Russian Hitman's Innocent American (10 page)

He opened his mouth, and she tensed as she tried to prepare herself for what he would say next. Instead, he snapped it shut and turned. “I’m going out for supplies. Do not leave this hotel room.”

“Please. By all means,” she said as she sank down on the bed. Tears threatened to fall, but she held them back. She would not let him see how much he hurt her. She would not let him see how much she cared about him.

As he stormed toward the door, she willed him to turn and say something. Apologize. Admit that he liked having her around. Anything. He paused at the door, but he didn’t turn around. “I don’t want you to get hurt.”

“It’s too late for that,” she said softly. “But I’m sure I’ll get over it.”

He yanked the door opened and slammed it closed behind him.

Charley finally let herself cry.

Maybe it was minutes. Maybe it was hours. She didn’t even know how much time had passed before she heard the distinct click of the hotel key card on the outside of the door. Wiping her face and squaring her shoulders, she rose. It was time to tell Dmitri that when this was all over, she didn’t ever want to see his face again. Of course, it probably didn’t even matter. She doubted it would hurt him one bit if he never saw her again.

But Dmitri wasn’t the person who walked through the door.

Charley’s jaw clenched as Daphne, clad all in leather, stepped into the room with a chilling smile. “You know; I’d actually been looking forward to a fight. Imagine my surprise when lover boy just left you all alone. Ripe for the picking.”

Charley refused to back down. She had no weapon and no Dmitri. She obviously wasn’t going to get out of this one, but that didn’t mean she was going to beg for her life. Instead, she cocked her head and stared at the assassin. “Has anyone ever told you that you are the worst roommate?”

A small smile played out on Daphne’s lips. “I cleaned up after myself, didn’t I? Come on. What do you really have to complain about?”

“Most roommates don’t try to kill each other.” Charley’s eyes drifted to the gun. “Is there not an assassin rule against killing an unarmed civilian?”

Daphne clucked her tongue against her teeth. “I’m not here to kill you, love. My employer has big plans for you.”

“So my death isn’t on the table just yet?”

“Not yet.”

Charley took a deep breath. “Good.” Reaching behind her, she grabbed a pillow off the bed and flung it at Daphne. Hoping it was enough of a diversion, she tried to bolt past her.

It wasn’t. An arm wrapped around her waist, and she was suddenly flying through the air. She’d barely opened her mouth to scream before she crashed into something. Pain seared through her as wood and glass cracked under her. Dazed, she turned her head. Her vision was blurry, but she recognized Daphne bent over her.

“I like the fight in you, Charley. No matter what, there’s always hope in you. I guess you think maybe lover boy is going to save you.”

Charley could only groan in response. She felt blood spilling out of her.

Daphne chuckled. “Probably not this time.”

As she listened to Daphne bark orders to the group of men who spilled into the room, Charley felt any hope left escape her. Daphne was right. There were only so many times Dmitri was going to stick his neck out for her. He didn’t love her. He probably didn’t even like her.

And she’d most likely used up every single one of those chances.

Chapter Nine

He walked into the house with his weapon drawn. The two women in the living room turned and stared at him. He recognized one of them immediately.

Veronika Saiko. She was the beautiful ice princess who would ruin their whole plan. His one chance at killing Fedor Saiko was ensnared by her beauty. She would ruin everything. He should kill her now.

But the other one took his breath away. She was absolutely stunning. As his eyes lingered over her curves, he imagined his hands gripping her hips and pulling her closely. He imagined his fingers tangling in those curls as her red lips opened in silent pleasure.

Blinking in surprise, he forced his wandering mind to focus. He was not built for that. He was raised and trained only to kill. And the man who took this beauty would have to be one who loved. There was nothing but innocence in her eyes and vulnerability written all over her face.

She stood and put her hands on her hips. A small smile tugged at his lips as she glowered at him. “Who the hell are you and what are you doing in my house?” she demanded.

He holstered his weapon and gave her what he hoped was his most charming look. She may seem innocent and vulnerable, but there was a fire in her that burned hotter than anything he had ever seen.

She was Charley Barns. The American student caught in the crossfire of a dangerous game of vengeance. And if he wasn’t careful, she might be the weapon that could bring him down.

