Page 64 of No Longer Mine (Rags & Riches #2)

Chapter Fifty-Three

Dimitri

After some reluctance, I got Scarlett fed.

She told me she had to deal with Oliver today, so she went to get dressed.

I remained downstairs so we didn’t end up doing the opposite of what we were supposed to.

Thankfully, it was the weekend, which meant I didn’t have to deal with politics for an evening, but I knew Alexei would be calling me soon enough about our father.

Fully dressed now, I stretched along her couch and waited patiently until a buzzing sound sounded nearby and my curiosity got the best of me. I patted the cushions until I unearthed the phone that was causing the buzzing. It was a small, black flip phone.

I flicked it open and a text appeared.

Oliver

Are you ready to get back into the field? I have another job for you.

I frowned. Another job? I fired off a quick text back.

Me

Still injured.

Oliver

Wait, what happened?

Me

I was shot?

The phone rang immediately. I clicked the answer button and waited for him to say something. He didn’t.

“It’s Dimitri.”

He let out a relieved sounding chuckle. “You were shot? Or are you fucking with me?”

“Scarlett was shot. She didn’t tell you?”

“No, she forgot to mention that. When?”

“When she was going after my father.”

“Shit.” He let out a breath into the phone. “Where is she? How bad was it?”

“It was shallow. She’s upstairs getting dressed. She knew you were going to send her on another job, didn’t she? That’s why you two were seeing each other today?”

He let out a sound that resembled a hum. “Not exactly. I told her we had a few bids, but she told me she didn’t know when she was going to get back in the field. I wanted to see her today because there’s something that needs to be discussed in person.”

“Oh?” I paced back and forth in her living room, sure to run a hole through the floor if I kept it up.

“You’re more than welcome to come with her, but this isn’t something I’m going to tell you before I tell her.”

“Do you agree with her going back to work after learning about her little mishap with a bullet?”

He cleared his throat. “Dimitri, I mean this with as much respect as I can muster… She will do whatever the fuck she wants to do. I can threaten to quit all I want to but we all know that if she needs me, I’ll be there. The reason I do this is so she doesn’t get herself killed.”

He had a point. She wouldn’t just stop because someone else wanted her to.

“What are you doing?” I turned around to the sound of Scarlett’s voice and snapped the phone shut.

I held it out to her. “Oliver said I can come with you if you’d like.”

She narrowed her eyes at me. “Where did you find that?”

I hooked a thumb over my shoulder toward the couch. “In the cushions.”

She took the phone away from me carefully, as if I would snap at her. I didn’t know what I felt, but I knew I wasn’t going to hurt her or her feelings just because I didn’t agree with her lifestyle or how she wanted to continue with it.

“He’s offering you another job.”

She nodded her head slowly. “I figured he would.”

“Do you wanna tell me why you didn’t tell him you were shot?”

She closed her eyes and took a deep breath as she tucked the phone against her chest. “I didn’t want to worry him or Cleo. We sometimes go weeks without speaking… The ghosts and demons get too close to the surface, and we just disappear for a while. He didn’t ask, and I didn’t tell.”

“Because he would have insisted that you quit?”

She shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe I just didn’t want to worry him for no reason. He’s seen me at my absolute worst too many times. I just wanted to spare them from another scare.”

“Okay,” my voice came out resigned and slightly sorrowful.

She lowered herself onto the arm of the couch and watched me. “I don’t have to leave for a few more hours.”

“What would you like to do?”

She tucked the phone back into the couch cushions and watched me for a beat. “Last night, I asked you to tell me about your past, but I was worried it would ruin our night.”

She was right, it would have ruined it. The last thing I wanted to think about was all of the things I’d done wrong while I was sitting across from the one thing I’d done right.

She continued, “Your family told me a little bit about the woman you were involved with before.”

“Of course they did,” I muttered as I closed my eyes. I could still see Cassie in my head. I didn’t want to think of her when I was with Scarlett. Especially now that I assumed she was a traitor to begin with. I didn’t want to sully my time with this woman by thinking of another.

“They didn’t tell me much, if that helps.”

I blinked my eyes back open and nodded. “They didn’t know enough to tell.

I kept Cassie a secret from all of them.

My father wanted me to end up with someone influential.

Someone with money and connections in this elitist bullshit world.

I was already planning on proposing to her when he sent his suggestions for future brides. ”

Her sad gaze went to the floor beneath my feet.

“He put a hit on her just as he did with Audrey last year. He wasn’t successful with Audrey. He was successful with Cassie.”

“That…” She swallowed. “That was who the ring was meant for?”

I nodded. “It wasn’t until a few months ago that I realized she was probably working for my father all along.

My brother, Ace, dropped a little hint at dinner one evening, as I would have never answered the phone if he’d tried to call.

I tried to push it out of my head. But the more I think about it…

the more it makes sense. I was careful. The only people who knew about us were the grannies. ”

“You don’t think they—” She started.

I shook my head. “No, they don’t exactly like my father. They tolerate him, but if they knew everything…” I shrugged.

“I’m so sorry,” She slid off the arm of the couch and took a step toward me before she stopped herself. “I didn’t know about the ring. I guess I thought it didn’t mean much to you because it wasn’t locked up tight in one of your safes with your other valuables.”

I reached forward and brushed my fingers over the back of her hand. “I tossed it into that drawer to try to forget about it. I didn’t think sticky fingers here would be the one to find it.” A small smile stretched my lips.

She stared at our hands, her brow furrowing slightly. “I didn’t mean to open an old wound.”

“You didn’t,” I said gently. “Cassie was a scar.”

Her gaze lifted to mine at that, and the weight of it settled in my chest. There were a thousand unspoken things in her eyes—fear, understanding, a flicker of something dangerously close to hope.

“I’m not her,” she said softly.

“I don’t want you to be.” I closed the distance between us, bringing her hand to my lips.

She exhaled slowly, as if she’d been holding that breath for a long time. “I don’t want to be another scar.”

“You won’t be.” My voice was firm.

“Are you going to be upset if I continue to target elite assholes?” She wouldn’t look me in the eye as she chewed on her bottom lip.

I rubbed her hand between mine. “I don’t know. I don’t like it. I don’t want you to do it, but I want you in my life and I know I can’t control you.”

Her lips twitched. “Even though you’d like to.”

I shook my head and planted another kiss on her knuckles. “I don’t want to control you. I want to see your thrive. I want to be the one to help you get there. I want to see who you really are and celebrate her every single step of the way.”

Her eyes filled with tears as she tried, unsuccessfully, to blink them away. “What if I tell you that I don’t want to be with you?”

“You’re going to have a hard time getting rid of me.”

I yanked her into my arms and pressed my nose to the top of her head. My phone rang in my pocket, and I knew that avoiding work was no longer an option.