emails and text messages. Nothing that can’t be put off for a day.

As I hit the power down button, my calendar pops up and I freeze.

It’s Tuesday.

Maybe everything horrible doesn’t happen on Tuesdays.

“Turn it off. Ignore the world for one day.” Dmitri covers the phone with his hand.

Once it’s off, I toss it into the backseat.

He flashes me a grin. “Such a good girl.”