***

What the hell was he doing? Dmitri tried to clear his head as he walked to the store. Charley wasn’t wrong. If he really trusted someone else to keep her safe, he would have done so already. And it wasn’t even that he thought she wouldn’t be safe. He just needed her to be gone.

He didn’t want her gone. He wanted her by his side where he could put his arms around her whenever he wanted. But he was going to kill Ivan. Dmitri didn’t want Charley anywhere near him when he did that. He didn’t want her to see how he planned a kill. He wanted to hide the man he became just before a kill. And he certainly didn’t want her to see what he looked like afterward.

She would think that he was a monster. That alone terrified him.

His phone vibrated in his pocket, and he glanced down. Kazimir. Finally.

“Where the hell have you been?” he growled.

“I see that you’re in an excellent mood,” Kaz said casually. “I didn’t want Veronika anywhere near the situation, so we took an unscheduled vacation.”

There was a time when this would have made Dmitri roll his eyes. He thought it was ridiculous that a man as cold as Kazimir would ever fall in love. But he was closer to the situation. And it didn’t seem funny at all.

“Does Veronika know?”

“She does now that she’s heard all the damn voicemails that you left me, and she’s mad as hell at me that I’ve kept her away. That’s why I’m back. You need to take care of this, Dmitri. Immediately. Do you understand?”

“I’m closer than you think. I need someone to look out for Charley while I handle things. She trusts you.”

“I’m not your damn babysitter,” Kaz growled. “I was hoping for more action.”

Dmitri smiled. Retirement clearly didn’t suit Kaz. “How would Veronika respond if she knew that you were refusing to keep Charley safe?”

“You will pay for that statement.”

Dmitri stopped and leaned against a nearby building. There was an odd sensation on the back of his neck. Was he being watching? He turned casually and scanned the area. “So you’ll do it?”

“Why is she still with you, anyway? I thought for sure that you would have shipped her miles away by now.”

He tried to keep a casual face as he kept looking at the people as they walked past. “Keeping her close kept her safe.”

“Sure. Keep her right in the heart of the action. You’re right. That does sound safe,” Kaz joked. “At least tell me that you’re not sleeping with her.”

“That’s none of your damn business,” he said coldly.

“Shit,” Kaz said quietly. “You are sleeping with her.”

There. Dmitri’s eyes narrowed as he finally spotted the man staring at him. Knowing that he was made, the man took off in the opposite direction.

Toward the hotel.

His heart lurched in his throat as he abruptly hung up on Kaz and took off running as well. If they were watching him, they knew that he had left.

And that Charley was alone.

He reached the hotel in half the time it took him to leave, but it didn’t matter. She was gone. Dmitri stared at the hotel room. The coffee table lay splintered in the middle of the floor, and a trail of blood led to the door. Someone was injured. Maybe even dead.

He was torn between fear and rage. He should have never left her alone. This was his fault, and if she died because of him, it would haunt him for the rest of his life. It might even kill him.

A note on the dresser was streaked with blood. It only had a phone number written on it. Gripping the hotel phone, he dialed the number.

“Anton?” Ivan answered in a mild voice. Dmitri gritted his teeth, and Ivan chuckled softly. “No. That’s right. You go by Dmitri these days.”

“Where is she?”

“The girl? She’s quite the beauty. I applaud your taste. She’s fine. Well, I say fine. What I mean is that she’s alive. And she’ll stay that way if you’d like. It’s all up to you.”

Dmitri gripped the phone and tried to remain cool. “You killed my father.”

“Ah, see there you’re wrong. I gave your father a choice, and he chose wrong. I didn’t pull the trigger, Dmitri.”

“Semantics. You killed him, and you lied to me all my life.”

“That’s a bit like the pot calling the kettle black, isn’t it? After all, you let me think you were dead all these years. It wasn’t until I saw the body in the safe house that I recognized you. Imagine my surprise when my Anton was identified as the deadly assassin known as Dmitri. Why did you do it? Why did you leave me?”

