Chapter 94: I Want You Out Of The City

He dialed a number. Isabella answered on the third ring, her voice sleepy.

"Dimitri?"

"We need to talk. Now. Your hotel. I’m on my way."

"It’s 4 AM...."

"I’m aware. You have ten minutes to make yourself presentable. And Isabella?" His voice dropped to something absolutely lethal. "If you’re not alone when I get there, if Enzo is there, if anyone is there, I will burn that hotel to the ground with everyone in it. Do you understand?"

A pause. Then, shakily: "I understand."

He hung up.

Mike watched him carefully. "You sure about this? Going to her hotel alone, at 4 AM, while you’re this angry?"

"I’m not going alone. You’re coming with me. As witness." Dimitri headed for the door. "And I’m not angry, Mike. Angry is emotion. This is clarity. Isabella Russo just declared war on the woman I love. Now she’s going to learn what that war costs."

***

POV: ISABELLA

Isabella stood in her hotel suite, hands shaking as she pulled on a silk robe over her nightgown.

Dimitri was coming.

Here.

Now.

At 4 AM.

With fury in his voice that had made her blood run cold.

How did he know?

Viktor had been careful. Professional. The bugs were undetectable. The surveillance was subtle.

Unless....

Oh God.

Unless they’d caught Viktor.

Her phone buzzed. A text from her father.

One of our investigators in your city has gone dark. Viktor Kozlov. Do you know anything about this?

Isabella’s stomach dropped.

They had him.

Dimitri had Viktor.

Which meant Dimitri knew everything.

A knock at the door, three sharp raps that sounded like a death knell.

Isabella took a breath, forced herself to calm, and opened the door.

Dimitri stood there in his shirtsleeves, no jacket, looking like violence barely contained. Mike stood behind him.

"Inside," Dimitri said. Not a request.

Isabella stepped back, let them enter.

The door closed with a quiet click that sounded impossibly loud in the silence.

Dimitri turned to face her, and Isabella had never seen him like this.

Not at the warehouse when he’d crashed their celebration.

Not when he’d broken his engagement.

This was different.

"Viktor Kozlov," Dimitri said quietly. "Ex-FSB investigator. Currently in my custody. He told me some very interesting things about who hired him and why. Would you like to hear what he said?"

Isabella’s mouth went dry. "I don’t know who..."

"Don’t." The single word cracked like a whip. "Don’t lie to me, Isabella. Not now. Not about this. Because if you lie to me right now, I will forget every reason I have to let you live."

She swallowed hard. "What did he tell you?"

"That Lorenzo hired him to build a profile on Eve. Routines. Vulnerabilities. Ways to ’remove’ her without starting open war." Dimitri took a step closer. "That you were copied on all his reports. That you asked specific questions about Phoenix Talent’s security. Entry points. Blind spots. Exit strategies."

"I was just...."

"You bugged her office." Another step. "Her conference room. Her best friend’s apartment. You’ve been listening to her private conversations. Watching. Planning."

"I wasn’t planning anything violent! I just wanted information..."

"For what, Isabella?" Dimitri’s voice was soft now. Deadly. "What exactly were you planning to do with detailed security protocols and exit strategies? Send her a fucking gift basket?"

"I...." Isabella’s voice broke. "I just wanted to understand her. To see if she was really as perfect as everyone thinks. To find..."

"Weaknesses." Dimitri finished. "You were looking for ways to break her. To make her look unsuitable. To drive a wedge between us."

"Yes." The admission came out as a whisper. "Yes. Because she doesn’t belong in our world, Dimitri. She’s not equipped for it. She’s going to get hurt or killed or she’s going to leave you, and I didn’t want you to..."

"To what? Realize I made a mistake choosing her over you?" Dimitri’s laugh was harsh. "Isabella. I didn’t choose Eve over you. I chose Eve over everyone. Over everything. Including my own safety. Including peace with your father. Including every strategic alliance I’ve ever made."

"I know..."

"No. You don’t." He was close now, close enough that she could see the fury burning in his silver-gray eyes. "Let me make this very clear. You are nothing to me. You were an arrangement I never agreed to. A promise my father made when I was too young to stop him. I have never wanted you. I will never want you. And no amount of surveillance or sabotage or manipulation will change that."

Each word was a knife.

Isabella felt tears burning behind her eyes.

"But more than that," Dimitri continued, his voice dropping to something even more dangerous, "You had your father hire someone to build a profile on her.’"

"My father did that without my knowledge...."

"Bullshit. You were copied on every report. You asked follow-up questions. You knew exactly what he was doing and you didn’t stop it." Dimitri’s hand shot out, gripped her chin, forced her to meet his eyes. "Do you have any idea what you’ve done?"

"I was just...."

"You declared war on the woman I love. The woman I would burn the world down to protect. The woman who is more important to me than breathing." His grip tightened. "So here’s what’s going to happen. You’re going to tell me everything. Every plan. Every contingency. Every person involved. And then you’re going to leave this city. Tonight. And you’re never coming back."

"I can’t....my organization with Enzo...."

"Enzo can run it alone. Or he can move it somewhere else. I don’t care. But you....you’re done here. And if I ever find you in this city again, I will kill you myself."

He released her chin, stepped back.

"You have two hours to pack. Marco will escort you to the airport. You’ll fly back to Rome. And you’ll tell your father that if he ever makes another move against Eve, I will dismantle the Russo empire piece by piece until there’s nothing left but ashes and memories."

"Dimitri, please....."

"There is no please. There is no negotiation. There is only what I just told you." His voice was absolute. "Two hours, Isabella. Then i want you gone."

He turned to leave.

"I love you!" The words burst out of her, desperate and broken. "I’ve loved you since I was nine years old! Doesn’t that mean anything?"

Dimitri paused at the door, looked back.

And for just a moment, Isabella saw something in his eyes. Not love. Not even pity.

Just... weariness.

"It means you wasted fourteen years of your life on someone who was never yours to begin with," he said quietly. "I’m sorry for that. Truly. But it doesn’t change anything. You crossed a line. And there’s no coming back from that."

He walked out.

Mike Thorne followed, but paused at the door.

"For what it’s worth," Mike said, "you should have let him go the first time he rejected you. Would have saved everyone a lot of pain."

Then he was gone too.

Isabella stood alone in her hotel suite, tears streaming down her face, her entire world crumbling.

She’d lost.

Not just Dimitri.

Everything.

Her organization in this city. Her partnership with Enzo. Her father’s respect. Her mother’s approval.

All of it.

Gone.

Because she couldn’t let go of a man who’d never wanted her in the first place.

But does that mean that she would give up?

Never! She’ll never give up.

She picked up her phone from the bed and dialed Anthony’s number.