Chapter 54: Then let’s go to war

"What do you want?" Eve asked quietly.

Dimitri turned, and the look in his eyes made her breath catch.

"I want you," he said simply. "Only you. For as long as you’ll have me."

Eve crossed to him, took his face in her hands the way he so often did to hers.

"Then you have me," she said. "And we’ll handle Enzo together. And Isabella. And your father. And whoever else thinks they can use me to break you." She kissed him softly. "I’m not fragile, Dimitri. I’m not your mother. I’m the woman who watched you torture a man and got wet. I’m the woman who saw you covered in blood and chose to stay. I’m the woman who fell in love with the Devil knowing exactly what that meant."

His arms came around her, crushing her against his chest.

"He said I should ask you about your mother," Eve murmured into his shoulder. "About what happens to the women you love. But here’s what he doesn’t know...." She pulled back enough to meet his eyes. "You haven’t said you love me yet. And maybe you don’t. Maybe you won’t. But either way, I can take care of myself. I’m not a weapon someone can use against you. I’m a partner. Start treating me like one."

Dimitri stared at her for a long, silent moment.

Then he laughed....a real laugh, rough and surprised and filled with something that might have been wonder.

"Fuck," he breathed. "You’re magnificent."

"I know." She smiled, fierce and certain. "Now, are we going to stand here all day, or are you going to take me home and tell me everything else I need to know before Isabella lands tomorrow?"

His eyes darkened. "How do you...."

"Marco told me. Don’t be mad at him," she repeated. "He’s loyal to you, but he respects me enough to give me the information I need to survive."

"I’m going to have to give that man a raise."

"You should." Eve stepped back, straightening her clothes, suddenly all business. "Now. I have one more meeting at four, then I’m yours for the evening. Marco stays with me until then. You go do whatever terrifying thing you need to do to send a message to Enzo that coming to my office was a mistake. And then we go home, and you tell me everything, and we make a plan."

"A plan," Dimitri repeated, something like amusement in his voice.

"Yes. A plan. Because I assume you have one, and I assume it’s brutal and effective, and I want to know my part in it." She tilted her head. "Unless you’d prefer to keep me in the dark and protected like some fragile thing that needs sheltering?"

"No," he said immediately. "No, Cara Mia. You want to be a partner? Then we’re partners." He moved to her, pressed a hard kiss to her forehead. "But you need to understand...being my partner means seeing things you can’t unseen. Doing things you can’t undo. Are you ready for that?"

Eve thought of the warehouse. The torture. The severed hand. The fight club. All the darkness she’d already witnessed and chosen anyway.

"I’ve been ready," she said simply.

Dimitri’s smile was sharp and approving and filled with something that looked almost like pride.

"Then let’s go to war, baby," he said softly. "Together."

****

POV: DIMITRI

Dimitri left Eve’s office with Marco at his side, his mind already calculating angles, consequences, responses.

Enzo had made his opening move. Walked into Eve’s territory, touched her hand, planted doubt, and walked away clean.

It was elegant. Exactly the kind of play Antonio would make...subtle, psychological, designed to cause maximum damage without overt violence.

It was also a declaration of war.

"Tell me," Dimitri said as they stepped into the elevator, "every word he said to her."

Marco recited the conversation verbatim, his voice flat and professional, but Dimitri heard the fury underneath. Marco had been with him for eight years. He understood what Eve meant. What touching her, threatening her, playing games with her meant.

By the time they reached the parking garage, Dimitri’s hands were steady, his expression calm, his mind crystalline with cold rage.

"He’s at Hotel Noir," Marco said. "Checked in under Russo Holdings. Four men with him....two of Antonio’s, two unknowns."

"The unknowns," Dimitri said quietly. "Find out who they are. Where they came from. Who sent them. I want to know within the hour."

"Already on it."

They reached the car...the Aston Martin, black and lethal....and Dimitri paused with his hand on the door.

"The vehicle that circled the building. Was it him?"

"Don’t know yet. Could be. Could be Isabella’s people scouting. Could be Antonio testing our response." Marco met his eyes. "Could be someone else entirely."

Someone else. A third player Dimitri hadn’t accounted for. The thought made his jaw clench.

"Double Eve’s security. I want four men minimum. Two inside, two outside. Rotation every six hours." He pulled out his phone, texting rapid-fire instructions. "And get me everything on Enzo’s movements since he landed. Every person he’s met, every call he’s made, every place he’s been."

"You’re going to kill him," Marco said. Not a question.

Dimitri looked up from his phone. "No. Not yet. First, I’m going to remind him why I’m the Devil and he’s just a boy playing at being dangerous."

"What do you need from me?"

"Find him. Tonight. Bring him to the warehouse." Dimitri’s smile was cold and lethal. "It’s time my baby brother and I had a conversation about boundaries."

Marco nodded once and disappeared into the garage.

Dimitri stood alone beside his car, forcing his breathing to slow, his heart to steady.

Enzo had touched her.

Shook her hand. Brushed his thumb across her knuckles. Looked at what belonged to Dimitri and thought he could test it, claim it, use it.

The rage was a living thing inside his chest, burning hotter than anything he’d felt in years.

But underneath the rage was something else. Something that felt almost like fear.

You should ask him about your mother. About what happens to the women the Valentino men claim to love.

Enzo had hit exactly where it would hurt most...the wound Dimitri had carried for twenty-four years. The knowledge that loving him made Eve a target. That everyone who wanted to hurt him would come for her first.

Just like they’d come for his mother.