Page 24 of Immoral (Park Avenue Kings #3)

BENOIT

I WAS IN deep shit.

I should’ve known better than to follow Dimitri tonight.

He’d never let slip his intended location before, but I’d been getting too comfortable, thinking that after last night he’d never suspect me.

I was too in my element, too charming for him to possibly think I was anyone other than the dancer I claimed to be.

How wrong was I?

Dimitri pressed his gun against my neck deeper, making it difficult to breathe. But if I didn’t say something and soon, I might not get the chance again.

“Now, now, mon monstre. No need to be so rough.” I winked, still playing my part just in case. “Although we both know I like it that way.”

“Don’t fuck around with me?—”

“Why?” I asked, batting my lashes. “If I recall, you rather liked when I did that.”

Dimitri gritted his teeth, his dark eyes close to black now. “Who. The. Fuck. Are. You?”

Merde. It was clear my ruse was up, and all I could hope for was to keep him talking long enough that Alessio found me and Dimitri didn’t, oh, I don’t know, pull the trigger.

“What do you mean? I’m Benoit. You know that?—”

“I know you’re lying to me.”

“ Non, ” I said, then shrugged the best I could. “Well, not about that, anyway.”

Dimitri’s nostrils flared as he shoved a leg between mine and leaned into me, crushing me to the wall. It was a move I would’ve enjoyed had the barrel of a gun not been kissing my jaw.

“You think I’m playing here? That this isn’t loaded?”

No, I definitely didn’t think that. Dimitri had set this trap well for me.

For weeks now we’d been playing a dangerous game of chess, from the second I stepped on the stage of his club back in Dubai.

So there was no way I believed he’d set this up without having an end game in mind.

And the fact he was an arms dealer led me to believe that game ended with him taking this queen off the chessboard.

“I’m pretty, not stupid. You’d never put a gun to anyone’s head without having a bullet in it. But really, mon monstre , do you want to mess up such perfection?”

“So that mouth really is yours, not part of an act?”

“I told you—you know me.”

“I know who you want me to know.” Dimitri’s jaw clenched, and it made the jagged scar on his cheek even more pronounced. Or maybe that was just the fact it was a glaring reminder of how brutal he could be. “Who you were sent to be.”

“And who is that?”

“The perfect distraction.”

I preened a little despite my completely fucked situation. “Why thank?—”

“That wasn’t a fucking compliment,” Dimitri growled, and slowly cocked his head. “Who do you work for?”

A bunch of assholes who are late to the party, that’s who.

But I wasn’t about to say that .

“You. Really, Dimitri. You’ve got this all wrong.”

“I don’t think so,” he said, his voice lowering several menacing octaves as he leaned in and put his mouth by my ear.

“I think I’ve finally got this right. All the languages.

The casual way you show up at the exact right time to see information you shouldn’t.

The man at the club calling you a different name…

I think you’re working for someone, and you’re going to tell me who before?—”

“You what?” I said, and turned my head so we were eye to eye with the gun between us. “You put that in my mouth? Come now . You might want me dead, but we both know you’d rather put something else in my mouth than that gun.”

A flare of something—could’ve been arousal or rage—flashed in his eyes before he lowered the gun and yanked me in so our mouths were a whisper apart.

“I don’t like traitors.”

“So why haven’t you pulled the trigger yet?”

His eyes narrowed a fraction. “I’m waiting for an answer.”

“Maybe.” I lowered my eyes to his mouth. “But I don’t think that’s all. You could’ve sent anyone out here tonight to get answers. Instead you came alone. Why?”

Dimitri jammed the gun back under my chin, his eyes blazing. “You’re not the one asking the fucking questions here. Tell me who sent you, or the next thing I do will be pulling the trigger.”

The sound of a gun cocking had Dimitri freezing, and I looked past his shoulder to where Lachlan stood, looking far too trigger happy with his weapon pointed at Dimitri’s head.

“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” he said. “But if you’d like to try, it’d give me an excuse to blow your skull clean off your shoulders. Your choice.”