Dmitri was surprised at the sudden inflection of emotion in Ivan’s voice. Was it possible that the old man had actually loved him? “You wanted power and money, and you were going to use me to get it. Don’t deny it. All I wanted was to avenge my father. You raised me to do just that, and when you realized that I had a talent for killing, you wanted to exploit it.”

Dimly, he heard Ivan chuckle. “You didn’t exactly save your skills for Fedor, now did you? There are scores of dead bodies in your past, and enough money in your bank account to prove that you’ve done quite well for yourself. Don’t question my morals, boy.”

“I will kill you,” he hissed.

“Yes. I figured that you would feel that way,” Ivan said mildly. “You could work for me instead, you know. I’d even let you freelance in your own time. We could be a family again.”

“You killed my family. And for what? Because my father wouldn’t make weapons for you?”

“I was his friend!” Ivan suddenly howled. “He would make them for Fedor, but he wouldn’t make them for me? Do you have any idea how humiliating that was? I offered him more money and more safety. I offered him freedom from Fedor, and he turned me down!”

Dmitri waited for Ivan to calm down. When he spoke again, his voice was even. “Your father thought he had a way out from Fedor’s thumb. He said that he was getting out. He didn’t want to raise you on a mountain of bodies. But I wanted in. I wanted in, and your father could have done that for me. He didn’t have to die, Dmitri. We could have been great together.”

“It looks like it didn’t matter. You got what you wanted anyway,” Dmitri pointed out. “Tell me where the woman is, and I’ll make sure your death is quick. That is the best that I can offer you.”

At first, Ivan didn’t say anything. When he spoke, his voice was low and dark. “I never wanted in on the Russian game. I just needed the contacts and the wealth to start somewhere else. So here is the deal, Anton. I’m on my way out of the country. Once I’m gone, I’m disappearing. You’ll never find me.”

Dmitri gripped the phone. “You’ll never get to the plane. I’ll kill you before that happens.”

“If you want your woman alive, you won’t come near me. I’m going to give you the address where I’ve got your precious Charley. I’m thirty minutes away from the airport. If I don’t call to say that I’m safely on board the plane, she’s dead. So you can either let me go, or you can save her.”

Dmitri swallowed hard. “I’ve spent a lifetime waiting for the moment to get revenge on the man who killed my father. Why would you gamble your life on that of a woman I just met?”

“The boy I raised would have killed anyone who could identify him. The man who kept her alive and safe did so out of love. I feel assured you’ll make the right decision.”

Dmitri closed his eyes and inwardly cursed. Ivan was making him choose. “Why give me the address if you plan on releasing her once you’re safely on the plane?”

“I never said I was releasing her. When I make the call, she’s dead.”

Dmitri’s heart sped up. Charley was dead either way unless he could get to her on time. “The address,” he hissed.

“She’s where you betrayed me, my boy. She’ll die there.” The phone went dead, and Dmitri stared at it. He was holding Charley on the bridge where Dmitri had first faked his death. He would never be able to save her and get to Ivan in time. In fact, if he waited too much longer, he’d never get to Charley at all.

She might die anyway. There wasn’t any way in hell that Dmitri was going to let Ivan get away with that.

With a whispered apology, he made his decision.

***

Charley shivered as the wind whipped around them. They stood precariously on the steel beams under a bridge and over the dangerous currents of the rocky river below them. If she fell, she had no doubt she would die. She stared at her former roommate as she held the gun to her. For a moment, she thought briefly of just letting go. At least if she fell, she’d have some sort of control over how she died.

A hollow victory, but a victory nonetheless.

“You look nervous. Afraid that Dmitri will choose Ivan over you?” Daphne said with a cold smile.

She was afraid of that, but she wasn’t about to tell Daphne. “You should be more concerned about what happens if he chooses me. He’ll never let you live,” Charley said as she gripped the beam. God, how was it possible that with a hundred cars passing over them, no one knew that they were under here?

A nervous looked passed through Daphne’s eyes, and Charley felt triumphant. “If he doesn’t come for me, then Ivan’s dead, and you’ve lost the person who signs your checks. Neither is a great situation for you.”

“Stop talking,” Daphne snarled.

“Hey, you started this conversation.” Charley peered nervously over the edge. Yup. Death for sure. “I’m just wondering what your future plans are.”