Page 77 of Savage Little Secret

“Cowards,” Dmitri mutters. “Should’ve known Ferro’s crew would run.”

Shock and realization hit me like bolts of lightning. “Ferro? The Italians? They’re the ones who did this to me?”

Dmitri nods and turns his body so that I can see a dead man lying on the ground nearby. “That’s Enrico Ferro, the one who was orchestrating all of this.”

My eyes roam over the man’s face as I try to ignore how gruesome the whole scene looks. My eyebrows then lift in realization. “I remember him. I pulled his file for you.”

“And I tortured him,” Dmitri replies.

“Are you sure it was just the Italians?” I ask Dmitri, trying to remember all the different voices that I heard.

“Why would you say that?” Dmitri asks me as he frowns in confusion.

“A lot of people questioned me about different people. I doubt it was just the Italians,” I tell him. “They asked me about you, my dad, Luca, and Andrei. But I swear I didn’t say anything.”

Dmitri’s eyes roam over my face. He holds me tighter and takes a deep breath. It almost sounds shaky. “You’re safe, Cara. Enrico’s dead. And everyone who touched you or hurt you will follow.”

“We should leave before they call for reinforcements,” Sean tells Dmitri. He glances over at me, his mouth tilting downward. “You look like you’ve been through hell…but you’re still breathing.”

His words catch me off guard so much that I don’t even know what to say in return. Why is he talking to me like this? He actually sounds…nice.

“Let’s go,” Dmitri says before carrying me toward the front door. “We need to get Cara to a doctor.”

I take advantage of that moment to glance around, drinking in my surroundings and getting a look at the house that I was held captive in for weeks. It’s just an old farmhouse. Nothing special.

It’s the perfect cover.

“How did you find me?” I ask Dmitri as he walks out onto the front porch. I immediately take a deep breath, letting the fresh air finally fill my lungs. Even the sensation of the air on my skin feels incredible.

“That’s a long story,” Dmitri tells me.

I frown as silence follows his words. “Are you okay? Are you injured?”

“I’m fine,” Dmitri assures me, not slowing his pace as he carries me across the field toward one of the black vans parked on the dirt driveway. He approaches the side where the sliding door is open, fluorescent light flooding the inside where there are weapons and gear stored.

I resist the urge to protest when he sets me down to sit on the edge of the opening. “Are you…mad at me?”

“Mad at you?” Dmitri frowns before gently cupping my face in his hands, a mixture of emotions filling his eyes. I know him well enough to see that there’s anger in them. “I’m not mad at you. I’m mad at myself. I can’t believe they did this to you. They hurt you.”

My eyes sting a little as I gaze back at him. I want to hide my damaged face.

“They wanted information. I wouldn’t give it to them. I didn’t want anyone to get hurt because of me,” I tell him, my voice barely above a whisper.

Dmitri shakes his head. “You shouldn’t have had to endure any of it. I hate that you paid the price for my world.”

I swallow hard and narrow my eyes as tears well up in them. “I wasn’t going to let them use me like that. I refused.”

Dmitri presses his forehead against mine. Between the two of us and our injuries, old and new, the smell of blood is borderline overwhelming, but I don’t want him to go anywhere. “I’m so happy that you’re okay, Cara, but the rage that I feel toward the people that did this to you…it makes me want to explode.”

Anyone else would feel nervous being around him right now when he feels this way, but I feel safer than I have in weeks. He rushed into danger for me. He killed for me. I think he would do just about anything for me.

I place my hands over his, drawing his eyes back to mine. “I’m angry too.”

Dmitri breathes in through his nose and nods. “We’ll do something with that. We’ll make sure these fuckers pay one way or another. I swear to you that I will track down every single one of them for you.”

His determined words make my heart race. He does care about me. He must after all that he just went through to save me.

But what about his last words to me before I left the city?