Chapter 52: You Should Be Afraid Of Him

Eve walked to the window, looking down at the street below. Somewhere down there, Enzo Valentino was probably very pleased with himself. He’d gotten exactly what he wanted....chaos, doubt, a wedge driven between her and Dimitri right when something bigger was clearly already in motion.

In the family business, loyalty is everything. But so is knowing which side of the line you’re standing on.

She’d already chosen her side seven weeks ago, drunk and devastated and desperate in a nightclub.

She’d chosen it again when she signed that contract.

And again when she told Mike she loved Dimitri.

And again when she said I love you to Dimitri’s face and watched him struggle to understand what the words meant.

Enzo Valentino thought he could shake her certainty with cryptic warnings and dead mothers and insinuations about surviving the Devil’s attention.

He had no idea how strong her certainty had become.

"Marco," she said, still looking out the window. "When Dimitri gets here, I want you to tell him something for me."

"Ma’am?"

She turned, meeting his eyes. "Tell him that whatever he thinks he needs to say to give me an out, to let me walk away clean....I don’t want it. I’m not interested in exits. I want the truth, all of it, and then I want to know how we’re going to handle his bastard brother together."

Marco’s lips twitched. Almost a smile. "I’ll tell him."

"Good." She returned to her desk, pulling her laptop toward her. "Now, I’m going to finish these quarterly reports. And you’re going to stand there and tell me everything you know about Enzo Valentino that won’t get you killed for betraying Dimitri’s confidence."

"That’s not much, ma’am."

"Then tell me what you can."

Marco considered her for a long moment, then moved to his position by the door, arms crossed over his chest.

"He’s twenty-seven. Antonio’s son from his second marriage. Jealous. Ambitious. Been trying to prove himself worthy of being Dimitri’s heir since he was old enough to understand what that meant." He paused. "And he’s in love with Isabella Russo."

Eve’s head snapped up. "Isabella. The woman Dimitri’s supposed to marry."

"The engagement his father arranged when Dimitri was fifteen and she was nine," Marco confirmed. "She’s in love with Dimitri. Enzo’s in love with her. It’s a mess."

"Jesus Christ," Eve muttered. "And she’s....what, coming here? Is that what this is about?"

"Her flight lands tomorrow," Marco said quietly. "Dimitri doesn’t know I told you that."

"I won’t tell him." Eve sat back, processing. A half-brother who wanted what Dimitri had. A fiancée who loved Dimitri but was loved by the brother. And her....the complication nobody had planned for.

Choose carefully, Ms. Thorne. Not everyone survives the Devil’s attention.

"Marco," she said softly. "The vehicle that’s been circling the building. Do you think it’s Enzo?"

"Don’t know yet. Could be. Could be Isabella’s people. Could be someone else entirely." He met her eyes. "But someone wants Dimitri to know they’re watching. And the thing they’re watching is you."

Eve’s hand drifted unconsciously to her chest, where her heart was beating steady and strong.

Seven weeks ago, that knowledge would have terrified her.

Now?

Now she just felt ready.

"Then let them watch," she said quietly. "Let them all see exactly how hard I am to break."

Marco’s smile was sharp and approving. "Yes, ma’am."

The next twenty-eight minutes passed in tense silence. Eve worked, or pretended to, her mind racing through everything Enzo had said, everything he’d implied, the way he’d looked at her like she was a piece in a game she didn’t fully understand yet.

You should ask him about his mother.

She would. Tonight. And Dimitri would tell her, because he’d promised, and if there was one thing she’d learned about the Devil in seven weeks, it was that he kept his promises to her.

Even when they cost him.

Especially when they cost him.

When her office door flew open exactly thirty minutes after the call, Eve was ready.

Dimitri stood in the doorway, and the sight of him stole her breath the way it always did. Six-four of lethal grace in a black suit, his silver-gray eyes sweeping the room, cataloging everything, landing on her with an intensity that made her skin flush.

He looked at her for three seconds.

Then his gaze cut to Marco. "Out."

Marco left without a word, pulling the door shut behind him.

The lock clicked.

Dimitri crossed the room in four strides, came around her desk, and pulled her to her feet. His hands framed her face, tilting it up, his eyes searching hers with something close to desperation.

"He touched you," Dimitri said, his voice raw.

"A handshake," Eve said steadily. "Nothing more."

"He knew your divorce was finalized. He knows about us. He came here to test you, to test me, to see how deep this goes." His thumb brushed her cheekbone, and his hand was shaking....barely, but she felt it. "He played you perfectly. Charming, professional, just enough warning to plant doubt without being obvious enough for you to throw him out."

"I almost did throw him out," Eve said. "Something felt wrong."

"Your instincts are good." His forehead dropped to hers, and he breathed her in like she was oxygen. "Too good. You shouldn’t have to use them in your own office Cara mia."

"Dimitri." She brought her hands up to cover his where they still held her face. "I’m okay. I’m not afraid of him."

"You should be." He pulled back enough to meet her eyes. "He’s dangerous, Eve. Maybe not the way I am, but he’s desperate. And desperate men do unpredictable things."

"Then tell me everything," she said. "Right now. Not tonight. Now. I want to know"

Dimitri studied her for a long moment, and she saw the war raging behind his eyes....the need to protect her versus the knowledge that protection meant truth, not shelter.