A second gun was cocked, this time from Dimitri’s other side, and Alessio smirked.

“Now, Lachlan, maybe we should hear the guy out. Ask him why he thinks it’s a good idea to threaten Benny boy.”

Dimitri turned his head slowly toward Alessio, the gun at his forehead, and recognition dawned. “I’ve seen you. The Christmas markets.”

“Not as stealthy as you thought,” I said to Alessio, my breath coming out on a gasp. I tried moving my neck to the side to get some air, but Dimitri jerked his attention back to me and didn’t give an inch. Even with the guns pointed at his head.

The man had no fear. It was as impressive as it was terrifying.

“What gave it away?” I said. “The hair, right? So long and luscious?—”

“Shut the fuck up,” Dimitri snapped, my sweater still tangled in his fist. “What have you done?”

Alessio moved in closer. “You’re not the one asking the questions anymore. Drop the gun.”

Conflict warred in Dimitri’s eyes, and though he didn’t show it, I knew he was regretting his choice to lure me here without backup. He was in a shit position now, but a man like him wouldn’t go down without a fight.

“And if I do?” he bit out, his stare locked on me. “What happens then? You dump my body in the canals and steal my business?”

“Sounds familiar,” Alessio mused. “Isn’t that what you did to your mentor?”

Lachlan snorted, his focus on Dimitri never wavering. “I heard he was chopped into so many pieces that they’ll never find them all. Sounds like the work of a psychopath to me.”

Lachlan didn’t have room to talk, but that was still news I hadn’t heard before. It was not like I wasn’t aware I’d been sleeping with a dangerous man, but we’d never gone into specifics about his work or his mentor. That’d been part of the plan, but one wrong move and here we were.

The fact that everyone still had guns drawn didn’t bode well for whatever they’d seen and heard on the recordings.

My stomach sank at that realization, a reaction I hadn’t expected. Somewhere in the back of my mind I’d hoped we wouldn’t end this month together on bad terms, but now it seemed the time I’d spent with Dimitri would be all I got.

Mission completed.

So why did my chest feel tight?

“Here’s what’s gonna happen,” Alessio said. “You’ll drop your weapon and come with us. As long as you don’t pull any bullshit, you’ll end up in one piece when we get there.”

“I don’t believe you,” Dimitri said.

“That’s your choice. Bossman wants to see you. We have our orders, and they don’t include bringing in your lifeless body.”

“But we’ll do it,” Lachlan’s words were a dark promise he wouldn’t hesitate to act on. “And don’t think I won’t enjoy the hell out of making you suffer.”

“With an offer like that, who could say no?” Dimitri narrowed his eyes on mine, searching, and I could see the moment he made his decision.

He lowered his gun from my neck, but instead of tossing it on the ground, he shocked all three of us by putting it in my hands.

“If you’re going to threaten me, then you be the one to pull the trigger,” he said, stepping back from me, his powerful body vibrating with unleashed fury.

Lachlan searched him for other weapons, finding several more and pocketing them all.

The weight of his gun was too heavy in my hands, the feel of it unfamiliar—and unwanted. Violence wasn’t my scene, and I knew there was no way in hell I’d ever shoot Dimitri.

Well…if there were a threat to my brothers I would, but it wouldn’t be a fatal shot. Maybe in the leg or something to have him incapacitated for a few minutes, but not dead on the ground.

I shuddered at the thought and wondered why I didn’t feel more relief at my brothers showing up when they did.

Dimitri had been ready to kill me. He’d hesitated, sure, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t have followed through.

I’d lied, broken his trust, and was now a traitor in his eyes. In his world, there was nothing worse.

“Benoit.” Alessio jerked his head to the side for me to join him, and then we followed behind Dimitri and Lachlan and began the walk to wherever King had set up camp.

There was no telling what version of King we’d face when we arrived, but one thing I did know: this version of Dimitri somehow felt more lethal than he had with his gun in hand.

And that was something that should’ve scared us all.